Radial Trailer Tires

C

C-WEED

New member
Can anyone report on radial tire experiences? I have a tandem trailer that I have put several thousand miles on and the prior owner had too as he pulled it up and down the east coast between Florida and Cape Cod several times.

Two bias-ply tires are Tow-Master and two are Nanco. They seam like good tires compared to some others I have seen. The tires have at least 1/2 the tread. Pretty even tread wear. Overall they look great with no checking or dry rot on the side walls at all. When servicing the bearings a very close inspection showed crackes in all four tires deep down in the tread grooves. The larger cracks being on the front axle.
I am sure the tread will seperate soon. I carry three spares.

I tow with a 1/2 ton 4x4 truck with 32 inch tires. So it sits up pretty good and barely squats when hitched up. Still I notice a slight down hill on the trailer when hooked up. So the front wheels are carring more load. I plan to go from a 2 1/2" reciever rise to a 6" receiver rise to try to level the trailer and make the four tires share the load better. I am sure this will cause the back wheels to scrub more in turns.

Does anyone use a 6" rise receiver? Can anyone report on radial tire wear? You can usually run radials till they are almost smooth on a car without seperation. I wonder if that is true on the trailers?
 
Chris
On our recent trip to Cathlamet, I lost on of the trailer tires. It didn't blow-out, but lost about 12" of tread. Put on the spare and limped into Longview. The tires were original to the trailer, showed lots of tread left, but still 17 years old. The Les Shwab dealer recommended radials over bias ply. The radials are rated for 500# more then their best bias tire. The trailer seemed to tow better, and my stress level, while towing, has gone way down with the new tires. :thup
 
I been running Goodyear Marathon Radials for a few years strait now... love'm :thup :thup No problems, run cooler even :thup and when the old trailer crosses some rail road tracks; it makes only a fraction the noise and vibration the old Bias Ply tires used to. I'd not dream of going back to non-radials. Ever!
 
I saw on the web that load range "D" - 13" Marathons are available, but I could not locate any locally. Didn't want to pay shipping charge. I stumbled on to some RV sites about Marathons.
Some swore by them and some swore at them. Most problems were with the 15" tires. It sounded to me like some 5th wheels are just overloaded for the tire.

I ordered two load range "C" tires. I have three other new poly spares mounted. My plan is to have two radials on one axle and two poly tires on the other axle. Should make for a good side by side comparison. I don't think handling will be a problem like it is on a car. Here in the South you can easily cook breakfast on the road. Hopefully the radials will handle the heat and the load. Then I'll buy more radials as the poly tires wear.
 
C-Weed,

Here's a website that I get my trailer tires from www.tirerack.com If they have a outlet near you, all you have to do is place your order and go to the warehouse and pick up the tires (No Shipping).

Bill
 
Bill, I had stumbled across that site. They are not in my area and don't offer load range "D: Marathons. But the price is sure good. I found some locally. Two are mounted now and running fine. The cracked poly tires failed and am now ready to purchase two more Marathons. They seem much better.
 
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