New Tires

[Deb]

Howdy Y'all
I read all the "tire" info.  My question is what brand of 5.70-8 do you all recommend?
Deb

[Craig Weis]

Morning Deb. I have 20.5 x 8.0-10 inch rim 'USA TRAIL' made in the USA by Garlisle trailer tires. They have a max load of 1535 lb @ 90 psig cold. Which is fine. I have a 2000 lb boat and about 700 lb trailer plus gear on boat. The tread is 4 ply and the sidewall is 2 ply nylon and these are really cheap tires on my C-P 19 Performance brand trailer, and every year for the last five I have had one of these constantly go flat during the winter storage, and go soft during the no-load summer parking.

So this year I jacked up the trailer and took my tires down to the local tire dealer here in Sturgeon Bay and had tubes put in them. No flats yet.  I paid about $12.00 includes the tube for each tire to have a tube installed. Same price when I had the tire removed from the rim, the rim brushed down and tire reinstalled with a sealing compound on the tire's bead several times now. Still they went flat.

That is when it struck me. The air leaks out through the rubber/carcuss/belting used in tire construction. For these tires it's cheap and dirty. Everybody sells the same tires, so they'll all go flat. Me thinks.

The think the quality is so bad on these tires of this size that this was my only option. All the tires of this size were made in USA, China, India, Asia. So what's a body to do? Tube it and inflate'em hard. About 90 psi for the coolest possible running temperature.

That brings up another problem. I can only find air at 90 psig from an industrial source. A garage, where I work, or some place that uses a lot of air. A body shop? And an air hose that they will let you use, an air chuck that fits their air hose female end, and your own truck air gage. Can't find that high a psig at any gas station here in town, these all fag out around 50 psig. [psig= lb/sq in gage]

I don't figure on any more tire problems. As with the tubes...they do need to be fully inflated at all times so the tubes don't rub on the inside of the carcuss of the tubless tire. If these do then they will burst. Like any bike tire, air 'em up, bounce the rim, deflat, air 'em up again. Takes the wrinkles out of the tube so it sits nice within the tire. Same way with our Ford Model "A".

I should note that I don't tow the boat but a few mile [under 20] at any one time around town...but you never know, might go up to the North Channel if I ever get enough time off work.

But then again I put tubes in my wifes riding lawn tractor for the same reasons, I can't have the lawn cutting duties delayed...LOL skip.

[Paul]

Deb:

I think mine are made by Carlisle.  Go to a trusted tire shop.  They may grease the bearings, too.  Mine did at no additional charge.  I live in a small town where reputations still mean something.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Rick Klages]

Load ratings are important.  Buy the correct tire.

ick

[Salty19]

Yep, mine are Carlisle too in 5.7 x8 size.  I just got back from an 800 mile round trip with them.   I found them at The Andersons already mounted on new steel wheels for about $57 a piece.

Inflated to 75psi, they remained warm but didn't get hot (checked them about every hour and a half).  However, there was noticeable tread wear...about 1/3 of the tread was used on the trip. These are load C I think.  Previously I towed with them about 300 miles over the course of about 10 trips (so 15 mins each).  No real wear noticed up until I took them for a long trip.

Not sure if this is normal...my other trailer has full size auto tires on it.

[Deb]

What does it mean "cold" on the tire inflation?
Deb

[Rick Klages]

Before going anywhere.   prior to towing.  When tires are at ambient temperature.  Before rolling resistance heats them up.  Before going to the boat ramp.

ick

[Deb]

I did buy the Carlise ...seem fine.  Lets hope they do a trip to FL soon.
Deb

[Craig Weis]

Salty 16, might run the air pressure cold up to the rating on the sidewall 'small print'. I'm looking for a little more ware on the center of the tread and a little less on the sides of the tread. A couple of ponds over inflated will push the center of the tread down on the road a little more then the sides of the tread ie,  so more ware in the center. skip.

[Potcake boy]

Deb,
If you come to the west coast of Florida - around the Charlotte Harbor area, let me know if you need any sort of help or local knowledge.
Ron

[Deb]

Hey Potcake boy,  Thanks for the invite and all the info.  I'll be up in the Tampa area, you don't look too far down the road tho.  Looked it up and sounds like sailing paradise.
Deb

[Salty19]

Thanks, Skip.  Indeed the sidewalls state 75psi cold.     Thankfully I have a good air compressor (used mostly for air tools) that can inflate this high without breaking a sweat.   

One thing to consider is if the tires are inflated less than suggested, the wear pattern may be more even, but the heat generated may wear them more quickly. It depends on the composition of the tire and it's propensity to shed heat.

Considering the 800 miles at high speeds, I"m not disspointed in the 1/3 tread loss.  Just the cost of doing business...

[Salty19]

Forgot....It's a good practice to invest in new tires if you get a used trailer, unless the tires are new. The reasoning here is they are in general made cheaply and tend to crack and dryrot more quickly than say, a Michelin SUV tire.   Mine were cracked with fine lines that you couldn't see unless you got up real close.  Accident waiting to happen.  Did the spare too...no sense in carrying one if it's in bad shape.

[Deb]

I'm a little worried about the Carlise tires I bought.  I'm afraid I didn't get big enough ones.  They are Sport Trail 4L04 DOT 4LA4 2507 
They are each 715# load rating.  5.70-8
The boat weighs 1100.  I'm not sure about the trailer, what do you think a 84 weighs?  I can't read the plate.
Deb

[Craig Weis]

Well you know me and numbers...
715 lb @ ? lb air pressure...on the sidewall. You already looked~seed.

So 715 + 715 = 1520 lb.
Minus 1100 lb for the boat.
So the trailer weighs 400 lb or less.
Plus any additional gear on the boat, 54 lb for the outboard, 30 lb for the sails, PFD, Lines, Fenders..and...

You might be OK.  Go find a truck scale or scale from a near by scrap yard type fellow and run her up on the scale with the tow-boat-trailer-and you. Deduct truck, and you.

What the heck. sidewall information is generally conservative in ratings and a few extra pounds may just equate to less ware. Tire manufactures are forced to 'declare' "an estimate of use" and these are 'declared'  under perfect test conditions...

...actually it's all government liberal crap that was designed to make you feel better and of course...it's for the children and a way to add costs to what ever you buy. I hate Nader just because his kid was dumb enough to kill himself in a Corvair he's got to make my life complicated. Oops! Forgot can't embellish the information. Even if it is how the information was obtained. skip.