Decent non-China trailer tires ?

[JJZ 109]

I agree. We run max pressure on all of our ST Tires.

Chris

I installed the tires Friday but didn't take the trailer anyplace over the weekend. They were at 46 psi. When I went out with it Tuesday morning they were still at 46. Maybe I'll bump it up a touch.

 

[3930dave]

Trailer season starting up in the Nord here.... thought I'd bump this thread.....

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

I always wonder about pumping trailer tires up to the max when cold, then they gain four or five pounds when hot.
Should we set the pressure one or two pounds lower than max, or just use the sidewall max as the pressure required when cold? if this has been covered, sorry. But I'm about to haul my travel trailer and need to pump up the tires next week, so this is on my mind.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I always wonder about pumping trailer tires up to the max when cold, then they gain four or five pounds when hot.
Should we set the pressure one or two pounds lower than max, or just use the sidewall max as the pressure required when cold? if this has been covered, sorry. But I'm about to haul my travel trailer and need to pump up the tires next week, so this is on my mind.

It says on the tires to set them cold.

 

[Gunny]

I always check and air up on cold tires, doesn't matter whether it's on a trailer, fifth wheel, truck, tractor, etc

 

[sixdogs]

If you care, I saw a chart online that showed the PSI comparisons between hot and cold tires. I still do mine cold.

 

[Travelover]

If you care, I saw a chart online that showed the PSI comparisons between hot and cold tires. I still do mine cold.

Believe it or not, there is a predictable relationship between cold and hot pressures. Ideal gas law - Wikipedia

 

[sixdogs]

Believe it or not, there is a predictable relationship between cold and hot pressures. Ideal gas law - Wikipedia

Sure, I'll let you know when I memorize that. Can't I just look at a chart? By the way, here the formula for how hay bale knotters work.

 

[Travelover]

Sure, I'll let you know when I memorize that. Can't I just look at a chart? By the way, here the formula for how hay bale knotters work.

Do you have a chart I can use instead? :laughing:

 

[3930dave]

I always wonder about pumping trailer tires up to the max when cold, then they gain four or five pounds when hot.
Should we set the pressure one or two pounds lower than max, or just use the sidewall max as the pressure required when cold? if this has been covered, sorry. But I'm about to haul my travel trailer and need to pump up the tires next week, so this is on my mind.

I do cold, always. The exception being if I'm in the middle of a long drive and a tire looks "funny", I'll check it Hot, and mentally add a few pounds allowance for temperature rise from running - all I'm looking for is major deviation - let's say I set it for 50psi cold, it better be at least that Hot - if I'm seeing 38# mid-trip, then I know I have a leaker.

About the only thing to keep in mind is when ambient changes fast/a lot. If it's the dead of Winter here and I set my TTrailer tires at 50psi for a pull to Florida when it's -30F, then I'll adjust for the higher ambient as I go south, as I'd be seeing a 100F swing by the time I see the Gulf.... per the Law cited, that 50psi Cold up Nord here will be higher "Cold" when the ambient is now +70F.

For a long run, even a cheap IR thermal gun is handy for spot-checking tires and differentials at rest stops - not a Neccessory, but Nice to Have on the peace-of-mind front, if tires are something you are mindful of...

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I posted this summary below in another thread recently, as found on Tire Rack. Normally, I include links, but TRack has a pita advertising page that pops up (redirect) when I tried before to include the link.... should not be hard to google if desired.....:

"The rule of thumb is for every 10 Deg Fahrenheit change in air temperature, tire pressures will change about 2% (up with higher temperatures and down with lower). This means that light-duty, standard-pressure tires (typically inflated to 30-50 psi) used in applications on cars, vans and light trucks will change by about 1 psi; where heavy-duty, high-pressure tires (typically inflated to 80-100 psi) used in applications on recreational vehicles, busses and trucks will change by about 2 psi."

So.... looks like with an LT class, closer to 2# per 10F; with my example above of Winter tow to Florida, I'd be gaining about 20# Cold going South at that time of year.

