Where to buy tires (tire dealer/rv dealer)

[TeresaInCAL]

Quote from e-how:
"Have the tires professionally mounted AND balanced. Most RV tires are not balanced from the factory and can lead to tire failure if they are not balanced correctly."

How to Choose the Right Tires for Your Towable RV | eHow.com

[amxpress]

1) I would be concerned about installing Goodyear Marathon tires, instead choosing an ST tire by Maxxis or Kumho. They can order them if not in stock.
2) As mentioned, the new tires should be balanced. If it rolls, spins or rotate; balance it.
3) As mentioned, install steel valve stems, they last longer.
4) As long as they don't place the jack under the axles to raise the trailer, you should be good to go.
Good Luck.

[pdchristensen]

Originally Posted by Road-King

IMO any tire that your going to drive over 25 mph (give or take), it is worth the added little expense for a balance.

You will have to bare with my questions...as I am somewhat new to the trailering world and appreciate the feedback from this forum, but I try to do a lot of online research to get as much understanding as I can.

Regarding the issue on balancing tires, I come across this in some threads..

There's no point in balancing trailer tires according to the manufacturer of our trailer,. According to the factory, trailer hubs are not balanced therefore balancing trailer tires would be a waste of time and money. Thats according to the trailer manufacturer.

Can anyone comment on that ???

[amxpress]

There's no point in balancing trailer tires according to the manufacturer of our trailer,. According to the factory, trailer hubs are not balanced therefore balancing trailer tires would be a waste of time and money. Thats according to the trailer manufacturer.

The ONLY reason trailer manufactuers don't balance tires is because of price. They buy the tires & wheels as an assembly from a vendor at a very low price. If that vendor was to balance each tire, they would have to increase the price to the trailer manufactuer.
Axle hubs are cast and machined and are small in diameter when compared to a tire, they don't need balancing.
I have a NVH analyzer which is used in the automotive industry to measure vibrations in vehicles. I mounted it in a 22' Jayco TT with dual axles and 13" tires. I recorded a reading at 55 mph. I then balanced the tires and took another reading. Prior to balancing, the reading was in excess of 30 Dbg, off the scale. After balancing, the reading was below 10 Dbg, a substantial difference.
Balance your trailer tires, your trailer will thank you for it...if it could.

[pdchristensen]

Originally Posted by amxpress

The ONLY reason trailer manufactuers don't balance tires is because of price. They buy the tires & wheels as an assembly from a vendor at a very low price. If that vendor was to balance each tire, they would have to increase the price to the trailer manufactuer.
Axle hubs are cast and machined and are small in diameter when compared to a tire, they don't need balancing.
I have a NVH analyzer which is used in the automotive industry to measure vibrations in vehicles. I mounted it in a 22' Jayco TT with dual axles and 13" tires. I recorded a reading at 55 mph. I then balanced the tires and took another reading. Prior to balancing, the reading was in excess of 30 Dbg, off the scale. After balancing, the reading was below 10 Dbg, a substantial difference.
Balance your trailer tires, your trailer will thank you for it...if it could.

Thanks for the feedback. Good thing you have all that equimpent. I am not even close to considering investment into high tech analyzers.

[Misterdanderson]

If you add air to Nitrogen you will have proportional loss of value. Nitrogen is a better inflator than regular air because the molecules are bigger so you get less seepage through the porous rubber. As far as I know Discount/America's Tire do not offer it, but that doesn't bother me. I check my air constantly and adjust as needed. You can gain/lose about 1 psi of air pressure for every 10 degrees of ambient air temp change, so here in AZ I ended up adjusting pressures down when it gets hotter and up when cooler and don't want to mess around with Nitrogen fills every time I need to adjust.

[Misterdanderson]

Absolutely balance tires. You create a lot of strain on a tire when not balanced. Think about it this way: What if I told you to run a 30 mile race with a 4 to 8 oz weight on one leg and not the other. The imbalance causes a strain. Tires usually (and naturally) have a heavy spot of up to about 4 oz, sometimes more (if a tire requires a lot of weight to balance often you can reduce that by turning the tire on the rim 180 degrees then re-inflating bc the wheel often has a heavy spot too so if they oppose each other you get a natural balance but if on same side it increases the "heavy" spot.).. Balancing a tire is really a counterbalance to the inherent weight difference so it rolls smoothly. Even if a tire doesn't shake at speeds it will live an easier life with less stress if kept balanced. Also, balancing should be done About every 5k or in my opinion once per year if you dont travel much bc balance changes over time due to inconsistencies of wear, potholes, etc.

[Poppy94]

i concur on the nitrogen being somewhat proportional. with nitrogen being inert, there's no "water vapor" to fall out of the gas to rust the inside of the wheels. years ago in our big trucks and heavy equipment, we ran just regular atmospheric air but we added a gallon of antifreeze to the inside of the tire to wash the wheel and keep rust from forming on the inside. it helped, but then again, those tires were subjected to a lot of heavy hauling and dirty/sandy conditions. i wouldn't do that to my wheels nowadays.