Difficult Deciding on Tires

[1stgenbird]

I need new tires for a used Ez Loader trailer I just picked up and boy, is it difficult to weed through all the information in order to choose a good tire.
I went to etrailer.com looking to buy a tire/wheel combo of 14" galvy wheels with 205 75 14 load range C bias ply tires. Kenda tires are the brand they seem to sell and they had 50+ positive reviews. I thought that was decent until I began reading the reviews. What useless information!

"I love the fast shipping"
"I enjoyed tracking my package on your site"
"The tires are the perfect shade of black, contrasting nicely with the white wheels"
"I like that the tires are made in Taiwan and not China"
"They arrived with the correct air pressure"

99% of the reviews have nothing to do with how the tires perform. Only 1 review mentioned that the tires were actually installed and used in a towing situation.

UGH!

 

[JEBar]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

the Kenda Corp. is a very large Chinese tire company .... if you do a search you will find their tires have a pretty bad reputation on heavier travel trailer and 5th wheel campers .... we had 5 go out during the first 10 months with our camper .... on lighter trailers they do seem to do better

Jim

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

I am well into my second year with a set of them on my pontoon trailer and so far not problems. As a guess I have put around 2000 miles on them.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

Kenda tires have been around for a while. I run them on my boat trailer and car dolly with no issues at all.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

I had a set put on 8 years ago, had no problems with them, just got a new set.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

I'd strongly suspect that those reviews were put there by whom ever was selling those tires, if not, by clueless customers.

I've used just about all brands of trailer tires over the years, I've yet to have a major issue with any of them. I did hear of some tread separation problems with the early made in China Goodyear Marathons but I think that's all been fixed.
My biggest complaint with most import tires these days is that they seem to start to show dry rot cracks pretty fast. I've had this issue with Kenda, H188, Load Star, and even newer Carlisle tires.

Just be sure to buy a tire rated for the load at hand, buy a heavier tire than needed if you can afford it.
I used to insist on US made tires only but the cost lately is just too high. I'd strongly prefer to buy American but they priced themselves out of the market lately.

The grade and brand of tires you buy can very much be influenced by how you use your trailer. I personally don't put many miles on any of my trailers, I just don't have that far to drive most of the time. If I were driving long distances, with a heavy boat, I'd be more apt to buy a more expensive tire.
None of my boats these days are very heavy and I can get buy with the very lightest rated tire in most cases.

 

[coastalrichard]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

"I love the fast shipping"
"I enjoyed tracking my package on your site"
"The tires are the perfect shade of black, contrasting nicely with the white wheels"
"I like that the tires are made in Taiwan and not China"
"They arrived with the correct air pressure"

hmmmmmm....sumting ees fishee

 

[jclem]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

I recent purchased new tires for my boat trailer. The topic has volumes of posts on this site. My local tire dealers tell me no trailer tires are made in the U.S. any longer, all imported. I ended up purchasing a set branded SuperCargo, dealer tells me they have had good luck with these, of course he's trying to make a sale and I need tires. I think most all will perform reliably if kept inflated properly and not abused on curbs while cornering.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

... I think most all will perform reliably if kept inflated properly and not abused ...

By Jove! I think he's hit the core of the issue!

 

[jbetzelb]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

Check out Maxis. I went with them 3 years ago after I got a bubble on a 3 year old marathon. I trailer 1200 miles a year and have been impressed with Maxis. My boat sits inside when not in use so I can't speak to weather checking or sun damage.

 

[KX6D]

Re: Difficult Deciding on Tires

Good info on here thus far.

You want a ST rated tire! ST stands for Special Trailer. P tires (ie; P205-75R14) are PASSENGER CAR tires! ST tires have a better sidewall and is needed for trailer duty!

Now you will hear people say they have been using P tires for 30+ years. Good for them, but you should do it right!

The LOAD RANGE should be more than the total weight of your trailer! If your trailer/boat weighs 3500#, you need more than 3500# worth of tires! If you only have 2 tires, they each need to be rated for a MINIMUM of 1750# each. Thay should be at least 2000# each!

The biggest problem with trailer tires is people usually have under-rated tires on there trailers and they are underinflated, which heats them up (due to sidewall flex)! Also, maintain them! If storing for a long time, take the weight off the wheels! Use jack stands! With a boat its easy...just lower the tongue as far as you can on the jack. The ***-end will go up. Slide jack stands under the FRAME as close to the back of the wheels as possible. When you crank the front back up, the weight is transfered to the jack stands and off the wheels/suspension! Also, use some tire spray on the tires to keep them from cracking. Cover them if they are in the sun!

I'm a Marathon/Carlisle fan, but any ST rated tire should be good. Buy them from a reputable dealer!

Dino - KX6D