towing on 20's

does any tow with 20's on the trailer. how long do they last and how is the ride

DC,

I'm towing on 18's. I added mine to the trailer after I purchased it. You have to be careful not to curb them, run off the road, or drop off the launch ramp. You don't have all the flex in the sidewalls to take the abuse like you do with trailer tires. So far the tire wear and ride has been ok. You dont have the cushion of the sidewalls so the ride is not as soft. Also remember that with 18's or 20's the trailer height is taller so it will take a steeper ramp to launch.

When I was still drag racing my sport bike I had matching 20's on my enclosed trailer.
I had no real issues with the set up. I even had rubber band sized tires.

I apologize in advance to those that rock them, but spend your money on something else. Not only are they expensive and pointless, they actually perform WORSE than the cheapest wheels & tires. What's really lame is seeing blingy trailers wasting away in the trailer lot at a marina.

Trace,

No apology need. That is your view and opinion. I just tow mine all the time and to me it helps the look tremendously. I agree that if you dry stack, have a slip, or a boat house then it is a waste of money. But then again if you try to justify what we spend on our boats we are all crazy!

Only reason to run larger tires is to clear larger brakes. A tall sidewall helps the boat have a softer ride. Also note that trailer tires have a stiffer sidewall (among other things). Car tires can take some abuse and fail on trailers, especially dual or triple axle trailers given the amount of dragging sideways they often will do to back into tight drivaways, garages, ramps, etc.

Not to say that I've never run car tires on trailers though. Just opening up the possibility for more trouble especially with such a thin sidewall.

As for enhacing the look of the trailer... I'll be honest and say anything and "blinged out" with ghetto huge wheels to show off the tiny brakes looks pretty trashy to me. A tasteful 15" or 16" wheel would look nice and has my vote if you want to spend a couple bucks to make the trailer look nicer. But then it's your trailer and your money so do what you want.

I bought a boat with 18s on the trailer. They look nice, perform fine, and get plenty of compliments, along with people saying "WTF?!". I try to be careful not to curb them, and don't drive off any ledges of any kind (edge of the ramp, parking lot, etc. It doesn't really do anything for me though. I'd rather spend the money on the boat or doing stuff behind it. Trailers get pretty banged up & the wheels are no exception. It's about as good as putting a big hood scoop on the engine cover or something.

Thats the first thing i thought when i picked up my boat..... Damn my trailer sure does look trashy....




I just felt that when your spending a ton on a boat... a couple K more to not have a trashy trailer to pull it around on wasnt to big of a deal. It would look retarded to buy a 50K+ boat and have a little dinky trailer to pull it with.

Now I wouldnt have spent more if it sat on the lake all year, but since i tow it to and from the lake, i wanted a decent trailer.... the 20's were just a little addition.

I dig it! if I didnt have a storage unit onsite of my launch Id do it. but then again all my cars/trucks motorcycles have aftermarket wheels.

Look how sick that bu looks with wheels. it looks like a million bucks!

Or would you rather have this:

Hahahaha exactly

No question they look better than my greasy galvanized rims and bias ply tires. But, for $2500+, I want them to do something besides look better, and certainly not perform worse.

No question they look better. Thats not the issue. The issue is that they don't survive the problems that my trailers have had to go thru.
Great setup, just not my cup of tea. I wouldn't own a black boat or an Illusion tower for similar reasons, even though they look badass. But if it works for you, more power to ya.

(Message edited by bill_airjunky on August 13, 2009)

Hey Issac I wonder if that Malibu is running??? lolYou have fun on boat not trailer, I'd take it if it was running

Looks like a bunch of ghetto bling to me. 20" wheels are just ghetto, gaudy, tacky, or whatever you wanna call 'em. Unless your brakes are big enough to need the clearance there's no reason to have them, just looks ugly in my opinion. Same style of wheel in a 15" or 16" would look much nicer and be more functional on a trailer too.

I feel the same way about all the folks who put the biggest wheels they can find on some beater point A to point B car and think they have something nice. I just shake my head. For what the ghetto bling wheels and tires cost they could have just about bought a decent car. That's what I associate with big tires showing off tiny brakes.

To each his own I suppose. I just think big shiny wheels with tiny brakes look terrible.

If you got the cash then spend it, but only if the truck looks as nice as the boat and trailer. Stick with the 18's you get a much better look. The 20's do look too getto with all rim and no tire. That Mali looks cool!

I would agree with the sidewalls not taking the abuse. My trailer has 16" wheels with 225/55ZR16 Kumho tires on it... I like the look, and I like the look of even larger ones too. I do not trailer mine more than 5 miles on a typical weekend.. and the dealer is only about 10-15 miles away. But, I do usually take 1 trip a year. This year it was about a 70 mile trip one way and I curbed a tire and it blew... And I had no spare!!! (If you are going to run the larger tires spend the money to get a spare(lesson learned)) I had to leave the boat and travel back home and get a new tire and go back on the following Monday... It was a pain but not too bad... But having a spare would have saved me driving an extra 150 miles... That is my .02 I will have a spare before taking another road trip for sure.

I say 18's max too but I'm not gonna beat someone down because they prefer 20's...I don't jump all my friends shizz with 20's on their golf carts and gem cars. I was all set to put new rims on the trailer this year then I had to drop 800 into it for a huge mistake I made towing.

i ride with 20s on my trailer and they ride great and i make alot of 3 to 4 hrs trips all the time and havent had a problem yet