Trailer tires

[jbc3]

I have an 18' car trailer that I have had for a number of years. The tires have always been fine, but recently in 2 trips to North Carolina (~ 450 miles each way... so about 2000 miles in 2 months) all of the the tires are all of a sudden wearing badly. The tire pressure was/is about 40 lbs (max pressure 50 on these tires) and nothing was hit. The trailer was carrying a ~3800 lb car. Also the trailer seemed to track fine and not bounce around.

They are cupping and wearing on the outside and inside only and the center third or more is fine. Here are pictures of the tires, The wear and cupping is tough to see completely in the pictures. The center 3 rows of tread are sticking up as though they were not driven on. Pics of all of the tires are shown (the first 4 pics are of the different tires)

I have not done any measuring to see if the axles are not tracking straight yet, but since the wear is both on the inside and outside, I figured it was something else.

 

Suggestions/Ideas????

Getting new tires at some point is probably going to happen, but I don't want to replace them and have issues with the new ones too.

 

Jody

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alexdeprat]

Check the DOT (when the tire was manufactured) of the tires you be surprise how many people buy used looking like new tires (like my self) thinking that the tires are new, when in reality they can be old. When tires are old (but look new) the wear happens very rapid.

 

Check the link below it explain DOT:

 

http://www.motortrend.com/features/car_care/112_0309_dot_tire_sidewalls_markings/index.html

 

Alex

[jbc3]

The trailer was bought by someone I know, new. He had the trailer for about 6 months and lost a place to store it and I bought it. It had probably 300 to 500 miles on it. I have had the trailer for about 7 years.

 

Jody

[alexdeprat]

The trailer was bought by someone I know, new. He had the trailer for about 6 months and lost a place to store it and I bought it. It had probably 300 to 500 miles on it. I have had the trailer for about 7 years.

 

Jody

 

Well if the tires are hmmm less than 3 years old and is use on the regular, parked outside (don’t they all )etc.. It can be a lot of factors, if you wish, begin checking the DOT, once that is done and you’re please with the result, then check the bearings on the hub, sometimes one overlook that minor factor until you loose a wheel on the freeway. I usually replaced my bearings on my trailer hmmm every 3,000 miles plus or minus.

 

Hope this help a bit,

 

Alex

[Warren]

Underinflated... ALWAYS run trailer tires at their MAX recommended air pressure based on the load weight AFTER the trailer has been loaded. This comes straight from Goodyear. I recently bought 4 new tires for my trailer and it was recommended that they be covered to avoid UV light exposure if stored outside as well. Check the recommendations on Goodyear's website regarding their Marathon radials here. I was shocked to read it at first, then it all made sense. Needless to say, my trailers, stored outside, got a set of wheel covers put on the tires as soon as they are parked.

[MatMan]

Underinflated... ...snip...

+1

 

If they were over inflated, you would have that wear right down the middle.

 

If it were tracking wrong, the wear would be only one side.

[m4xwellmurd3r]

so basically, load the trailer up, THEN check the tire pressure. right?

[Warren]

yep, and do it when they're cold...before you go driving off hauling the loaded trailer... then stop somewhere along the way, after they're warmed up and check it again, adjust as necessary, up to 10% over the recommended max is ok, but NEVER under the minimum. More people have suffered blowouts on their trailers from underinflated tires than overinflated tires, which is why you see so many "alligators" on the road...the sides wear out and the tread separates. The PDF file I supplied is a good reference...there are also other charts to go by on their homepage.

 

This may not seem correct because the center isn't being worn as much, but if you think about it, the sidewalls are stiffer than the tread itself when there is a load on an underinflated tire, hence, the outter edges, supported by the sidewalls are bearing more or all of the load.

[m4xwellmurd3r]

I had to get my mom to replace all her tires because she let them run underinflated too long. they weren't bad, but they were getting bad.

welp thanks for that bit of info. it'll be handy whenever i need to haul something

[johnc]

Actually, it looks like those tires were run severely under inflated and are about to have a tread separation. The 5th picture down on the right side really shows it.

[jbc3]

Thanks for the responses.

Well I guess I have been doing it wrong all along. I assumed that, like the tires on the car, you rarely run them at MAX. I have 40: cold: unloaded. The tires have a 50 lb max pressure rating. They have never been covered (except for mud ).

It is still odd that they are now showing this rapid wear. It has been on a number of long trips, similar pressure and weight, but no tire wear noticed. Before these last 2 trips the tires seemed fine. After the first trip to NC, the wear was noticable, but after the second trip to NC it was much worse. The bearings were cleaned and repacked last year and checked earlier this year. Maybe the age of them is also part of the issue.

[Warren]

Age has ALOT to do with it I'm sure, as well as that the newer tire compounds include a built in UV protection (the higher quality ones like the Goodyear Marathon, that is)... New ones really don't so much NEED protection from UV rays, but it sure helps to keep them covered to avoid the common everyday filth that builds up from the weather alone.