What brand & type of trailer tires are best?

[kajum]

Fellow members,

What brand & type (Bias Ply or Radial) of trailer tires have given you the best service?

Thanks for your suggestions.

Kajum

[biggerseagar]

Radial trailer tires......google trailer tires and you will get 3 brands which one of them is goodyear marathons. Theses are about the best Imho. Prices are going to be around the same for the different brands, But you get what you pay for. Side wall rot is the most common reason for tire failure.

Roger

[mmwjr]

I agree with Roger radial tires all the way. Additionally I have never had a goodyear tire I didn't like. However as Roger stated side wall rot is the most common failure due to the suns UV rays. The more frequent the use the better the life you'll get.

[shrew]

Here is a pretty good write-up on the subject:

http://recstuff.com/radialvsbiasplytrailertires.aspx

If I recall, Bias-Ply tend to bounce more, by wag/wander less and can handle heavier loads. Radial have a smoother but tend to wander/wag more. Radial also have weaker sidewalls which handle less load, but also have better tread wear and lifespan. I think I recall hearing that the sidewall strength on the biasply also make them less apt to roll on corners, but I couldn't find anything documented to prove that, so i'll treat it as anecdotal.

[mmwjr]

Shrew is correct that bias tires typically have a higher load capacity. Depending on how long the boats sits between use bias tires can develop flat spots that will result in a bumpy ride until they heat up and even out. It realy comes done to how close the tow package come to tire capacity on if radials are an option. Of course getting another trailor wit an extra axle will distribute the load for a price;-) Also the flex in the radial side wall will provide a smoother ride for he boat, but only if the tire capacity is less than the tow weight plus a little margin.

[mcoffey]

I bought the cheapest tire I could find for my trailer. The old tires that were on it had about 90% of their tread left, just were severely dry rotted from age.
I keep my boat on trailer about 100 feet from the ramp and only tow it about 1.5 miles to get gas.
So I figured they would rot out long before they wore out or blew apart from actually using them for what they were intended for.

So I got Hi Run (made in China) Radial trailer tires. They are junk and I know it, just did not want to spend over $100 per tire for the Goodyear and never actually use them.