Trailer tires

[spasm3]

I need new trailer tires for my travel trailer. The maxxis 8008's have gone over their time limit ( made end of 2004). Seems almost all trailer tires are now china made. I hear bad things about carlisle and good year marathons. I may stay with the maxxis. What experience does every one else have. This is a 4500 lbs dual axle tt. Tire size is st 185/80- 13.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Many of the trailer tires made today are from China. I just replaced the 2003 vintage Carlisles that came with my trailer, so I've got another set of Carlisles. No telling how long the new ones will go, but I've heard the Carlisle horror stories as well.

 

[Donald]

Last year I replaced my 1980s trailer tires. The tire store offered E rating tires for the same price as D rating.

Look on EBAY, a few places have free shipping.

Also treadepot's website had trailer tires on sale last time I looked.

 

[Audios]

tirerack.com has a few

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?width=185%2F&ratio=80&diameter=13&performance=TS&search=true&pagelen=20&pagenum=1&pagemark=1&startIndex=0

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: Dave Sherman
Many of the trailer tires made today are from China. I just replaced the 2003 vintage Carlisles that came with my trailer, so I've got another set of Carlisles. No telling how long the new ones will go, but I've heard the Carlisle horror stories as well.


I think most of these "horror stories" are not the fault of the tire, but rather the operator. Many people don't bother to consider the load rating of their tires when loading their trailer, and they also don't think about the fact that the max speed rating for most trailer tires is 65 MPH. Overloaded tires plus exceeding the speed rating is just asking for disaster, plus who knows if they even checked to make sure the tires were properly inflated.

 

[Ken2]

Trailer tires are too often junk. The reports of the competitive water skiers and bass fishermen who tow boats many miles every week bear this out. They carefully weigh their loaded trailers, buy the "right" trailer tires, inflate right, and have way too many failures. They get better results with passenger car tires, altho the literature says they shouldn't do this.

In the 13" size, I'd get the radial trailer tires wholesaled by TBC...they come in several brand names. Or the Maxxis.
http://www.tbcprivatebrands.com/
I've had the Goodyear Marathons, they weren't very round, and don't seem to be worth anything extra.

I'd get the tires balanced. It isn't often done, 'cuz there's nobody in the trailer to complain about the vibration. Often trailer wheels are cheaply made with the center pilot only close to the true center, so always balance trailer wheels with a lug-centric adapter on the balancer.

If anyone is in the market for 16" trailer tires, I'd always get a 16" highway rib tread LT truck tire. Michelin XPS Rib LT235/85R16-E is the pick of the litter.

 

[spasm3]

Thanks, If they made 13" lt tires i'd go that route. I also balance mine, few do. Thanks for the tbc reccomendation. I'll check them out.

 

[fsskier]

Our watershow team travels with 11 trailers....sometimes 700 miles on a hot summer weekend.

We have had new Chinese trailer tires....Nanco, Radial Trail CRT, others all fail within a couple of years of new. The tandem axle that I usually pull weighs 5,000 lbs and has 7,000 lb (total) rated tires. The original Chinese ones all blew in the first couple of years. I should say shredded..... throw off the entire top of the tire, leaving only the sidewalls.

Different trailer:
I blew out 6 Nanco's..... 3 on one trip.....luckily had kept the badly cracked 20 year old general car tires and their rusty rims in the back of my van and they brought me home.
The Nancos also taught us to never buy from Tires Plus. Since the trailer had gone 20 years on the original Generals without failing but were very badly cracked and it seemed time to replace. Headed to a show 300 miles away, the first one blew 80 miles out of town. Second one blew in the parking lot after arriving at the destination. Third one blew half way home.....now rolling on three of the original generals.

Returned to Tires Plus on Monday, learned that:
I was driving to fast
I was overloaded
The tires were underinflated.
and thus there would be no warranty.

I showed them the route...all 55 mph limit, noted that they had installed them and I had checked the pressure....and the trailer weight was under the tires ratings. Eventually got half price on 3 replacements, but two more blew the next long trip. Back to car tires...ordinary Kelly Explorers....no more failures in the years to follow.

