Trailer Tires - Lessons Learned

[j&lgray]

We just moved our Ranger 27 classic from Georgia to Washington State. We bought Trilogy in Florida at the SW Florida Ranger/Cutwater Rendezvous in 2017 with the intention of doing parts of the Great Loop that we enjoyed so much. At the time of purchase, we rebuilt the trailer including new tires. Since then, we have cruised Trilogy 5,000 miles trailering her to starting points and then returning her to the storage yard in Brunswick, Georgia where it rarely freezes and the hurricanes seem to miss it. Maybe, the trailer tires had 5,000 miles of road miles before the 3,000 mile trip back to Everett, WA.

Want to know about having two boats, one on each coast? See our website:
https://www.tribute-kadeykrogen39.com/t ... boat.html#

For 4 days, we drove across the country without event. Then, in Washington State and only 250 miles from home, one of the four trailer tires disintegrated on the Interstate. The spare was put on and 100 miles later, that tire came apart on the Interstate.

Take-aways:
(1) Driving only during daylight hours was safer to handle these roadside events and tire businesses were open to help us.
(2) Pay attention to the year of manufacture on the tire. It is stamped on it. Two separate tire people said trailer tires have a life expectancy of about 4 years. Why? Compared to vehicle tires, not many of these are made so the competition that creates quality is not there. Also, trailer tires sit more causing weak spots in the sidewalls. Add the prolong exposure to sun, the material weakens over time.
(3) If you have to replace one, replace them all to avoid more blow-outs.
(4) Do not use an older tire that looks good as a spare. That is what we did and it failed quickly. Use a new tire instead.
(4) Pay the extra price to have these tires balanced. Many people forget to do this and unbalanced tire is harder on the bearings and the empty trailer just bounces down the road.

 

[Favunclerich]

John - What brand were the tires?

 

[Alpina]

Not sure of the make of tires for your trailer but I did extensive research on trailer tires when I understood how RV and trailer manufacturers put on cheap tires. I replaced all four of my RV trailer tires with Goodyear branded. They are the only US made trailer tire for the size required for my RV. The RV manufacture had some cheap branded tires on there from Asia. Secondly, check the speed and load rating of the tires. This is probably the most overlooked aspect. The original tires had a very low speed rating (maybe 65, can’t exactly remember) and were near the limit of the load rating. When I upgraded to Goodyear, those tires had higher speed and load ratings. My jet ski trailer had a low speed rating tires also which I swapped out. All this info is on the tire sidewall.

 

[Brian B]

I switched to the Goodyear Endurance tires a few years ago as have many others on this and other sites.
Seems to be common knowledge about premature tire failure in the foreign trailer tire market.

 

[BB marine]

John, your take away's are spot on. There have been many threads about trailer tires longevity, best brand, failures. When you have first hand experience on the road failures do to out of date and average quality tires it gets your attention. I had the same experience that you had towing a 26' Searay from Lake of the Ozarks. The tires were trailer manufacture original install Carlisle tires approximately 1000 miles date code stamped 4 years old. The first tire blew and took out a fender as the tread fell off. I installed the spare and 100 miles further down the road another tire started coming apart. I was able to get off the road quick enough before it damaged the fender on the opposite side. A call to Carlisle was made and I was told by a customer service representative. " you did good we recommend every 3 years replacement of our tires " I started using Good Year after that incident. I do tire replacement of Good Year After 4 full years of installation and have never had a tire failure (knock on wood).

I spoke to a Tug owner that installed Good Year Endurance 3 years ago and over 12000 miles of trailering and had a tire failure this spring on the way north from Florida. This Tug owner called Good Year customer service and received a completely different response then I received from Carlisle. The customer service rep told him to take the tire to a Good Year dealer they want to see the failure. They were surprised that the tire failed. The tire was sent to Good Year for inspection and determined the tire was defective. Good year replaced the tire at no cost and replaced the other 3 tires at a significantly reduced price. Good year also paid for the replacement of the fender that was destroyed from the tire failure.

There are many trailer tires manufactured. Many probably match up to the Good Year brand. The important component to this is, Date code, and purchase a tire that has good reviews and is made by a company that has a reputation of manufacturing quality tires.

I am also a believer in balancing trailer tires. Most tire dealers will not balance trailer tires unless you ask. The Good year dealer that I have purchased tires from recommends it.

 

[Katmat]

Follow Brian's advise. Also do not use load range D tires, Get at least load range E.

