What a difference a tire makes!

[les45]

I posted several months ago about my first camping trip with my weekender on a 5X8 NT trailer with the stock 5.3X12 tires. After several tweaks of leveling the tongue height, dropping tire pressures, and tongue weight adjustments I still had a "jittery" ride. I could feel a lot of jerking and bouncing back through the hitch, especially on rougher roads. I chalked it up to the stiff 12" trailer tires and the stiff springs on the 2,000 lb trailer. Before my second trip this past weekend, I had completed the upgrade of my tires to 175-70R-13 General passenger tires. What a difference! I made a 300 mile round trip to the SC coast and the trailer performed beautifully. No jerking or bouncing like the last trip. On a really smooth road you couldn't tell that the trailer was even there. I would highly recommend this upgrade.
FWIW - I really didn't have a problem with the safety issues concerning the original Chinese tires as I've had them on my HF utility trailer for years without a problem. I was mainly looking to improve the ride with the softer passenger car tire.

[Jdw2717]

Did you have 12" rims or 13"? I have 12" and wondered if there were better tires (car tires) out there.

[Roo Dog]

Les,

Similar problem to you.

We started out with 185x14 light trucks but dropped back to 185x14 car tyres running at 20 psi.
Teardrop weighs in at 900 pounds.
The LTs were just too stiff no matter how low the pressure was set at.

Take it easy.

RD

[les45]

Did you have 12" rims or 13"? I have 12" and wondered if there were better tires (car tires) out there.

I had 12" rims that came with the original trailer but I bought new 13" white spoker rims with the same 5X4.5" bolt pattern and new 13" tires to fit them. Some companies still make 12" passenger car tires but they are hard to find and fairly expensive. I went with the widest profile tire (175-70R-13) I could fit to the existing axle and frame. Even the 13" tires were hard to find in my area so I bought the tires and rims online.