I'm considering buying a tractor (about #2200).
The tractor is offered as a package with a 7000# cap. trailer (AMO) included.
When I asked about the trailer tires I was told that they were a 6ply rated, average quality radial tire, I did not recognize the brand of tire.
I asked about upgrading the tires and was told it was an option at about $135 per tire (4) for Goodyear's (not my go to for tires) some credit would be allowed for the take offs.

Am I over concerned about stock tires or am I justified in wanting to upgrade.The trailer would be used very little.
The trailer dealer did not think there was a problem with the stock tires.
Is there a difference between a trailer tire and a passenger car tire?

Trailer layout:
The trailer has a dimension of 76"X18' with 2 ramps. 7000# cap. with a weight of about 2000#
If I'm going to have a trailer I would like to be able to use it for other purposes such as hauling a car if needed, hauling construction materials,etc.
The trailer I'm looking at has a 1' rail around the outside and no provisions for adding side panels.The trailer dealer said hauling a car would be a problem because opening the car doors would not be possible because of the side rail.I don't actually have a use for a car trailer, just "might" need that use some day
What other type of configuration might work better for ALL my intended or possible uses?

quote:

Originally posted by armored:

Is there a difference between a trailer tire and a passenger car tire?

Yes, the sidewall construction is more robust on a trailer tire. They typically inflate to higher pressures as well to carry more load.

Any idea what the load rating of the tire is? Probably a D or E but C is possible I guess. It doesn’t sound like you are going to be carrying much of a load and the stock tires are probably fine but, personally, I would want a E rated tire on that trailer. If the stock tires are, I sure wouldn’t pay to upgrade. Sounds like from your intended use (little and light loads) you would replace them due to dry rot long before they wear.

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:

quote:

Originally posted by armored:

Is there a difference between a trailer tire and a passenger car tire?

Yes, the sidewall construction is more robust on a trailer tire. They typically inflate to higher pressures as well to carry more load.

^^^ This.

Once I put radials on my two axle boat trailer and had a bad experience in the middle of the night in a bad part of DFW having to change two shredded radials that "looked" good when we left. Spent the night sleeping in the sailboat in the parking lot of the Discount Tire store south of DFW and replaced all 4 plus spares in the morning before I could continue on to Austin to race.

I recommend the trailer rated tires.

The tire should have a max weight rating on the sidewall. You may have to look a little to find it but it will be there. (It could be on the inside wall) Multiply that times four to get the gross maximum weight of trailer and load. I bet a 6 ply will handle any load you can safely put on a 7000 pound maximum trailer. Unless you pull it a lot, the tires will rot before they wear out. Then you can replace them with whatever you want. I have a 7000 pound car hauler and have had a bunch of two horse trailers and pulled a lot of miles on six ply tires. Keep an eye on the tire pressure. Probably maximum is 50 PSI and it should be kept there especially when the trailer is loaded.

I'm going to assume it's a tandem axle trailer with 3,500lb axles. A 6 Ply tire is load range C which would be 50psi. The tire size is probably ST205/75r15 and is rated to carry 1,820lbs @ 50psi. That's 7,280lbs for four tires on two axles. The rating of the trailer includes the weight of the trailer. In other words, what you can carry on the trailer is 7,000lbs minus the weight of the trailer.

Like most things, you get what you pay for in trailer tires. A cheap tire in that size is $40. The best tire in that size, the Goodyear Endurance, is $100. This tire is made in the USA and load range D rated for 2,150lbs at 65psi. Goodyear is the only big name tire that makes trailer tires.

For your use, the tires that come one the trailer will most likely be fine. If you were to be towing long distances from home or close to the max rating of the trailer, I'd get the Goodyears.

Finally, passenger car tires don't belong on trailers. Period. Light truck tires on the other hand open up a huge discussion.

Probably Chinese tires that come on the axles.
Not enough credit so just run them until they show signs of a problem. Be sure to inflate them to max. load rating on the sidewall.
If you were going to be running them on the road near the capacity I would replace them with a quality tire.
Just around town they should be OK for a few years.

All true. I sure as heck would NOT pay $135 per tire extra to change brands. Keep the inflation up to spec, and keep an eye on the Chinese tires after about 4-5 years for cracking and sidewall bulges. When you start finding that, replace all 5.

quote:

When I asked about the trailer tires I was told that they were a 6ply rated, average quality radial tire, I did not recognize the brand of tire.

Many newer utility / car trailers are coming with unknown brand China made tires they really are a crapshoot if your towing more than a few miles even if you keep them aired up right. I put LT type truck tires on my all trailers. They are a hell of a lot better than any china made trailer tire I've looked at in the last 15 years.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I'm going to assume it's a tandem axle trailer with 3,500lb axles. A 6 Ply tire is load range C which would be 50psi. The tire size is probably ST205/75r15 and is rated to carry 1,820lbs @ 50psi. That's 7,280lbs for four tires on two axles. The rating of the trailer includes the weight of the trailer. In other words, what you can carry on the trailer is 7,000lbs minus the weight of the trailer.

I had a 25’ boat on a tandem axel trailer with Goodyear load range c tires. It never towed great and I was losing tires far too often, so I did some research and took my rig to the truck scale. The load was actually 7k pounds even, loaded as I normally would - just within the load range of the C tires. But then I found a document in Goodyear’s site that said on tandem axle trailers the tires load rating must be reduce 15%. That was my aha moment.

