Car tires on your trailer?

I bought my boat & trailer with Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S 235x45x17s on it.
Yep, their sports car tires. Rated W for 168 mph & over 1400 lbs per tire.

The boat was originally ordered by one of the guys on the PDXWake.com site. And from what I gather, there are quite a few of those guys who run car rims & tires..... Digg's, I believe your one who has had several boats with these type of low profile car tires on it.

I originally expected that I'd be converting the trailer back to steel wheels & conventional trailer tires. But I have had no problems in nearly 4 yrs & probably about 1500 - 2000 miles / year. I do have to be a bit more careful to not curb a tire, but that hasn't really been much of a problem.

The guys on the MalibuCrew site are talkin about tires, many of them having problems with their Carlisles & Goodyears. I'm just curious what people's impression is of running car tires on their trailer.

After many blow outs with Marathons and Carlisle trailer tires over many years of boating I believe the biggest issue is age. I no longer trailer any distance or high speed if the tires are more than 6 years old. Dry rot and UV damage in my opinion are the cause of failure. Regardless of use or tread condition I dump tires after 6 years.

I can recall 3 occasions where I knew the blowout was coming as you could see the vibration of the tire by looking at the tower in the mirror at 45 mph and you could feel it in the seat. Then after observing the trailer tires would could see a wobble or bulge.

Also, pay attention to the date of manufacture on the tire. Some tires may sit on a shelf for a couple years while you believe it is new.

Yeah Danny put those tires on aftermarket when we all started putting wheels and tires on our trailers. I have done it every year and even driven from Portland to Shasta and never had an issue. You certainly become much more aware of your trailer so you don't curb the wheels.
Nowadays Boatmate and the other manufacturers have started putting 18" wheels on their trailers and have put Nexxen? tires on them. I have just been going with them since they have made it an option since about 2009. I believe they are actually using a trailer rated tire.

Bottom line is it is not for everyone, but I have never had an issue and nor has anyone else that I know that has done it.

So Tim, are you saying you should cover your tires to protect them from UV?

Ever see any boat trailer who does that? And why is that not a problem on car & truck tires too? Or maybe it is & we just don't notice it as much because we rarely get to 6 yrs with our car & truck tires?

Several of the guys complaining about conventional trailer tires on TMC are saying they are having blowouts within 2 or 3 yrs. Mine are pushin 5 or 6 yrs now. And frankly they look great. Sidewalls are not cracked at all. No bulges. Tread is wearing good, and still lots of it. Granted they only have maybe 12k or 14k miles on them.

Thanks Tyler. Very reassuring.

airjunky
I would guess he put those on in 06'. Maybe 07 at the latest, but pretty sure it was 06'

Anyone use 303 on their tires to help against UV damage? Wonder if it would help prolong tire life?

Originally Posted by tyler97217

airjunky
I would guess he put those on in 06'. Maybe 07 at the latest, but pretty sure it was 06'

Yea, I can't recall if I bought it in October of 06 or 07. So they are probably pushing either 4 or 5 yrs old now.

I recently upgraded to 18's and went with Nexxen tires after I saw them used frequently on Boatmate trailers. I believe they have a much higher load rating than most other low profile tires.

So far I've been happy with them.

I had carlise on my trailer and had three of the original four blow out in the first 6 months. I took the trailer to my local bridgestone shop and got for of their tires.the guy said the carlises looked liked they had been retreaded. Didn't know you could do that. Contacted carlise and they told me I probably had too many miles on the trailer. Boat was brand new and 6 months old. Carlises are junk, ill never accept another trailer with those on it.

You see RV people covering their tires all the time and yes it will help. Don't think just because your tires look new that you are no subject to age. As for car tires your are correct few people are running them more than 5-6 years but many dealers and manufacturers recommend not putting tires older than 6 years into service.

This topic has been covered many times. Do a search and you will find many discussions on age and sunlight related damage.

Something else to keep in mind (especially from a liability standpoint)- if you put passanger tires (P) on a trailer instead of trailer tires (ST), then the load capacity of the tire must be reduced by 10% (hence the trailer capacity). I got into this with Extreme Trailer when I discovered they put passenger tires on my trailer. One mention of this DOT, NATM, and BTMA requirement and they quickly shipped me new tires.

Not sure I understand, Paul.
So if I have a tandem axle trailer with 4 tires rated at 1400 lbs each, or 5600 lbs total. Their actually only good for 5100 lbs because of the trailer weight? So does that 5100 lbs actually include the trailer weight? Or it's 5100 lbs PLUS the trailer weight?
Which would actually be well over 6000 lbs, which exceeds the tires weight rating before the 10%.

Not gettin it at all.

I think the trailer mfr's have probably consulted with either the tire company or an industry expert before putting radial tires on the trailer. There are a LOT of boat trailers out there with 18's and 20's on them and I have yet to see anyone on here with an issue. I have the Illusion trailer with the 20" wheels and Goodyear 275/45/20's that are rated at 1800lb's each (same tires that came on the Chevy Silverado SS xtra cab pickups that were rated to tow 6,000lbs). Make sure your tire pressure is good, check them for cracks and fatigue and you are good to go. I see a lot of people on the forums who are "experts" or put information out there and I don't honestly believe that they know what they are talking about, they just heard from someone who heard from someone else that knows a guy down the block that said you can't do it.