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

I get a four pound pressure rise in the Michelins on my Ram, according to my tpms system, which I don't trust
for accuracy because it is four pounds high on average vs my pair of hand pressure gauges. But even if the base number is wrong, the rise is there in plain digits, sometimes as much as 5 psi. So I was concerned what 5 psi over max cold pressure would do. The key word is cold. For sure tire manufacturers know all about temperature rise; they build tire compounds to resist heat buildup so I'm hoping all will be well, no nasty little cord separations when I wham into a pothole in the road at 55psi on a 50psi tire. I'm sure a lot less problems with slight overpressure than under pressure in the real world. I've taken off on 28 degree mornings with my travel trailer and wondered what kind of calculation gyrations I might need to go through to check the tire pressure.

btw, sorry to OP. I have had extremely good service from Maxxis trailer tires btw

And I do have a basic thermal gun in the barn for machinery. If I temp gun my tires, then what I have to run that 10 degree rise calculation from there? Or if below freezing,, offset in the other direction?
Probably overthinking this, just put the pressure in stated on the tire...

I would like to know what sidewall temp of a tire would be considered hot and a concern. That would be a very good number to know. We know about coolant temps, but I sure have no idea about tire temps.
Maybe if truckers could have temp sensors in their tires it would prevent all those casings ripping off and creating havoc on the highways. I bet a lot of those old ford explorer drivers running around with 22 psi in their tires wish they had used a temp gun...

 

[3930dave]

I get a four pound pressure rise in the Michelins on my Ram, according to my tpms system, which I don't trust
for accuracy because it is four pounds high on average vs my pair of hand pressure gauges. But even if the base number is wrong, the rise is there in plain digits, sometimes as much as 5 psi. So I was concerned what 5 psi over max cold pressure would do. The key word is cold. For sure tire manufacturers know all about temperature rise; they build tire compounds to resist heat buildup so I'm hoping all will be well, no nasty little cord separations when I wham into a pothole in the road at 55psi on a 50psi tire. I'm sure a lot less problems with slight overpressure than under pressure in the real world. I've taken off on 28 degree mornings with my travel trailer and wondered what kind of calculation gyrations I might need to go through to check the tire pressure.

btw, sorry to OP. I have had extremely good service from Maxxis trailer tires btw

And I do have a basic thermal gun in the barn for machinery. If I temp gun my tires, then what I have to run that 10 degree rise calculation from there? Or if below freezing,, offset in the other direction?
Probably overthinking this, just put the pressure in stated on the tire...

I would like to know what sidewall temp of a tire would be considered hot and a concern. That would be a very good number to know. We know about coolant temps, but I sure have no idea about tire temps.
Maybe if truckers could have temp sensors in their tires it would prevent all those casings ripping off and creating havoc on the highways. I bet a lot of those old ford explorer drivers running around with 22 psi in their tires wish they had used a temp gun...

I was remembering about 140F'ish tire temp from a run last summer..... sounds in the ballpark, per C&D....

A Look Behind the Tire Hysteria - Column - Car Reviews - Car and Driver

They quote about 50F rise after 30 minutes driving.

I pulled out my IR gun mostly out of curiousity, but once you get a feel for what is normal, it can be a quick way to assess tire health - possibly you may see a temperature rise ahead of failures. A buddy had belt breakage on some Carlisle ST's a few winters back - he changed them before they fell apart, but it would have been interesting to get some temperature readings - the carcass had a really weird stair-step wear pattern after the belts went...

What I'm banging on about is actually separate from the general point about ambient temperature effects..... I didn't mean to infer that you needed an IR gun to compensate for ambient temperature swings - I use it to just get a baseline for "normal" highway running temperature, then watch for significant changes on individual tires.

My intent with this thread was to collect feedback on good quality tires.... hence, no need to apologize about Maxxis :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[vsteel]

I really like my Taskmaster Provider tires, they are speed rated M (81 MPH) and I have made a few loaded trips over 1000 miles with them and not an issue.

 

[timswi]

Sure, I'll let you know when I memorize that. Can't I just look at a chart? By the way, here the formula for how hay bale knotters work.

