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Does anyone rotate their trailer tires?

One of my trailer tires blew out on my way back from a fishing trip last week and I had to buy a new radial tire to replace the shredded one... Since I have to remove the spare (it's a bias tire and the other 4 are radials) to put the radial on, I was wondering:

Is rotating a good or bad idea? I've never rotated the trailer tires and maybe I should????

May not be a problem on duals, but I do on my single axle trailer due to camber wearing the tires slightly different.

L

Juan wrote:Does anyone rotate their trailer tires?

One of my trailer tires blew out on my way back from a fishing trip last week and I had to buy a new radial tire to replace the shredded one... Since I have to remove the spare (it's a bias tire and the other 4 are radials) to put the radial on, I was wondering:

Is rotating a good or bad idea? I've never rotated the trailer tires and maybe I should????

Two main things about tires.

1: Age - If they are over 5 years old, I do not care how good they look, replace them! (Date code is stamped on the sidewall)

2: Air pressure - Keep it where it should be. (I have tire pressure monitors)

I am also not so much a radial fan for a trailer. My boat trailer had radials and one blew ( I admit it was about 6 years old)

I have friends that camp with us, and the radials they have are giving a lot of issues with blowouts. The ones using bias plies are seeming to do fine. Radial seem to just pop out of nowhere, where bias plies will either just sling a tread and the carcass will stay inflated, or leak down slowly enough you feel it before it blows...

Of course the tire people will say radials are better, but Wal-Mart says Chinese made stuff is better too......

All of this is JMHO based on experience.

And NO, I do not rotate my trailer tires, since they get too old before the tread wears down anyway.

Dubble

Dubble Trubble wrote:

Juan wrote:Does anyone rotate their trailer tires?

One of my trailer tires blew out on my way back from a fishing trip last week and I had to buy a new radial tire to replace the shredded one... Since I have to remove the spare (it's a bias tire and the other 4 are radials) to put the radial on, I was wondering:

Is rotating a good or bad idea? I've never rotated the trailer tires and maybe I should????

And NO, I do not rotate my trailer tires, since they get too old before the tread wears down anyway.

Dubble

You need to fish more often!

I don't rotate my single-axle radials because they wear evenly. Hell, I can't' tell where they're wearing at all.

I'm with Double; change them after 5 years whether they are wearing or not. I didn't believe that at first, but when they both blew on the same day at year 7 I became a believer.

Of course, I believe I ran them a little low on pressure for a while. I have learned that running radials low on pressure damages the steel in the sidewalls; inviting a blowout after you top them off again.

Its not hard to find staunch believers in regular rotation of trailer tires. My thinking is that it is bad to switch sides on radials because of sidewall steel damage, so what's the point on single- or double-axles?

I believe you can rotate biased-ply tires side-to-side; X pattern for double axels. But what's the point if you put less than 2,000 miles per year on them? Hell yeah if they are wearing unevenly, but then you have a balance or stagger problem, too.

I'm not sure where this treatise came from; bored I guess.

The short answer to your question is . . . Ask Chill-N-Grill, he knows a tire expert.

I think the most important thing on trailer tires is the tire pressure. We drive our tow vehicle way more than we pull the boat or utility trailers. Use bias tires on the trailers and keep the recommended tire pressure maintained. Also don't forget to keep the trailer as level with the tow vehicle as possible.

Well Juan, I guess ALL of this makes "rotating four radial trailer tires" perfectly clear!

So, if I blow a tire that has been wearing slightly unevenly and the rest are a little over three years old, what did they say I should do?

Punt?

Harmsway wrote:I'm not sure where this treatise came from; bored I guess.

You been fishin' with beer again?

OK, I always keep my tire pressure at the recommended 50 psi and the tires are 3-4 years old, so I think I'll just remove the spare and replace it with the new radial since I don't think you're supposed to mix bias tires and radials and I'll forget the rotation and leave em where they are.

Ifishtoo: The one that blew wasn't the one I thought was wearing slightly different than the others... only thing I can figure is we must have hit something in the road.

A LITTLE HINT THAT I LEARNED ABOUT 75 YRS. AGO, KEEP THE RECOMMENDED PRESSURE IN THE TIRE AND IF YOU WILL SLOW DOWN TO ABOUT 50-55 MPH YOU WILL FIND TIRES DO NOT BLOW OUT UNLESS YOU ARE OVER LOADED. MY LITTLE ALUM. BOAT ONLY WEIGHS ABOUT 1200 # LOADED DOWN WITH EQUIPMENT AND FUEL. I DO NOT BUY TRAILER TIRES BUT REGULAR CAR TIRES THAT ARE THE LARGEST SIZE THAT WILL FIT THE 13 IN. RIM. THE LAST ONES I GOT WERE FROM SUN TIRE CO. ABOUT 6-7 YRS AGO, I BELIEVE THEY COST ABOUT $30 EACH, THEY STILL HAVE ABOUT 1/4 IN. TREAD LEFT AND I MAY HAVE PUT 3-4000 MILES ON THEM . THEY STILL LOOK GREAT WITH PLENTY OF TREAD FOR ANOTHER 2-3 YRS. OF USE. I KEEP MY BOAT IN THE GARAGE COMPLETELY OUT OF THE SUN AND WEATHER. THE LAST SET OF TIRES I HAD WENT FROM 1955 TO 1996 BY TAKING CARE OF THE AIR PRESSURE AND HOLDING MY SPEED DOWN TO 50-55 MPH.
PA
SEMPER FI

Pa, runnin' a tire made in 1955 in 1996? Those SURE were not radials!


I would call them MayPops!


Dubble

Mine rotate every time I pull the trailer.....