Ken2 is correct....we have by far the best luck with car tires....even considerably overloaded we do not get failures. the DOT testing has apparently weeded out the weak tires and the fraudsters.

Most of the "trailer tires" we have purchased have blown very early in life

We are having good luck with our Goodyear Marathons.

 

[weebl]

I too have Chinese tires on my trailer - they came from the factory. Suspect the size is the same as yours: ST185/80D13, load range D.

No catastrophic failure from these. They are now 5 years old. Wear is less than stellar.

Add to the spotty track record of Chinese tires the fact that these barely are capable of my trailer's weight, by definition of "ST" speed limited to 65 mph, and are bias ply, I sought an alternative. This alternative is my project this spring as some work for me is required to fit the new tires.

My search lead my to looking for the smallest LT tires, the only other designation suitable for trailer use. LT I learned generally doesn't come in anything smaller than 15". Not going to work. But more digging revealed LT tires are also known as "commercial van" tires in Europe. I found 185R14C load range D is the smallest size available in North America. Diameter overall about 1" larger than what they will be replacing, so doable.

Once done, I will have Q rated (100 mph) radials with room to spare in load capacity. In my case, besides new wheels, some mods required: axle height and trimming excess metal from the wheel wells.

You can find this size from a few brands: Continental, Vredestein, Yokohama and Nokian. I am looking at the Continental Vanco 2 myself.

 

[metalboy]

Small (13" especially) trailer tires are almost invariably garbage. So it has always been. You'll have better results if you have something that lets you mount a regular LT tire on it. LTs are sporadically available in 14" sizes, but you might have to modify the trailer to make it fit.

 

[fsskier]

One of our boat trailers came with 13 inch tires....trailer tires....about a 2000 lb load...
in 1984. The "new but original" trailer tires ran about 2 years before failing. I lucked on to a nearly new - used - pair of Michelin's off a neighbors car 175-75 - 13 I believe.
Although they were loaded to or slightly above their rating they towed beutifully, and we kept the pressure about 40 lbs... a little over the sidewall rating of 36.

They lasted for the next 28 years without failure, and in constant use.... nearly bald as they accompanied that trailer to the dump...and still working fine.

Car tires: Use them when you can. Light truck tires should also be a top choice....hard to find them in any sizes we use though.

 

[Ken2]

Quote:
But more digging revealed LT tires are also known as "commercial van" tires in Europe. I found 185R14C load range D is the smallest size available in North America. Diameter overall about 1" larger than what they will be replacing, so doable.
Important point that I forgot about. The Kumho 857 is such a tire that is marketed as a 14" trailer tire.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Radial+857

 

[spasm3]

I may just go with the maxxis 8008, it will take a lot of work to make 14 or 15 inch tires fit. i had no trouble with the maxxis. I have not found complaints about them. I don't have room in the fender well to slap on 14's. It would require raising the body higher on the axle. I just hope the quality has not gone down since the set i have.

 

[Rand]

how much clearance do you have now?

your stock size is about 24.7" diameter

those kumhos posted a couple posts up.. are about .9" bigger

or about 1/2 inch on the radius.

 

[spasm3]

I have just under 3 inches. I want to have enough that if i do have a seperation, that i don't take out the fenderwell and the sink plumbing above it. I need to get under it, I have a dexter ez lube axles( dual axle). If its a torsion axle, i may be able to ajust and raise the body up fairly easily.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I have the same size tire as you on my travel trailer. I also have Maxxis trailer tires, made in 2006. I have had no issues and have over 7,000 miles on them over the last few years. Recently I did a lot of looking at 14-16" car tire sizes and I just couldn't find anything that seemed to be up to the task. Most have less of a load rating without going a bit larger in diameter which I am hesitant to do. I already went up a size from 175/80R13 to 185/80R13. I'll probably just go back to the Maxxis tires again. Most people seem quite happy with them.