trailer tire pressure

[Diamondpilot]

I think Goodyear used to make good tires. I've used them on my personal vehicles and on police sedans many years ago, but my last experience with Goodyear was on August 22, 1990, when I bought 5 of the Marathons (load range D) in Elkhart, IN, for our fifth-wheel. I believe the Marathon was the first radial ST tire. I'm not sure how many miles we put on those tires, but we went from Elkhart to Princeton, WV, to Dallas, TX, to Madill, OK, to Port Aransas, TX, back to Dallas, back to Port Aransas, back to Dallas, to Anchorage, AK, to Las Vegas where we traded the truck and trailer for a motorhome.:laughing: The Marathons had been on there about 13 months with no trouble at all, and the new, unused spare was still on the spare rack. Of course what they are making now could be considerably different from what they were making 21 years ago.:laughing:

That is the case Bird. I loved the Marathons in the 90's. I know guys with 15 year old Marathons on till this day. My uncle has a set of factory Marathons on his 1998 boat to this day, never a issue.

Fast forward to about 2004 or so they went to crap. I really think it had to do with the price point of the import tires. They tried to compete but the higher labor cost, ect made the tires poorly built.

I have had 2 sets of Marathons post 2004. One set on my car hauler lasted all of about 1000 miles and 2 years or so before 2 failed on 1 trip hauling a Corvette 150 or so miles. Trailer is only 1,300# and car about 3,500# max on a 7,000# trailer it was only at 60% its load rating. I have owned this trailer since new and never a single issue with the oem Chinese Tires and never a issue with the Chinese GreenBall Towmasters I replace the junk Goodyears with in 2008 or so. I have since towed 1000's of miles sometimes a few pound over weight and not a single issue.

I just bought a Repo Boat in May. Goodyear Marathons on a 2007 trailer. Lost 2 tires in the first 500 miles. Again replace with Chinese Hercules Tires in May and not a single issue. I have towed it about 4,000 miles since May and will tow it over 1,000 miles in the next week for the holiday weekend.

I am not against Goodyears. I have been involved with purchasing 2 sets since June, but not trailer tires. One set just last week for my neighbors 04 Lincoln Aviator and one set for his 07 3500 Dmax. I have had many sets on my personal vehicles also with good service. Trailer tires are another story though.

Chris

 

[Skyco]

So pretty much EVERY trailer tire manufacturer says to run maximum sidewall marked pressure ALWAYS.
Yet some here won't do it, because they know more than the manufacturers:confused2:

Max pressure does not apply to vehicle tires, but trailer tires are designed and manufactured differently..

 

[ultrarunner]

#1 failure on a trailer tire is due to underinflation. No less than 80% of the rated sidewall pressure, ever.

I grew up with a rail type car hauler, Eandi Iron Works, constructed in 1964... still use the trailer today.

It weighs 850 lbs empty and is rated for 3500 lbs max... it was used to haul a racing mustang and other cars to the SCCA races for many years.

The manufacturer states tire pressure pressure must be adjusted for load with a minimum of 20 empty and 45 loaded...

We would always carry and air tank and adjust accordingly because the no springs single axle trailer would bounce around like bongo drums on rough roads if towed unladen with 45 psi in the tires...

Also there is zero scrub with a single axle trailer

Tires are 6 ply bias tubeless with metal stems.

Auto inflation varies according to load... the old family station wagon rear tire inflation ranged from 24 to 32 psi depending on load.

 

[Ford tractor]

My son in law and his step father seem to obsess over things like tire pressure in their 5th wheel campers .Is it that critical or am I over neglectfull I figure if it is round it is good whether presure varies 3 4 or i0 pounds.

Pretty sure we have all seen you on the side of the road attempting to change blown tires.

Max sidewall pressure when measured COLD. If you don't have a pump at home, measure and write down the readings then add that much more. If it should be 60psi but is 50 psi cold, it may be 58 after getting to the gas station, so fill it to 68 psi. It will drop to close to 60 when cold.

Here's a PDF from Carlisle. At the end there's a chart showing how much weight a tire can handle at a given pressure. They say always inflate the tire to the maximum pressure but like I said earlier I don't like keeping trailer tires inflated that high. I could be wrong but I think the extra force of the pressure in the tire while sitting is not a good thing (unless trailer is loaded).

http://www.carlisletire.com/product_care/trailer_tire_service_guide.pdf

Yes and no. Max pressure tires with an empty trailer will wear the center, but at a lesser rate than if you run low pressure. Hot tires wear much faster than cool tires. Low pressure = heat and heat = blow out.

hmm- so nearly all tires needs to be 50lbs as per the chart for at or neat max weight capabilty. If it class d or e, yeah it goes higher, but the point is is regardless of getting down on your knees and read the sidewalls to see if it class D/E or not. Then you should inflate it to a MINIMUM of 50lbs for best tire life. trailers is designed to be used empty and loaded. who actually goes around and deflate tires just for empty weight and inflate prior to loading?
As far I am concerned as per the chart- inflate it to 50 give or take a few lbs. 50 is the magic number unless you have higher rated tire. simply put. :thumbsup:

I have to get down to check the pressure and fill the tires, so why not look at the side walls ? It only takes 6-7 seconds to do.

I think Goodyear used to make good tires.

I had goodyears on my diesel truck for 10 months and 18k miles and they were down under 2/32nds. Hated them as they vibrated over 60 and squirmed when going straight and never tracked true in turns. The tire dealer agreed that they were worn out too soon, but they were all 4 worn equally and he basically said that GY didn't give a rip. (they didn't)

But my wife's car has had good service from GY's on her car. Still, there is no way they will ever despoil my rims on any vehicle ever.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've been disappointed with Goodyear also...

