Hot Trailer Tires?

[Grant Brown]

I just towed my boat home from a day trip and when I got home I checked the hubs for heat (they were warm not hot). The sidewalls of the tires were much warmer, almost hot to the touch. The drive was about 35 min at 60 mph. The tires are trailer rated and appeared to have correct pressure (I will check tomorrow in daylight).
Is this normal and something that I've just not noticed before?

Grant

 

[mikeneal]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

I bet they are lower air then max rating. Even slightly low causes lots of heat build up.

 

[nlain]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

I have made several trips of 200 to 300 miles, hubs and tires should not anything more than warm. Check the air press, probably low.

 

[walt-oxie1]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

What size tires are on the trailer? The smaller tires build up more heat on longer runs. Like mentioned above, the incorrect tire pressure will cause them to heat up. I have all my trailer tires filled with nitrogen which helps them stay cool. I commercial fish and the trailer (for whichever boat I am using at the time) gets about 60 or more miles a day, every day.

 

[Grant Brown]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

Correct pressure is 50 psi and I had 42 on one side and 40 on the other. Topped them up right away. They didn't look bad to me at the time but now I can see the difference.
I'll be using it again this week so I'll check again before I leave and then see how the tires feel while on the trip.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

Correct pressure is 50 psi and I had 42 on one side and 40 on the other. Topped them up right away. They didn't look bad to me at the time but now I can see the difference.
I'll be using it again this week so I'll check again before I leave and then see how the tires feel while on the trip.

Tire pressure is huge on the higher pressure trailer tires. A few pounds low will increase heat considerably. Check them before each trip to be on the safe side and even during the trip if you stop for a meal break.

 

[raekmike]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

Keep in mind the weather when your towing it also. last week it scared the *#it out of me when i stopped at a rest stop on my 3 hour trip. I touched the tires and couldn't hold my hand on them longer than 5 seconds. My hubs were only warm. Pressures on my 12's were right on so i continued. after i made it to my desitination my trailer had been sitting for 2 days at the launch. When i went up to get the trailer to load the boat i decided to put my hand on the tires just because and yep i could only touch em for about 5 seconds. The damn 90 degree heat and sun beaming on em had em hot as hell. So in my particular case it wasn't load or speed it was only the damn hot sun heatin up that rubber...This isn't always the case of course just a point a reference....I personally always try to keep my cold pressure about 3-5psi below max on the tires to account for expansion when the heat builds up during towing. like the above post said nitrogen really helps..because it expands alot less than standard compressed air. Hit up your local Costco for nitrogen inflation....FREE IS GOOD....

 

[janpetemar]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

I trailered my boat for 12 hours, covering some 580 miles. No heat build up in the tires or hubs. Since I was going to far I took the pressure down from the recommended 50# to 47# and that did the trick. Went back to 50# for short trips. Check the tire size and weight restrictions to ensure proper pressure and load capacity. Hope this helps.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Hot Trailer Tires?

Low tire pressure often leads to tire failure (blow-outs) due to heat buildup.

Towing a trailer rated 2000 lbs riding on 5:30 C x 12 tires at 80psi, I can tell you that the tires are only slightly warm after 2 or 3 hours of highway speeds. The hubs are even cooler.

Any heat buildup is a sign that something is wrong.

And remember tire pressure specs are almost always the stone cold tire pressure.