[matey]

i need new tires for my boat trailer. it is a dual axle 9500# rated with torsion axles. tires on there now are only 4 years old and though not dissatisfied i think they could have worn better. they are carlisle ST225/75D 15. any recommendations on what to get or stay away from? radials versus bias ply?
thanks for your input.
Barry

 

[J Lavender]

I would definately stick with radials. They are just better for several reasons. Goodyear Marathons are probably the best but are quite expensive.

Excessive tire wear could be caused by improper inflation or trailer axle alignment issues.

Also, I use armorall tire foam on mine to prevent dry-rot.

 

[mikie]

Only advice I would give would be to definitely use "trailer" tires, not regular car tires, because they have have higher load and ply ratings especially for trailers.

 

[Sandtiger]

Stay with the ST rating on your tires. It stands for Special Trailer.

Depends on what your tailer is made to have on it. My trailer manufacturer states to use bias tires. I use Denmans and have had good perfromance over the years.

Normal radials have too much give in the sidewalls and are not suited for this type of use. There are ST rated radials and if you go with the radial, ensure it is an ST rated tire.

Buy a set of tire covers for them like the RV people use. Cover them when not in use. It will lengthen the life of your tires.

 

[matey]

thanks guys for the responses. i talked w/ loadrite and they said rads or bias would work on my trailer. i ended up going with teh tow master radials. my dealer tells me these are the goodyear generic version of marathons. price was about half the marathons. i will let you know how they work after this weekend.
Barry

 

[freeflow_23]

I have a trailer for a small lake boat and was thinking that when it came time to replacing the tires I would find some generic little radial tires like on a small compact car. Since weight/load isn't much of an issue, do you see any reason why they shouldn't work?

 

[matey]

Freeflow, as long as weight and size is not an issue it should be okay. although you might find that trailer tires in the smaller ranges are less expensive than car tires.

 

[woody]

Some manufactures don't balance trailer tires, this will cause them to wear out quickly. My advice, special trailer tires as mentioned above and make sure they are balanced.

 

[Spkdude669]

Bearings also play a part if not tightened properly.

I gave a new set of tires to a friend when I got a new trailer, also included bearing buddies. Had them on mine for over a year.

Followed him a month later when he complained they were wearing bad. Put the bearing buddies on, greased it up after he said the bearings were just done(by him). Couple miles down the road the first buddy came off, followed by the second shortly after.
Couldn't tell from being behind him, but after jacking it up and checking the side to side play they were way loose. Trashed the tires.
Lesson learned (by him)- Tighten, spin, back off, check again after running a few miles. Side to side, and in and out.

Mark

 

[OUTCAST1]

Use the ones off yore house! You ain't fishing and moving the same day![excited][excited][excited]

 

[john pearce]

balanced radials

 

[Sandtiger]

Here's a link to a technical setion of How To articles on trailers. It has instructions for a lot of items for trailer maintenance and such.

http://www.championtrailers.com/techsup.html

Good place for information and you can check it out against what you 'hear'. [grin]