Well Made Trailer Tires

[farmersammm]

I figured it was about time for some new skins on the little enclosed trailer.



The old ones didn't have many miles left in them....................



Been on the trailer since 2008. A REAL TRIBUTE TO NYLON BIAS TIRES. I prefer them over any type of trailer tire.

The New Tires

I couldn't find any nylon tires in my area.........all they sell are radials. So, given the fact that I'm stuck with replacing the tires with radials................I wanted a GOOD radial. I've had exceptional wear, and longevity, from Provider trailer tires. They're on the little deckover flatbed trailer I built back in 2014, and have been very good tires. Always run at full capacity, good tread wear, and no hint of tread seperation.

What a Good Radial Tire Should Look Like

A well built tire will have a tread that's square to the shoulders when aired up to full pressure. The tread should not bow out. If the tread bows out, it's delamination, or tread separation, waiting to happen.

[farmersammm]

What Lousy Radial Tires Look Like

These are the widely available Trailer King tires. They suck in all aspects. I've never had any last more than about 3yrs or so. Usually explode while sitting parked in the yard. The tread separates, an Kaboom.

Comparison

The tire on the left is a Trailer King. The tire on the right is an American made Kelly, or General, can't remember which.

It's your hard earned money, I hate to see anybody spend it on junk.

[Brand X]

The China Freestar are long lasting trailer tires.. Mine lasted over 10 yeas, and no side wall cracks.. (235/80r16)Replaced with the same brand One of the original got a nail in the sidewall, and I sold two off so I guy that just wanted better tires then he had on his rig.. I used the other one for a spare.. Makes it about 13 years old, and still looks good..

Sammy,
you might be interested in just how many tire Chinese/Korean tire companies have moved production to the USA.. Of course it will be fully automated, and about one guy will run the whole plant..The future...

[shortfuse]

Hankook, a Korean tire company, has their tires made in China....DUH

[ronsii]

Hankook, a Korean tire company, has their tires made in China....DUH

I got talked into some handkooks when the tirefactories around here first started getting them in.... big mistake!!!! they didn't last a year never do that again!!!

Boss runs doublecoin on the 2A tiltbed because that's the only brand they seem to be able to get that size in around here... they're ok as we don't put too many miles in it anyways...

[Brand X]

Hankook RF-11 All weather tires are made in the USA. excellent tires.. I mounted some up in the 265/70r20 size.. Some of the winter tires are excellent, and others are so-so.. I am a huge Nexen fan, really good Korean made tire.. Thailand is the center of Asian tire manufacturing .

[farmshop]

Biggest thing I have seen is many trailer tires just aren’t heavy enough. Especially anything in 15”. All our 16” trailer tires are 14 ply heavy duty ones that have been far better than standard trailer tires. Just like in the axle thread weight ratings and pressure are important

[John Bartley]

My neighbour is a tire guy and supplies me with all my tires (two p/u trucks and five small trailers). I buy Chinese tires because they last, run they smooth and quiet depending on the tread/type and they cost 1/2 to 2/3 of what other tires cost.

[idacal]

I ran geostar 574 tires for years that solved my tire blow outs, unless I was just stupid overloaded, but just went to purchase some extra spares couldn't get them so Im trying some westlake g rated tires next. I have the geostars on 4 trailers, 1 double axle, and 3 dually double. a lot of my tire wear comes from scrubbing turns in and out of jobs
one thing with trailer tires that needs to be watched is speed rating. a lot of them up their load capacity but have a 52 mile per hour speed rating type crap
I buy online and mount myself though so I dont have to deal with tire guys bs

[shortfuse]

I got talked into some handkooks when the tirefactories around here first started getting them in.... big mistake!!!! they didn't last a year never do that again

I'm on my second set of Hankook all terrains on my Tacoma 4x4 (110,000 mi.), and first set on my car after the OEM's wore out after only 25,000 mi. Hankooks are the best tires I have ever owned. I live in the country and run on a lot of gravel roads. The Hankooks hold up great.

[filetobeef]

@farmersammm . what does nylon have to do with radial build of a tire?

[farmersammm]

@farmersammm . what does nylon have to do with radial build of a tire?

I've found over the years, that plain old fashioned nylon bias ply tires hold up better when they sit for long periods idle on bare ground. I can't tell you how many times I've had steel belted radials literally blow up on their own, just sitting there. Never had an all nylon tire do that. They'll crumble, crack, and disintegrate, but never have a tread separation just sitting idle.

This is an example. Probably 2000 miles on the tire. Sidewalls in good shape. No tread damage, or even appreciable wear. I come out one day, and there it sits....................exploded like a bomb. I've had this time and time again.

I figure that the tread starts to separate just a bit, water gets in, and rusts the steel belts???????????????? Hell, I dunno............but it's a PITA. Always on the stinkin' Trailer King, and other ones like Double Coin. But, honestly, I have tires on a seed drill (regular car tires) that have been on the thing for 20yrs. Dry rotted, but still able to do a few days in the field every year. And, you guessed it................they're nylon belted tires. Same thing with old baler tires. They just seem to keep going forever.