Found some D tires and wheels that would fit within my trailer’s fender wells and the difference was night and day. The trailer was solid, not mushy behind the truck, and I never lost another trailer tire.

76" wide trailer seems awful narrow. What about purchasing the trailer separate? Big Tex makes good trailers. Here's one of their smaller models, 10ET-18 (83" X 18"). No idea on pricing though.

https://www.bigtextrailers.com...-tandem-axle-utility

quote:

Goodyear’s site that said on tandem axle trailers the tires load rating must be reduce 15%

Many truck tires have two ratings one for single one for dual tires. I have never seen anything that said the 2nd rating was for tandem axle. Got a link to this?

The vast majority of trailer tires are imported. We just had broken belts on one of our the other day and the Chinese tires were replaced with tires from Thailand. They are all DOT rated, and don't seem to give me any more issues than their brand name counterparts.

I'd be more concerned about the construction of the trailer than the tires it comes with.

quote:

Originally posted by 1gkek:

I had a 25’ boat on a tandem axel trailer with Goodyear load range c tires. It never towed great and I was losing tires far too often, so I did some research and took my rig to the truck scale. The load was actually 7k pounds even, loaded as I normally would - just within the load range of the C tires. But then I found a document in Goodyear’s site that said on tandem axle trailers the tires load rating must be reduce 15%. That was my aha moment.

Found some D tires and wheels that would fit within my trailer’s fender wells and the difference was night and day. The trailer was solid, not mushy behind the truck, and I never lost another trailer tire.

I indirectly did the same thing with my boat trailer. I had a 10,000lb trailer built for my 7,000lb boat instead of an 8,000lb trailer, so everything is beefier including the tires and brakes. So far, I've had 5,500 trouble free miles with it.

Now I've had blowouts with my 5th wheel and travel trailer before the 5th wheel. People want to believe a ST tire has a stiffer sidewall than an LT tire, but it's not true. I replaced the load range E ST tires that came with my 5th wheel after having a blowout in the first 1,500 miles. The tire I put on is a load range G LT tire or the same size. Both the ST tire and LT tire are rated to carry about 3,750lbs. The ST tire weighed 35lbs, can be purchased for $50 each in bulk and the sidewall was so thin and flimsy, I cut a section out with my folding pocket knife to save for showing people how flimsy it was. The load range G tire weighs 62lbs, cost $300 each, has a beast of a sidewall and a 2 ply steel carcass instead of the polyester one the load range E tire had.

Now the question should be why both the ST and LT tire are rated to carry the same load, yet the LT tire has superior materials and construction? The answer is simple: the testing for ST tires is not nearly as rigorous as the testing for LT tires. ST tires only go on trailers and are not subject to the same forces an LT tire in the steering or drive positions of a light truck. The ST test is 30 minutes while the LT test is 2 1/2 hours and includes a variety of durability tests the ST test doesn't.

I've had 9,000 trouble free miles on the new tires.

Any opinions on the configuration of the trailer itself.
What would be a more all round configuration?

Sounds like most trailer tire issues for casual users - they will get old and dry rot before they see any real use or other problems. 6 tires on my boat trailer will probably see less than 100 miles in their life but will have 9k lbs just sitting on them 7 months out of the year.

I worked for a large importer/distributor of Chinese tires, ST's were one of our biggest items. We had no appreciable adjustments, dealers reordered constantly. One large chain ordered 20,000 tires every year for the last 8 or 9 years.

Carlisle was another of our lines, they've upped their game with trailer tires.

Trapper 189, gave great information. Although our least expensive ST205/75R-15 LRC wholesaled a bit over $40.00. Maybe big box stores had these prices?

Save your money. Keep them inflated to the max when towing loaded. And if the trailer is sitting most of the time outside you might consider covering the tires with a poly tarp or something. The sun will kill them more quickly than the road if you aren't driving often.

quote:

Originally posted by UTsig:
I worked for a large importer/distributor of Chinese tires, ST's were one of our biggest items. We had no appreciable adjustments, dealers reordered constantly. One large chain ordered 20,000 tires every year for the last 8 or 9 years.

Carlisle was another of our lines, they've upped their game with trailer tires.

Trapper 189, gave great information. Although our least expensive ST205/75R-15 LRC wholesaled a bit over $40.00. Maybe big box stores had these prices?

I sell mostly Carlisle but I concur that I have little to no adjustments (defective) import trailer tires.

Walmart.com has a Provider ST205/75r15 for $42.30 and I rounded down.

One more thing about trailer tires, sorry. Most have a 65mph speed rating. There are several available now that have 75mph speed ratings and a few with an 87mph rating.

I have a number of utility trailers and the rails are nice to keep boxes and stuff in the trailer. If I were hauling cars or equipment, I'd want a flat bed equipment trailer. The maximum width of a trailer you can tow in most states without special permits is 8'6" or 102". I believe they are talking about the loading area when they say the width is 76", so the trailer will have wheels sticking out about 12" on each side, so that's 100". If you want wider, you have to get the loading area above the tires. If 76" is the overall width including the tires, I'd get a wider trailer.

What kind of brakes are going to be on the trailer?