Check those trailer tires for date codes

G

Greg Miller

Well-known member
I'm sure most racers do check for old tires and replace them before they blow on the haul. Right? You replace tires if they are 6 years old, even if they have almost full tread, right?
Mine were date coded 1008. Way over half the tread left. That is 10th week of 2008 so they are 6 1/2 yrs old. I checked the tire pressure before leaving Kirkland and decided to go to Portland and put the new trailer tire purchase on the short list.
Well, on the way home I felt a vibration develop and checked twice before I felt the tires around the tread for bulges or other issues. One tire had a raised tread and was hotter, when I pulled on it - the tread moved. Tread separation. Fortunately I was on a leasurely early trip back home on a sunny Sunday. I found it when I stopped for gas in Centralia. There was a nice big parking lot with plenty of room to do a swap with the spare. Any onlooker would have seen a one man NASCAR wheel swap, rattle gun, race jack, torque check, air check and fill, and out of there in record time. So nice not to have been road side when this happened. (having a leveling ramp to put the good wheel up on was a bonus since it raised the bad wheel on the tandem axle, reducing the weight I needed to lift with the jack)
So Costco or Discount tire seem to have decent deals, I will be out $600 for new tires and brake shoes (from etrailer.com) while I'm in there. Peace of Mind - priceless !!
I may not have felt the vibration if I had a bigger tow vehicle. With my old 16,000 lb motorhome the tire could be square and I might not feel it.
So, just my $0.02 worth: $600 of preventative maintenance is less stress than changing wheels on a rainy day in weekend traffic roadside. Murphy says you will be bone tired and it will be the roadside wheel where you can only stop on a skinny shoulder.

By the way - this applies to Motorhome and Truck tires. Think "What would happen if my Motorhome's front tire blew while I was towing"
 
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Huh. I felt gypped when my 2603. (Yes, 2003) tire did that last year.

Can't find any US made trailer tires, either....

t
 
As far as trailer tires go, over the years I have had VERY good luck with Les Swab even to the point that if you do have a bad tire, depending on what the problem is, they will do a full no charge replacement or a very little charge.

They even have phone numbers for road side call outs.

I bought some new tires a couple of years ago, had tread come lose on one, made phone call, truck showed up (at 9pm Sunday) with new TIRE, driver did ALL the work, charged me $10.00, said good night and we both drove off.

Best service I have ever had.
 
tobybasiliko said:
Huh. I felt gypped when my 2603. (Yes, 2003) tire did that last year.

Can't find any US made trailer tires, either....

t
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Consensus around the interwebs (fwiw) is the trailer tire to have (that's not made in China) is the Maxxis 10ply.

I just bought an infrared gun so that when I stop for gas I can easily check the temp of the tires and the wheel hubs/bearings. Trailer tires should be set at their max inflation pressure when cold. But of course everyone knows that right? Even 5 psi below their max inflation pressure is a pretty big percentage drop in their load capacity.
 
Had a teachable moment earlier this year on the way to the Test & Tune at ORP..

Was towing the PRO3 with a rented U-Haul open trailer down I-84, making dang good time (according to Ryan Haines, I was averaging about 70 mph the whole way..)

Just as I was leaving the freeway at Biggs Junction, I must have caught a rock in one of the tires, and Kablaam-O! Tire disintegrated.

This event taught me a few things:

-Even if your tow vehicle can do it comfortably, you really should only be towing at the tires recommended, loaded speed.
-Check your tire pressures, especially if you don't know the history of the trailer you are using.
-There is a 24/7/365 trailer tire service in Biggs Junction..

So there you go.
 
djjerme said:
-Even if your tow vehicle can do it comfortably, you really should only be towing at the tires recommended, loaded speed.
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I don't think there's a trailer tire around that's rated for any speeds greater than 65MPH, that seems to be a universal standard. The only exception I've seen is some literature from Goodyear regarding their Marathon line that if you're going to tow a bit faster then you should increase the tire pressure up to 10 psi above the max inflation pressure but not to exceed 75mph and to pay closer attention to heat buildup.

The other argument I've read (from a tire engineer) about blow-outs specific to any brand is the statistical argument and the weight argument. If Brand A sells 10 million tires per year and Brand B sells 0.5 million tires, you're going to hear much fewer complaints about Brand B if both have an equivalent failure rate of say 1%. The weight argument is that the greater strength of the tire is a result of more "stuff" that creates that strength. So if Brand A has an E-rated tire that's 36lbs and Brand B is 45lbs it very safe to say the heavier tire is the stronger of the two. That's from a guy, on the internet, who says he's a tire engineer. But you know what they say, you can't put anything on the internet that isn't true right?

I believe my trailer is coming in around 7500lbs and my E-rated (10 ply) tires are rated for 2830 x (4 tires) = 11320. I've also read that a 20% margin is recommended and I have a 34% margin which offers some piece of mind (as does the fully inflated spare on board). :)

S&S tire in Puyallup quoted me (5) E-Rated trailer tires with installation and tax at $652. Tire made by Hi-Run which are Chinese like everything else except the Maxxis which are Taiwanese.
 
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"I don't think there's a trailer tire around that's rated for any speeds greater than 65MPH, that seems to be a universal standard."
Good comment! Yes there are some options out there but the standard is 65 mph.
I didn't know that. I got to quit doing 80 I guess :) (Down a very steep hill)
I also found E1 is based on 80psi and E2 is based on 65 psi. Read your sidewall and inflate to what it says for max load (cold)
That can be a challenge in some service stations with the little air pumps. So plan accordingly.
 
Also, curbs kill tires quickly. And curbs seem to love trailer tires....

We all carry a spare and a jack that can lift a loaded axle, of course...

t
 
tobybasiliko said:
We all carry a spare and a jack that can lift a loaded axle, of course...

t
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Not on a rented trailer.

But I did have plenty of ratchet straps and ear plugs (to drown out the scrapping sound.) Luckily, the tire place is right off the exit at Biggs Junction!
 
tobybasiliko said:
Also, curbs kill tires quickly. And curbs seem to love trailer tires....

We all carry a spare and a jack that can lift a loaded axle, of course...

t
Click to expand...

In lieu of a jack for tandem axle trailers a high ramp, or set of boards to lift the good wheel will raise the flat off the ground. Or at the least unload the flat so it can be jacked with a light duty jack. If you have a spare check its pressure often too.
 
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