Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have a new found respect for tires after I bought a used new to me 30ft toyhauler and although the tires looked pefect we had 3 blowouts before we got home and had to leave it overnight in a little town before we got home at 2AM lucky for me I had AAA and they really came through I also had to buy 2 tires all they had and had them bring them out to get us going again @ 350.00.
I never checked my tires before but now I do and I was surprised that my tires on my 7x16 all had 25psi but I thought the tires are rated at 50psi so I am adding air up to that amount.
I talked to a few people that said the same thing they take more air than truck tires?
I also wanted to say that I went to lowes to look at air pumps and the sales person recommended a Kobalt 12volt/120 volt dual power inflator and he was right it works great for 50.00 you set the amount of air pressure you want and walk away and when it reaches that amount it shuts off, I also noticed that when it gets hot it shuts off and when it cools down it starts back up.
I was wondering if anyone else uses the max air tire pressure?
I do have a spare and 1 more AAA road side service, I was also thinking about looking into the good sams plan because they also own camping world and I think they have road side assistance ?
we passed several camping worlds when we were pulling the new toyhauler home and knowing what I know now = if I ever buy a used RV again out of town I would have new tire installed.
What I read was that trailer tires should be replaced after 3-5 years regardless of how many miles they have on them?

jwhite, Howdy;

Here's a "Magic Decoder" for tires...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=33

hank

jwhite wrote:What I read was that trailer tires should be replaced after 3-5 years regardless of how many miles they have on them?

Trailers almost always never wear tires out from mileage. All tires should have expiration dates plainly visible on the sidewalls, IMO. Not in code but plain english. I am a firm believer in the "don't use a tire that is older than 6 years from the manufacture month" rule. I actually try to keep that limit to 5 years. I do also monitor pressures as if it was a religion. It pays off with reduced on the road problems. Of course if tires are run with insufficient air they may be damaged internally and the age then does not matter at all.

As for tire pressure with a trailer I always inflate to the max rated on the sidewall. Sometimes I go 10 psi over that. The tire mfg usually will state someplace that is fine. It gains sidewall stiffness but does not increase load capacity.

Tire Age part one part two

Max tire pressure for me....especially on bias ply tires. I found out the hard way, ending up having to replace all 4 tires. Opted for radials this time and it pulls so much nicer that I won't go back to bias.

Howdy All;

Time for a small hi-jack...

How many of you, in addition to checking your pressures,
have the tire/wheel assemblies balanced as well ???

hank

I did when I had the radials installed.