 

[ALICE J]

I think one of the big things that cause tire problems is heat buildup. I try to keep my speed under 55 mph. I upgraded my four trailer tires to an H class which is a much heavier side wall and ply build up I believe it’s 12 to 14 plies. I realized that my trailer and boat are just about at the max weight allowed so I tried to compensate with a heavier gauge tire. It seems to of worked for almost 30,000 trailer in miles . I put those tires which are Chinese on the trailer in 2015 just replaced them in August with four new tires taking the advice to automatically replace tires after four years. I did rotate the tires front to back about 12,000 miles they were showing some tread wear. I also put on tire minder gauges which monitor tire pressure and heat with a screen next to the driver seat and alarm. The alarm went off three times on the pressure side caused by leaking valve stem twice and then a cracked rim on the third time so I am a big believer in being able to read the pressure on trailer tires remotely in the cab of the truck.

 

[SgtAlf]

The Goodyear Endurance ST225/75-15, which is the size on my R-23 trailer, is load range "E" as per Goodyear chat rep.
https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf

 

[snydzy]

I don’t think the Goodyear tires have been out long enough to actually make a determination as to longevity or better performance than other trailer tires on the market. Their announcement didn’t happen (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 98708.html) until early 2017, so I don’t know how someone has any long term experience with them.

 

[BB marine]

I don’t think the Goodyear tires have been out long enough to actually make a determination as to longevity or better performance than other trailer tires on the market. Their announcement didn’t happen (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 98708.html) until early 2017, so I don’t know how someone has any long term experience with them.

You are correct about the Endurance, a relatively new tire by GoodYear. It came out late 2016 early 2017. The predecessor was the Marathon which was a tire manufactured in China to Good Year specifications. I have used Marathon without issue since 2004 after my issue with Carlisle tires. To condemn every tire made in China would be condemning almost every tire made. There are quality tires with good reviews made in China. The quality is based on the tire companies specifications. There are cheaply made tires and high quality tires made at the same plants the specification make the difference . Do your home work before purchasing. Not all tires are made the same. The Endurance are USA made based on the information I received from the Good Year dealer. The dealer claims the construction and specifications of the new designed Endurance was introduced because of the many premature failures and bad reputation given to trailer tires through out the recreational and construction industry.

 

[snydzy]

I tow a lot, almost weekly during the summer. The only nightmares I’ve had, have been on 4 year old trailer tires...
My second set were Carslisle tires, ran them for three seasons with no problems. This spring, I purchased Goodyear Endurance,...mostly because they were on sale. I will change them after three seasons also. I just won’t take the risk for another season.
I believe if you change them out after 3 yrs of use, you won’t have a problem, no matter what name brand trailer tire or where it’s made...And that is solid advise!

 

[knotflying]

I would go with snydzy. After 3 years maybe 4 is pushing it, replace. So IMO Goodyear Endurance has to have a better longevity to make up any price difference. I have used Maxxis (rated highly), load range E. I got 3-1/2 years and about 12,000 miles out of them. At the 3-1/2 year point one tire was loosing air and there was a split between the tread. The lesson I learned there was, replace your spare/spares. Do not think you can use the best old tire for a spare. Like John, with 225 miles to go I replaced the tire loosing air with an old tire spare. Five miles to my exit BINGO, blowout.

 

[Cindywood3]

I think one of the big things that cause tire problems is heat buildup. I try to keep my speed under 55 mph. I upgraded my four trailer tires to an H class which is a much heavier side wall and ply build up I believe it’s 12 to 14 plies. I realized that my trailer and boat are just about at the max weight allowed so I tried to compensate with a heavier gauge tire. It seems to of worked for almost 30,000 trailer in miles . I put those tires which are Chinese on the trailer in 2015 just replaced them in August with four new tires taking the advice to automatically replace tires after four years. I did rotate the tires front to back about 12,000 miles they were showing some tread wear. I also put on tire minder gauges which monitor tire pressure and heat with a screen next to the driver seat and alarm. The alarm went off three times on the pressure side caused by leaking valve stem twice and then a cracked rim on the third time so I am a big believer in being able to read the pressure on trailer tires remotely in the cab of the truck.

ALICE J - I would be interested in learning more from you about the tire minder gauges you have in your truck. Thanks!

