Split: Trailer tire and pressure discussion

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
BlazingTrails said:
I totally forgot about this thread. 16' enclosed trailer empty weighs 2,375 lbs. It's actually made for hauling small cars. I was able to maintain 75-80mph on the interstate.


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Nice trailer, I'd love one like that. Be careful with those speed if you are running ST trailer tires. Most are not meant to exceed 65mph. :smile:
 

BlazingTrails

Member
Apr 27, 2014
19,409
Bow_Tied said:
Nice trailer, I'd love one like that. Be careful with those speed if you are running ST trailer tires. Most are not meant to exceed 65mph. :smile:
I will investigate the tires, I've never really heard about that before. I do love that trailer, and the best part? It's my dad's and I can use it anytime I want. :smile:

He also has a great pop up camper that sleeps 6 I can use anytime I want.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON

{tpc}

Member
Jan 22, 2014
359
Lookout for the trailer king, power king, and towmax tires. I believe they are all from the same chinese manufacturer and on other forums they like to call them "china bombs".

I still have these on mine...knock on wood..no issues yet, but I rarely go over 65. I have gone faster just to see how things handled before, but have read too many bad storys about the trailer tires to do it anymore.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
Thanks tpc. The trouble I'm having is that almost every brand has a bad rep on the net including Carlisle and Goodyear. Maxxis seem well regarded but of course no local dealers carry it.
 

{tpc}

Member
Jan 22, 2014
359
Bow_Tied said:
Thanks tpc. The trouble I'm having is that almost every brand has a bad rep on the net including Carlisle and Goodyear. Maxxis seem well regarded but of course no local dealers carry it.
Seems about right. Personally, I would go the least expensive route of those 3 if replacing the tires. From what I have read, they are equally as good opinions on people running all 3 of those brands, as there are bad ones.

Can't say the same about those others I have listed already. My feeling is any of the brands can have a blowout or tread separation. Some maybe more than others. But I think some of it has to do with care or lack there of. Running overinflated, underinflated, not inspecting the tire for cracks, using tire shine, etc all plays a part.

When I got my trailer new, dealer had the tires aired up to 45 psi. On the sticker it says 50 psi cold is what they should be at. Thats also the max on the side of the tire. I ran them all year like that. Put it away for the year. Couple weeks ago, pulled it out, all 4 tires still at 45 not cracking or anything. And these are the china tires. So I'm pretty happy. I have since aired them up to 47. The more I read about it, the more I feel they should be set at 50 cold. But I know they are going to gain about 2 psi once warmed up or once the weather is warmer, and they don't have the best reviews, so I keep them just a tad lower.

I do the same with the truck tires. But thats more because if I air them up to 44 psi cold, the tpms light goes off once they warm up. So I set them to 42.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
tpc: My understanding is that pressure in the tire is proportional to load carrying ability. So in approximate senses, at 47 psi you are at 47/50 or 94% of max capacity. Not sure if that is wholly correct.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
Bow_Tied said:
tpc: My understanding is that pressure in the tire is proportional to load carrying ability. So in approximate senses, at 47 psi you are at 47/50 or 94% of max capacity. Not sure if that is wholly correct.
Makes logical sense, inflate to recommended and when at max it is the max load. In reality, I dunno.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
tpc - The way I interpret this chart below (from: http://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf) is that the load increases with pressure. To be honest I didn't check that it was truly proportional or not.

BlazingTrails - my reference to the tire speed limit I mentioned before comes from this chart also (not trying to beat on you about this, just fyi on my source :smile: )

Edit: I checked the load vs pressure based on that chart and added a graph. Seems pretty linear.
 

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{tpc}

Member
Jan 22, 2014
359
Yup, thats how it works. Though I think on some tires there is a point of no return where you can air up the tires past a certain level and it doesn't affect load.

However, everyone has there own method. Some go by the door jam for their TV. Some air up the tires to max cold, tpms sensors be damned. Some run p-metric, some run only LT.

My understanding is that standard vehicle tires are at max load rating at their nomial inflation. IE, if you have tires that standard inflation is 35 psi, airing them up to 44 psi doesn't increase load capability. ST and LT may very well be different.

I also think if truck XXX is rated to tow XXXX lbs, that rating is based on the door jam inflation numbers. I still air mine up a bit more however.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
From the picture thread to here for y'all to continue discussion.

Thanks
 
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Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
tpc, I agree with all you noted. There are some who inflate TV tires by max tire pressure which I believe is in most cases erroneous.

For trailer tires of any type the online guides I have read suggest that inflation suitable to load plus some safety margin is the minimum. I like to run mine within a couple psi of max so that I'm always ready for changes in cargo load.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
I keep mine at 34, or whatever it says inside the door. My sidewalls aren't too stiff and anything lower then 32 makes them bulge out more than I'd appriciate. The boat trailer stays at 35, max rated is 50, that makes them look full and still have some give in the sidewall.
 

