Truck tires on a trailer?

[Sotally Tober]

Has anyone tried running light truck tires on a trailer? I love my Michelin LTX M/S tires on my dually. Great mileage and quiet. They make them in the same size for my trailer. Why not? Will the scuffing of a triple cause problems for the sidewalls. I'm trying to find quality tires for my trailer. Just a thought.

[H20 Toie]

normally trailer tires have stiffer sidewalls than truck tires

[Trailer Park Casanova]

I see them from time to time on trailers. always wondered how they'd do.
Tire place told me they don't have as much "spring" in them.
Hell, who knows?
Gotta be better than whats available.
Good luck.

[Patyacht]

We trailered down & back for Desert Storm last April from Seattle (1300 miles each way) and had 2 blow outs - 1 each way. Both blow outs were not trailer tires. The trailer tires did great.

[voodoomedman]

Has anyone tried running light truck tires on a trailer? I love my Michelin LTX M/S tires on my dually. Great mileage and quiet. They make them in the same size for my trailer. Why not? Will the scuffing of a triple cause problems for the sidewalls. I'm trying to find quality tires for my trailer. Just a thought.
I'm not an expert but the difference is that trailer tires are designed to take the abuse of sitting for long periods of time and being weathered because a lot of trailers are stored outdoors. Also they are designed to take the weight and heat of the load on the trailer. Basically car tires are designed for moving all the time and being stored for short periods and trailer tires are designed for storage with short periods of movement.
Now with that being said if you search these forums somebody has some horror stories about every trailer tire out there and says they suck. Of course, the same goes with the different brands of tow vehicles. Sometimes things get a bad rap for other reasons. I had a blowout on my Trail America's (different name of a Carlisle) but that was because of a bad batch of valve stems. Had all valve stems replaced and my tires look just fine and I haven't had any issues since.(Of course I only tow down the street to Windsor most of the time.

[Sotally Tober]

The truck tires are rated for the same load as the trailer ones. I pull the shit out of my trailer. I would guess I put around 8k a yera on my trailer. It does sit in the winter inside though. Just like my pickup. I have had problems with the damn belts breaking on the tires. 4 of the 6 tires on the ground in 1 year. And yes I keep the pressure up on them.

[2Driver]

Beer-30 seems to have a lot of details on tires. He helped me a lot more than Discount tire could when it came time to buying the Greenball Towmaster V. Try Pm-ing him.

[Acommanderguy]

I had used light truck tires on my trailer for years now. I just recently had to replace one tire after 6 years of use. I like the way my trailer tows with them. I believe I have the coopers on them right now. I will have to go check.

[Ion]

Has anyone tried running light truck tires on a trailer? I love my Michelin LTX M/S tires on my dually. Great mileage and quiet. They make them in the same size for my trailer. Why not?
Don't do it. Radial tires made for cars / trucks are not built to withstand the use and abuse trailer tires (Bias-ply) handle with ease. I learned the hard way when pulling the boat from Havasu to Powell.

[sorry dog]

Have car/LT tires from time to time. They will wear faster and sidewall looks like it flexes more, but that's related to different psi's at the load rating. Nothing scientific but the radial seems to be hotter when stopping after a freeway run.
I personally would do it again as long as the weight is well below the rating and the max psi on the tire is 50 psi or better ... and I'm not towing in a real hot climate. If I'm towing on 130+ degree pavement I want the best.

[Screaming Pete]

i have seen Mich. on alot of the highend trailers like feather lite and the racecar trailers. load range e tires though. i've never seen any low profile tires with load range e. thier ok for looks but not long towing. storage to winsor is ok but not the highway

[OCMerrill]

Sidewall stiffness is the reason. Trailer tires have thick cords in the sidewall.
Regular radial tires can induce trailer sway.
With that said I have low profile 55 series car tires on my trailer and it tows great. Someone else already had them on it when I purchased it several years back. I would have never thought it was OK until this boat.
My boat is light though. With a heavy boat this should not be done but, I see it all the time.

[RitcheyRch]

I have car tires on my trailer but then my boat only weighs about 1700 pounds which is far less than most of the cars those tires would be on.

[napabob]

Trailer tires are 'ST' type.
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireProductCategoryDetailBrnd.do?rc=CNVINT&tpc=CARTR1&tp=Utility&rcc=&tc=CARTR1
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireProductCategoryDetailBrnd.do?rc=CNVINT&tpc=CARTT3&tp=Utility&rcc=&tc=CARTT3
http://www.easternmarine.com/em_store/trailertires/

[YeLLowBoaT]

I had to put passenger tires on my trailer do to the funky vintage mussle car size. 14x10 I could not even find anything that size.( other then the vintage knock offs.) so I went with 205 70 14 its not the same but it will work.

[Sotally Tober]

I can see a problem with trailer sway with a single axle trailer, but with a triple the damn trailer wants to go straight. I just wonder if the scuffing during turns would hurt the sidewall. If you can load up a 1 ton pickup anf use them I do not see how they would work on a trailer.

[Rexone]

I've used low profile radials on my triple axle trailers for years and towed many thousands of miles. Tow great and never a tire related problem. Just make sure the load rating is up to snuff for what you're putting on them and also that the trailer sits level when on the tow vehicle in the case of multi axle trailers.

[NuckinFutz]

I have been using truck tires (load range E) on my horse trailer for about four years now and haven't had one problem. The horse trailer gets FAR more abuse than my boat trailer would ever see and weighs in with animals at around 12,000 loaded on a tandem axle. The trailer sits in the sun every day of it's life (I do have canvas covers I put on the tires during storage) and they still look new. I also replaced the last boats trailer tires with passenger car tires and had nothing bad to say about that either. I wouldn't hesitate to put "non trailer tires" on for a second. Matter of fact, I'm sitting here wondering why I didn't do it on my last trip to Havasu when I blew the treads off two Goodyear Marathons and ended up buying 5 new tires getting home.

[TCHB]

I have used car and truck tires on my trailers with no problems. I think the main reason people have tire failures is age.

[bohica]

My 26' enclosed trailer has had LT tires on it since new. No problems in the 3 years I've owned it. When fully loaded with all the toys, it's pretty close to 10K. They're 16 inch, load range E tires.

[jbtrailerjim]

Don't do it. Radial tires made for cars / trucks are not built to withstand the use and abuse trailer tires (Bias-ply) handle with ease. I learned the hard way when pulling the boat from Havasu to Powell.
If that was true, you would see all trailers running down the road with bias ply tires. :rolleyes:
Radial tires are fine to run on a trailer as long as the load range is heavy enough. Find a tire with a 6 ply sidewall. I personally like these Maxxis (http://www.maxxis.com/products/trailer/product_detail.asp?id=118) tires and have had great luck with them.

[havaduner]

I have a 42' Weekend Warrior. First 3 trips, lost a tire per trip to Glamis. Changed them out to a truck tire, havent lost a tire in 3 seasons. My boat trailer has triple axles as well, with low profile car tires, no problems, although I dont tow it that much.
Biggest problem is age. If they sit, they'll rot, (Sitting in a garage is better than outside) it doesnt matter what kind of tire (trailer or L/T) I'll replace my boat trailer tires as soon as I see annything that looks like a crack on the sidewall or treads.
Also, its easier to find a replacement tire if you do lose one in the middle of B.F.E.
My .02? Get the truck tires.

[mike37]

I have car tires on my trailer and have had no problems sept for hitting a curb
and focking one up
tir inflation and load rating is the key