Another tire question

[noseoil]

I have to order some tires for the trailer as I may be on the road any month now. It was made in 2000 & still has the original tires on it, so they're getting pretty old & dry. They look to have been run somewhat under-inflated at some point, so I'm just going to get rid of them & start with some new rubber. One less thing to worry about on the road.

My question is about passenger tires vs. trailer tires. Since the trailer came with 13" rims, I'm sticking with that for now. The down-side is that there just aren't very many options out there in this rim size. The trailer tire choices are pretty basic, either a C or D rating, bias or radial. I'm thinking a 6 ply tire with a D load rating would be best in this type of tire. The down-side is that it's a pretty stiff tire & a hard ride in general.

The other option I have would be to go with a passenger tire in a radial. There are more options available & it's a trade-off. Since I have a sprung axle & not a torsion axle, the passenger tires would have a softer ride. They are only available with about an 1160# rating, unfortunately. I will have a total load of about 1350# as close as I can figure, so this might be a bit on the light side in some conditions. If I have a tongue weight of about 1200#, they should be OK.

I'm wondering who has had to make this choice & what they found to be the "best" tire to use. Also curious about the idea of using a passenger car tire for the trailer, is this a bad idea in general? Also, are there any tires I should stay away from, really bad ones that aren't worth the money?

Thanks for your input, tim

[GuitarPhotog]

I have put almost 15,000 miles on a set of passenger car radial tires on my teardrop. They are however 15" and are on a leaf-spring axle with no shocks. I know the trailer bounces a lot because the trailer is much too light for the springs. But they were all built in 1948, and there's no practical way to change them.

Remember that there are two tires when calculating load. If your trailer weighs 1200 lbs, that's only 600 lbs per tire. You should be OK with 1150 lb rated tires.

<Chas>

[noseoil]

Thanks for the prompt reply, appreciate it.

My biggest concern is about a bump on one side, with a pot hole on the other. If one side is going up & the other is dropping into a hole, there is the possibility of one tire taking up the entire load at some point. Will it happen? Not likely. Is it possible, yes... That's the dilemma. The trailer tires are very stout, so they would take the load in a D range, the passenger tires, I'm just not sure.

The trailer tires would need to be run at a lower pressure than the max 65#. The passenger tires would likely run at about 35.

[Rhino Ray]

I wouldn't worry about that issue, if it did happen it would be for a fraction of a second. Trailer tires are overkill on such a light load, save your money, passinger tires are fine for this purpose. It really doesn't matter if they are biased or radial either. It's a trailer, no one is riding in it, except it may scramble your eggs.

[Vedette]

Yes! Passenger car trailers are more than adequate for any teardrop trailer...no matter what the weight is.
And Radials should also be added to your choice!
But for the price of a set of rims, I would also go larger.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[tony.latham]

Tim:

Did you see this thread?

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64539

Tony

[noseoil]

Brian, I agree that the price of the rims is a no-brainer, but there's a problem with that one. The trailer is very well made, and the fenders are welded to the frame & everything is set up for the "stock" 13" rims & tires. I've been using the fenders as steps during the build since they are really well secured to the frame & they work perfectly that way. I've already made some patterns for the diamond plate trim to fit against the sides of the trailer to protect from road debris. I'm waiting to install the trim until I have the trailer mounted to the frame in its exact location, so at this point, I have a bit of time invested in this setup. Here's what it looks like now.





The logical thing would be to scrap the whole setup, got with 15" rims & tires, a new torsion axle & have it all back together. In retrospect, that's what I would do now, but I'm spending enough time trying to go forward that I don't want to stop & go backwards. Now on the next one I'm going to.... Nope, still trying to get this one done for now & not look too far ahead. If I went with larger tires, It would be to match the Nissan rims & tires on the truck for more spares & options.

P.S. Tony, I did see it & have been thinking about it since I'm pondering this stuff tonight. Will post to the thread once it's decided. Thanks.

[Wolffarmer]

If you can get tires that are not stressed by the load do not worry about car tires. After all in a front wheel drive car. The rear axle is just a glorified trailer axle. No one puts trailer tires on those. Save your money and get a car tire. Non aggressive tread. Load up the trailer and take about a 20 mile drive and then check the side wall temperature of the tow vehicle tires and the trailer tires. That can give a good indication of what is going on. The warmer tire is working more and building up heat. That is what destroys tires. To much flex causing heat. If the trailer tire is a bit warmer put more air in it ( up to the maximum on the side wall ). I have no idea what is so stinking special about a trailer tire.

