Tread wear on trailer tires.

[smittypaddler]

It's Tuesday evening, and I'm in the Days Inn in Mount Dora, Florida,
about 20 miles from Sanford, where I intend to launch tomorrow for a
week of cruising on the St Johns River before driving up to Welaka to
the cottage I rented for February and March. Today, about 50 miles west
of Tallahassee, when I checked the trailer after filling up with gas, I noticed
considerable tire wear, but only on the inner edge of the tire, where it's
not immediately noticeable. Further checking showed wear on all four
trailer tires, to the point there wasn't more than a 16th of an inch
of tread in some cases, but only on the outer, and sometimes inner,
inch or two of the tire.

I found a Road-Mart in Marianna, Florida. I told the manager the
trailer tires probably didn't have more than 5000 total miles on
them, and he said the mileage wasn't nearly as important as the age
of the tires. He said 4 years was about as much as you could normally
expect. I bought the trailer new with my C-Dory in 2004. He also
ecommended radials, so for $312.96, I had all four
tires replaced. He was right about the radials; the first 1300 miles
from Wisconsin I averaged 12.1 mpg, and 12.9 mpg thne next 300 miles
with the new radials. If those figures continue I figure at $3 a gallon
for gas, I'll save about $15 for every 1,000 miles I pull the trailer.
However, I'm also convinced that, had I rotated the trailer tires
every 500 miles or so I also would've gotten more life out of them.
At least that's what I'm going to try with the new ones.

 

[thataway]

As some of you remember I had a similar problem with tires--but my tires were new. Mine were worn out at about 5000 miles. Our decision was that probably that the trailer was not accurately level. Also wear on the outer edges of tires tends to suggest the pressure is on the low side. Keep the tires at the proper pressure for the load--probably at the max--it may be 40 to 60 PSI.

The age is usually related to the side wall cracking and tire rot. Most folks say replace at 6 years. I did this for my RV--even though I had plenty of tread left. Storing inside, using UV inhibitors, and shading the tires may help. Also the tires may be a couple of years old when you get them. The date is on the side walls.

Be cautious about comming to conclusions about mileage on only one tank of fuel. You may have had a tail wind etc.

 

[Dreamer]

If I read the post correctly, the wear was on the inner edge only. This would indicate a camber misalignment, tires tipped in at the top, out at the bottom. Hopefully the Sea-Pal captain will chime in here for comment, being the tire expert. I expect you'll eventually get the same wear on the new tires.

Possible causes would seem to be a load too heavy for the trailer (flexing the axles) or some bent parts. I would guess the former since the wear was even on all tires. It's not easy or common to get a boat and trailer on an alignment rack to check the specs, but it could be done with an understanding and interested technician.

 

[T.R. Bauer]

There are a lot of things that can cause this. A lot of sway (for a number of reasons) can cause it as the trailer is going back and forth for your whole trip. You'd be surprised how much tire wear will result from a small amount of swaying.