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For 3-4miles 2x per year I think I would drive on flat tires rather than replace

Part of it is being proactive...and part of it is being a bit crazy after several months of no sailing.

Catigale wrote:For 3-4miles 2x per year I think I would drive on flat tires rather than replace

I love bringing up old threads..

so .. if the "stock "tires are st205/75d14.
AND you are planning on some real travel with the mac...

What are we replacing them with... I can only seem to find those in load range "c" that is not really that high..

I am not sure I can fit 15 inch ones on the trailer.

Being in Canada it is even harder cause all the online places are in the USA.

just go with "c" rated and hope for the best?

Kevin.

kevinnem wrote: I am not sure I can fit 15 inch ones on the trailer.

I bought some 15" chrome wheels off Craigslist. With 15" tires I was able to get a higher load rating. My tire guy got me tires that had the same overall dimensions as the originals. Price was something like $10 more than the original 14" tires. Sorry, I'm not sure what size they are.

Jeff

kevinnem wrote: I am not sure I can fit 15 inch ones on the trailer.

A few years back I changed the rims and tires over to 15" on the stock trailer. There was no issue with the fit. They run closer to the fender edges but never seem to contact them.

I have a 2013 26M with the aluminum trailer. The original tires were bias ply and did not wear well. The tread on the outer edges wore quickly. I replaced them with radial trailer tires and have been very happy with them.

Bias tires are used on trailers for stability and for heavy weight due to a stiffer side wall construction. They do wear faster. I always use bias on my trailers.

Just an observation. My understanding is that you don't want to run your trailer tires until the tread is gone. You should plan on replacing them every 3-4 years. The tire rubber degrades - just like auto tires.

silverfox441 wrote:Bias tires are used on trailers for stability and for heavy weight due to a stiffer side wall construction. They do wear faster. I always use bias on my trailers.

I replaced all 4 tires last year with Kumhos. With a max load range of 2271 lbs, they had the highest rating of any 14 inch tire I could find. So far I have been very happy with them. Should they begin to fail, I will be replacing them with 15" tires and wheels.

dlandersson wrote:Just an observation. My understanding is that you don't want to run your trailer tires until the tread is gone. You should plan on replacing them every 3-4 years. The tire rubber degrades - just like auto tires.

silverfox441 wrote:Bias tires are used on trailers for stability and for heavy weight due to a stiffer side wall construction. They do wear faster. I always use bias on my trailers.

When I replaced mine there was plenty of tread left, but the sidewalls had visible cracks due to UV exposure. They would not pass a vehicle inspection in that condition. Each year now I apply Armorall protectant. I'm not sure if it does any good though.


I was also told by several knowledgeable sources to run only bias ply tires on the trailer and to avoid radials due to the difference in sidewall construction, just as silverfox pointed out.

dlandersson wrote:Just an observation. My understanding is that you don't want to run your trailer tires until the tread is gone. You should plan on replacing them every 3-4 years. The tire rubber degrades - just like auto tires.

silverfox441 wrote:Bias tires are used on trailers for stability and for heavy weight due to a stiffer side wall construction. They do wear faster. I always use bias on my trailers.

Oh, of course. Should actually have some threads left before it warrants replacement, 6/32 in i believe, for Canada. And like someone else already mentioned, age will be an issue as well, 5 to 7 years depending of the brand, again, for Canada anyway. But this where i think we should be more cautious. When a trailer sits in the same place for a long period of time, the sun will attack the rubber at he same spot over and over again. This could create a weak spot on a tire before it would be deemed to old for use. Hence it's a good idea to use tire covers, IMO. What i usually do is look a the tires of my trailer where they touch the ground where the bulge is at. Look for cracking in the side wall. Roll forward a bit, repeat on and on til i'm satisfied everything is ok.

Although my 26X's previous owner Dave was considerate almost to a fault in replacing her trailer's tires (Power King Radials ST215/75R14 Towmax STR "LRC 5PR") and wheels solely for the benefit and safety of the next owner, even after he'd decided to sell her, I can nevertheless unreservedly recommend the good folks at Trailerparts.com for any trailer-related needs one may have. I know superb customer service and bargain prices when I see them, and they do both.

As some of you may recall, several months after finally taking possession of my 26X--delayed almost half a year after I'd bought her owing to nagging title issues regarding her trailer--I acquired a second über-adorable little pocket-cruiser sailboat, a 1993 Com-Pac 16/III, as a sort of "Foundling" for just a dollar. It was with her trailer's little tires and hitch receiver that the folks at Trailerparts.com squared me away. There was some level of difficulty to the latter, since I wanted to step up from its original 1 7/8" to a 2" one, so as to be able to just use the existing tow ball on my Durango, and a correct fitment had to be chosen from several oddball non-standard options as far as channel size and the locations of holes for the throughbolts. Trailerparts.com's guys took the time to compare my measurements and photos to their stock to get me just the right receiver, and at no point did I have to struggle through a conversation with "Jeff" or "Mildred" in Bangalore or Kuala Lumpur or perhaps some call center orbiting one of the moons of Neptune.

In the case of the tires, for just about $5 more I could get the entire wheel, all mounted and inflated and ready to go. So that's what I did. Only one of the Foundling trailer's existing tires would even hold air, so that's my spare, such as it is. I'd have to imagine that nobody on this forum has tires on their trailer so far gone as the Foundling's were as found. So, you'd likely have a pair of semi-decent spares. Trailerparts.com could also fix you up with a bolt-on carrier bracket to carry one or both on the trailer.

A word about tires: I am led to understand that for real trailering roadwork (not just ambling on down a few hundred feet from the boat storage lot to the ramps, like I do) one's tires should ideally be less than five years old. Instructions for finding the age of your tires is found here. UV light and poor inflation are the killers for tires, so one can do much prolong their service life by simply keeping them properly inflated and covering them up with a pair of wheel covers like these. You can get four of them for just 8 bucks this weekend, plus your choice of a freebie flashlight, tarp or a pack of 24 AA or AAA batteries with these coupons.

Here are the two sailboats side by side last weekend, showing the Foundling's mast up for the first time in perhaps well over a decade:

UV light and poor inflation are the killers for tires, so one can do much prolong their service life by simply keeping them properly inflated and covering them up with a pair of wheel covers like these.

Amen, brother! Don't forget the spare, too!

That's what I use

Azzarac wrote:I replaced all 4 tires last year with Kumhos. With a max load range of 2271 lbs, they had the highest rating of any 14 inch tire I could find. So far I have been very happy with them. Should they begin to fail, I will be replacing them with 15" tires and wheels.

Have Maxxis tires on my trailer. Got them from 4WO|Truck Parts. These tires can withstand highway speeds under control. So far, I have no major problems with Maxxis though I plan to replace these tires this year because I heard good things about Kumho.