I will be purchasing new trailer tires this winter and would like recommendations. Towing roughly 8250 lbs. Pros and cons please. Thank you
Jamie

Load Range E, preferably on 16" rims and stay away from Carlisle. I like to have a wide safety margin as far as load rating goes.

The best that I have heard of is B.F. Goodrich! I have been on this subject numerous times before, primarily because we went through 4 of our 6 trailer tires this past year and I blame it the fact that they are Chinese Manufactured Tires. In my opinion those tires are JUNK !!! I believe that we do everything correct, such as tire pressures and rotation and taking care of them with little or no success. They either blow the sides out of them or they peel the tread off of them.

I have had a lot of other racers with the same problem. We run a 48' goose neck, tri axle enclosed w/living quarters. We also run the highest load range tires available with little or no luck. The best we have been able to get is almost 2-years of use and we do not travel all over the country, we pretty much stay close to Ohio. We need a U S Tire manufacturer to step up and start to manufacture trailer tires here in the USA.

We have talked to Cooper and they told us that they use to make trailer tires here up to about 3 years ago and no one would buy them because they were around $30.00 more than the Chinese made tires. I for one would spend the extra money, because as you know, they never blow or go flat at a good time or in nice weather or in a safe place to change the tires. We racers need to contact a manufacturer and request that they start to built trailer tires here in the USA and then back them buy using their products. GOOD LUCK - HEMI JOE

I want to thank everyone for the responses. May I ask a couple of more questions? The Goodyear Marathon are they considered one of the best? What about using LT style tire for this amount of weight.
Thanks again
Jamie

Stick with a dedicated trailer tire. 16" and load range E preferred. Nothing will ruin a trip to the track like a blow out.

Don't skimp on cheaper tires they will tear up a trailer when they blow and cost you more $$$ in the long run.

If your stuck with a 15" rim, like most of us, find a tire with a load range "E". I only know of two brands out there, there may be more. One being Carlisle which I just switched to. I use to run the Marathons ("D" range) but could only get 3 years before they blew. When one goes, the rest will soon follow. If these don't hold up, then I think will make the jump to 16" rims. Way more options on tires. Good luck with your search!

If you have a lot of time here's some good reading. Many of the guys on this link travel full time and put on lots of miles.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseac...%7B%7D/sr/1.cfm

I personally have had the best luck with Marthons, if someone tries to give you Milestar's dont take them. Hands down worst tires I have ever had on anything.

Maxxis might still make a 10ply E tire in 15". Don't get caught with a LT tire on a trailer.

Just bought 6 Hercules STR-235/85/R16 Load range F.. 12 ply

I took advice from trucking companies.. These have a 3980# rating.. Hauling 16000# in a 48' 5th wheel..

Nice looking tire.. $1100.00 for 6 tires


We'll see..


Chris..

I got talked into Denman Express trailer tires-{made in mexico}-, I gladly switched as I could only get 2 years on Goodyear Marathons. 225x75x15ST load range D. Not even close to a year and the Denmans were all junk and one blew the sidewall out. So then I switched backed to the Goodyear Marathons and paid about $30 a tire more. I got the trailer home with the new Goodyears and checked the air pressure and noticed --MADE IN CHINA-- written in the sidewall of my new Goodyear Marathons. They were alot better looking than the older Marathons and had a scuff guard on the sidewall. The chinese Goodyears lasted 3 years so the next set I wanted the same chinese marathons and got a made in the USA set this time. I just finished the 2nd year on this set and they are not looking so good. I think 16" is the way to go with Load range E

I bought a set of Maxxis 225 75 15 load range E, pricey but they seem to be holding up. !6 " tires would be better but the way my Pace Shadow trailer wheel well is constructed there is not enough room to put them on . I have thought about getting out the sawz -all and the welder though. On the subject of using truck LT tires on a trailer. the side walls are not made the same and will fail from turning. If your at the track just watch the trailer tires as the guys are turning into there spot or turning in the parking lot. The tires will be skidding sideways on the pavement .

i had nothing but failures with goodyear 225 75 r15 d marathons. i went thru about a dozen of them, (3 on one trip)
switched to towmaster 16 E radials, never had another problem.

here is a typical marathon

Does anyone still run bias-ply (non radials) trailer tires?

If so do they have the tread separation issues like a radial does?

I had a tread peel off on my enclosed trailer on the way home from MMW Gateway (put one of the spares on to get home)and it's probably gonna need a set of 4 (225/75r15 ST) before I use the trailer again.

Most of what I see out there are radials, but I know of one guy that runs bias-ply (16").

None of them seem to last for very long, but separating and blowing out on the road sucks.

I used to sell tires, and I can tell you that all trailer tires are crap. Didn't matter what brand GoodYear, Carlisle they all fail inside of 5 years. Don't buy in to that LT tires won't work on a trailer BS. I put LT 235/75/15 C load range tires on my trailers, my fathers trailer, my uncles trailer, 3 of my racing buddies trailers. Not one issue, not one failure. If the LT tires on my 3 ton turbo diesel tow rig don't go to crap every time I turn around, seems logical that they would work as well under the trailer, and they have.
Michelin
BF Goodrich
Cooper
Good Year = worst tire brand I ever saw, nothing but advertising and gimmics. Easily the highest failure rate of all the tires I sold.
Don't buy no name tires made in 3rd world countries.

If you can find them Maxxis is your best bet for a 15" tire, if you go to a 16 you will get a better tire and have more choices.
Two years is the norm on most trailer tires, they aren't desinged to run over 65 mph and watch a trailer tire when you turn a corner it tries to roll it off the rim. Trailer tires take a lot of punishment1