trailer tire options?

[The motor guy]

Can you just put regular vehicle tires on a trailer? I heard a while back that trailer tires are made specially to withstand the lateral forces that vehicles don't experience. Not sure if that's true. IE the scrubbing that trailer tires do around a turn.

 

[rubberchicken]

I have put car tires on a boat trailer before, and it seemed to work fine although the shoulders did seem to get more scrub wear. As long as they have the load capacity it should be fine. In the smaller sizes, say for smaller campers, PWC trailers in the 8 " and 12 " sizes, the trailer tires can be had from eBay quite cheaply- 4.80 x 12" tires as low as $25-30. Yes they are cheap Asian brands, but that is the only source left.

 

[FZ1]

Always use the trailer specific tires. Inflate the trailer tires to the max pressure on the sidewall. Happy Trails!

 

[Geauxtiger]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
Always use the trailer specific tires. Inflate the trailer tires to the max pressure on the sidewall. Happy Trails!


WHY? That is what is being asked.

I have always wondered the same. So many of the 'trailer specific' tires are terrible [censored]. Short wear life, dry rotting in only a couple of years, Chinese origin with zero warranty. Why would I not want to just get a pair of mid-line car or truck tires, so long as they meet the load requirements?
I feel very comfortable that the tires on my truck are wayyy better than the 'trailer tires' on my utility trailer.

Teach us why I need to keep purchasing those cheap 'trailer tires' for my trailer?

 

[Nick1994]

It depends on the setup. What size tires are on your trailer, and is there room to go bigger?

I have a 4x8 single axle trailer with an 8 foot 2014 Ram truck bed bolted to it.

I took the wheels into Discount Tire and told them it's for a 1987 Chevy C10. 235/75-15. If they're good enough for a truck, they're good enough for my light duty trailer.

 

[Geauxtiger]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994

I took the wheels into Discount Tire and told them it's for a 1987 Chevy C10. 235/75-15. If they're good enough for a truck, they're good enough for my light duty trailer.



Exactly my thought. What would make a tire good enough for a truck, yet not good enough for a utility trailer?

 

[asand1]

After working for a major tire chain here in the PNW, I would never run a trailer tire on a trailer. simply put, they are garbage. I have seen way too many blown out, thrown tread, completely shredded. You cant convince me that an LT tire wouldn't be better.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: rubberchicken
I have put car tires on a boat trailer before, and it seemed to work fine although the shoulders did seem to get more scrub wear.


Wouldn't you get a bunch more scrub wear on a dual axle trailer than a single?

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: Geauxtiger
Originally Posted By: Nick1994

I took the wheels into Discount Tire and told them it's for a 1987 Chevy C10. 235/75-15. If they're good enough for a truck, they're good enough for my light duty trailer.



Exactly my thought. What would make a tire good enough for a truck, yet not good enough for a utility trailer?


Capacity. Trailer tires arr usually rated for more weight than similar car/truck sizes.

 

[bioburner]

You can get different load capacities with larger trailer tires in 15 inch anyway. I haul a hazardous load and pretty much max out the tires on dual axle.(Goodyear Marathon)Yes one does get more scrub on a dual axle setup.
My single axles usually get decent vehicle tires. Most single axle trailers are not much more than 1 ton and if more should have brake systems

 

[Chris142]

Passenger car tires on mine.

 

[Driz]

Originally Posted By: asand1
After working for a major tire chain here in the PNW, I would never run a trailer tire on a trailer. simply put, they are garbage. I have seen way too many blown out, thrown tread, completely shredded. You cant convince me that an LT tire wouldn't be better.


Well said. Most tires today Are poor to the point of being terrible unless you buy the ultra premium's . Trailer tires do have some kind of special magic that they just crack and weather check. . It's funny I had a pair of good years on my boat trailer from 1990 and I use them until five years ago and the [censored] things were all weather checked and crack but I didn't care cause I didn't go far with it so it didn't matter. But they still held up fine.
If I was hauling light to medium loads I wouldn't think twice about putting regular truck tires on there. I said stay around the normal type the speed limit like 55 and then go flying down the interstate at 80 like a lot of idiots do. [censored] I always haul a ton of gravel in the back of my old Chevy pickup and it has nothing special for tires. I've never seen anything of a problem come of it but again I don't fly down the highway .
I do know if you Gotta Gotta have ST tires Carlisle does make some in the states. I found out the hard way that if you want Carlisle it [censored] well better by the bias tires because they're the ones made in the states . if you get radials they are coming out of China. Guess which ones I ended up with for the daughters horse trailer? They started cracking promptly after about a year and a half.
I read somewhere about five years back that you're having trouble keeping up with the demand for real rubber because it only comes from three small Indonesian countries. Consequently the manufacturers are trying to put less and less and all the tires and keep the price down. About that time that they put a huge like 50% tariff on tires going into China. Some sort of trade issue. Funny as bad as they were before that's about the time they started really getting poorer and you can imagine why if the price doubled. Try to get whatever you get maide anywhere in the first world. Also don't ever depend on the namebrand being US that indicate it'll be made in the US because they're scattered all over the place. It's even harder to tell because there's no requirement to Mark US may goods to show place of origin although lately they've been stamp and made me US on a lot of the tires . One thing you can count on though is if it's made in a foreign country it will have the foreign country stamped on the tire so the one that has nothing is probably the one made in the US, go figure

