Heavy duty trailer tire life

[ledslinger]

My buddy's boat weights around 10K pounds and has three axles. The tires are I think 235 80 or 85 - 16" and carry over 3K pounds rating per tire. The miles on the tires is unknown since he loaned the trailer, but he got two blowouts after probably less than 7500 miles on the new trailer. I know the tires are made in China and possibly junk.

Do these tires have short lives or would better possibly American made tires last longer?

 

[Ramblejam]

They're called China bombs for good reason.

Switch to heavy-duty, brand name LT tires; ensure proper inflation/loading, and he will be considerably better off.

 

[Rob_Roy]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
They're called China bombs for good reason.

Switch to heavy-duty, brand name LT tires; ensure proper inflation/loading, and he will be considerably better off.


x2. Service the wheel bearings at the same time.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Rob_Roy
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
They're called China bombs for good reason.

Switch to heavy-duty, brand name LT tires; ensure proper inflation/loading, and he will be considerably better off.


x2. Service the wheel bearings at the same time.


I thought you aren't supposed to run anything but trailer tires on a trailer due to the side to side motion a tire is subjected to.

 

[Tuffy1760]

Trailer tire life measured in time, not miles...

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Originally Posted By: Rob_Roy
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
They're called China bombs for good reason.

Switch to heavy-duty, brand name LT tires; ensure proper inflation/loading, and he will be considerably better off.


x2. Service the wheel bearings at the same time.


I thought you aren't supposed to run anything but trailer tires on a trailer due to the side to side motion a tire is subjected to.


In theory, an ST tire should be ideal; in practice, they're often appreciably lacking in quality, and have a low tolerance for abuse (high speeds/heat, over-loading, age, etc.)

Would you want to run passenger car, or lighter load-range LT tires? Of course not. But when closed-shoulder tires like the Duravis R250 are available for $200, the decision is an easy one (should the size and weight capacity be appropriate for the application).

 

[DoubleWasp]

They have E-rated (10 ply) tires for trailers too.

Chinese or not, I'd be looking at my tire pressures before anything.

When those tires say "max load at __psi", they mean it.

AN E-rated tire, for example, only carries that weight at 80psi. The D's on my triple axle only do it at 65psi.

 

[Stewart Fan]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Originally Posted By: Rob_Roy
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
They're called China bombs for good reason.

Switch to heavy-duty, brand name LT tires; ensure proper inflation/loading, and he will be considerably better off.


x2. Service the wheel bearings at the same time.


I thought you aren't supposed to run anything but trailer tires on a trailer due to the side to side motion a tire is subjected to.


Many of the manufacturers of the huge RVs have discovered LT tires work well in a trailer application. I've been running BFG commercial LT tires on my fifth wheel for 5-6 years now. They've been great.

 

[clinebarger]

In '06 when I bought my Heartland Big-Horn, It had junk Chinese S/T 285/16's on it, Had tire troubles early on with good inflation. Got tired of it & put Michelin XPS RIB on & Never had a problem again, Similar to the Bridgestone Duravis R250 & BFG Commercial. If you really want a heart attack...Price out some G-load Goodyear Unisteel in 16"

 

[Nate1979]

LT tires are run on trailers all the time and OEM on many trailers and RVs. I wonder how the myth got started that trailers can only use ST tires?

 

[Black_Thunder]

indeed around here you will see a lot of guys with gooseneck trailers running 10 ply truck tires on their trailers.

 

[mrsilv04]

Without starting a war here... for most people, keeping them properly inflated is more of an issue, than if it is an ST or LT tire.

Pulling any loaded trailer, with grossly under-inflated tires, is going to be a recipe for disaster.

 

[rslifkin]

LT tires are allowed on a trailer, BUT they'll have a lower max weight in a given size than an ST tire (and IIRC, there might be an additional 10% de-rate for using them on a trailer).

If they're 235/80R16, depending on the weight of the trailer, you might be able to run an LT215/85R16 on there. If they're 235/85s, you could go for the LT version of the same. It might require hunting down a load range F or G version of a tire ($$$ and hard to find) instead of a standard load range E version to get enough weight capacity.

Just make sure to check the GVWR for the trailer first, making sure that each tire can support more than 25% of that (for a 2 axle trailer, 17% for a triple axle). And I'd say ideally, each tire should be rated for 30 - 35% (20 - 25% for triple axle) of trailer GVWR for safety margin.

If you have a trailer where you're stuck with STs, the goal is to find the least [censored] Chinese ones, get the most over-rated ones you can weight-wise in a size that'll fit on the thing and run them at sidewall max. Also remember that most STs are only rated to 65mph (you could go a bit faster if they're loaded well below their max).

 

[Nick1994]

I'd use an E rated truck tire.

My dad had a 10k pound triple axle gooseneck trailer he pulled and when the trailer tires would die he replaced each one with an E rated LT truck tire. They did great.

 

[ccap41]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Without starting a war here... for most people, keeping them properly inflated is more of an issue, than if it is an ST or LT tire.

Pulling any loaded trailer, with grossly under-inflated tires, is going to be a recipe for disaster.


+1 to this.

Underinflated with a heavy load going speeds where the tires are already maxed if not above their ratings... It's actually amazing there aren't more trailers on the side of the interstate with how careless so many people are.

Personally, I would check the weight ratings of the tires and trailer and see what everything weighs but unless you're pushing max weight as it is I would definitely rather pull something with LT quality over the junk ST quality tires. If you plan on doing a lot of trailering I'd suggest one of the Rib tires from BFG, Mich, or Bridgestone(like somebody already suggested). In your size the Bridgestone Duravis R250 has a load rating of 3042lbs. I guess there is a significant difference as the ST235/85/60 is rated at 3640lbs(the only one available at Tire Rack).

Still, I would check the weights of things and see what is acceptable. If possible I would rather drive on an LT than an ST made in China.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: ccap41
how careless so many people are


People shouldn't have to treat their trailer tires like fine china to ensure reliability; that's the issue with most of these ST models in the market. Whether it's running the speed limit, overloading a bit, or a little age, they simply can't stand up to much in the way of abuse (for lacking of a better word...).

Heavy-duty highway ribs on the other hand have demonstrated relatively exceptional performance in the same application.

 

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Heavy-duty highway ribs on the other hand have demonstrated relatively exceptional performance in the same application.


They're usually rated for higher speeds than the 65mph most trailer tires are rated for. Running close to max load for the current pressure at 70 mph is easier on an LT tire than doing 70 at close to max load on a trailer tire rated for 65.

 

[ccap41]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: ccap41
how careless so many people are


People shouldn't have to treat their trailer tires like fine china to ensure reliability; that's the issue with most of these ST models in the market. Whether it's running the speed limit, overloading a bit, or a little age, they simply can't stand up to much in the way of abuse (for lacking of a better word...).

Heavy-duty highway ribs on the other hand have demonstrated relatively exceptional performance in the same application.


Agreed, but they should know their load and speed limitations and check their pressures. Not knowing the limitations of your vehicles' tires is pretty careless.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: ccap41
Agreed, but they should know their load and speed limitations and check their pressures. Not knowing the limitations of your vehicles' tires is pretty careless.


Fully agree.

However (and I should have mentioned this earlier...), OP stated the boat weighed in around 10k. On a triple-axle trailer, six R250's would provide 18,252lbs. of capacity.

Plenty of reserve there, but unfortunately, I've witnessed some absolutely atrocious weight distribution with these setups -- pancaking the front axle tires, with hardly nothing on the back. First step here is to get to a scale, and determine what the current weights are.