Bias vs Radial Trailer Tires

[SupremePossum]

I have a light tower that will live in my yard, and odds are it never moves. But its possible it would get towed somewhere once or twice. It has really old, super dry rotted tires

Can anyone weigh in on Radial vs Bias ply tires? I heard that Bias ply holds up better over time, even though you usually get less milage out of them. Since I won't be going many miles at all, it doesn't really matter

I'm looking at $235 all in from Discount Tire for Bias Ply, Radial has more choices and is slightly cheaper

 

[Elkins45]

Does one have a higher load rating? That one gives you more safety margin.

 

[ryanschillinger]

I’ve had good luck getting trailer tires from Walmart often already mounted ready to bolt on. Might check into that type of option. I don’t think there is a huge difference as long as they meet the required load ratings.

 

[The_Jeff]

That's a lot of money! When my tow dolly tires started cracking after 25 years in the sunshine I got new ones from Walmart for $26 each and mounted them myself.

 

[mk378]

Just get a couple of used car tires. It is safe and legal to use car tires on a trailer, but not the other way around.

 

[CapriRacer]

Lomg Version: Barry's Tire Tech: Bias vs Radial Tires

Short Version: You're only interested in durability = Bias

 

[FZ1]

I have a light tower that will live in my yard, and odds are it never moves. But its possible it would get towed somewhere once or twice. It has really old, super dry rotted tires

Can anyone weigh in on Radial vs Bias ply tires? I heard that Bias ply holds up better over time, even though you usually get less milage out of them. Since I won't be going many miles at all, it doesn't really matter

I'm looking at $235 all in from Discount Tire for Bias Ply, Radial has more choices and is slightly cheaper

View attachment 287370

I'm running Carlisle 6ply bias tires on my trailer no problems. Get 'em at your local DT and have DT mount and balance the tires for you. You can even just drive your trailer to DT and let them do it all for you. Hope this helps.

 

[Nick1994]

Look at Walmart. You can get 2 175/80R13 MasterTrack tires for $83, free shipping.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mastertr...assType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1600&adsRedirect=true

 

[chorty]

i've learned, anything new, that's better then what's on the trailer, will always be less dangerous when what's currently on the trailer.

Especially tires. They don't last. They never last. They cannot last. They're built to not last.

This comes from a man who had over 4100 tires in the backyard all across the 30 acres. I guess my old man wanted the iron of the rims. Well, i had a surprise in life, and they needed to gone in 3 months. The local recycler was selling the business out of state, and after that there was no one in the area to help me out. Then, after the 4 53ft semi trailers were delivered, i read the fine print, on the 3 month trailer contract, and apparently i didn't see the "no rims" part...(!!!!!!!) I had an angry moment in life.

10.00-20's, and 22.5 daytons are a brute to handle. had over 1000 of those.

I won. And i didn't use a tire changer.

TL;DR, just buy anything new, and don't roll down the road if it's more then 8-10 years old. They're unsafe and questionable. And don't collect them!

 

[nwjones18]

You can get tires with rims cheaper than that… last trailer spare I bought was $70 for a 205/75/15 with rim. Check fb market place lots of places near me have trailer wheels/tires by the pallet in different sizes. Here is a guy that has 13's with wheels for $72 for example

https://www.facebook.com/share/15rthjuWU2/



I have heard that bias tires last longer. I got 10yrs out of the last 12in set on my boat trailer

 

[loneryder]

I have a light tower that will live in my yard, and odds are it never moves. But its possible it would get towed somewhere once or twice. It has really old, super dry rotted tires

Can anyone weigh in on Radial vs Bias ply tires? I heard that Bias ply holds up better over time, even though you usually get less milage out of them. Since I won't be going many miles at all, it doesn't really matter

I'm looking at $235 all in from Discount Tire for Bias Ply, Radial has more choices and is slightly cheaper

View attachment 287370

Radials roll better for less drag.

 

[97prizm]

I have a light tower that will live in my yard, and odds are it never moves. But its possible it would get towed somewhere once or twice. It has really old, super dry rotted tires

Can anyone weigh in on Radial vs Bias ply tires? I heard that Bias ply holds up better over time, even though you usually get less milage out of them. Since I won't be going many miles at all, it doesn't really matter

I'm looking at $235 all in from Discount Tire for Bias Ply, Radial has more choices and is slightly cheaper

View attachment 287370

Radials roll better, flex less, are more puncture resistant etc. You wouldn't go back to using a points type ignition or , kerosene headlights. Not sure why bias ply is even a thing anymore.

 

[meep]

I thought trailer tires were essentially bias ply tires which can carry more weight. Was told never put radials on a load carrying trailer like camper or boat. Some folks can fit a LT tire on a trailer and be ok. ??

