Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Trailer Tire help needed.

I have four trailers that often get used on long gravel road trips.

One trailer needs new tires and I was going to put radials on it
but two guys have told me to never put radials on a trailer but
neither could tell me why....

This is just 15" tires on an ATV hauler......

Why not radials?

I use radials, and like them, I also carry two trailer spare tires, and rims.

Radials have thin sidewalls and are prone to punctures. On pavement they're alright.

I have a 6X10 trailer to haul my toys and it has radial 15"ers on them. If you are going to be hauling heavy loads, the dealer recommended that we go to LT type tires with the stiff sidewalls. I have had this trailer for five years now and the radials have been fine.

There ya go, read and know the ratings for the tire, and what your gonna use it for.

ST tires have heavier sidewalls?

I have 5 trailers, radials on all of them, no problems at all.

I have quite a bit of experience towing and just driving on dirt and gravel roads, I would get some LT tires for sure. You need sidewalls that are resistant to punctures.

Trailer radials are the only way to go. Trailer tire sidewalls are much tougher than car tires and not nearly as squirmy. They're more equivalent to LT tires. Car radials won't last at all but real trailer radials are great. On one trailer I have that I use on every kind of road imaginable, trailer radials give me 3x the life of bias.

Well vernAK, does all of the above clear it up?

I drive mostly highway with our big pickup but do have to drive on gravel roads and also drive it a bit off road. I run radials at Load Range E (and F when I can get them). Have learned that ome strange stuff will puncture the sidewalls of otherwise very good radials - most recently it was a less than 2 inch stub on a discarded small branch of a tree I was cutting for firewood. The best sidewall patch would not make that tire dependable. Just that news - no reccommendation - not an expert.

If someone tells you that radials on trailers are bad, find out what kind they ran that were bad. I'm betting that they used car tires. If they used LT's or trailer radials, their experience would be different.

If car tires work well on a car, what would be different about a trailer to make them unsuitable for it?

They work fine on mine. I did finally buy a new set because the used tires didn't seem to last long before they became rotten.

Regardless of whether the tires are radials or bias-ply, covering them when not in use will prolong their life considerably. UV rays will dry rot a trailer tire in no time. DAMHIKT.

I have radials on a 14' trailer.

One of them blew out. I took it to a tire shop and while waiting on them to put on a new one, I asked why it blew out. He asked how fast I was going. Told him 75 which was the speed limit.

He said that was probably why. Most radial traler tires have speed ratings of 65mph or under.

Bought a cattle trailer and put new tires on it. I remembered what was told me, and the radial tires for it had a 65mph speed rating. The biased ply tires was like 85. I bought the bias ply tires. Guy at the tire shop said "Wise Choice."

Read the fine print. Ask them. They have to tell you.

Because car tires don't get drug sideways on a regular basis. They're more plausible for single axle trailers.

Ok... I'll bite. Why would you drag them sideways?

When you back a tandem axle trailer one of the axles will turn and one will be drug sideways on the tight turns.

Sure can tell some of you guys never towed a trailer.......
Just get Maxxis ST's and look no further.
Car tires belong on a car.

In my experience, trailer tires are a royal pain. New tires are the best, till they are not new anymore. As I said, I carry two spares, and a jack the works well with the trailer.

"Sho got that right."