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Trailer Tires


medicdiver

Tires  

116 members have voted

  1. 1. Which brand of Trailer Tires do you use

    • Goodyear Marathon
      46
    • Carlisle
      31
    • Loadstar
      3
    • Another Brand
      25
    • I use car tires, not trailer tires
      8
    • Boat stays in water, no trailer
      3
  2. 2. How old are your tires?

    • 1 Year
      26
    • 2 Years
      14
    • 3 Years
      31
    • 4 Years
      16
    • 5 Years
      7
    • > 5 years
      19
    • Boat stays in water, no trailer
      3
  3. 3. Do you replace your tires before they fail?

    • Yes, I replace them every year
      0
    • Yes, I replace them every two years
      2
    • Yes, I replace them every 3 years
      33
    • I replace the boat before the tires go bad
      23
    • No, I wait for them to fail, then replace.
      54
    • Boat stays in water, no trailer
      4


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My boat/Trailer is 5 years old with original tires. I replace wheel bearings and dust caps every year normally on the boat trailer, and every other year on car trailer/RV. I usually replace the tires on the car trailer every two years as I blow one by then. How many of you replace tires as preventative mantaince before they fail. There is nothing like a flat tire to ruin the boating day. What brand is everyone using. I have Goodyears now but am looking to replace them, possibly with something else. Does anyone use wheel covers like you see on RV's when parked to help stop dry rot on the tires?

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The third question needs the option:

I replace them once they show visible signs of being worn out. :Doh:

My OE tires went six years, not sure how many miles, but the tread started showing signs of wear (wear bar near surface of tread) so I replaced them. My boat stays in my garage so no worries about sun rot. Keep them protected with 303.

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thrid year on my tires

always 303 them and the boat stays under cover all year round no sun contact

this year have one tire cracking on the side wall

time to replace

It's a transmaster . anyone else run this tire

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MalibuNation

I ordered my boat and trailer in 2003 and do very little trailering and still have original tires on the trailer. Very little wear on the tires and I have no plans on replacing the them. Also I have dual axles for extra protection. Jim

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Goodyear Marathons are made in China and have been for several years. Max speed is 65 unless you add more air pressure(Directly from the Goodyear website). Ed you can drive them 70+ but Goodyear doesn't recommend it.

Edited by eyepeeler
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thrid year on my tires

always 303 them and the boat stays under cover all year round no sun contact

this year have one tire cracking on the side wall

time to replace

It's a transmaster . anyone else run this tire

This is the key to long tire life IMO. Boat stays in the garage when not in use and the tires are in great shape after 4 years.

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I had one Marithon go out last year, weird failure, didn't loose pressure but it went out of round, bad enough to see the trailer moving up and down at it was rolling down the road.

That's why I have a spare.

-Chris

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Goodyear Marathons are made in China and have been for several years. Max speed is 65 unless you add more air pressure.

Where did that info come from? My tire guy says adding more air pressure than recommended just makes the tires wear out faster, not designed for that he says. I asked because they looked to me like they needed a bit more pressure. He said no.

Had Marathons on my previous boat trailer, got 6+ years out of them (before they showed enough wear that I replaced them with a new set of Marathons) and I trailer a bunch. If anything they usually were at or slightly below the max pressure listed on the sidewall, and when we trailer the boat somewhere it's always at least 70 mph (or a bit more...). Never had a single problem.

Ed

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My OEM Carlisle bias ply tires lasted around 4 years before I started noticing small side wall cracks. The boat is in a covered structure and I used 303 on the tires and check air pressure before every trip. I just didn't want a failure on the road so I replaced them.

I replaced them with some store brand radial trailer tires from Les Schwab tire store last Spring, we have a good company discount there so I figured I'd give them a try.

My spare is a Goodyear radial Marathon.

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I inspect my (3) trailers tires continuously and replace when failure looks imminent. The tires on my fold down camper are the originals from 1986. I'm holding Armstrong to their lifetime guarantee. Their probably not even in business any more, don't know.

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electric John, a quick check gives the folowing info for Armstrong

Armstrong Inc Tires

4315 Bourbon Rd

Muscotah, KS 66058

785-872-3721

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My trailer came with Carlisle and I didn't have good luck with them. One blew out at 70, not fun as mentioned above, and the other I could see the sidewall starting to give. But to be truthful I wasn't the most diligent about checking pressure, which I am now. Its not like they were ever at like 20PSI, but they may have been at 35 when they suggest 50 or 60.

After that experience I didn't want to mess around so I thought going with the Marathons was a good choice. At that time I was towing a lot and 70 - 75 was not uncommon. 6 years later and being towed from IL to WA and back to MN , never had an issue. I only use the trailer 2 or 3 times a year now so I don't expect to replace them until the are pretty dried out.

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On my previous SLXI I had Carlisle tires on a T/A trailer and are still on it today after 9 years. Now I’ve got Toyo and they’ll need much quicker replacement due to the soft compound compared to that of the Carlisle.