 

[vwmaniaman]

The sidewalls on radials flex more and are more likely to fish tale.

 

[CapriRacer]

Oh boy, do I need to comment!!

There's a type of tire called an ST tire. They are designed specifically for trailers. They come in sizes that look like passenger car tires, so they put the letters "ST" in front of the numbers so they won't get confused, because ST tires can carry a lot more load than a P type tire. As a general rule, you shouldn't put a P type tire on a trailer.

As far as a radial tire having more sidewall flex, that's sort of true, but radial trailer tires are designed with stiffer sidewalls and are no more prone to fish tailing than bias ply trailer tires.

 

[LouC]

Radials roll better, flex less, are more puncture resistant etc. You wouldn't go back to using a points type ignition or , kerosene headlights. Not sure why bias ply is even a thing anymore.

Because bias trailer tires have thicker sidewalls than radials. Look at any trailer radial’s construction & you’ll see a 2 ply polyester sidewall. That’s all you get till you go up to a full steel trailer radial; even a Load Range E radial, 2 plys of polyester in the sidewall. With a bias tire a load range D has double that. I have load range D Kenda Load Star bias tires so I can tell you that. So for rough roads, off road, bad boat ramps they are better. Radials better for high speed due to running cooler. I have used these tires for local towing for over 20 years with zero failures.

 

[CapriRacer]

Because they have thicker sidewalls than radials. Look at any trailer radial’s construction & you’ll see a 2 ply polyester sidewall. With a bias tire a load range D has double that.

Ya' know, Load Range D tires are sometimes known as 8 ply tires, so why do they only have 4 plies? Could it be that the plies can have different strengths? So couldn't you make a 2 ply as strong as an 8 ply? So maybe the number of plies isn't a good indicator of the strength?

 

[crashz]

If its towed seldom, I'd pick whatever is cheapest with a good margin of safety on the load rating. Then when parked, keep it supported by the jacks and cover the tires. They will likely fail by dry-rot versus wear.

 

[LouC]

Ya' know, Load Range D tires are sometimes known as 8 ply tires, so why do they only have 4 plies? Could it be that the plies can have different strengths? So couldn't you make a 2 ply as strong as an 8 ply? So maybe the number of plies isn't a good indicator of the strength?

That is possible I think. Because years ago the ply rating was the actual # of plies. Now it isn’t because different materials have different strength ratings. So an 8 ply rated tire can have an actual 2 ply sidewall due to better materials used. However, I still think that double the number of plies makes for a stronger sidewall. Here’s another quite significant difference:
Radial tire construction is much more demanding of proper quality control: this was a well known problem documented in both big Firestone recalls (the 500 radial & Wilderness AT recalls). So I would not buy cheap radials; when they come apart due to poor bonding of the steel belts they can literally rip a trailer fender clean off and really beat up the side of a trailer or a boat on a trailer. I have seen unused trailer radial spares just blow up due to poor bonding of the steel belts to the rubber carcass with the steel strands sticking out. . Bias ply tires just don’t do that; yes they will fail if overloaded or under inflated but not in such a destructive manner.
Moral of the story is don’t buy cheap radials, if you want cheap tires for local towing I’d use Kenda Load Star K550 tires. 22 years of using these not one failure not even a flat.
If I were doing long distance towing at high speeds I’d use Goodyear Endurance trailer tires. I have heard good things about Kenda Karrier radials but have no experience with them.
Also if you don’t want trailer tire problems get your trailer weighed. Many trailers are overloaded but the owners don’t know it. You want at least a 10% safety margin meaning that the tire isn’t loaded to more than 90% of its capacity.

 

[IndyIan]

Oh boy, do I need to comment!!

There's a type of tire called an ST tire. They are designed specifically for trailers. They come in sizes that look like passenger car tires, so they put the letters "ST" in front of the numbers so they won't get confused, because ST tires can carry a lot more load than a P type tire. As a general rule, you shouldn't put a P type tire on a trailer.

As far as a radial tire having more sidewall flex, that's sort of true, but radial trailer tires are designed with stiffer sidewalls and are no more prone to fish tailing than bias ply trailer tires.

That is a good general rule for sure. Some low profile trailers can fit bigger P tires with lots of capacity for the load rating though.
I have a single low profile snowmobile trailer that is rated for 2200# with 13" tires, so there are 13" 86 load rated P tires that cover that. Or I could fit 14" rims and get even more capacity.
In my use, it runs about 13-1400# with ~200lbs on the hitch and we go 65mph tops, so when the time comes to replace the ST tires, if they are ridiculously priced, I might just go with a P tire.