The Enabler is seriously overdue for some new tires. I can't remember the last time that I replaced them, but it's probably been close to ten years. Last time, I just bought a new set of mounted wheels and tires off of eBay. They probably started life in China.
I know what to look for in car tires, but what should I be looking for when it comes to the trailer?
Some people will tell you to buy the Goodyear marathons or another name brand tire trailer. I just buy whatever is cheap with a high load range.
Once I finally started checking my air pressure every time I pull something (I know I'm a dumbass) and regularly checking and servicing my hubs, I haven't had a tire problem in years. It seemed like I had one every time I pulled something before.
If your Chinese set lasted 10 yrs get another one
In reply to Woody :
Yeah I second Opti, the cheapest round rubber things that hold air
Opti said:
If your Chinese set lasted 10 yrs get another one
The main reason that they have lasted ten years is that I haven't really used it in five, and it was kinda sketchy before that.
As a general rule of thumb, the higher load rated the tires are relative to the weight you have on them, the cooler they'll run and the less likely they are to fail. Pay attention to inflation pressure (doesn't necessarily have to be max sidewall, but needs to be a solid margin above what the inflation vs load table says you need for your loaded weight).
Word on the boat forums right now is that the Goodyear Endurance is the best thing going. They're high load, us made, and expensive. They rplaced a lot of the Marathin sizes, and I think the Marathons are now China made if that matters to you. From what I read, the marathons are no better or worse than the other name brand chinese trailer tires (carlisle, road king, etc.)
Most of the guys I know run car radials on their trailers, but opinions vary widely on that.
I've always just bought premounted Kenda Chinese tires for my lightweight boat trailers but I've also had one failure on a 2 yr old tire that was always run at correct pressure. Not ready to abandon Kenda yet, but it makes me think. Of course, it was a small tire and loaded near capacity.
Dual axle trailer also would have an impact on my thinking. I might be more willing to run cheap tires and keep a fresh spare than ona single axle trailer.
My travel trailer will be due for tires next year, and I'll probably go with the Endurances, but the car hauler will probably get whatever is cheap and Chinese, since a failure on that won't do as much expensive damage as one on the TT would.
My main point of advice is to put covers on them when you're not using the trailer. UV kills them more than wear.
P rated car radials are a no-go for trailers. Especially tandem axle, the side loads are not kind to them. However, if your trailer uses an appropriate size, LT rated truck tires can be used on trailers as an alternative to ST trailer tires. But most smaller trailers don't use sizes where that's a good option. Big stuff can often use an LT235/85R16 though, for example.
Yeah, tandem axle you want skinny, hard, and round. I prefer bias ply myself, because I think they skid with less resistance when you turn the two axles.
For single axle trailers I prefer radials, and despite all the doom and gloom you read on the internet I prefer the softer sidewall of p rated tires on 2k# axles. On single 3500# axles or larger I usually run radial trailer or LT tires.
In reply to rslifkin :
I have found a mid grade LT from a decent brand like (Firestone or BFG) is WAY better on a big trailer with 16s and the cost isn't that much higher because the size is so old and common (235/85/16).
In the 15 sizes I haven't seen the benefit of spending the extra money. I spent a bunch on a set of Marathons when they were the hot ticket and they weren't any more durable than my cheap tires
The boat forums I'm on like Kenda Loadstar, so that's what I put on mine. They've been down on Good Years lately.
I rock what ever is cheapest from Rural King. I wear em out before they dry rot anyways.
Million parts chinese tires on wheels were mounted and delivered for $106 for a pair from ebay and they’re doing well on my little trailer. On my tandem axle trailers i wear them out before they age out, so whatever is cheap is fine. I bought expensive trailer tires once, the first one blew a belt 2 years in and by 3 they were dry rotted to death.
I have GY Marathons on mine (made in China), which i put on about 4-5 years ago when i got the trailer. I figure we've put something like 20k miles on the trailer (with a car on it) in that time, and haven't had any tire-related issues, and i haven't noticed any unusual wear on the tires, and haven't gotten any flats. We generally tow pretty fast on the highways (dual-axle) as well, and have dragged it down several gravel rally roads as well.
I'm pretty religious about making sure tire pressures are good, and that my trailer brake controller is set so as not to cause any trailer brake lockups/flatspotting.
I think a lot of trailer tires get trashed because people simply don't keep them at the correct tire pressure, or have trailers with bad hubs, bad bearings, or misaligned axles, or lock up the trailer brakes. It's no surprise that most of my race friends who consistently have trailer tire blowouts are the same guys who have generally junky trailers that aren't maintained well overall. Whereas I rarely hear of any such issues from buddies with really nice trailers. YMMV.
As another point, running tires rated for (and inflated for) a higher than actual load should also give a bit more ability to operate at higher speeds. LT tires are an advantage here. Most ST tires are only rated to 65 mph.
I bought my trailer from an SCCA club racer with cheap passenger tires on it. They were old and rotted. I replaced them with more cheap passenger tires. Been working great for about 6 years of my ownership. I’ve put probably 10k miles on them. Not saying it’s the “right” way, but has not proven to be wrong. Bonus: lower trailer height for loading low cars.
rslifkin said:As another point, running tires rated for (and inflated for) a higher than actual load should also give a bit more ability to operate at higher speeds. LT tires are an advantage here. Most ST tires are only rated to 65 mph.
I run mine in the high 40s psi (max is 50) with the Marathons, with a relatively light load (1700lb trailer + e30) and we've done hauls with consistent 70-80mph speeds for hours on end.without an issue. I'm sure the speed ratings are conservative, for liability purposes.
I run Gladiator tires on my car trailers.
Lots of good info here. Thank you all. I think I may just wait and see what Prime Day has to offer.
In reply to irish44j :
Generally speed ratings are pretty much what it'll survive for a period of time at max load and max inflation on a very hot day. So under better conditions it'll do somewhat more (more temperature headroom), but tire construction can still start to have durability issues due to the forces from spinning too quickly at some point.
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