Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
Re: How fast do you tow?
I'm not surprised at the tire growing in height. 8" tires are spinning so much faster than a typical 13-15" trailer tire, that the centrifugal forces are enough to distort the tire if not properly inflated.
Just goes to show that small trailer tires should always be filled to the max psi listed on the side wall. All I have read from tire manufacturers of small tires say to fill to the max PSI. They are not intended to be run at lower PSI when pulling a light load.
Thanks for posting your experience. Always good to get it first hand.
I've towed all over NJ with 8" tires, and even further a few times and never had a failure, but I rarely hammer down on the gas when towing a small tire trailer. A number of years ago I had a trailer on which one day I noticed tire marks on the inside of the fenders, which were at least 2" above the tires. The tires were new, Goodyear 4.80x8" tires, the fenders attached to the axle not the frame on this particular trailer, so it wasn't a matter of travel. What was happening was that at high speeds, the tires would 'grow' enough to hit the fenders. This happened at lower pressures, not so much at higher pressure too.
If I ran the tires at their max pressure, I got no tire marks or rubber on the inside of the fenders, but would get tire marks and burnt rubber at higher speeds if I ran the tires at what I thought was enough air for a light boat. I was running them at 45psi, and they would grow and hit the fender, but not if I put the full 80psi the sidewalls called for. .......
I'm not surprised at the tire growing in height. 8" tires are spinning so much faster than a typical 13-15" trailer tire, that the centrifugal forces are enough to distort the tire if not properly inflated.
Just goes to show that small trailer tires should always be filled to the max psi listed on the side wall. All I have read from tire manufacturers of small tires say to fill to the max PSI. They are not intended to be run at lower PSI when pulling a light load.
Thanks for posting your experience. Always good to get it first hand.