Good information about trailer tires

[Iggy]

For all the new owners out there please read.

Trailer Tire Problems


Trailers have the best performance when all of their tires are free of damage and corrosion. It is extremely important to maintain the tire's health by periodically checking the trailer's tires, especially before taking long road trips. Invest in a tire inflation gauge to keep inflation pressure up. Low tire inflation is the number-one cause of tire problems.
Trailer Tire Under inflation
o Failure to inflate to the correct air pressure can negatively effect the trailer's tire inflation. A trailer that sits idle for long periods of time without being checked for air pressure will lose inflation. The trailer has a certain maximum pound-per-square inch (PSI) limit which is listed on the side of the tire. Tires that are inflated less than the inflation level can significantly affect the load carrying capacity.
Climate and Temperature
o Extreme climates and unstable temperatures can also affect the tire's inflation and performance. Temperatures changing every 10° Fahrenheit reduce the tires air pressure by 1 PSI, and increase by 1 PSI when temperatures become warmer. Moderate changes in climate and temperatures can potentially devastate a trailer tire, reducing air pressure by 5 PSI; a loss this significant not only affects the load capacity, but the tire's durability and traction.
Trailer Tire Mileage
o Trailer tires can become worn after 5,000 to 12,000 miles on the road when they are not maintained or replaced. Tires can develop many cracks and bulges that disturb tire traction, and can no longer be maintained once damage sets in. According to The Reinalt-Thomas Corporation (discounttires.com), "The life of a trailer tire is limited by time and duty cycles."
Speed
o The trailer's tire can only take so much speed. Tires running over 65 miles per hour are at risk for damage; as the friction builds to higher speeds, the tires become heated, weakening the tires' infrastructure, which can lead to tire traction damage.
Maintenance
Tires that are not replaced, kept in good condition, and are not checked for cracks more than 2/32" deep will bulge. Trailer tires that are not checked for sidewall damage can potentially break off, and lead to air pressure loss, which can cause a blow-out on the roads. When one tire can no longer hold up, the

[Nigels]

Good info John!

Hey why didn't you tell my dealer this and save me so much pain

[Terier]

"When one tire can no longer hold up, the"

Your post is missing the ending to the last line.

[Nigels]

Originally Posted by Terier

"When one tire can no longer hold up, the"

Your post is missing the ending to the last line.

"the rest will just explode like all good Chinese tires"

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by Terier

"When one tire can no longer hold up, the"

Your post is missing the ending to the last line.

THE TIRE BLEW...............had no time to finish post.........

[Nigels]

Originally Posted by Terier

"When one tire can no longer hold up, the"

Your post is missing the ending to the last line.

"the rest are sure to go just one day after the tire warranty expires"

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by Nigels

Good info John!

Hey why didn't you tell my dealer this and save me so much pain

Good to hear from you both.
How has your new tires been doing?
I have 5,800 miles on my Duro and they are still look great.

What tires and size did you get just in case for future reference.
John

[Iggy]

Sorry, here is the full paragraph

• When one tire can no longer hold up, the others must support the extra trailer weight. This can cause an weight overload, contributing to the internal damage and possible blow-out on other tires.
  
  

[sherdep]

thanks for the post

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by sherdep

thanks for the post

Your welcome.

It seems that tires are always a big issue and in 99% of the time they are not at the proper pressure prior to a trip.
I have read many folks blame the tire manufacturers but in most cases it is just simple inspection and checking COLD tire pressure and adjust.

I have owned many trailers and I have had 2 blowouts and it was my fault in not checking the tire pressure prior to hitting the road.
Oh I forgot to mention was doing 75 mph plus when both happened.

Now my max is 65 mph or my DW will spack the living #$%@! out of me.

[Nigels]

Originally Posted by Iggy

Good to hear from you both.
How has your new tires been doing?
I have 5,800 miles on my Duro and they are still look great.

What tires and size did you get just in case for future reference.
John

Hi John, the tires have done +-13000kms and look great, they are E rated which is a huge overkill for a 9000lb trailer, or is it? Considering that a lot of the posts about tire failure are about C rated tires that tells me that they were not up to the job on my RV even though FR think they were.

Your post highlights how critical it is to care for tires, and in a perfect world C rated tires should work, however, scrubbing a kerb, hitting a pothole or rock, poor road surface, slightly under inflated, uneven loading of the trailer, sun and/or side wind on one side all day, all add more factors to the critical equation. IMO overkill raises the blow out level.

The Chinese stamp a max load rating on the wall of a tire, does anyone know how this is determined, I'll bet with a machine rolling back and forth with a predetermined load in lab conditions but without all the extra factors I mentioned above.

Buy a Skill, Makita, Bosch, De Walt, drilling machine and it will last for years, buy a cheap Chinese one and you will be rucky it will last a season!

[Smokyroo]

The load rating of a tire be it A, B, C, D E is an industry standard.I am not an engineer but play one on the internet. The load range is determined by the construction of the tire in terms of number of plys and so forth as well as the size. Many of These are American companies who have tires built in China, some are Chinese companies of course.

Tire pressure is key to the longevity of the tire as Iggy mentioned on the original post. I have only lost boat trailer tires to failure and was due to hub bearing issues primarily. For what it is worth I only run radial tires on all our trailers.

[PapaSmurf]

Here is a quick question, my new unit has the NitroFill tires, do you just put air in them? If there is any real benefit to the nitrogen fill, I do not want to deminish that benefit, but I do not want to travel halfway across the country to get nitrogen either.

[Triguy]

There are mixed opinions about Nitrogen filled tires and I don't believe there is anything conclusive that its helpful. In fact, I think its a marketing scam.

Regular compressed air is about 78% nitrogen so I use that.