Trailer Tires.........

RANGERDALEXP · 2010-09-14 16:51:43

I thought I would start something a little off topic and talk about trailer tires and see what experiences you all have had with the different manufactures.

I and about four friends all bought trailers within a year from each other back in 2003 and it was amazing to hear and see all the problems everyone has had with tires :evil: . Our trailer has Goodyear Marathons ST 235 80R16D that was made in the USA and last year started having problems of which were expected due to age and not mileage after 7 years . Doing an internet search for the last several days I found out that there is no good trailer tire made anymore regardless of manufacture and even the Goodyear Marathon tires are now made in china . Well doing a search on Carlisle tires indicated that they were the worst out of all of them, this goes along with the other trailers in the group because they all lost there Carlisle tires within two years of buying there trailers and I decided not to go in that direction at all due to this.

I have made a forced decision on the same tires but in a load range “E” and I am still not comfortable due to the fact that they are now made in china . I also looked into 10 other brands and they are also now made over seas with about the same amount of complaints .

I will also add that there was lots of complaints on the USA made versions as well. Anyways what brands do you run and what kind of luck have you all had with them :?: …..

Titan · 2010-09-14 18:47:41

Ok so this is my experience with trailer tires and I just want to say befor I start that I could care less what I have for trailer tires.

My jetski trailer has Carlisle tires. I dont know the size off hand but they are SMALL and i dont know the mileage due to the fact I got it second hand and have no clue how many miles the other owner put on but it did get towed to Maine from Florida Im guessing its alot of miles cuz they are bald. I have towed it on the inerstate at 75mph. I even hit a porcupine at 55mph and the quills went through the left tire.
I pulled the quills out, it lost all its air, filled it with fix-a-flat and it is still to this day holding air, that was 4 years ago. (The porcupine took out the spare tire as well)
I have a 4ftX8ft home made utility trailer with Nanco tires on it, they are at least 15 years old. It has been towed down the inerstate at 75mph and im guessing they have at least 20,000 miles on them and I only have to pump them up in the spring after they sit out all winter.
I also have Mission on my 18ft tilt bed car hauler trailer, they are full size 235/80/R16 tires and have been on the road for 5 years hauling my skidsteer and mini excavator over some of the roughest roads in Maine and still dont show any bad wear.
Just got a new 12 foot 2 place snowmachine trailer but have no clue what it has for tires.

I have no real opinion on tires, I have had good luck with all types and brands.

Brad777 · 2010-09-15 05:44:54

A Load Range of E for all my trailers with an additional criteria for my Toyhauler, a 16" rim size. I've never had a issue with trailer tires.

Fasttrax · 2010-09-15 06:34:18

I had a 287 wanderer wagon toyhauler and after having a tire issue with continentals and 5000.00 in damage I found out that manufactures void warranties unless they are ran at the cold psi stamped on the tire. I always ran 55-60 on a 65psi and they told me that was not to recommendation. On my keystone raptor 5th wheel I had carlisles and I am down to two out of six. Towmasters constantly ran at 65 psi are doing very well.

Unlike on a vehicle where a tire psi is based on location, front or rear based on vehicle weight, trailer tires are treated completly different when it comes to recommended psi. I have also reduced sidewall cracking by keeping them at the recommended psi.

A 16" wheel will give you a better load range and more tire choices too if you can fit them.

Hammer24 · 2010-09-15 14:53:17

I have a fairly new Toyhauler, Skyline 240 Rampage which I believe is running on Goodyear ST225/75R15-D's. My dealer destroyed one of the tires just moving it to an RV show just prior to my purchase (I suspect it was due to low PSI, all the tires had only 45 - 50 PSI when I bought it) This did not give me a great deal of confidence in the tires. However, I just took a trip to the Mammoth Lakes area in California and put the tires into a massive pothole the size of a VW at 65 mph. Thought I was going to loss at least one tire, but came out unscathed. While there in Mammoth, I dragged that trailer over about 5 miles of dirt road containing volcanic obsidian stone. Not a single slash in any of the tires. Maybe I was just lucky.

I can't speak towards their longevity (Haven't had them long enough), but the Goodyears seem to take all the abuse I've given them. Knock on wood.....

RANGERDALEXP · 2010-09-15 15:18:09

We have always run our trailer tires at max cold psi which was 65 psi on the old load range “D” Goodyear marathons. We also at first was using tire dressing till I found out that the dressing can effect the rubber and cause premature cracking and cause the tires to delaminate. We had stopped doing this around 3 years ago but I am sure that the first 3 years of using the stuff caused some of the problems last year.

