Best trailer tires?

Mr Drysdale

Active Member
Mar 24, 2013
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Just purchased a new 14’ trailer to pull my Kawasaki Mule Pro FXT. It is a single axle with 205/15 size tires. The trailer came with new but cheap tires. What is the best tire for this application. Some of you boat and camper owners might want to chime in.
Thanks in advance.
 

JimP

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Mar 28, 2016
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On a truck forum that I am on just about everyone takes their trailer tires and replace them with regular truck tires. These are mostly on 5th wheel trailers that run 16" wheels. But I think that I would do the same with 15" tires.

I got lucky 30 or so years ago when I bought a trailer to haul my toys, a dune buggy and a atv. I pulled into a Big O tire shop and picked up 4 10 ply trailer tires. I ran them for years before I lost a cap on one of them.
 

Ikeepitcold

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Staff member
Feb 22, 2011
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Reno Nv
I put 14 ply tires on my 42’ 5th wheel last year because the factory ones are junk and only 8 ply. They call them China Bombs. My friend we camp with had one of his tire blow. We got our trailers about the same time so I changed mine before it happened to me.
 
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mallardsx2

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Jul 8, 2015
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Put some 14 ply "semi tires" on our trailer we pull the skid-steer with last year after blowing out a few brand new 10 ply. Haven't had a problem since. That Kubota SVL75 is pretty dang heavy. Especially when you have the grapple bucket on it.
 

Colorado Cowboy

Super Moderator
Jun 8, 2011
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First of all your 14' trailer will be pretty light, but watch the stuff you put in it as it is easy to overload a trailer.

I run Maxii tires on my 26' travel trailer. I did a lot of research and they are well regarded. I have had them for 5 years and have put about 20,000 miles on them I also balance & rotate the tires. Goodyear finally has a trailer tire made in the US, not Chinese junk.
 

BKC

Very Active Member
Feb 15, 2012
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The high plains of Colorado
Just make sure after you get your new tires that you hook up the safety chains on that trailer...


Oh and PS: This guy needs a clean pair of undies.....lol


I would assume both of them need undies and he goes camping by himself for the rest of his married days.
 
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taskswap

Very Active Member
Jul 9, 2018
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Colorado
I've seen the truck tire thing but I personally wouldn't recommend it. Truck tires are typically inflated to 45psi or so and are designed to provide a balance between traction in ice/snow, gas mileage, ride comfort, and long life. Trailers have different needs. Their wheels aren't powered, gas mileage isn't really important, and since they're used so much less, longevity isn't unimportant but it's less critical. And trailer suspensions are usually much less sophisticated so they get jolted harder.

My priority list for trailer tires is:
1. Sidewall strength
2. Durability
3. Cost

For brands I can't really recommend anything specific, I've used probably 7 different brands and they've actually all been fine. I just swapped my camper tires from Maxxis to Trailer King and I think they're both fine for those kinds of loads. What you really want to do is look at the ratings. Trailer tires don't have speed ratings, they're load/sidewall strengths, and they're at very specific pressures too.


34069

My 8500lb RV has ST225/75's on it. As you can see those can hold 2500lbs each at 65psi. But this is where stuff can get dangerous fast. Throw an extra thousand pounds of cargo in that trailer and knock 10psi off if I don't check the inflation regularly and you can get in trouble real quick. I see lots of campers on the side of the road with shredded sidewalls and I bet you anything they didn't take a nail - they blew out from being overloaded, under-inflated, get a little too fast, and the sun was a little too hot... boom!
 

mallardsx2

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Jul 8, 2015
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I had a group of guys pass me on my way to Colorado last season pulling a HUGE camper. They were literally going 90MPH.... I remember my wife telling me how bad they must have wanted to get an elk. On the back of the camper it said "Elk Nutz" lol They were going so fast that I didn't even see what state they were from....lol


I remember debating with her as to what kind of MPG they were gettting out of that "Power Joke" pulling a camper that big, that fast. My guess was 3MPG.
 

JimP

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Mar 28, 2016
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Living right on I-70 here in Colorado and driving 30 miles to work for 25 years I saw all kinds of idiots pulling trailers with little trucks, big trucks and even small sedans. I also saw my share of trailers sitting on the side of the road with at least one tire missing with some vehicle occupants sitting in the grass while someone took the truck off to see if they could find a replacement tire. I have also seen my fair share of bearing failures and any other calamity that could befall a trailer owner.

The most interesting things that I saw were those with 1/2 ton trucks pulling a very large 5th wheel down the road, but as I have told a lot of trailers owners, you might be able to tow it but the big question is can you stop it? I even had a good friend who purchased a large 5th wheel trailer and was towing it with a 3/4 ton pickup. I looked the trailer over and told him that he should have at a minimum a 1 ton and even better a 1 ton with dual wheels for that size of a trailer. He just laughed at me and said that his truck could handle it. Well around 6 months later he had a new 1 ton dual wheel truck. He told me that he blew a tire on the trailer and it came close to killing him by the time he got it stopped.
 

Colorado Cowboy

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Jun 8, 2011
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That the truth Jim! For years I towed a 28" #12,000 boat all over the US and Baja. I towed it with a F350 Ford diesel with a Gear Vendors splitter so I could keep it in the optimum rpm/torque range for best performance. it also had power vacume brakes on the trailer.

I still tow my 26" #8,000 travel trailer with an F350 diesel with a 6 speed tranny. You can't be "over" trucked or "over" braked! All of my trucks have been 4x4 too.

Tires are only part of the equation for towing.
 

buckbull

Veteran member
Jun 20, 2011
2,124
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I haven't had good luck with trailer tires. We have a place here that sells used tires. They get them from wrecked cars and sometimes they are almost brand new. I've had good luck. It's just a utility trailer rated at 3000 pounds so not that big.