Trailer Tires

[Joseph T.]

I am told trailer tires have a stiffer side wall than car tires for weight load and support..because the tires are under lateral pressure while turning the trailer.

Any experienced comments out there?

Is there a supplier you recommend and if so what tire rating is required for trailering cars safely? I have both a 16' steel bed open trailer and a 24' enclosed trailer.

Many thanks,

Joe

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Trailer Tires

Several years ago a friend and myself were towing his newly restored 67 427/435 from Ft Laud, FL to Springfield, IL for Bloomington Gold Judging. He had purchased a new deluxe Pace American 31 ft trailer, with tandem axles, upgraded wheels, (don't remember the tire brand but they were a 6 or 8 ply), electric brakes, and cabinetry and work space in front of the car. Probably weighed between 7 to 10,000 lbs. Anyway, we were outside of Paducah, KY when a car came along side motioning to us. We pulled over to find one of the tires had completely shredded and gone from one of the wheels. We never even felt it. Needless to say, if two had gone on the same side we'd have had a disaster. We had no way to jack the trailer and no spare as I recall. Luckily there was a comercial tire operation not too far up the road and they had a jack heavy enough to lift the trailer with the car inside and the right replacement tire in stock. After a short delay we were on our way.

[Stephen L.]

Re: Trailer Tires

Trailer tires up to load range "D" are "ST" type. Greater load range (E) will be a Light truck tire. Remember the tires carry the weight of the trailer AND the load. Many enclosed car trailers use tandem 3500# axles with load range "C" tires. In most cases these tires are fully or overloaded when carrying a car.
Empty trailer #4000. Vehicle #3500. Miscellaneous stuff in the trailer #500-#1000. That totals #8000+.... Check the load rating of your trailers to see what you can tow and then look at the tires (sidewall) and see what load they can carry..... You may be surprised

Check out the web for a table of tire load ratings. Goodyear and Michelin publish these standards.

[Kent K.]

Re: Trailer Tires

Clare ---- When trailering, always carry a 4x4 with beveled end for rolling the good tire up on when one tire of a tandem axel goes. Sure beats a jack and works every time. Some carry a 4x6 or 4x8 instead of the 4x4. It only needs to be about 16 to 24 inches long. When you pull the good tire up on it, the bad tire clears the ground and may be easily changed
Happy trailering, Kent #6201

[Mike McKown]

Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

a trailer, single or tandem, with a gross weight that would result from a full size car loaded on a trailer. Even if the tires do not fail, you'll get a lot of swaying and crack the whip feel on curves. It's managable under normal conditions, dicey at best in an emergency.

One obvious advantage of a tandem trailer is you can chain one wheel off the pavement in case of wheel bearing or tire failure.

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

Great information and an excellent reminder to make sure your tires are rated for the load you will carry. My example above illustrates what were likely under rated tires for load. Even though the trailer/tires were brand new one failed. As I remember, we also had the sway and whip Mike speaks of above, even though it was a tandem axle. This might be stating the obvious but it's also very important to inspect older tires for condition and make sure they are properly inflated. Even tires with low mileage can deteriorate from UV and ozone exposure just from sitting.

Mike can you explain?:

>>One obvious advantage of a tandem trailer is you can chain one wheel off the pavement in case of wheel bearing or tire failure.

[Joseph T.]

Trailering Safety Checklist

Clare..Since I put an equalizer hitch and two anti sway bars on my 24' enclosed trailer..it pulls straight..with very little sway..even when being passed by semi's. Cost was about $800 but well worth it.

I put new Goodyear passenger car tires on my 16' open trailer and when I went to Michigan and loaded the 76 I bought the tires looked like gumby. They were a little under inflated and correcting that improved things a little..but I was nervous on the 15 hour drive home.

Did not experience anything bad..but I will replace the passenger tires with heavy load rated trailer tires. It simply is not worth the risk.

The more I think about it..it would be great for our members to see a trailering safety check list offered by the club that could be sent as a new or renewed membership bonus.

Might keep some of us alive longer.

Joe

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Trailering Safety Checklist

Not too mention saving a classic Corvette. Check out the ZR1 in this trailer rollover accident. http://www.vettecustoms.com/projects.htm

Joe, you have a great idea. I recently volunteered as editor for our chapter newsletter, The Vette Signal. I'm going to make this subject into an article for the Spring issue. Does any veteran trailering expert want to volunteer to put together a handy check list? I'm not qualified without further research. You'll be credited in print.