I am disgusted with trailer tires. Put a new set of Carlisles on my old boat in 2006 if I recall correctly. Stayed outside two years, then break a belt in one trailering on the freeway for no apparent reason. From 2008 on, the boat was stored indoors. Guy who buys it has the other tire delaminate on the freeway for him.

My car hauler has blown 2 of its 4 tires in the past 2 years - POS Goodyears. I've never had issues with any passenger car tires in my 16 years of auto ownership - just freaking trailer tires.

I have had no issues with mine - I added 245x45x17 XL (1709 lbs per tire). The only issue that I had was the limitation of the current trailer and the tire size - I could not get anything larger than a 17" tire on without having issues with rubbing and also finding a 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern wheel that I liked.

By the way - one comment regardless of the tires you choose. Check the DOT date codes! I was looking at replacing mine with the Carlisle's and could not find anything manufactured newer than 2008. This was the main reason that I had to change tires - the tires on my 2008 trailer were manufactured in 2005 - tires have a shelf life believe it or not (e.g. the UV and crazing will start to appear and weaken the sidewall). Insist on getting the latest manufactured set!

Nice Josh. Any idea how much time or miles you have on them so far?

Hoping to take delivery of a golf cart later today. Had it shipped up from Phoenix. The guy hauling it is doing it on a car trailer. He's gone thru 4 tires so far on this trip. Just crossed into Montana & is taking a left here shortly. Hopefully he'll make it over 4th of July pass without loosing any more tires.

If im getting custom rims, does anyone know what offset I need for them to fit my 2004 VM boat trailer? Looking at 16" or 17" rims.

Originally Posted by tonyv420

If im getting custom rims, does anyone know what offset I need for them to fit my 2004 VM boat trailer? Looking at 16" or 17" rims.

The stock wheels are mostly a 0 offset, I went up in width on tires and went with 18MM offset which worked out perfectly.

Thanks Joshua! what width did you move up to?

Originally Posted by bill_airjunky

Nice Josh. Any idea how much time or miles you have on them so far?

Hoping to take delivery of a golf cart later today. Had it shipped up from Phoenix. The guy hauling it is doing it on a car trailer. He's gone thru 4 tires so far on this trip. Just crossed into Montana & is taking a left here shortly. Hopefully he'll make it over 4th of July pass without loosing any more tires.

I have put about 600 miles on them so far - again just put them on this season. There are lots of people running car tires on trailers (note - they are XL rated 1700-1900 lbs per tire). My buddy just got an Axis with 18" on them and I know he has logged over 1,300 miles with two long tripe to Shasta on them. There are many others in here that have also had no issues with them and if dealers are willing to take the liability of selling boats with them on - well I think that kind of suggests the confidence level.

The key with any tire is weight ratio and keeping them properly infalted. Whether you are hauling a boat or have them on a big SUV - weight is weight. You can't put a 1,400 tire on a boat trailer to haul a 6,000 lbs boat.

Hope you get your golf cart soon !

Originally Posted by tonyv420

Thanks Joshua! what width did you move up to?

I had the Carlisle 235*60*14 on them - new tires are the 245*45*17 Yokohoma S-Drive's.

Had 14" stock wheels and goodyear on my boatmate, went to 18" and Nexxen. stock fenders are NOT wide enough, had to bolt on new stainless fenders designed for 18". ( 0 offset).

2.5 years and no issues. I agree that I'll dump them at 6 years or so due to age not mileage.

Love that it tows so much better, doesn't bounce.

Originally Posted by tnvolgrad

The key with any tire is weight ratio and keeping them properly infalted. Whether you are hauling a boat or have them on a big SUV - weight is weight. You can't put a 1,400 tire on a boat trailer to haul a 6,000 lbs boat.

Hope you get your golf cart soon !

Yea, I hear you. And since I have over 10k miles on these, I'm thinkin their fine. The 1400 per tire x 4 is over 5600 lbs. The Vride is 2900 lbs, plus maybe 1200 for the trailer. I have lots of wiggle room for coolers & gas & so on.

Thanks again. You guys are gonna get a kick out of this cart. We live in a town where you can drive them anywhere. But having ridden ATVs & dirt bikes for years, I couldn't wrap my head around driving around in a sparky cart that did 12 mph. So this baby is decked out like a UTV, big tires, roll cage, stereo, seating for 4, harnesses & a 24 hp motor. It's gonna be a riot.

Bill, I was thinking the same thing as you on the cart but the street legal carts I drove handled just awful from 20 to 25 MPH. I could not imagine pumping up the HP and speed without handling modifications. Any input? ...oh no, did I just hijack this thread....

Hehe, I'll save my comment for later this weekend..... and another thread...... and some real driving experience.

I will give a hint though... Terra Toys IFS.