Tire replacement on trailer

[Matt19020]

Is there a recommended age of the tires to just replace them? I trailer 200 miles a year 100 in beginning of season 100 at the end of season. Tires have good tread but are weather beaten. They are 7 years old...Time to replace?

[seahouse]

Hi Matt--

The rubber on trailer tires usually deteriorates long before the tread wears down, as you have experienced. Different conditions in different locales, and usage patterns (highway, back roads etc) cause different deterioration rates in tires, plus the tires on our trailers are working very close to their maximum limit.

Five years is usually recommended, but seven years is a good upper limit to the lifetime of a set of tires, and particularly any time they are showing signs of cracking between the treads, or sidewalls, it's time for a new set.

- Brian.

[mastreb]

Mileage doesn't kill trailer tires, it's pure age. If you think you should replace them, you should replace them. They're pretty cheap.

[Jeff L]

Replacement is a good idea after signs of cracking start to show.
Many a time I have seen a trailer sit by the side of the road with
a tire shredded to pieces. Apparently the owner didn't have a spare, and
had to go get a new tire.
I remember one time I drove past a trailer that had this problem, one day. And
saw the same trailer about two miles down the road, with the opposite tire
shredded, the next day...

[Catigale]

We had a thread back in the past about why trailer tires don't last as long as car tires. The best explanation was that casual use does not distribute lubricants in the tires like car tires and ergo the life is much shorter on a distance basis.

Ray trailers heavily and gets 40,000 miles on his, to boot.

I had one set heavily dry rot starboard and tread delaminate on port...go figure!

I inspect heavily at 5 years, and replace at 7 years. I also stop hourly on my 4 hour trailer to the Cape and inspect tires and tread for temp and damage so that I'm not caught roadside.

[Tomfoolery]

I inspect heavily at 5 years, and replace at 7 years.

My trailer came with an additional axle the PO installed (after moving the original forward), and I have a good idea that it was done two years after the trailer was made. The original tires were 12 years old (from the date code), and the second axle had different brand tires which showed 10 years old. The originals were in really sad shape, with cracked sidewalls and tread. I can't believe they didn't blow just bringing it home. The newer ones look good, but I didn't trust them, so I put a set of new tires and galvanized wheels on all four. Plus I carry one or two spares, depending on whether I have the bike rack on the trailer or not.

I also stop hourly on my 4 hour trailer to the Cape and inspect tires and tread for temp and damage so that I'm not caught roadside.

I have an inexpensive infrared non-contact thermometer that I check hub temps with. It may or may not be accurate (it's a matter of degree, not absolutes, anyway) - but it shows trends and anomalies, which is all I need. One starts reading higher than the others, and I know I have a problem, though one seems to always show about 10 degrees higher than all the others.

Tires don't get very warm, and I wouldn't expect them to, as they're carrying about half their rated load, and I air them to about 45 psi (50 psi rated pressure).

But to the OP's question, for 100 mile trips I'd replace them. Seven years is long enough, and a new set are pretty cheap compared to what it'll cost for roadside assistance (or worse). If they look good, keep one or both for a spare - while a new spare would be ideal, an old spare may be good enough to get the trailer off the road and into a shop or rest area.

[raycarlson]

Not quite what I said Cat.. I believe the statement was I expect to get 40K out of them. However my tire care is probably above average. First off high quality tires goodyear marathon radials run at 1/2 load rating. Trailer on jacks for winter stored inside(no sunlight). tires always armor alled (no oxidation), All I can say is they are now 6 years old and tread is about 85% of original, side walls are pristine. Since the wife passed away I no longer tow down into Mexico anymore so tow mileage is reduced and I won't hit 40K until about 2018 but I promise I will report any failures or tire problems if one should ever occur.

[dlandersson]

Well, I for one am sitting here with bated breath for the next show. Kinda like History Channel's "The Vikings" - it's done until next year.

Not quite what I said Cat.. I believe the statement was I expect to get 40K out of them. However my tire care is probably above average. First off high quality tires goodyear marathon radials run at 1/2 load rating. Trailer on jacks for winter stored inside(no sunlight). tires always armor alled (no oxidation), All I can say is they are now 6 years old and tread is about 85% of original, side walls are pristine. Since the wife passed away I no longer tow down into Mexico anymore so tow mileage is reduced and I won't hit 40K until about 2018 but I promise I will report any failures or tire problems if one should ever occur.

