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Message started by dtompsett on 08/13/8 at 08:25:57

Title: trailer tires...
Post by dtompsett on 08/13/8 at 08:25:57

My father managed to make it up to GCFR to spectate last weekend... and since he's been spending the last 3 years trying to decide just what he wants when he finally does buy a car trailer, he got poking around the trailers at the event.

One item that came up, which we've seen on other trailers as well, was tires. Not to name names, or point fingers, or accuse people of improperly maintaining their equipment... but there are some scary trailer tires out there!

It seems to generally only be dual-axle car haulers that have the problem. For example, one trailer we saw this weekend was barely a year old; 3 of the 4 tires were completely shot. Tread completely worn out, or so abused that the tread was pulling away from the tire carcass. Again, I seriously doubt this is owner/operator error.

Some might argue cheap out-of-country built equipment (Mexico), and cheap no-name tires... but on this particular trailer, the one-year-old tires were Carlisle trailer tires. This is a well known brand of trailer tire, build with heavier sidewalls for improved load handling.

Then it just happened to come up on Special Stage...

Quote:

And get decent tires. Mine came with new Carlsen bias-plys that lasted for barely 10K miles. I changed them out for Carlsen radials, and 35K miles later they're barely worn. I think it's because cheap trailer axles are nearly impossible to align well, and the radials handle scrub better. I'm not sure though. At any rate, don't forget to get a spare and a mount for it!

What are people's thoughts on tires?

Having repaired friend's trailers before, I can attest to how little it takes for a bent axle to scrub off a tire. The axle we replaced had almost no visible/measurable mis-alignment, yet it ate tires on one corner.

Title: Re: trailer tires...
Post by mr_niteowl on 08/14/8 at 09:43:16

Doug:

Nice to see you out at the GCFR, hope you enjoyed it.

Now, as for trailer tires...well, it's a fact of life that tires of any brand die quite quickly and in an attempt to remedy this, I took my dolly in to the Alignment Center here in Peterborough, and Don and Chris did a marvelous job with their mirrors and tape measures in determining that the axle was straight, and that the toe and camber were very close to what they should be as well.

Bottom line is that the dolly bounces and flails all over the place when empty and when loaded, the angles and such changes a bit. Tires of any brand do not last long.

I used to change tires when they appeared worn out, but I have found that it is much more economical to change them just before they blow.

Earle

Title: Re: trailer tires...
Post by rosswood on 08/14/8 at 09:55:15

I have found that trailer tires wear out more quickly than on a car, but have found that only true on my tandem axle trailers, so I attribute it to scrubbing on corners. Plus the fact that on a car trailer they are running heavily loaded most of the time.

But to have tires wear out in 10, 000 suggests something is wrong. I get 40-50,000 km from trailer tires.

Certainly recommend only using proper trailer tires.

Title: Re: trailer tires...
Post by dtompsett on 08/14/8 at 10:08:06

Yes, I know we have the same issue with our dolly. When loaded the wheels/axles end up flexing to look like this... /__\ - But the addition of some proper trailer tires did help with the wear. And it looks like we'll just need to rotate them (or if feeling really adventurous... swap them off the rims so inside left = outside right, etc).