DocBrown

Member
Dec 8, 2011
501
Most ST tires have a max speed of 65. Some 15" & 16" have a higher max speed. The max speed is stamped on the sidewall. Exceeding that speed causes them to heat up and break apart. Ron, I'm with you, short durations in excess of 65 does not hurt anything. When towing a travel trailer, what's the hurry anyway? It's vacation. The trip is often half the fun.

The single biggest thing to cause trailer tire failure is underinflation. Most travel trailer manuals will simply say to run the tires at maximum cold psi that's stamped on the tire. For most ST tires that's 50psi, but again, some of the larger tires (15", 16") have higher PSI limits. I have followed all the recommendations for the past 23+ years of towing trailers, have towed all over the western US on two occasions, and have never had a blowout

{tpc} said:
Lookout for the trailer king, power king, and towmax tires. I believe they are all from the same chinese manufacturer and on other forums they like to call them "china bombs".
My hybrid trailer has TowMax tires also. I'm in my 3rd season with them now. I've been digging deeper into online threads about this on the RV boards I belong to. What's begining to emerge is that the problems seem to be with the 15" TowMax tires on large (30'+) trailers, especially 5vers. I've only ran across one 13" complaint, which is what my trailer has. And really, people can say they don't exceed 65, they can say they are not overloaded, they can say that they are properly inflated, but it's the Internet. People can say anything they like. If no is filing complaints with NHTSB, then is there really a problem? So I don't fully buy into a widespread problem with these. With the many thousands of these tires installed on trailers in the past 5 years, why aren't we seeing blowouts on the sides of the roads every trip?
 
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{tpc}

Member
Jan 22, 2014
359
DocBrown said:
Most ST tires have a max speed of 65. Some 15" & 16" have a higher max speed. The max speed is stamped on the sidewall. Exceeding that speed causes them to heat up and break apart. Ron, I'm with you, short durations in excess of 65 does not hurt anything. When towing a travel trailer, what's the hurry anyway? It's vacation. The trip is often half the fun.

The single biggest thing to cause trailer tire failure is underinflation. Most travel trailer manuals will simply say to run the tires at maximum cold psi that's stamped on the tire. For most ST tires that's 50psi, but again, some of the larger tires (15", 16") have higher PSI limits. I have followed all the recommendations for the past 23+ years of towing trailers, have towed all over the western US on two occasions, and have never had a blowout


My hybrid trailer has TowMax tires also. I'm in my 3rd season with them now. I've been digging deeper into online threads about this on the RV boards I belong to. What's begining to emerge is that the problems seem to be with the 15" TowMax tires on large (30'+) trailers, especially 5vers. I've only ran across one 13" complaint, which is what my trailer has. And really, people can say they don't exceed 65, they can say they are not overloaded, they can say that they are properly inflated, but it's the Internet. People can say anything they like. If no is filing complaints with NHTSB, then is there really a problem? So I don't fully buy into a widespread problem with these. With the many thousands of these tires installed on trailers in the past 5 years, why aren't we seeing blowouts on the sides of the roads every trip?
I'm just passing along what I have read. To be honest, I'm not running out to replace my china bombs or whatever they want to call them. If I have a blowout, and I'm not doing anything stupid to cause it, then sure, I'd probably replace them all. But, if I'm going to buy new, I'm likely going to go with the best I can afford, with the best reviews I can find. In that case I hope for a better tire, if I end up with the same one, then eh, so be it.

I agree with you what you have said. To add to it, people scream the loudest when a problem occurs, so a lot of times that is the largest sample we get.What about the guy running towmax that gets 100k miles and 10 years of life...he will likely never post it, so we won't know.

Its for the same reasons you mention that I tow with non-LT tires on my truck. Oh the horror! LOL But to each their own.i understand the differences and what makes an LT tire better. But I also feel that car manufacturers didn't determine the weight and tow ratings based on LT tires being on the vehicle, but rather on the standard OEM equipment. Are LT tires better? Everything I have read leads me to believe this. But the extra cost involved in upgrading rims, tires, sensors an who knows what else isn't in the cards for me. But I see people towing all kinds of stuff with their standard oem equipped vehicles. Where is the massive destruction of all these trucks towing with non-lt tires?

I think if you do it right, stay within the ratings, you should be fine. If I notice a negative trend, equipment wise, I will shy away from that equipment. In the end it is up to the individual to do their due diligence and make proper decisions. Even so, bad things can and will happen through no fault of their own. Nothing is 100% perfect, right?
 
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