Trailer Tires... Which are best?

[deminimis]

I'd vote radial and with more load rating than you think you need. I would treat your 30-mile trips the same as cross-country trips when shopping for tires. It sucks trying to change a trailer tire along side the road (not to mention the loss of time on the water, plus safety issues, plus risk damaging your trailer/boat from blowouts). Just need to make sure your wheels can handle higher pressures if, for example, you go with an E load tire (80 psi).

[Thrall]

Not to keep beating the dead Marathon horse, but I've had many trailers and even more if youcount the numerous company owned trailers and while I've seen plenty of blowouts, the GY Marathons are the ONLY tires I've seen where the tread peels off like a re-cap.
Lost 4 Marathons in 2009 on 2 different MC trailers all within the same month and all of the tires were mfd in 2005, 4 years old.
I got my old Marathons covered by a tire shop that basically did me a huge favor and he put some Commodores on the X2 trailer. SO far so good after 2 years. Got several thousand towing miles on them (bullchit that I've only put 60 hrs on the boat in htat time though!).
If I was purchasing new tires I'd get the D rated Kumho 857's.
Have a pair on my sled trailer and they are pretty tough tires.

Slightly off topic.....Anyone buy the overstock OE MC aluminum rims from that shop selling them off a year or 2 ago?
I bought one for my spare and the guy gave me a "great deal" on a tire mounted on the rim. Was like only $30-40 more than the rim.
Well less than 2 yrs later, stored inside, the tire is all dry-rotted and cracked. Chkd the mfg date on the tire, it's 10 years old!

[east tx skier]

Four years and counting (nervously) on my American made 2007 D rated Goodyear Marathons.

[Thrall]

Originally Posted by east tx skier

Four years and counting (nervously) on my American made 2007 D rated Goodyear Marathons.

Hope you got metal fenders!

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Originally Posted by east tx skier

Four years and counting (nervously) on my American made 2007 D rated Goodyear Marathons.

You must like living on the edge

[east tx skier]

Originally Posted by Thrall

Hope you got metal fenders!

I do as a matter of fact. . My trailer doesn't have flimsy fenders.

And I have had a 2004 era of GY Marathon separate on me as I was delivering my old boat to it's new owner at about 70 mph. No fun at all.

[east tx skier]

Originally Posted by thatsmrmastercraft

You must like living on the edge

I just keep an eye on them. My last pair looked misshapen before the first one went south. I'm not going to replace them without any evidence of a problem specific to my tires, that's for sure. Although, if I make it through 5 seasons, I may call it a day with them.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

The other tires that have had this problem come from Firestone. the tires that were on the Explorers were manufactured during the strike and management and scab workers were making the tires.

Firestone produced a model 721 in the 80's that had the same problem.

[east tx skier]

Originally Posted by thatsmrmastercraft

The other tires that have had this problem come from Firestone. the tires that were on the Explorers were manufactured during the strike and management and scab workers were making the tires.

Firestone produced a model 721 in the 80's that had the same problem.

According to the GY dealer I visited after my treed separation incident, they changed the layup in around early 2007 to try to solve the issue and were recommending you go as big as possible on the tires. My current set are 225/75/15 and D rated.

[Thrall]

[quote=east tx skier;773229] My trailer doesn't have flimsy fenders.

QUOTE]

Mine didn't either until it got horse-whipped by a tire tread 256 times!