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Old 08-28-2010, 03:03 PM   #1
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Interesting Tire opinion.

Interesting Tire opinion.

I went to a local Trailer dealer the other day to have them look over my hitch height and give me any recommendations. They said everything was fine…….

This place has been in the trailer business for over 50 years.

What I was told is that I should not run trailer tires. Reason being, that trailer tires do not have to meet the rigorous standards of passenger car tires. This allows trailer tires to be made very inexpensively and they often have very poor build quality.

His experiences have shown a much higher rate of failure with trailer tires.

I was then told that I should get a quality passenger car tire.


I thought this was interesting…….



I then went to a well known tire dealer in the Pacific Northwest and was told only to run a trailer tire on a trailer. lol
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Old 08-28-2010, 03:08 PM   #2
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I was told the same thing once so i have been running car tires but i don't know if there is any real diff. The car tire is just a little wider but I have not noticed any diff in the way it pulls or anything.


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Originally Posted by Mark G. View Post
Interesting Tire opinion.

I went to a local Trailer dealer the other day to have them look over my hitch height and give me any recommendations. They said everything was fine…….

This place has been in the trailer business for over 50 years.

What I was told is that I should not run trailer tires. Reason being, that trailer tires do not have to meet the rigorous standards of passenger car tires. This allows trailer tires to be made very inexpensively and they often have very poor build quality.

His experiences have shown a much higher rate of failure with trailer tires.

I was then told that I should get a quality passenger car tire.


I thought this was interesting…….



I then went to a well known tire dealer in the Pacific Northwest and was told only to run a trailer tire on a trailer. lol
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Old 08-28-2010, 04:44 PM   #3
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I've been running pass tires on all my trailers for years. The only time I've had problems is on my utility trailer--- a 25 year old recap snow tire shucked its tread-- still held air tho. I buy tires at my local wrecking yard for about $10 a pop, run them a few years and then throw'em away (sometimes sell them again). I just look for ones with stiff sidewalls. Larry
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Old 08-28-2010, 07:03 PM   #4
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Cool I would believe the TIRE specialist.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark G. View Post
Interesting Tire opinion.

What I was told is that I should not run trailer tires. Reason being, that trailer tires do not have to meet the rigorous standards of passenger car tires. This allows trailer tires to be made very inexpensively and they often have very poor build quality.

His experiences have shown a much higher rate of failure with trailer tires.

I was then told that I should get a quality passenger car tire.

I thought this was interesting…….

I then went to a well known tire dealer in the Pacific Northwest and was told only to run a trailer tire on a trailer. lol
My 17" passenger car tires are inflated to 32-35 pounds, which is pretty standard. My 12" trailer tires require inflation to 60 pounds. Seems to me that needing a higher pressure would mean a better, not poorer tire. I do know that IF they are only inflated to 35 pounds, then the sidewalls flex too much and they fail quicker. I've had to remind supposed "experts" that the trailer tires require more than 32 pounds.

I buy all of my tires from a trusted TIRE specialist.
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Old 08-29-2010, 03:10 PM   #5
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Ask yourself this........why do they make trailer tires ?.....then ask the dopey salesman
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Old 08-29-2010, 04:15 PM   #6
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I run trailer tires. I just thought two totally opposite opinions was interesting.
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Old 08-29-2010, 08:52 PM   #7
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The construction of a trailer tire is so different than a passenger tire I would think you would want the features that the trailer tire gives. The big one has already been mentioned, sidewalls are much stiffer on a trailer tire, for this reason they are bias ply. The stiffer sidewalls reduce sway.

Passenger tires are designed to be used on front wheels, they need to handle turns and changes in direction, trailer tires are designed as "followers".

Heat build up would be a concern on a passenger tire, heat is related to pressure. The higher the pressure the better able to handle heat. My different trailer tires have carried 50 or 95 psi, much different than my truck tire at 34 psi.

I like the comment, why do they make trailer tires? Must be something different going on with trailers, otherwise all trailers would come with passenger or truck tires.
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Old 08-30-2010, 06:32 AM   #8
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The person who is responsible for the 2010 Quebec Bolerama just went from QC to BC with his Boler, he had 2 new passenger tires installed, blew them both during his trip and replaced with proper trailer tires, no blowout problem since then.
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Old 08-30-2010, 04:30 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark G. View Post
Interesting Tire opinion.


His experiences have shown a much higher rate of failure with trailer tires.

I was then told that I should get a quality passenger car tire.


I thought this was interesting…….



