Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

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Lisa Severy
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Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Lisa Severy »

Three out of five tires on my 2008 Haulmark enclosed car trailer, including the spare, have tire tread "chunking" off down to the steel belts/tread is "de-laminating". It is like a timer went off and they all fell apart at once! The good news is that they fell apart in my driveway and not while I was on the road (well, no catastrophe before I got home, anyway). The stem is detached on a fourth tire and the tire went flat. I had already had this happen to three other tires at least! I have kept the tires properly inflated and covered/protected from the sun. It's a shame because they look new/still have plenty of tread. I use the trailer once a month to go to our events. These tires are "Hi-Runs" (made in China). So - time for new tires and I do not want the same brand. Hi-Runs seem to be prone to this damage and from what I got from looking up trailer tires on the internet - there have been some catastrophic events related to tread loss/delamination with this brand. I am looking for recommendations for reliable trailer tires. The reviews on Tire Rack seem to indicate that the Goodyear Marathons are prone to blow-outs. This is scary since that's what I have on my horse trailer. Good reviews for Kumho trailer tires on Tire Rack, but apparently none available (made?) in the size I need. I looked for reviews on the internet and saw many scary pictures and read scary stories about blow-outs and catastrophic tread de-laminations. There is a picture of a nice car in a trailer that rolled as a result of a blow-out. The photos are disturbing. Other reviews were widely variable with some people "swearing" that a particular brand of tire was junk, while others standing by them. Other brand of which I never heard of before were reviewed in various car and horse forums with similarly dismal ratings. As many of you know, I trailer over 100 miles each way to go to events all by myself. I really want tires on my trailers that I can depend on getting me and my car safely to and from autocross events. What tires have you used on your trailers that have been dependable - and which have had issues and should be avoided? Thanks, every one!
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Craig Naylor
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Craig Naylor »

Hi Lisa,

Trailer tires in my experience, are prone to early wear issues, especially on multi axel trailers. In a perfect world, both axels would be in alignment with each other, weight equally balanced over all tires, no tongue tip (up or down) etc. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world, and tires take the punishment for such, more so on trailers, than on our tow vehicles.

All that said, I've personally had good luck with Goodyear Marathons on work trailers {car haulers, utility (aka equipment) carriers, and a few years ago the "5ton" weight trailers.}... others at work, not so much. I on the other hand, work on balancing trailers I tow, others not so much...

Trailer tires come in different load bearing weights, I have always bought one that is capable of supporting the entire weight of one side of the trailer, vs. 1/2 (on a two axel trailer), etc .
Last edited by Craig Naylor on Wed Jul 11, 2012 6:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Mako Koiwai
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Mako Koiwai »

by balanced, you mean 10% of the weight on the tongue?

So one should really stop by a recycling place for instance where they will weigh you for free, then at an event ask to borrow Mike S's tongue weight scale, and then move one's vehicle until one finds the 10% position ...
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Tom Berry
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Tom Berry »

SImple answer... replace trailer tires every 2 to 3 years regardless of wear.
I have Hurcules tires on mine with no issues yet.... but its been almost 3 years, so new shoes go on before going to Lincoln.
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Jason Isley BS RX8 »

+1 for Goodyear Marathon. :thumbup:
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Mike Simanyi
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Mike Simanyi »

Careful on the Marathons. I've heard they're bringing production out of China on those, but the Chinese made version had an elevated failure rate.

I went with Maxxis myself and so far, they've been great.

Mike
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Mako Koiwai
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Mako Koiwai »

All I'm saying is that perhaps some early tire failure is because of other issues that we have some control over.

... Mako, who once had a Uniroyal sidewall spit catastrophically ... luckily while going straight
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Patrick Mc Bride
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Patrick Mc Bride »

Hi Lisa maxxis /hercules load range d/e on 15" wheels or michelins lt xps on 16"pricey but good :thumbup:
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Bill Martin
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Bill Martin »

Tom Berry wrote:SImple answer... replace trailer tires every 2 to 3 years regardless of wear.
This^^^

Trailer tires are junk. Chinese STs are practically criminal. Tom's answer is your best shot.