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: rubberchicken
I have put car tires on a boat trailer before, and it seemed to work fine although the shoulders did seem to get more scrub wear.


Wouldn't you get a bunch more scrub wear on a dual axle trailer than a single?


Yes they scrub, they're worn out after like 4000 miles. Whoever said to inflate them to the max is [censored]. All they will do is wear in the middle and you'll only be left with tread on the shoulder of the tire. Same thing with overinflating on your car.

 

[meep]

it's all about load. Travel trailers for instance might put 6,000 lbs above two axles with small space to work in. I couldn't source an LT that would fit. So my choices were passenger tires and trailer tires. Passenger tires might barely handle the weight ratings, but at the constant 65psi they'd need to do it, they stop holding air after a year. Seen it many times with boat owners. If I could have found an LT I would have gone that route, but since I can't, I stick with trailer tires.

Also consider, a TT will keep the wheels loaded year around. a utility trailer only needs to carry the weight when loaded.

Depends on use case....

 

[meep]

it's all about load. Travel trailers for instance might put 6,000 lbs above two axles with small space to work in. I couldn't source an LT that would fit. So my choices were passenger tires and trailer tires. Passenger tires might barely handle the weight ratings, but at the constant 65psi they'd need to do it, they stop holding air after a year. Seen it many times with boat owners. If I could have found an LT I would have gone that route, but since I can't, I stick with trailer tires.

Also consider, a TT will keep the wheels loaded year around. a utility trailer only needs to carry the weight when loaded.

Depends on use case....

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
It depends on the setup. What size tires are on your trailer, and is there room to go bigger?

I have a 4x8 single axle trailer with an 8 foot 2014 Ram truck bed bolted to it.

I took the wheels into Discount Tire and told them it's for a 1987 Chevy C10. 235/75-15. If they're good enough for a truck, they're good enough for my light duty trailer.


My tires are 205/75/R15 tires I believe. I mean the good news is tires can be found off amazon for like $50 bucks each, although I don't think they'll last long. I had a spare on for a couple day 50 miles maybe? You could visually see the wear.

 

[Shellguy]

Gladiator radials is all I use on my boat trailer for what it's worth...zero issues

 

[Donald]

Either trailer tires or LT tires. And if a heavy duty trailer, then look at the tire load rating. My boat trailer had "D" rated tires for example.

 

[The motor guy]

I guess the question I'm asking is will I get more tread life out of the LT tires? Or will they be shot in 4,000 miles also?

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
My tires are 205/75/R15 tires I believe. I mean the good news is tires can be found off amazon for like $50 bucks each, although I don't think they'll last long. I had a spare on for a couple day 50 miles maybe? You could visually see the wear.


To answer the first question you asked: As a general rule, you can NOT replace trailer tires with other types of tires. Passenger car tires don't have the load carrying capacity (1598# vs 1820# in ST205/75R15 LR C) - and light truck tires don't exist in the proper sizes.

If you are willing to take some time, you might be able to find something that works, but you'll need to examine the rim size (width in particular), load carrying capacity, and clearance on the vehicle (don't forget the tires are flexible and can eat up that 1/2" space you may think is plenty!)

Also, I wouldn't buy from Amazon. That is one way to guarantee that you'll get those awful Chinese tires. If you are going to do mail order, use Tire Rack or Discount Tire Direct. Better, order through a local dealer.

BTW, it isn't so much that Chinese tires are made badly, it's that the Chinese are still catching up as to what is needed to perform - that is, design! Carlisle, Maxxis, and Goodyear seem to be catching on much more rapidly in the ST market.

And trailer tires don't typically wear out. Age is the biggest reason for removal. Depending on where you live, 5 to 10 years is the limit.

So if you are seeing much wear on your trailer tires, you need to look at the alignment. (Yes!, Trailers can be out of alignment!)