[ronsii]

I'm on my second set of Hankook all terrains on my Tacoma 4x4 (110,000 mi.), and first set on my car after the OEM's wore out after only 25,000 mi. Hankooks are the best tires I have ever owned. I live in the country and run on a lot of gravel roads. The Hankooks hold up great.

Good to hear your having good luck with them.. I doubt I'll get them again from my first experience with them...but who knows...

[Old Doug]

I have had better luck with LT tires on my trailers i dont understand why but my brother says the same thing. I bought a trailer last year it had new 12 ply trailer tires i have replaced 3 of them i plan on replacing them with LTs before long.

[walker]

I bought a trailer from a buddy of mine. It had 5 nearly new, still had the little rubber hairs, imported trailer tires on it. They looked great. I went to pick up my tractor at my cabin. 30 miles of dirt 40 miles of hiighway. Everything was fine on the way up, until I ripped a sidewall on a rock at the apex of the mountain. Put on the spare, loaded the tractor, started down. Everything wasfine on the dirt. By the time I got home I had 6 flat tires. Every tire on the trailer, plus the spare, plus the extra spare from another idle trailer that I had thrown on just in case. I robbed all 4 tires off my horse trailer after I used up everything I had with me. Tires were 7 years old.

[scsmith42]

I've tried a lot of different brands of trailer tires over the years. As others have mentioned, LT truck tires are an excellent choice for high quality trailer tires. I'm running Michelin LTX tires on two of our horse trailers with excellent results.

Maxis Commercial LT tires have also provided excellent service on my trailers, as have the Goodyear Marathon's (but they are very expensive!).

So far, the highest load / longevity tire that I've discovered for my 15 ton capacity dual tandem gooseneck is the Sailun S637T heavy duty trailer tire. Sailun makes commercial truck tires (semi) and the S637T tires is a 14 ply rating (Load range G) tire sized for 16" rims. 3860 lb rating when installed as dual tandems, which provides me with 15,440 tire capacity per axle.

I've not had any tread separations yet in several years of use, which with previous tires was a problem due to the fact that I have to jackknife the trailer into position frequently when picking up heavy logs.

[BD1]

Good Year Endurance have great reviews and made in USA .
The members at Garagejournal say they're the best.


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[12345678910]

Whatever they are, keep them out of the sun.

Canvas slip covers, or driving shed, they both work.

Parking stuff under trees sounds good, but the acidic coniferous needles are really hard on plastic and paint.

[psacustomcreations]

On my 6x12 cargo trailer I put it on jack stands or blocks when it is going to sit for a long period of time. This prevents flat spots.
All I do is lower the front as far as it will go to raise the rear. Place a set of blocks under the rear corners. Then jack it up until the weight is off the tires and I can spin them by hand. Place the front on a block and lower it.
It takes about 3 minutes and it helps the tires.

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[Stick-man]

I used to run Hankook semi tires and never had an issue with them. When I first got into trucking my first truck had Tiger Paw china tires on it. Those ended up blowing before any of the tread wore off. And I think they were about 4 or 5 years old. I would have definitely bought them again for the price. They looked like new when they blew.

For my boat and small utility trailers I run Carlisle now. Pretty much the best I've found.

[Willie B]

Several years ago Sean, (one of the extra sons) wanted to use my garage. He was refurbishing a 9 ton triaxle trailer. He bought Carlyle tires. He stalled in the project after a month or two, and I wanted it out of the garage. I told him I was half owner & finished the job.
Days after finishing it he used it, then parked it near the road where his neighbor spotted it. He wanted to borrow it. It went off on a 1200 mile round trip to get a load of shrubs. It returned with octagon tires from having the brake control cranked to the max. He had skidded tires each time he touched the brake.

I ended up buying it from Sean, tire size was odd, not every manufacturer offers the size. Lost track of brand, but each trip I had a blowout. In every case it would blow the sidewall off the rim. The bang was like dynamite! Eventually I had a spring mount break, ruined another tire.

I turned it upside down, built some new spring mounts, reinforced others. This time I used Blue Star tires, heaviest ply rating I could get. Blowouts continued. Tire dealer blamed me, I had tubes installed. They said it caused heat build up. Nearly each trip I'd have a blowout, never in the same position. I was never overloaded & some times not much weight at all.

I had to retorque wheel clamps each trip, & one short trip I didn't bother. As expected I lost a wheel off the spider.

That was the last straw! I sold it to a fellow who wanted to tow a 5500 LB antique tractor. He towed it with a 3500 pickup without adjusting the height of the pintle, placing too much weight on the front axle. He too ruined front tires. It is now on its fourth owner in three years. Present owner moves a mini excavator, and reports no problems. He tells me it has a random mix of tires.

Trailer I bought to replace it was new in 2006. It never did see any use. Tires were old but no wear at all. I replaced with as heavy as I could get. So far so good.