[taime1]

I have an inexpensive infrared non-contact thermometer that I check hub temps with. It may or may not be accurate (it's a matter of degree, not absolutes, anyway) - but it shows trends and anomalies, which is all I need. One starts reading higher than the others, and I know I have a problem, though one seems to always show about 10 degrees higher than all the others.

That's a great idea. What kind of temperature readings do you get? I've often read that hubs should feel warm, but not hot - however, that's difficult to quantify especially just by touching and comparing.

[Tomfoolery]

I have an inexpensive infrared non-contact thermometer that I check hub temps with. It may or may not be accurate (it's a matter of degree, not absolutes, anyway) - but it shows trends and anomalies, which is all I need. One starts reading higher than the others, and I know I have a problem, though one seems to always show about 10 degrees higher than all the others.

That's a great idea. What kind of temperature readings do you get? I've often read that hubs should feel warm, but not hot - however, that's difficult to quantify especially just by touching and comparing.

It normally hangs around 120F after extended driving (thermal equilibrium), if memory serves, and one tends to run just a little higher. That's what I would call very warm to hot, but not too hot to touch. And that's from memory, so the actual number is suspect, but warm to mildly hot is not something to worry about. One of them climbing well above the others IS something to worry about, though, so getting a baseline, and comparing them all to each other is the most useful.

It's a cheap IR thermometer from Harbor Freight, I think. Has the little aiming laser beam. The reading stays put when you let go of the trigger, until you pull the trigger again. I keep it in the door pocket, so every time I get out, I do a quick walk-around with it. No grease on my fingers, and it's so easy to do, I do it every time.

Oh, and I have noticed that the hubs on the side of the afternoon sun run a little warmer than the ones in the shade, which is no surprise when the sun is really hot.

[seahouse]

Non- contact thermometers are very susceptible to differences in the surface being measured (because the emissivity that they measure varies with the surface), but when used to measure temperature differences on the same surface, as Tom is suggests here (good one, Tom), they are quite accurate. Canadian Tire has carried them for the last year or so, and they go on sale from time to time there ($60-80 range, guessing). Haven't used theirs. Princess Auto also carries one. I bought one to measure the temperature in hydronically heated floors, band they turn out to be handy to have for other things.

Having said all that, your hand will work fine too. If you can hold your hand on the surface for a second or more, then the temp is below 120 F, which is acceptable after highway running and pulling off at a rest stop - check it first thing when you stop. Internal friction from grease warms the bearing a bit too, but much above that might mean the heat is building up faster than it is being dissipated. And the ambient air temperature also is a factor (heat wave or snow storm).

The thing I don't like about doing that is that you get your hands dirty every time you do it.

-B.

[seahouse]

Oops, that's two days in a row since I posted right after you without seeing it. Sorry, don't mean to ignore you Tom. But at least we are in agreement. (Mostly).
-B. (Grrr. This working for a living keeps interrupting my posting).

[Tomfoolery]

The thing I don't like about doing that is that you get your hands dirty every time you do it.

Which is exactly why I started doing it that way.

My dad was an engineer in the high-tech IR thermometry business (mainly process monitoring, particularly in smelting and steel mills), so I got schooled regularly about the issues in using IR this way. You're quite right - don't believe the numbers as absolutes - look for trends, anomalies, etc., after establishing what's 'normal'. A cheap IR thermometer is good for many things, though, and this is one of them, IMO.

Another use is monitoring tire temperature, like these aircraft tires (10 of them, in pairs, and another ten to the right, out of the shot). The yellow things are holding IR thermometry equipment, one per tire, as well as a hose to each hub for monitoring tire pressure. The controls are looking for changes from a baseline, rather than an actual number, though the IR units themselves were very expensive, and quite accurate. (Ignore the dudes in the pic, and no, I'm not in it - I was just the engineer of record and lead designer of that machine; nobody important.)

[Tomfoolery]

Oops, that's two days in a row since I posted right after you without seeing it. Sorry, don't mean to ignore you Tom. But at least we are in agreement. (Mostly).
-B. (Grrr. This working for a living keeps interrupting my posting).

T'sall good. And this is keeping me from my work, too. Better get back to it.

[Tomfoolery]

Just got a Harbor Freight Super Coupon via email for that IR thermometer. $28, down from the sale price of $36, down from the regular price of $60.