View attachment 503586

HaHaHa...That looks like when I was in college and one night class physics professor was notorious for loving explaining why the sky was blue..So we'd ask him, then he'd blow the whole 3 hour class explaining it with a board that looked just like that--At the end, he'd say this won't be on the test...A year over year running exercise from class to class---Oh well got to blow off one night class per semester--Life was good.

 

[CADplans]

Believe it or not, there is a predictable relationship between cold and hot pressures. Ideal gas law - Wikipedia

Sure, I'll let you know when I memorize that. Can't I just look at a chart?

Do you have a chart I can use instead? :laughing:

What the Ideal Gas Law is telling you is that
as the tire gets hotter,, either the tire will;
1] expand (get larger)
or,,
2] have the pressure raise.

Since the tires are flexible,, the tire will expand, in most cases.
We have all seen this, as you add air to a tire that is low, the tire will get taller.

A "chart" will not work,, the chart can not determine how flexible your tire is.

So, I predict that most trailer tires, especially radials, will only show
about 1-2 psi pressure increase due to the most radical temperature increase.

The tire will only grow to a larger shape.

 

[3930dave]

What the Ideal Gas Law is telling you is that
as the tire gets hotter,, either the tire will;
1] expand (get larger)
or,,
2] have the pressure raise.

Since the tires are flexible,, the tire will expand, in most cases.
We have all seen this, as you add air to a tire that is low, the tire will get taller.

A "chart" will not work,, the chart can not determine how flexible your tire is.

So, I predict that most trailer tires, especially radials, will only show
about 1-2 psi pressure increase due to the most radical temperature increase.

The tire will only grow to a larger shape.

Depending where you start from, V may change a bit visually. In the north to south (delta 100F) example I listed, starting at Max Cold pressure to begin with means the tire profile won't change much - never seen a vertical tire sidewall on a light vehicle - so in that case, most of the change is P.

If you reversed that, and ran south to north that time of year, good luck running a loaded trailer on it's sidewalls.

Many people never drive through a 100F transition, but Both P and T matters - what it does to V just happens to be the one thing people notice w/o instrumentation.

Rgds, D.

 

[HHR]

It's easy to overthink things. I've always checked pressure in the morning before driving and feel each tire with my hand at each stop. If all tires feel about the same, all is well.

 

[sixdogs]

One of the better things I have done is to buy a nice tire gauge. I got a Moroso hot rod tire gauge like this
Moroso Tire Pressure Gauges 8956 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

That one is 0-60psi but I think mine is 0-40 or like that. Using this as a benchmark, I learned all of my cheapie gauges were off several pounds. Even if this one is off a little, and I don't think it is, it would be OK to have all four tires equal within 1/2 or even 1/4 lb increments. Anyway, it works for me especially on radial tractor tires and my pickup tires. No more junk tire gauges for me.

 

[3930dave]

One of the better things I have done is to buy a nice tire gauge. I got a Moroso hot rod tire gauge like this
Moroso Tire Pressure Gauges 8956� - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

That one is 0-60psi but I think mine is 0-40 or like that. Using this as a benchmark, I learned all of my cheapie gauges were off several pounds. Even if this one is off a little, and I don't think it is, it would be OK to have all four tires equal within 1/2 or even 1/4 lb increments. Anyway, it works for me especially on radial tractor tires and my pickup tires. No more junk tire gauges for me.

Not sure if I have a virus at this end (?) , but that link takes me to a viglink.com re-direct.

While I'm personally a sucker for accurate instrumentation, I agree with HHR - most people would be well served by just doing regular checks, with a basic gauge.

Many people may balk at spending money on an expensive gauge - I'd sooner see those people use a low cost gauge that is off by a pound or 2, than just ignore their tires.

Stiff sidewalls (either low-profile car tires, or lightly loaded LTs) can be deceptive, they may look fine, but can actually be seriously under-inflated.

I tend to keep a few lower cost gauges around, and have them "talk amongst themselves" to see if one is getting seriously out of whack.... probably should collect them all for when I next drop by my buddy's shop, and check them against his Blue Point digital gauge - being an ex-racer, he understands the value of a good gauge....

Rgds, D.