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I had a bad year last year with tires, I had 1 tire blow out on a 6 mile trip to the lake, no big deal it happens. The tire seperated and was (as far as I know) an original tire from when the boat was new. I looked at the rest of the tires and they all had very small cracks in the side walls where the tread starts. I called an ordered 4 tires from the local shop and they were on backorder. I mounted the spare and decided to take a chance the next weekend and take a 12 mile trip to the river. :Doh: Lost another tire on the way home. Tire shop called and they had recieved my tires, took the boat up to have them mounted and they had recieved two 15" and two 14" Frustrated.gif so They mounted the two that fit and reordered said they would have the other two in two weeks. So i had two new tires and a spare that was new on the trailer, and 1 old tire. The next weeked was camp periwinkle, lost the only remainig original tire left on that trip home at about midnight after a long day.

good thing i guess is that this year we have all new tires. Thumbup.gif

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Now I am real careful about inspecting the trailer tires on the travel and boat trailer. In 37 years of owning 8 boats I have never had a bearing or trailer tire failure on my boat trailer. I credit the frequent repacking of wheel bearings and inside storage of my boats over the last 32 years. I do not carry a spare for my boat trailer but the travel trailer does have one.

I replaced my boat trailer tires about 8 years ago with a larger size D rating to increase my load rating by 30%. My boat stays in my warm garage and I monitor these tires constantly. No signs of cracking yet. I'll replace them at first signs of cracking as I expect this will be the criteria before the tread wears out.

Seven years ago I had an inside (on a dual rear wheel) tire blow out around Mojave CA on our previous Beaver motorhome. This was in March so it was not real hot yet. The motorhome had been stored outside by the previous owner and the sidewalls did show signs of cracking and I should have replaced them, as I found out. Shortly after that I sold the motorhome and bought a new travel trailer.

One of my major criteria for this trailer was that I wanted as big a reserve load capacity between the loaded and unloaded rate.

We do a lot of dry camping in the Ochoco National Forest with the travel trailer over gravel logging roads. We often are just parking in the trees or meadow along a stream and not in a campground. So far we've had no tire failures because we have 7200# of tire capacity and the trailer exerts maybe 5400# on the axles.

Edited by DONTW8
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I'm on my second set of Carlisle's after almost 8 years and a lot of towing. It's weird how when one tire fails, the rest are right behind it. I did up the load range on my new tires to load "D" I believe. I never go anywhere w/o a spare. (I never go boating w/o a spare everything for that matter)

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Goodyear Marathons are made in China and have been for several years. Max speed is 65 unless you add more air pressure.

Where did that info come from? My tire guy says adding more air pressure than recommended just makes the tires wear out faster, not designed for that he says. I asked because they looked to me like they needed a bit more pressure. He said no.

Had Marathons on my previous boat trailer, got 6+ years out of them (before they showed enough wear that I replaced them with a new set of Marathons) and I trailer a bunch. If anything they usually were at or slightly below the max pressure listed on the sidewall, and when we trailer the boat somewhere it's always at least 70 mph (or a bit more...). Never had a single problem.

Ed

Maybe it's because my tire guy wants me to wear out my tires faster....but the physics were explained that higher pressure reveals less tire to the road surface, creating less friction and thus, less heat. We tow to Page, Arizona across Nevada in July/August. Usually a wee bit over the suggested limit of 55mph.

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Just did an inspection on the GoodYears, one has cracks and one is fine. got the boat used so I dont know how old the cracked one is and how new the uncracked one is.

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I've used Carlisle in the past and present, but next time around I'm going with Goodyear. I have experienced cracking on the side wall of Carlisle's, no failures yet but it just doesn't look right to me. On our last boat we went 8 years before replacing them but that boat was not as heavy as the one I have now so I wouldn't push it that long again.

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Rotating tires yesterday and found 1 of my 3 year old Goodyears about to come apart. Glad I found it now and not on the road. 13 years ago my Goodyears lasted till the tread was worn out. Since I replaced that set with Carlisles then Goodyears, nothing has lasted more than 3 years. I guess it shows that they don't make things like they used too. Best price I could find was $112 mounted and balanced for a new 1 new Marathon. I hate trailer tires.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Rotating tires yesterday and found 1 of my 3 year old Goodyears about to come apart. Glad I found it now and not on the road. 13 years ago my Goodyears lasted till the tread was worn out. Since I replaced that set with Carlisles then Goodyears, nothing has lasted more than 3 years. I guess it shows that they don't make things like they used too. Best price I could find was $112 mounted and balanced for a new 1 new Marathon. I hate trailer tires.

I have had the same Marathons on my 99 RLX since 99! They definitely need to be replaced, not from wear, but from age. Only getting 3 years out tires doesn't really excite me and it doesn't sound like the Marathons are worth the extra $$$'s.

Deke

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