[Duke W.]

Re: Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

I think most trailer tires are bias ply, and there are some pass. car tires that may be a better choice, and nylon cap belted high speed rated tires will provide the same safety benefits to trailers as for cars that I discussed in a post a few days ago.

I've talked to several trailer owners who switched from bias ply trailer tires to radials, and they were very pleased with the results. One of the benefits of radials is less rolling resistance. The tires run much cooler and some reported lower fuel consumption when towing.

For example, the three V-rated 225/70R-15 "police pursuit tires" I recommend for Sharks are also available in a V-rated 235/70R-15, and they have a maximum load capacity of 1874 pounds at 44 psi cold pressure. This provides a total load capacity of nearly 7500 pounds. The 225/70s have a load capacity of 1754 pounds at 44 psi for a total of 7056 pounds.

As previously stated you must pay attention to tire load capacity and have a good handle on your trailer's loaded gross weight and install a tire that provides as much load margin as possible.

Duke

[Joseph T.]

Re: Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

Duke

Without any study..it was my assumtion that passenger car radials would be a good choice and maybe even an upgrade to trailer tires. Then I was told later by a friend who has done considerable trailering about the added strength of the trailer tire sidewall construction as compared to passenger car tires.

The comments sounded valid and then when I loaded the 76 on my open trailer with the passnger car radial tires..they looked like they were going in every direction except straight. Faced with a 15 hour drive..I was pretty nervous. I inflated the tires to about 40 lbs..and that helped..but there there was still some gumby like effect on the tires especially when turning. Straight away driving did not appear to be a problem.

I got home okay..but having had this experience..I will do some studying which will most likely lead to chaging the tires.

After reading the response to C, D and E rated trailer tires..I checked the tires on my new 24' encolsed trailer..and they are C rated. The trailer is about 3500 lbs empty plus the weight of my 57 must push the load over 7000lbs.

I have put about 3000 miles on this trailer with no problem..but I am considering upgrading the tires on the enclosed trailer and moving the C rated tires to the open tariler.

If I learn anything in this process I will pass it on.

Joe

[Mike McKown]

Re: Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

Mike can you explain?:

>>One obvious advantage of a tandem trailer is you can chain one wheel off the pavement in case of wheel bearing or tire failure.

This is assuming you don't have a spare tire or spare hub and bearings along with the necessary tools and are in the middle of nowhere, you can chain or tie the affected wheel/tire off the pavement and get where you're going without calling road service. I've done this once on a tandem boat trailer and once on a car hauler. The one time on the tandem car hauler was when I quit using pass car tires with that much GVW. It just went flat. Didn't blow.

My current car hauler has radials on it. They're not pass radials but trailer radials and they do pull and track great.

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

I'm having a tough time getting a "visual" on chaining? In my story above, when the tire blew, it shredded and come completely off the rim. There were only reminents of the sidewalls left. It happened to be the rear tire of a tandem setup and caused only minor damage to the trailer fender. Since there were three good tires left, we were able to motor on, albiet carefully and slowly, to the relatively close by tire center. The cell phone and directory assistance came in handy to find the tire store, as we weren't carrying the Yellow Pages for central KY with us.

[Joseph T.]

Re: Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

Clare

The attached checklist was in my trailer manual. Maybe it is start.

Personally..I think it should have some changes..to be as stupid proof as possible..

And I say that because..we get all get excited about buying and getting a car home or taking a car to a show and we do stupid things..under pressure and time restraints...no matter how novice or experienced. I know Mike Cobine has published detailed articles on trailering..maybe he will chime in..with some checklist tips.

Joe

[Duke W.]

Re: Pass car tires are not a good idea to use on

I would not install just ANY pass. car tire on a trailer, but only a high speed rated tire with a nylon cap belts for the same reason that I recommend them on passenger cars.

In addition to a reinforced belt package, higher speed rated tires usually have reinforced sidewall construction, and higher maximum cold pressure - 44 to 51 versus 35 for cheap, low speed rated tires without nylon cap belts.

Higher speed rated tires will carry full load at max. cold pressure at higher speeds than low speed rated tires, so it's axiomatic that they will carry more load at low speed, but this isn't taken into account in the ratings.

Duke

[Joseph T.]

Re:Check this site on trailer tires

http://www.championtrailers.com/tire_art.html

It might help a little.

Joe