Also ask/check the build codes molded into the tire -- don't accept any tire older than 1 yr.

Goodyear Marathons earned a good rep when made in USA and Canada. Now they're Chinese.

Maxxis are made in Thailand. Doesn't sound like an improvement, but they have the best reputation going.

Ultimate solution is to go with 16's and these:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... &tab=Specs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Truck tires, but they're OE on many very high dollar travel trailers. But they're big and probably more of a job than simple bolt-on.
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Craig Naylor
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Craig Naylor »

Mako Koiwai wrote:by balanced, you mean 10% of the weight on the tongue?
Balanced: There is more to a balanced trailer than hitting your tongue weight percentage. The bigger issue is to many people have their hitches at the wrong height. If it's to high, they offset the object forward to move the weight forward, to low, backward respectfully. They may now have their tongue weight at the proper %, but their load is very off balance on multi-axle trailers which will cause premature wear on one axle the tires, and/or the entire mounting hardware of the axles.

10%?: I didn't mention a specific % because I don't know what type of trailer Lisa has for her horses or car. But since you brought it up, 10% is not a fix all, for all trailers, and it's not a hard and fast rule. As you look at different manufactures, you will find their recommendations vary a bit based upon the total weight of the trailer. She may well have a 5th wheel or gooseneck, especially for her horses. Place only 10% on the front of the latter two and your in for trouble too. They typically have upwards of 20%-25% on the mount.
Last edited by Craig Naylor on Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Mako Koiwai
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Mako Koiwai »

Glad we only have a single axle - until we get a flat.
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by John Coffey »

Here's my most recent thinking after watching yet another set of junk trailer tires self destruct... And this is not a recommendation, just thinking out loud.

A 205/75-15 light truck tire (Dunlop RVXT) is rated at 1,593lbs at 44pis. A Goodyear POS trailer tire is rated at 1,820lbs at 50 psi. A 4,000lbs car on my `1,500lbs Featherlight trailer is 6,500lbs total weight (actually, I'm mostly carrying 3,000 lbs cars, but lets assume I'm hauling a Corvette :-) ). The carrying capacity of those 4 Dunlop tires is 6,372 and since I'll have 10% of the weight of trailer on the tongue (650lbs) that means each tire will be carrying 1,431lbs, well within the load capacity of the tire.

Just a thought...
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John Coffey
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by John Coffey »

BTW... if you go on a lot of the Airstream trailer forums most of those folks have given up on specific trailer tires and are using light truck tires. Most of those guys with a 7,500 GVWR trailer are running the Michelin LTX M/S2 in 235/75-15. 2,183lbs load capacity and a 6 year warranty.
Lisa Severy
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Lisa Severy »

Thank you to everyone who has posted advice. I am giving careful consideration to all your words of wisdom/experiences. For clarification - both of my trailers are "bumper pull". Car hauler is 22' and the horse trailer is a 3-horse slant-load. I am not sure how to measure tongue weight, but I do use "drop hitches" to ensure a visibly level stance/position for the trailer. We tie the car down with the goal of keeping it pretty much centered over the trailer wheels. I have not yet purchased new tires for the car hauler yet due to all the business travel I have been doing. I am considering going with a 16" wheel, instead of 15", because that may give me more options.
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Mako Koiwai
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Mako Koiwai »

Mike S. usually has his tongue scale with him if you want to measure it's weight
Lisa Severy
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Re: Recommendations for Car Trailer Tires?

Post by Lisa Severy »

Just wanted to post an update. I ended up getting Maxxis tires for my 22-ft Haulmark because they were readily available through our local tire shop. I have already hauled the car in the trailer with the new tires. I was amazed because I got more than 2 miles per gallon better fuel economy with the Maxxis tires than I ever got with the original Chinese Hi-Runs. With the price of diesel - I certainly appreciate the significant improvement! I could actually feel that the rolling resistance was less than with the previous tires. I also had to make an "hard stop" when someone cut in front of me and the light changed. The trailer stopped straight and quickly with no "drama". So far I am a happy customer!
Thank you to Mike Simanyi for suggesting Maxxis!
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