[aggie79]

Car tire. I run mine at 25 psi.

[noseoil]

I chose to go with the trailer tires. They're Goodyear Marathons, C rated & fairly stout. The choice I had was a cheapie 13" car tire, rated at 1100#, or the trailer tires, so I went with the better tire.

I've spoken with a few people locally who run trailer tires here in the desert regularly & here's what they say. If it's a trailer tire, do not run a lower tire pressure. They are made to run at 50# (in my case) so run them at the rated pressure. The biggest problems arise with heat, speed & pressure here on hot days. One guy I spoke with said he would drop the pressure on his trailer when he didn't have much of a load on it & that's when there was trouble. After new tires & full pressure, no problems at all.

They said it's like the tires on the trucks we run at work. Loaded or empty, it's better to run them at the factory specs & not worry about it. The biggest problems come from running under-inflated in the heat at speed, that's when they tend to come apart.

I'll keep track of the pressure, tread wear & temperatures when I'm starting out to see how they do, but I'll run at full pressure & hopefully won't have problems. Need to get a temp sensor to read the heat on hubs & tires, one more thing to look for I guess.

[fm-usa]

Trailer tires are built for weight, hence the extra plys and usually higher pressures.
These tires are not suited to dissipate heat due to there thickness so lowering the pressure too much is bad. Another thing, since there are extra plys the extra flexing wasn't designed into them.

Car tires are thinner so they flex for bumps (human comfort) but are not as safe as trailer tires.
Car tires not as safe? Trailer tires extra thickness wards off pothole blowouts which you'd rather not have when pulling trailers. Flat tires on trailer tends to pull the vehicle sideways. Not bad if the vehicle is larger and heavier than the trailer or the tongue is long.

HOPE THIS HELPS.
.

[lrrowe]

I have Marathon ST's on my CT and they are almost new (well one year old and little mileage) so I am good for awhile. I understand the posts here and do not know enough about the topic to post an opinion....well except for one and that is I will do almost anything not to purchase Chineese products (am losing that battle everyday).

But what about the six ply LT tires tony.latham describes here: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64539.
Why would they also not make a good choice; given a proper ply rating choice?

[noseoil]

For me the option was a good one, but they aren't available here in a truck tire which is on a 13" rim. At some point, if I change out the axle, I'll do what Tony suggested since it's a very good option and go to 15" rims, but for now I'll poke along with the 13" rims. Agree about Cjinese goods, but options are very limited. The Goodyear Marathons are now made in China, go figure.

[Kaz]

Recstuff.com has some good tire and wheel deals.

[gudmund]

right now I am stuck with the trailer grade tires my trailer came with but will be going to car tires when it comes time to replace them. Teardrop's just doesn't weight what a travel trailer weights and they are a bit of stiff sidewall overkill. If you go to any of the tire company's websites you will find they have tire pressure charts stating what pressure's can be run in trailer tires for the weight of the load you have in your your trailer. My tires, "Loadstar" brand whatever's, say 50 lbs. on their sides - I run them at 35 lbs. per Loadstar's charts which makes them ride better-less bounce and track just fine. They are a 205-75x15 with a 1760 lb. load rating at 50 psi which are just a little overkill for a 1300 lb. trailer - could probably run them at a few lbs. lower but being my tow vehicles tire pressures are at 35 psi also it's just find it easier to remember and keep them the same. Never thought of the front wheel drive fact someone mentioned here, but that is a point for me that makes me even more firm on replacing these with car tires when the time comes - front wheel tires go though hell compared to rear wheel drive and trailers. Example - leaving the tires on the front of my Geo/Suzuki Swift rotating them from side to side every 5000 mile oil change, they will be half worn out in 25-30 thousand miles with the back ones barely showing any wear in the same distance. And yes I replace them 2 at a time, move the 2 25/30 thou ones from the front to replace the rear, than 2 new ones mounted to the front, This has been working just fine for the last 'million' or so miles I have been on the road with the 7 Metros/Swifts I have been driving since 1987 too and from work - am driving the last one now which should last the next 3 years before retirement (as long as NO more trees fall in front of me at 50 mph on my way to work - which is what killed Metro #2 at 108 thou Christmas night 1994 on my way to work, fell in front of me at 50 mph - hit it after it hit the ground - poll vaulted me into the air landing 57 feet nosed into the asphalt - seat belted in and walked away from it with just a chipped tooth.)