Trailer Tires

[deerefan]

Looking for recommendations. 235/75/16 Load range E 10 ply for horse trailer. Prefer made in USA. Anyone use Carlisle? They seem to have good ratings

 

[MH8675309]

I actually have Carlisle on my square baler. They seem decent.

 

[HamishMacCheap]

I think Goodyear Endurance trailer tires are made in the USA but I don't know if that size tire is offered.

 

[5030]

Read a ton of grief with offshore made tires on RV's. The RV crowd calls them 'China bombs'.

 

[Racenut]

Funny story.. my fifth wheel came with Carlisle... I swapped them out because I didn't want those junk tires to ruin a nice weekend. A friend of mine asked if he could have them... sure. One weekend I borrowed his dump trailer.... KABOOM.. blown tire. Guess what he put those Carlisles on? lol

 

[deerefan]

I think Goodyear Endurance trailer tires are made in the USA but I don't know if that size tire is offered.

I have Goodyears now and unfortunately two have failed-broken belts. They are almost 5 years old and have about 10k miles. I realize they are close to end life, but am very disappointed in how they fell apart. I ended up ordering Kenda tires from etrailer.com at $146/tire (235/80/16). Great reviews.

 

[5030]

Tires, in general aren't what they used to be...

 

[HamishMacCheap]

I have had mixed results with chinese made trailer tires.

I ran chinese made 12X4.80 boat trailer tires on my jon boat trailer for far too long, probably 12 years with many (really many) trips from South Carolina to Lake Okeechobee, FL. and back. Probably 1400 or more miles round trip including travel while at the lake. Last year, while at Lake Okeechobee, I noticed the tread was gone on one tire and the other did not look much better. I realize they were far beyond a reasonable life expectancy and it was my own fault for not replacing them years earlier. Still, they lasted a long time and had many miles on them. The boat and trailer are stored under a tractor shed out of the sun. Luckily, I carry two spares with me on long trips. When I returned home, I bought two replacement boat trailer tires at Northern Tool and when a local tire store mounted the new tires, they replaced the valve stems as well. Hopefully good to go for several more years but not 12 years. The only 12" boat trailer tires I found to be on the market are all chinese.

On the other hand, I had two tires on a 7x20 equipment trailer come apart last year and they were less than five years old. The trailer was about five years old at the time but how old the tires were is unknown to me. I realized that the two tires which failed were on the side of the tractor shed where the setting sun hits them while the other two which did not fail were on the side which is never in direct sunlight. I ended up buying chinese tires as replacements due to cost compared to Goodyear tires.

Not surprisingly, I think direct sunlight played a significant role in the deterioration of the two tires that failed.

 

[deerefan]

I have had mixed results with chinese made trailer tires.

I ran chinese made 12X4.80 boat trailer tires on my jon boat trailer for far too long, probably 12 years with many (really many) trips from South Carolina to Lake Okeechobee, FL. and back. Probably 1400 or more miles round trip including travel while at the lake. Last year, while at Lake Okeechobee, I noticed the tread was gone on one tire and the other did not look much better. I realize they were far beyond a reasonable life expectancy and it was my own fault for not replacing them years earlier. Still, they lasted a long time and had many miles on them. The boat and trailer are stored under a tractor shed out of the sun. Luckily, I carry two spares with me on long trips. When I returned home, I bought two replacement boat trailer tires at Northern Tool and when a local tire store mounted the new tires, they replaced the valve stems as well. Hopefully good to go for several more years but not 12 years. The only 12" boat trailer tires I found to be on the market are all chinese.

On the other hand, I had two tires on a 7x20 equipment trailer come apart last year and they were less than five years old. The trailer was about five years old at the time but how old the tires were is unknown to me. I realized that the two tires which failed were on the side of the tractor shed where the setting sun hits them while the other two which did not fail were on the side which is never in direct sunlight. I ended up buying chinese tires as replacements due to cost compared to Goodyear tires.

Not surprisingly, I think direct sunlight played a significant role in the deterioration of the two tires that failed.

You may be on to something-the tires that failed on my horse trailer were in the sun. The other two were not and are fine.

 

[Kessler Farms]

For horse/livestock trailers, I would skip the load range E tires, and go to a load range G. All four of my goosenecks, cattle trailers and flatbeds, now run 235/85/16 Freedom Hauler load range G tires. Much better load carrying capacity. Your wheel and valve stems do have to be rated for the 110 psi tire though. Freedom Haulers are supposedly made in the USA.

 

[nyone]

Funny story.. my fifth wheel came with Carlisle... I swapped them out because I didn't want those junk tires to ruin a nice weekend. A friend of mine asked if he could have them... sure. One weekend I borrowed his dump trailer.... KABOOM.. blown tire. Guess what he put those Carlisles on? lol

People who spend 2x on things tend to believe there getting more for there money.

had 11yrs on "china bombs" before I changed them to "china bombs". Been towing things for 20yrs and knock on wood never had a blow out. Checking for dry rot and having proper pressure really goes a long way in not having emergency rapairs.

Also bias ply trailer tires of any manufacturer are basicly garbage.

 

[Hay Dude]

People who spend 2x on things tend to believe there getting more for there money.

had 11yrs on "china bombs" before I changed them to "china bombs". Been towing things for 20yrs and knock on wood never had a blow out. Checking for dry rot and having proper pressure really goes a long way in not having emergency rapairs.

Also bias ply trailer tires of any manufacturer are basicly garbage.

Yes, that’s true. Someone will let a trailer sit out in the sun for a year then wonder why a tire blew.

Old tales die hard. It’s true that 40 years ago, chinese tires were generally, lower quality and some blew out. That left an impression on the impressionable.
Now 90% of all trailer tires are made in China, so if they blow out, people say “chinese tires are junk”, “china bombs”, etc.
If people knew how many of their tires were made in china, or millions of other auto parts for that matter, they’d be very surprised.

 

[Hay Dude]

I run Double Coins on most trailers with very good results. They are a favorite of truckers in my area.

 

[nisaacs]

Also bias ply trailer tires of any manufacturer are basicly garbage.

I disagree. Nothing wrong with quality bias ply tires. They have been around since day one.

This set has a date code of '98, still good. Second set are new bias replacements. I changed them due to age, not tread wear. I have bias on my tractors and loaders.

Third pictures is a 1980 trailer I towed 1100 miles, bias tires, that might be original. They were so old, I don't think they had a date code, they are still on it.

 

[sandman2234]

I bought a Big Tex trailer that came with 235/75r/16 and previous owner changed them out to 14 ply tires. I started out on a 2k mile trip and a bearing started warming up, so I stopped and had new bearings installed. First hub they pulled, the brake shoe fell apart...So now new brakes. While installing the brakes, I was looking over the tires and realized they were 6-7 years old. They didn't have a matching 4, so I went to the trailer shop we were getting the parts from and looked at what he had. He had a stack of 17.5 tires on rims, rated at 16 ply which would fit, so that is what is on it now. I really hate tire issues on the road!
David from jax