We picked up the new tires today that were the Chinese made Goodyear Marathons and noticed a little latter that the load range “E” tires had one less ply then the older “D” tires that came off. Here are the specs….

The old tires
Goodyear Marathons ST235 80R16 U.S. Made Load Range “D” 3000lbs Load at 65 psi.
6 tread plies {2 Polyester Cords, 2 Steel Cords, 2 Nylon Cords}.
2 Sidewall Plies {2 Polyester Cords}.

The New Tires
Goodyear Marathons ST235 80R16 China Made Load Range “E” 3420lbs Load at 80 psi. 5 tread plies {2 Polyester Cords, 2 Steel Cords, 1 Nylon Cord}.
2 Sidewall Plies {2 Polyester Cords}.

After doing some research today on Ply Ratings apparently 8 ply no longer means that a tire is load range “D” anymore and a tire with as little as 4 to 5 plies can still achieve a “D” rating due to the so called improvements in tire construction. This also applies to load range “E” tires as well. So apparently my new load range “E” tires with 7 total plies, 5 in tread and 2 in the sidewall can still be rated at the old 10 ply rating.

Well after purchasing 7 new tires at $1100 dollars I hope I can get another 6 to 7 years out of them without any issues or damages to the trailer like some of the other people I know have had. One guy I know had a tire failure and it took out the inner fender well and the kitchen sink and cabinet inside the trailer. Another guy had two blow outs within 20 miles apart from each other just one year after buying his trailer on the same trip; it did some heavy damage to the side of his trailer. Both of them were running Carlisle’s……

That is why I do care on what tires I run on our trailers, I just hope the new china made Goodyears do not give me any troubles :!: .......

RANGERDALEXP · 2010-09-15 15:28:42

I have a fairly new Toyhauler, Skyline 240 Rampage which I believe is running on Goodyear ST225/75R15-D's. My dealer destroyed one of the tires just moving it to an RV show just prior to my purchase (I suspect it was due to low PSI, all the tires had only 45 - 50 PSI when I bought it) This did not give me a great deal of confidence in the tires. However, I just took a trip to the Mammoth Lakes area in California and put the tires into a massive pothole the size of a VW at 65 mph. Thought I was going to loss at least one tire, but came out unscathed. While there in Mammoth, I dragged that trailer over about 5 miles of dirt road containing volcanic obsidian stone. Not a single slash in any of the tires. Maybe I was just lucky.
I can't speak towards their longevity (Haven't had them long enough), but the Goodyears seem to take all the abuse I've given them. Knock on wood.....

Welcome to the forum Hammer24 and notice we are neighbors. We had bought our Skyline Rampage 365 5th wheel back in 2003. It has been mostly good except the weathering and the decals baking off and the fridge going bad as well but we got that fixed from dometic after some very long E-mails.....

Hammer24 · 2010-09-16 14:26:27

Thanks for the welcome. Interesting that you mentioned a problem with the decals on the Skyline. Last week I noticed one of mine starting to lift on the front edge. I know this is bound to happen, especially in our climate here in the high desert, but I just bought the darn thing less than six months ago. Maybe superglue will work :shock: Overall, I love the trailer so far. I can fit my RZR in the back even with the double bunk beds installed. I'll keep my fingers crossed on the frig not going out.... that sounds expensive.

RANGERDALEXP · 2010-09-16 15:32:55

Thanks for the welcome. Interesting that you mentioned a problem with the decals on the Skyline. Last week I noticed one of mine starting to lift on the front edge. I know this is bound to happen, especially in our climate here in the high desert, but I just bought the darn thing less than six months ago. Maybe superglue will work :shock: Overall, I love the trailer so far. I can fit my RZR in the back even with the double bunk beds installed. I'll keep my fingers crossed on the frig not going out.... that sounds expensive.

My recommendation on trailers now is to order it without the decals, If it is new enough get them removed ASAP. It is to late for ours because once the decals are removed the image is burnt into the finish and will need to be repainted. Lifting is the first thing that happens then they turn brown and all of them start lifting on the side that is always in the sun.

I wish I would have thought of this in 2003 :evil: :evil: :idea: ....,.

#1 2010-09-14 16:51:43

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#2 2010-09-14 18:47:41

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#3 2010-09-15 05:44:54

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#4 2010-09-15 06:34:18

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#5 2010-09-15 14:53:17

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#6 2010-09-15 15:18:09

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#7 2010-09-15 15:28:42

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#8 2010-09-16 14:26:27

Re: Trailer Tires.........

#9 2010-09-16 15:32:55

Re: Trailer Tires.........

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