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Brine

Brine

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I want to put new tires on my trailer. In the past, I've only bought wheel/tire combos at Northern Tool, but I want to buy just tires for my new trailer. Anyone got any reccomendations on a brand or where to buy. The current tire is Bridgestone P155/80 R13. Should I buy a radial or bias? The boat gets used every other weekend, and I don't drive more than an hour to get to any lake.

Thanks
Brine
 
Radials are "better." In that the construction method allows for them to run cooler, wear less, better tracking, and a wider footprint for better tracking. But, bias ply tires have different advantages, at least in the trailer world. Mostly, the sidewalls are more durable, and less prone to bruising, and they are also cheaper.

For your case, you probably won't notice a difference in them, and seeing as bias ply tires are cheaper, and on trailers, especially for the short hops you do, the next time you replace them will be due to dry rotting, not due to running out of tread, bias ply will do you just fine. For the most part, that is what I run, at least on smaller single axle trailers. Bigger trailers, especially tandems are where you see radial advantages.
 
bassboy1 said:
Radials are "better." In that the construction method allows for them to run cooler, wear less, better tracking, and a wider footprint for better tracking. But, bias ply tires have different advantages, at least in the trailer world. Mostly, the sidewalls are more durable, and less prone to bruising, and they are also cheaper.

For your case, you probably won't notice a difference in them, and seeing as bias ply tires are cheaper, and on trailers, especially for the short hops you do, the next time you replace them will be due to dry rotting, not due to running out of tread, bias ply will do you just fine. For the most part, that is what I run, at least on smaller single axle trailers. Bigger trailers, especially tandems are where you see radial advantages.
Click to expand...

So, Bassboy, what would you recommend for our trailer? A single axle, 16' deep V? We noticed our tires are wearing badly and need replacement. we take long hauls 2-3 times a year - 500-800 miles, plus short trips (less than 60 miles) 3-4 times a year also.

Will bias plys work okay or shoud we look at radials? Heres the boat:

https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=139&start=40


Thanks

Joe
 
Bias would be fine, in my opinion. I have them on my trailer, which run time is very similar to yours, and if I wore these out, would put the same on. The benefits, in your case, do not outweigh the cost, in my opinion.
 
bassboy1 said:
Bias would be fine, in my opinion. I have them on my trailer, which run time is very similar to yours, and if I wore these out, would put the same on. The benefits, in your case, do not outweigh the cost, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your opinion.... We'll go with bias for our replacements....
 
https://www.treadepot.com/

I would go to a tire shop and just get you some... Toyo are some good tires for trailers... a few guys in my club have them.. I did a search for your size and a good set of Toyo tires are $36 each... but 2 shipped to me is right at $100, so probably would be the same price to you.

I would go for radials though... especially if you can get a price like this for them
 
Either will work fine so long as you keep them at 65mph or below. Trips of any length above that, both types build excessive heat and kill their useful life.

Trailer tires just don't go flat after excessive heat fatigue, either. They tend to delaminate while on the road.

It will happen with both radial and bias if repeatedly pulled in excess of their design speed (60 mph) although it will probably get the bias tires first.

I run bias tires but I rarely pull over 35 miles one way or on interstates.

(edited for correct mph)
 
Russ, I did a quick search, but couldn't find any Toyo Special Trailer (ST) tires. I may have missed something.



One thing I forgot to mention is to make sure is that whatever tires you put on a trailer, especially a single axle, are marked ST, for Special Trailer. Trailer tires generally have much thicker sidewalls, since they aren't needed for steering, which usually helps with sway control. Often on trailers with passenger or light truck tires, the sidewall flex will cause it to sway more. Another thing that sets trailer tires apart from car tires is the sun resistance. Trailer tires are designed to be stored for long periods of time without developing flat spots, and usually have longer life in direct sunlight for long periods of time.

On certain Tandem trailers, you can get by with car tires. I know Bass Cat boats put car tires on their tandem trailers (not singles), which is acceptable. Personally, however, I would be putting Radial ST tires on all tandems, and on my bigger single axle trailers (boat pushing 3000 pounds on a single), but keep with Bias Ply ST tires on my smaller trailers, unless I just had the spare money to spend on radials, and nothing else to spend it on.
 
