Re: trailer tire quesiton?
Well first off if the wheels are from a Buick, then he also changed the hubs as an older Buick typically is 5 on 4.75, not 5 on 4 1/2 as you would normally find on a trailer. There were some Buicks that used a 5 on 5" bolt pattern also that I've seen used on some very old trailers. You'll have to check by measuring center of lug skipping the adjacent lug to the next lug. What you're really looking at is a bolt CIRCLE. I'm betting they aren't Buick and measure 5 on 4 1/2. There's nothing wrong with a passenger wheel in most light trailer applications as the DOT spec that applies to all passenger car steel wheels is 1575 lbs minimum. Passenger cars wheels come from sources such as Dynamark and Kelsey Hayes who also manufacture aftermarket wheels branded Keystone, American Racing Continental, etc. They buy their outers and centers stamped and welded in Mexico for US assembled wheels. What I'm saying here is wheels are pretty much single source, but built to different offset specifications. It is not true that all trailer wheels are zero offset, a 3/8" positive offset is most common. A little loading is there to prevent bearing chatter. What Silvertip refers to as far as bearing loading is correct in more severe offsets of 3/4" or more. If you measure from the back of the rim to the face of the bolt circle and then do the same from the front, you will determine what the offset is. A positive offset wheel is deeper in the back, a negative offset wheel is deeper in the front.
I spent 5 years as General Sales Manager for Wheeltec and Commercial Tire Inc. My lines were Dynamark, Continental, Ultra, American Racing, BBS, Enkei, MSW, Hayashi Racing, Ronal, Continental, Western, and some private label Cinese stuff. I sold over 750,000 wheels in my day, a great portion of them to trailer manufacturers and wrote application manuals for Enkei and Continental. Check what you've got for offset to be sure, but definitely change out those tires to a trailer application.
