I realize this is an old post but since I never came back here about what tires I bought and how they worked out I'd like to do that now.
I bought 6 new Kenda Loadstar tires at a local TSC, they were date coded 11/13 (4.80x12) and 1/14 on the 175/80D13 tires.
Due to personal reasons neither boat has seen much use over the past three seasons, none at all this season till this week.
When I dug the smaller boat out of the garage last week to get it in shape for a day on the lake I checked the tires and tire pressure on both trailers.
Both had lost air, and were sitting around 10 to 12 psi. But they were sitting on jackstands off the ground in the garage.
(My new truck doesn't fit in the garage so the smaller boat gained an indoor storage spot).
I took the boat out the other morning, spent all morning fishing and came home. I backed the trailer in, and hosed everything off. I gave the tires a good scrubbing to get any mud from the ramp off them. I let it all sit outside for a few hours to dry. When I went back out to push the boat back into the garage, I took a close look at the tires again while picking a few pebbles out of the tread. Both tires developed cracks in the sidewalls and between the tread, I hadn't taken the spare with me since the lake is only a mile or two down the road, so I dug that out of the garage and its not much better, it was completely flat and the bead was unseated from the rim. It was put away on a wood shelf up high on top of the 13" spare for my other trailer. When I got a good look at the other trailer those tires were also cracked but in a different way, the 13" tires have cracks that go in all directions, the 12" tires are cracked only parrallel with the rim, there are cracks near the bead, and where the tread meets the sidewall, and along the middle of the sidewall. The 13" tires have cracks that look like a dry lake bed.
These were stored in the garage, no windows, off the ground with no heat, no motors in the garage other than the air compressor in the corner which hasn't run more than a dozen or so times in the past 3 years.
With all this said, I also have a 16' car trailer, last October I bought new tires for that trailer as well, those were also Kenda Loadstars but in 8-14.5" LT size. The tires are dated 4/16. They too are showing major cracking, one tire started to come apart on a 50 mile ride last week, the tire grew in size along the middle row of tread and its got thousands of little S shaped cracks all over it. The rest all look the same, with sidewall cracks but nothing like the one that I had to take off.
These are 12 ply commercial trailer tires.
I can't say I have much faith in Kenda tires right now. The problem is I'm having a tough time finding anything else. The local choices are still Kenda or Hi Run or any various brands if you want old stock. One dealer had Duro trailer tires that were dated 4/08 just last week. They've been stored in a dusty, dry trailer stacked flat. I can't imagine trying to mount a tire that's been smashed flat for years like that let alone its not likely to last very long.
I talked to a tire rep who sells to a local tire shop the other day and he said my issue is speed, he said that most trailer tires are only rated at 45, 50 and 65 mph. The tires on my car trailer are only available in a 50 mph rating. The Kenda tires have a G speed rating according to him, but there's nothing on the tire that says this. Without a doubt, if that's true, they've been run at 65 mph down the highway nearly every time out of the yard. I can't imagine taking a trip to pickup or deliver a car and going only 50 mph on the interstate. I'd likely cause an accident, or a traffic jam at the very least. As it is going only 65 mph I get passed like I'm standing still out on I76 through Philly.
So after almost 4 years I'm in the same boat I was back when I started this post, all my trailers have dry rotted tires that need replacement. I may have 15 miles on the boat trailer tires tops, they still have their little nubs on them.
Someone asked if I had electric motors nearby, I don't, but I do have power lines that cross behind my property, the main transmission lines for the town run behind this row of houses, 36KV running both above and underground about 20 foot behind my garage.
Now with this in mind, I got 13 years out of the Michelin tires on my Lincoln Town Car, and my 1994 Ford Pickup has its original tires that show no signs of age at all. My F350 came through with Michelin LTX AT2 tires, how long they last is yet to be seen as its only 8 months old.