 

[knotflying]

Here is a link to tire minder https://www.tireminder.com/ I have considered buying a system based on a friend's recommendation. I am just waiting for the next tow trip. I was told that you should really use metal valve stems. Also, I think they make water proof ones, but not sure. I may still take the sensors off before submersion at a ramp. Depending on distance from your cab you may need a repeater type of antenna forward of your bow.
I suspect that the blowouts we experience are related first to loss of air pressure, then heat buildup. So far I have been lucky, but a tread separation, besides scaring the bejesus out of you, can cause some considerable damage to you fenders

 

[Boatdreamer]

I’m a big Goodyear Endurance tire fan. We have them on our boat trailer and our Airstream trailer. I use the TST TPMS system on both. Mike you’re right, you should have metal valve stems when your running the cap sensors. Generally the cap or the flow through sensors shouldn’t be submerged when launching, but you can buy a sensor that mounts inside the tire by using a metal band that holds the sensor to the rim. These are about $80 apiece I believe. Being the cheap guy that I am I don’t use the locking nut on the cap sensors and just remove them before launching. There’s a thought on the Airstream forum that when your tires reach five years old from the date code on the sidewall it’s time for new tires regardless of the condition of the tire tread and that’s what I’ll be doing.

Tim and Donna
Gratitude R27

 

[snydzy]

I am using the Eez tire pressure monitoring system....nice system, easy to set up, and I haven’t had any problems submerging the sensors. (EEZTire-TPMS6 Real Time/24x7 Tire Pressure Monitoring System - 6 Anti-Theft Sensors, incl. 3-Year Warranty https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009BEGV6S/re ... CFb1MX8SNS) First couple of seasons, I had the sensors mounted on rubber tire valves but they got pretty beat up from the centrifugal forces at high speeds....was able to mitigate a lot of that by placing some thick tubing over the valve stem before installing the sensors. My new tires have the high pressure snap in valves and I haven’t had any problems using them. However, whatever TPMS system you use, it’s not a replacement for manual air pressure checks and routine tire maintenance.

 

[ALICE J]

I think Mike gave the correct information about tire minder . I think metal valve stems or a good idea because rubber is too flexible. Additional advice would be to carry extra batteries sometimes they seem to go bad real fast. Sometimes the batteries last a long time other times they seem to expire pretty quickly due to the just the age of the battery. When you get a sensor alert chances are you need new batteries. I think it’s a worthwhile investment at least I can keep track of what’s going on with my trailer tires. I do check when I stop the tire heat with an infrared sensor it generally agrees with the tire minder. Tire minder is located in Stuart Florida, so when I am traveling I stop by the plant if I have any issues and they’re very accommodating many times replacing anything that doesn’t seem to work properly including batteries so I will give them a five star rating for service. I understand they also have a color monitor of course More money.

 

[PanaSeaAh]

4 years max use (insist on current dates on tires when purchasing); load range E; balanced; always a new spare (with a sun cover on it); sun covers on the tires when parked; check pressure before every trip and every day or TPMS; ONLY metal valve stems; and Goodyear Endurance. These are all what I have settled on after over 30 years of trailering. I also prefer steel wheels. If you have alloy and/or cast wheels, check on the back side for the load rating and/or max pressure. Some of them are not rated for the pressure needed by the tire mounted on them, and some will spit out stems due to poor tolerances of the stem holes. Some cast wheels also leak air.
Small increase in cost when you think about what you are carrying and protecting. :idea:

 

[Godspeed]

I took the advice of many of the group and had the 6 tires on our trailer that carries our C30 balanced. The shop said that all were out of balance and 3-4 were way out of balance. They did check the tires for any cracks or signs of failure and reported that all looked to be in good order. This is our second season of trailering the C30. We have put about 4000 mikes on trailer plus the unloaded trip from Tampa to Milwaukee.

Next year we will take a close look at the tires and will change them out for sure after the 4th season with Goodyear Endurance.

Another ? How often do folks repack the bearings and have brakes inspected. I had the brakes inspected last year and planned on having the bearings done next fall.

Thoughts??

 

[knotflying]

I took the advice of many of the group and had the 6 tires on our trailer that carries our C30 balanced. The shop said that all were out of balance and 3-4 were way out of balance. They did check the tires for any cracks or signs of failure and reported that all looked to be in good order. This is our second season of trailering the C30. We have put about 4000 mikes on trailer plus the unloaded trip from Tampa to Milwaukee.

Next year we will take a close look at the tires and will change them out for sure after the 4th season with Goodyear Endurance.

Another ? How often do folks repack the bearings and have brakes inspected. I had the brakes inspected last year and planned on having the bearings done next fall.

Thoughts??

In many cases the tires deteriorate from within and look great on the outside, a false sense of security. Each year, especially before a trip I check the outside bearing and make the assumption the inside is the same. Probably not the best move. The inside can only be inspected if you remove the seal. Once you remove the seal it must be replaced. I check the axel spindle for any odd ware. This is also an indicator of a bad bearing. Also check the inside seal for any grease escaping. If grease is escaping then water can get in as well and that is bad. The breaks are easy enough to check at the same time.