I have a Carson tandem wheel car trailer that seems to "eat" trailer tires. I normally use it for hauling a vintage race car which weighs less than 1500 lbs. Probably half of the time the trailer is towed empty as I go to pick up a car or parts. With the loads being light I would have thought I would get longer tire life. The tires seem to be wearing evenly although at slightly different rates. What has been your experience on tire wear on tandem wheel trailers? Are some brands of trailer tires better, in this regard, than others? I have heard that all the trailer tires are made in China and that is part of the problem... is this true?
I've found that I need tires on the right side more often than the left. unfortunately I need to replace tires about once a year. Not fun loosing a tire or pair on a long trip.
One thing I've learned is to use hiway tires and not radials,radial tires don't handle sharp slow turns,stress on plys.
6 ply bias ply trailer tires will give your best performance. Car or truck rated tires will wear quicker even tho you may not have exceeded the weight rating for the tires. In most cases the total weight of the trailer and towed vehicle's combined weight wiill exceed the vehicle tire manufacturer's load rating.
I have trailer tires on all the trailers and they seem to die of age before they wear out. The enclosed trailer tires are four years old now and still look brand new. We were hauling the trailer every weekend roundtrip about 60 miles from Oct to Mar, it's been to Reno and back a few times, down to SF, etc. so it does have some miles on it. We finally had a tire sidewall fail on the little utility trailer that I have had about 12 years, my dad gave it to me, he had it about 20 years before that....... Tire wear has never been our problem it has been the side walls failing. Two things I would say, Don't run car tires on a trailer, you need the stronger ply sidewall especially on a tandem trailer. Make sure you run enough air in the tires.
Trailer tires have a tread design made just for trailers.You can use tires that have a load rating high enough but are not designed as a trailer tire.I find that I wear the front tires more mainly because of making tight turns.You should also keep them covered when not in use.You may also need to check how the weight is distributed on the trailer and check the air pressure.Good luck finding tires that are not made in China! ROY.
bias plys work much better on tandem axles trailerings in my experience, they can slide easier when makeing sharp turns instead of trying to grip like radials do
I tend to use the chinese crap as supplied with new trailers until they start looking tired then I change to D or E load range truck tires in a suitable size. One of my small enclosed trailers (6k) now wears BFG A/T and I keep the air at 45lbs. No issues and it tows nicely. I am currently looking for tires for one of my 10K flatbeds and most likely they will be E range pieces. I think it is important to keep the max load down to about 75% of the tires rated maximum load to keep wear at a minimum. As was mentioned, if you do a lot of sharp turns, like wiggling into small spots, then expect some scuffing. .
I run load range E, Trailer Radials. Have good luck with Maxxis, Destone and Mastertrack. I keep trailer loads to a max of 6500 lbs and avg 100,000 miles per year. The one thing I do know is Carlisle Tires SUCK, almost as bad as their customer service. I would'nt run Carlisle Tires on my lawn mower.
I'm running Load Star ST205/75D15 (F78-15) Trailer Use Only. Load rating "C". 6 ply, bias. 5 years no problems, I use it twice a week, but only have about 25,000 miles on it.
I ran a 7000 lb GVW trailer for about ten years, about 8000 miles per year average. I started with Goodyear ST's and after loosing a couple to blowouts I replaced with Maxxis and got decent service but was looking for better yet. I tried Kumho Radial 857 205/75-14 Load Range D and couldn't have been happier. Not one flat, not one blowout and good wear characteristics. Kumho is a Korean company, tires may be made in China......but far superior to the Goodyears in any case. Late last year I bought a new trailer, 10,000 lb GVW and it came with Road Rider ST 225/75-15, Load Range D. Unknown brand name but so far, so good. When these tires need replacement I will look for Kumho's or maybe a commercial truck tire of appropriate load capacity. All my tires have been radials and I see no reason to avoid them. I do agree that using a tire rated for a greater load than you typically carry is good insurance against failure.....BUT....you also need to run the higher tire pressure that is recommended for that higher load to get the benefit. Load/pressure charts are available on the web among other places. Ray
i run a 26 foot enclosed trailer with the race car in it along with 4 wheeler huge tool box and all sorts of other stuff, if you can't put 16 inch wheels on your trailer the only safe quality alternative is maxxis trailer tires load range e ; tires aired up to 80 pounds believe me anything else will strand your ass on the side of the turnpike trying to change a flat ; also always and i mean always use tire covers when the trailer is parked,along with a liberal application of tire dressing,,even doing this i would never run a trailer tire that is over 5 years old,they may still look good and have lots of tread but they will let you down ; this is from 25 plus years of experience pulling enclosed trailers
i built my tandem axle car trailer in 1983. It is pretty light , maybe 900lbs. I have towed everything from small Rally car to my Ford Ranger Race truck. Also many hot rods and an F1 pick up. WE figure this trailer has about 120,000 miles on it now as it has been across the country many many times. It has 14" wheels and in all those years it has only used 3 sets of tires. For years we ran BF Goodrich Mud & Snow tires. About 7 years ago I switched to Goodyear Trailer Specials and they still look new. The point being with this many miles a well built trailer should NOT be eating tires
I have a 20foot flatbed trailer with 16" load range (E) light duty truck tires. get 90,000 hiway miles out of them. 4 years is the limit before dryrot takes them. tire presure is the key to trailer tires. mercedes owner's manual (for drivingup to160km/hr + 4psi.
I agree on the Carlisle tires as well...They do bulge and come apart, then tear up your trailer. I searched them as well and there were so many complaints about them I decided to not use them again. They also say that the tires need to be replaced 3-4 years needed or not. Ive replaced them with Tow-Master: http://www.greenball.com/products.php?products_id=1 Im taking the trailer on an 1800 mile trip and will report back. These tires are made in China. -Jason
If your running with the right tires for the load and use, and pressure, than Im voting on the alignment check, or bushing wear or center floating spring perch wear, that will throw an axle out, if they are torsion, they probably have run out of squish and are down on the stops..and possibly have the axle pin bent
what they said about axles. I've been dragging trailers of all descriptions all my life using all types of tires; only problems have been when trailer has problems.
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