OK to park trailer with 30 psf air in tire

[DannyH]

To get my trailer in and out of the garage I have to deflate the tires to 30 psf. I just took it to the scales and used my air compressor to get it back up to 50 for driving.

My question is if it's bad for the tire to store it in the garage with 30 psf, close to what is in my car tire, or should I re-inflate them in the garage to 50 psf for storage. It's just one more step, but I didn't know if it might damage the side wall at 30psf. At 30 psf it doesn't look to be bulging out much more than 50.

As a side. The trailer with all the wood work, loaded with water, propane and clothes was just at 1700#. The only thing we would add is some food. I could get ride of 150# without the water, but wanted to see how it handled at that weight. With all the wood cabinets, it's not a light weight, but the weight seems fine and the SUV pulled it without problems uphill. I was crossing my fingers that the wireing for the tail lights was correct and it worked great.

Thanks

[Greg H]

I don't think it will hurt anything, just remember to air them back up when you take off, the low pressure would cause overheating.

[cpaharley2008]

Are the tires radial or bias, if radial you should be ok, if bias I'd put air in and if you can, place cardboard under the tires so that they are not direct on cement, just a thought, may lessen a flat spot.

[floyd]

for storage it is advised to reduce the pressure if the tire is off the ground and maximize the pressure if it is stored with the weight of the trailer on it.

[Joe Z]

I do just like Floyd said.....when in storage my tires are off the ground and i reduce pressure to 12lb .....on ground i bring it back up to recommended pressure.
Joe

[DannyH]

Thanks for the comments. From what was said, I think what I may do is during the winter season, when the trailer is in storage, to put in 50 psf or put it on blocks with less air, and keep it 30 during the summer when we will be out every couple of weeks. That should work for me. CPaharley, the tires are radial.

[Andy B]

Originally Posted by DannyH

My question is if it's bad for the tire to store it in the garage with 30 psf, close to what is in my car tire, or should I re-inflate them in the garage to 50 psf for storage. It's just one more step, but I didn't know if it might damage the side wall at 30psf. At 30 psf it doesn't look to be bulging out much more than 50.

It would be very bad to put 30 psf in your tires, they would explode before you even got close to that pressure!

30 psf (pounds per square foot) = 4320 psi (pounds per square inch)

I think you must have mistakenly written psf. :-)

Andy

[Andrew GPSMapNut]

Originally Posted by Andy B

It would be very bad to put 30 psf in your tires, they would explode before you even got close to that pressure!

30 psf (pounds per square foot) = 4320 psi (pounds per square inch)

I think you must have mistakenly written psf. :-)

Andy

It is actually the other way around. At 30 psf tires would be flat because 30 psf = 0.2083333333333332 psi

[DannyH]

I work in roof and floor truss systems for buildings and I'm used to working in PSF for the loads. I believe Andrew is correct and my tires would be flat at 30 psf.

[Andy B]

Originally Posted by Andrew GPSMapNut

It is actually the other way around. At 30 psf tires would be flat because 30 psf = 0.2083333333333332 psi

Yes you are correct, I had it backwards.

Andy

[Greg H]

Do they make tire gauges that measure psf? and why?

[Herb Sutton]

Twelve volt compressors are cheaper than even one new tire. I would keep them hard except when actually going through the door.

[Donna D.]

Why not get the trailer into the garage, put it on jack stands to take the weight off the deflated tires? I'm not sure I'd want to store a trailer on flat tires. Seems like that would be hard on the sidewalls??