Quackrstackr said:
Either will work fine so long as you keep them at 60mph or below. Trips of any length above that, both types build excessive heat and kill their useful life.

Trailer tires just don't go flat after excessive heat fatigue, either. They tend to delaminate while on the road.

It will happen with both radial and bias if repeatedly pulled in excess of their design speed (60 mph) although it will probably get the bias tires first.

I run bias tires but I rarely pull over 35 miles one way or on interstates.
Click to expand...


On our long trips (300-600 miles) we're always cruising around 65-70 mph on the interstates? Is that a problem for the trailer tires? and, should I then go with radials because of the speed? Or - should we slow down a little??
 
FishingCop said:
On our long trips (300-600 miles) we're always cruising around 65-70 mph on the interstates? Is that a problem for the trailer tires? and, should I then go with radials because of the speed? Or - should we slow down a little??
Click to expand...

I haven't seen an ST tire yet that was rated for over 65mph, bias or radial. Pulling them faster than that speeds up the wear process greatly because of the heat.

The radials are supposedly better for higher speed, longer distance but I have a buddy that pulls his boat on the interstate every weekend that does well to get a year out of a set of radial tires. His drive is just a hair longer than mine but mine is on 2 lane instead of interstate. The load is well under the rated load for the tires, he just runs them at 70+ mph.

I don't understand the advertising angle of radials being higher speed rated tires when they still are not designed to be run over 65mph.

(edited for correct mph)
 
this is a direct quote from Carlisle tire and in 20 years of working on Trailers , I've never seen one say 60 MPH max rated .???


Radials feature plies that run perpendicularly across the tire,
with belts (some of which can be steel) running under the
tread. Today, many ST tires are radials. Is bias better than
radial, or visa versa? Actually, each has its pros and cons. In
making a decision, it is good to talk to the tire manufacturer
about your particular application.

Generally speaking, a bias tire has the advantage when it
comes to load and high-speed performance. A radial, however,
is better when it comes to tread wear. On average a bias tire’s
tread will last approximately 12,000 miles, whereas a radial
typically lasts 40,000 miles. There are exceptions, of course,
but this is an average comparison.
Click to expand...
 
My bad, I misspoke. It's 65.

This comes from a Carlisle trailer tire dealer's site but the same info is posted all over the internet about all ST tires.

Speed
All "ST" tires have a maximum speed rating of 65 mph.
As heat builds up, the tire's structure starts to disintegrate and weaken.
The load carrying capacity gradually decreases as the heat and stresses generated by higher speed increases.
Click to expand...

https://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rv_inflation.pdf

https://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/marathon_gen_info_032806.pdf

The blurb about high speed performance going to bias ply tires goes directly against every other piece of info that I have ever seen on the matter. They flex more which generates more heat in the tire.
 
Based on industry standards, if tires with the ST designation are used at speeds between 66 and 75 mph, it is
necessary to increase the cold inflation pressures by 10 psi above the recommended pressure for the load.
o Do not exceed the maximum pressure for the wheel.
o If the maximum pressure for the wheel prohibits the increase of air pressure, then the
maximum speed must be restricted to 65 mph.
o The cold inflation pressure must not exceed 10 psi beyond the inflation specified for the
maximum load of the tire.
Click to expand...
 
I guess you can inflate your tires to 60 psi if you want to drive over 65mph and burn the tread out of the middle but I won't.

That information is stated other places as well but all of them except the one Marathon link that I posted say doing so may cause rapid tire wear.

If my tires say max inflation of 50psi, I take that to mean max inflation of 50psi. Not 60psi so that I can run 10mph above the designed speed rating.

Catastrophic tire failure while on a fishing trip is not very high up my list of "must do" things.
 
I wouldn't recommend over inflating your tires either. just quoting the links you posted as far as speeds.
 
Just a thought......what if one tire goes bad (blowout, sidewall damage, etc), and you have to buy a new tire and cannot find a matching tire (brand, tread design, etc). Would it be advisable to buy two new tires in order to have the same brand & tread design? I'm thinking probably not, but it's just a thought.
 
as long as they are the same size,ratings and tire pressure you'd be fine. don't mix tires that have different pressure or load ratings.
 

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