I then went to a well known tire dealer in the Pacific Northwest and was told only to run a trailer tire on a trailer. lol
The passenger tire might be ok for a 13' camper and I can agree with him 100% if he'd have said Light Truck tire. Basically trailer tires have much stronger sidewalls than P and LT because they are designed for tandem axles. Tires on tandem axles making turns do a lot of fighting each other trying to get back inline and usually a lot of side skidding is going on. tires on single axle trailer do the same thing on a trailer as they do on a light truck, just haul the tail end around, on corners one speeds up and the other slows down making light truck tires a good match for single axle usage Trailer tires are also speed rated for 65mph or they will fail much sooner. I have a 17' Casita and the first 20,000 miles I towed it I went through 3 sets of ST tires, in the last 25-30 miles I've used the same pair of Maxxis "D" rated Light truck tires, when I first started dragging trailer (all types) back in the 50's we used retread pickup tread tires. they were bad, bad, bad
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Old 08-31-2010, 06:30 AM   #10
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In fact what I have been told by my neighbour yesterday (he's working for Firestone), that ST tires combine passenger car construction and use bigger polyester and steel cords, this results in tires that have stronger construction than P and softer sidewall than LT, also they are using extra UV protector and a little different rubber material so they can better support storage and stay longer time in the same spot, they are also softer on the suspension compare to LT. He mentionned to me that the main reason why even a good quality ST tire is rated for 65mph only is that special rubber material used.

He also recommanded to me to use LT if I do a lot of long highway rides at speed limit and to use ST otherwise. He warned me that going from ST to LT often require mag or rim change, and to change tires after 5 or 6 years of use.
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Old 08-31-2010, 07:34 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Michel, Bouchard View Post
In fact what I have been told by my neighbour yesterday (he's working for Firestone), that ST tires combine passenger car construction and use bigger polyester and steel cords, this results in tires that have stronger construction than P and softer sidewall than LT, also they are using extra UV protector and a little different rubber material so they can better support storage and stay longer time in the same spot, they are also softer on the suspension compare to LT. He mentionned to me that the main reason why even a good quality ST tire is rated for 65mph only is that special rubber material used.

He also recommanded to me to use LT if I do a lot of long highway rides at speed limit and to use ST otherwise. He warned me that going from ST to LT often require mag or rim change, and to change tires after 5 or 6 years of use.
I tend to agree with your Firestone employee.
I put 4 radial ST tires on my Award trailer 2000 miles ago. The 4 old bias ply couldn't agree on which direction the trailer would go and scrubbed the tread off two of the tires in about 2,500 miles. Front left and Rear right tires. Can hardly tell the new tires have any wear. Also trailer quit fidgeting at highway speed.
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Old 08-31-2010, 09:12 AM   #12
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For over 10 years we used low profile tires on car wheels, on our open car trailer which was used to transport our race car and spares , equipment , tools etc. at obscene speeds over great distances. when we switched to a larger enclosed trailer only trailer tires were acceptable.
I use trailer tires on my Scamp, and have for 45000 miles.
Never had a tire failure on a trailer,and it's been 25 years since the last tire failure on a car or light truck.
The secret to minimizing problems with tires is proper pressures [generally high] and frequent inspection. I touch my trailer tires and hubs at every fuelstop. Check pressure and inspect tires at least before every trip and after trailer has set [like at a campground] for a few days.
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Old 08-31-2010, 10:11 AM   #13
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Michel, thanks for checking with your neighbor and posting the information - I didn't know that.

Floyd, with such a good record with trailer tires, can I ask what brand you run - and are they 13"? I've been okay so far, but I've never been all that excited about any of the trailer tire brands I could find in 13" size. And I have not been able to test mine for 45,000 miles yet! (I wish!)
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Old 08-31-2010, 01:44 PM   #14
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Not to hijack the thread, but does anybody rotate their trailer tires? After my 7000 mile Alaska trip, I saw that my driver side trailer tire was more worn than the curb side. The driver side of the Burro has all the appliances and cabinets so it's quite a bit heavier than the curb side. I wound up getting new tires anyway but thinking to rotate these every couple thousand miles to make them last longer (bias ply 185/80/13)
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Old 09-02-2010, 05:59 AM   #15
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Hi Brian, you need to clean your mailbox, it is full ;-)
To answer your question, no they don't sell any under their brand name and he was referring to ST tires in general, but they also manufacture ST tires for "other" brand name(s), he couldn't actually mentionned it (or them), but my OWN guess would be for Galaxy Road Rider ST Radial. When I got my Boler there was one installed on the driver side, it is marked as made in US (DOT 2108), the other side is an older Goodyear (DOT 1807) Marathon. But my spare is also a Galaxy Road Rider, this one is made in Canada (DOT 2308). The only tire manufacture I know in Canada (there may be others, I'm really not sure) is Bridgestone/Firestone in Joliette QC.
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