The improvement in handling simply by swapping Michelin for the Goodyears was like night and day and the wet weather improvement was phenomenal... the Goodyears came OEM on Mom's Toyota.

 

[schmism]

Max pressure does not apply to vehicle tires, but trailer tires are designed and manufactured differently..

You should always run recommended sidewall tire pressure. this is what got Ford in trouble with Firestone tires. Firestone said run at 45psi Ford said run at 35psi because it created a softer ride. But underinflated tires blow out. they figured it out the hard way.


My trailer tires run sidewall pressure within about 3lbs. Course i have a nice longacre tire gauge that makes checking pressures easy.

Amazon.com: Longacre Racing Deluxe Tire Air Pressure Gauge2-1/2" Glow in the Dark Face: Automotive

 

[Bird]

You should always run recommended sidewall tire pressure. this is what got Ford in trouble with Firestone tires. Firestone said run at 45psi Ford said run at 35psi because it created a softer ride. But underinflated tires blow out. they figured it out the hard way.


My trailer tires run sidewall pressure within about 3lbs. Course i have a nice longacre tire gauge that makes checking pressures easy.

Amazon.com: Longacre Racing Deluxe Tire Air Pressure Gauge2-1/2" Glow in the Dark Face: Automotive

Yep, and Ford wasn't the only one. GM put some Uniroyal tires on 3/4 ton pickups and suburbans at one time that had 80 psi on the sidewall, but recommended 50 psi for smoother ride. I never heard of blowout problems such as Ford had, but did replace some under warranty with "bubbles" where the tread and rubber were separating. Uniroyal, at that time, said 80%, or in this case 64 psi, was the absolute minimum they should have used.

I have at least 3 tire gauges and 3 different chucks, but the one I like best is my Campbell-Hausfeld MP6000 Tire Inflator with Gauge. You can check the pressure, add air, or let air out without disconnecting the chuck. It may be cheap but it's always been accurate when I've checked it against other gauges.

 

[clemsonfor]

You should always run recommended sidewall tire pressure. this is what got Ford in trouble with Firestone tires. Firestone said run at 45psi Ford said run at 35psi because it created a softer ride. But underinflated tires blow out. they figured it out the hard way.


My trailer tires run sidewall pressure within about 3lbs. Course i have a nice longacre tire gauge that makes checking pressures easy.

Amazon.com: Longacre Racing Deluxe Tire Air Pressure Gauge2-1/2" Glow in the Dark Face: Automotive

We have mentioned this here so far, but truck and trailer tires are different. Trailers bounce more cause of stiff suspention so tires are beat to death on a trialer. They need to run at max, because of this and the close to load limits they usually carry.

Vehicle tires are better due to suspention and so forth. Also a tire is built for a wide application range and load capacity. Just take a p235 75 15. Thats an outdated tire size i know but can go on anything from a ford ranger to a crown vic to a full size truck. The is a huge difference from one weight to the other. Same with todays truck tires they can take a ton of weight that the truck may not neccisarily be capable of holding, therefor the tire does not need to be max inflated, if it is you will wear out the tire centers if your not hauling a ton of weight!

My work dodge dakota, has something like 245 65 17 or something, if i inflat to max tire sidewall pressure i will wear the centers out as i never haul with it. My ranger is the same way i have p225 70 14 tires on it. if i run the 40 PSI or whatever they say on them my centers will wear out and the sides will look new as the back of it is so light. THey look this way now as i did not adjust them after they were put on and again when i rotated them. I run something like 35-38PSI in the front and something like 27-30 in the back but when i cut wood or tow i have to raise it to the max to keep it from squatting. In my ranger there is not all around good rear pressure, you either are buldging loaded or wearing out the centers unloaded!

 

[Bird]

My ranger is the same way i have p225 70 14 tires on it. if i run the 40 PSI or whatever they say on them my centers will wear out and the sides will look new as the back of it is so light.

I don't know what model Ranger you have, but my 2001 XLT SuperCab has 15 inch wheels. So I'm currently running B.G. Goodrich P225/70R15 Long Trail TA tires. The door post shows 30 psi, the tire sidewalls show 35 psi and 35 is what I run them at. Discount Tire rotates them every 6k miles, re-balances them every second rotation (or more if I should ask them to) and they're wearing quite well so far; only got about 26k miles on them though.

 

[clemsonfor]

I don't know what model Ranger you have, but my 2001 XLT SuperCab has 15 inch wheels. So I'm currently running B.G. Goodrich P225/70R15 Long Trail TA tires. The door post shows 30 psi, the tire sidewalls show 35 psi and 35 is what I run them at. Discount Tire rotates them every 6k miles, re-balances them every second rotation (or more if I should ask them to) and they're wearing quite well so far; only got about 26k miles on them though.

I have a 1990 model its a different body style than you have. Its basically the 2nd gen body that they ever made some parts i think like doors and bed may actually interchange back to the 80s. Its the same up till 1995 then they swapped and put the new curvy body and used 15" wheels.

I know what i am doing trust me, the last tires i had i was religious about them as i had more time and money and took walmart up on the 6000mile balance/rotation deal. I had the all-terrail Liberator tire. Now it says Uniroyl Liberator but is way to pricy when i replaced them a few years ago. But anyhow i got 80+k miles out of that set and they were pretty much even except one that had a leak or something and was a little more worn, as i did not fix it in time and could not find the hole or something. The insides also had more wear, like all the TTB ford front ends always do on that front right tire, just a nature of the twin beam front end. Which ford used on its truck for like 40+ years i think.