Bias or Radial tires for a Trailer

[mjonesnh]

MJones........Actually, ALL bias tires are not made in China.....Perhaps a bit of research will indicate made in USA, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Germany, and France........ALL is a pretty ALL encompasing statement. I do apprectiate the bit of advice about load range B.....Am planning on D or E in Bias or Radial

You will notice I said "Probably not many USA made tires for trailers made now". I was assuming you were inquiring about tires made for trailers such as ST designation. I cannot think of one ST bias ply tire made in USA at current time. Typical landscape trailers available in my area come with ST 205 or 215/75-15 in load range C but believe D is offered. On my trailer I pulled the bias and went with radials. Handles much better and tracks smother. Do not notice any give in sidewall. Size ST 205/75-15 inflated to 50 psi

 

[Barry 1]

Every trailer of 3,000 lbs. GVWR or more must be equipped with brakes on all wheels- Georgia State Law
I would go with Bias.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

If you go to a tire store that caters to commercial vehicles, they make radial ply tiers for trailers. Mine are labeled TowMasterV. They have less side sway than other radials or regular bias, and make a difference if you are pulling a heavy load at highway speeds. Bit pricey, but cheap insurance in my book.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Do you have any evidence of this? Are they looking for slow moving, short distance landscape trailers so they can "crucify" the driver? I don't think he's talking about a CDL with a big rig on the open highway.

I may not have been clear. I don't mean that DOT is going to come down on him if he gets in a fender-bender. But if he is in a more serious accident, that invites scrutiny, his overloaded trailer can be used against him. Somebody posted here on TBN about a friend of theirs who, a lady ran a red light and he T-boned her and she died. He ended up going to prison for manslaughter or whatever because his trailer was overloaded, even though the accident would not otherwise have been his fault. What a tragedy. I think it's worth keeping in mind that, even if you feel you are within safe parameters, you may still be subject to legal scrutiny if you overload your vehicle. It would really suck to go to prison for manslaughter because you wanted to put an extra few thousand pounds of gravel on your trailer or whatever.

Anyway, I don't mean to sound preachy, although I think I probably sound preachy. I just want people to be informed.

 

[2458n]

Two independant tire dealers have told me that all trailer tire molds have gone overseas. No reason for both of them to have the same story.. I have bumper pull and gooseneck trailers, with and without brakes. Money at the time seems to determine what gets replaced with what. E load range radials with trailer ST designation would be my first choice if the trailer was going to stay around. Company i worked for hauled permitted loads [overweight] and I was always impressed with the workout that they took. My railroad tie experience came as a 16 year old kid who overloaded{and unloaded] a snowmobile trailer.

 

[Raspy]

Dennis,

The main reason I am running 205 bias ply tires on my 16' trailer is that they just barely fit under my fenders. Can't run anything taller or wider profile. But the bias plys have run for so many thousands of miles with so little rolling resistance, and run so straight, that I really like them. I have towed my tractor over the Sierras a lot of times with that trailer and have seriously overloaded it with concrete siding, lumber and rocks on other occasions. Originally, that trailer (with different fenders) had radials from the manufacturer and they were so bad I took the trailer back and had the bias plys put on. The radials squirmed all over the place and exaggerated every move the truck made. Scared me. 15" load range E radials are harder to find, from what I've seen. I just had to finally get a new set of the bias plys and paid $90. each for the tires already mounted on new wheels, aired up ready to go. The old ones had no tread left but were still rolling along just fine. The new ones are made in China, but they are DOT approved. Just because something says China doesn't mean it's junk and tires are a good example of that.

If you run 16" wheels, by all means, get some common load range E truck radials and be done with it.

On my triple axle, I took off the 16.5" bias tires that were on it and installed 17" wheels so I could run the tires I took off my Dodge Cummins plus one more I had to buy to get six. They are readily available, the cost is reasonable and they are definitely heavy duty enough for the trailer.

So many people have had tire problems on trailers it seems. But very few do on trucks. Truck tires are easy to get and very tough if you get good ones. My opinion after doing some research and having run a lot of tires over the years, is to get Toyos. They have the stiffest sidewall of any tire I've seen, they balance easy and hold their balance for most of the tire wear. They last and they can take road hazards better than other brands, at least they have for me. BFGs have the rating, but they are very weak in the sidewall.

Always stick with load range E for working radials. They are all two or three play sidewall so pay no attention to the rating or the salesman that claims they are 8 or 10 ply. They're not.

 

[DennisArrow]

John..........Really thanks for the thoughts..........YOU live in an area where tire failure is common for me. I claim the heat rather than road damage. Last summer with D rated ST radial tires that were 3 years old I had 2 blowouts on my airstream. Thank goodness I use a tire monitoring system so no damage to the trailer. At the same time though, the tires were in the low 100 degree range, not even in the teens............Yes, they were inflated properly and yes, I was traveling under 60 MPH. One over by Cedar City, and the other in downtown Albequrque on the interstate..........Replaced all 4 at the Air Force base there with E's..................

This is why I need information on what kind of tire to buy and thoughts.........Yes, am running 15" and not willing to change to 16" due to fender clearance issues with the 15"....none to spare............On the RV forums that I frequent there is a growing trend to switch to the bias ply due to the sidewalls being stiff and therefore fewer blowouts and therefore body damage with the tire coming apart.............So................gonna call tire dealers today and see what is available..................Thanks............God bless...........Dennis

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Well, I have certainly learned a couple of things from this thread...one, they still make bias ply tires...and two, they work better on a trailer. It's true that bias ply have stiffer sidewalls; the wide whites on the bias plys stand up and show off the whitewall; the wide whites on the radials have to be inflated to about 36 pounds to show anything close to what the bias plys do.

I'm surprised that radials do not work well on a trailer, especially the heat issue. I have always understood that the radials ran cooler and with less resistance, therefore the mileage was much higher. I got close to 70k miles on the Goodyears on my truck; I have never gotten anything close to that on a bias ply. Bias plys on a car seem to follow every abnormality in the road, making the car handle squirrely. Seems to be just the opposite on a trailer. Thanks for the info.

 

[big lar]

Have used already-mounted bias ply trailer tires (Chines) from Tractor Supply for my landscape and livestock trailers. BUT since learned it is important to read the weight capacity rating on the tire itself, so times 2 or times 4, depending on how many tires you have, will determine your capacity, or vice versa, however you want to figure it. Camper trailer places may have them too . Butit is important they are for trailers (ST) since they withstand the stress of turning Or are supposed to at least.

 

[Bird]

My last travel trailer was a 32' fifth-wheel that came with bias ply tires but also axles that were too light for the weight I was running. So when I upgraded to heavier axles, brakes, wheels, etc., I also went to radial tires and never had a problem with them. And for cars and pickups, I figured out years ago that the radials not only handle better but are cheaper in the long run because they last so much longer.