Trailer tires (revisited)

You guys got me spooked with your Carlisle tire horror stories. I’m wondering if it makes a difference whether you were running biased or radial tires. I can just see one of my new Radial Trail’s turning loose and costing me a fender and or an expensive wheel. The one I just bought has yet to be installed. I’m wondering if I should take it back and go with Goodyears and use the one on the ground for a spare? help!! jerr

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After reading all your comments, I’ll be heading back to the tire dealer soon’s I get home. Thanks everybody for your help jerr

In the rare instances I have seen radials blow…the belts tend to keep them together. Bias tires tend to grenade and wreak havoc.

I absolutely would not put a Carlisle tires on a trailer I owned. When they come apart they literally unravel with the tread unrolling off the tire. If the tread came off completely that would be one thing. But that’s not what has happened to me. The tread comes off 3/4ths of the way. Imagine a 4′ long chunk of tire tread spinning around the tire inside your fender well at highway speeds! You’re lucky if the only thing you lose is the fender. The last time it happened to me the tire tread blew the diamond plate right off the fender before becoming lodged between the fender and the frame. Of course just because the chunk of tire tread became lodged didn’t mean the damage was done. Quite to the contrary. The tread became lodged and the tire kept turning as I was trying to bring everything to a quick stop. The result was the tread quite literally pulled the rear mount for the fender completely off the frame, pushed everything up into the port side of my boat as the fender was pulled forward and destroyed all the wiring on that side of the trailer.

My experience with Carlisle has been awful. I’ve been on the side of the interstate too many times changing tires. Sometimes twice on a single trip. I can’t recommend Carlisle. To be fair, it may not be the tires but the load on the trailer. But I check pressure, bearings, tire wear each trip. I am going to weigh my rig to what the GVW is on the trailer. I’ve had a boats all my life and never had tires blow the way these are. So I blame the quality more than the application. If I make the rest of the season on Goodyears and do not have an issue then I know where the problem lied.

Here’s a pic of the tire that went last week.

My c-bomb was a radial.

Get the goodyears do not even use the Carlisle for a spare. In 2002 I blew both of the bias ply carlisles out on my Karavan trailer and had to replace both fenders. I went with goodyears and not a single problem. 1st tire blew on I94 coming back from Alex 2nd tire blew on hwy 10 just outside of St. cloud.GET THE GOODYEARS .

I have Carlisle bias ply tires on my trailer. If I switch to goodyear radials, will they fit on my existing rims or will I need new ones?

I was able to use the same rims when I made the switch.

FDR

Ditto all of the above. Carlisle’s cost me a fiberglas fender
on a previous trailer. And as James said that was only the beginning. The tread wrapped around the axle after it tore my fender off rendering it almost impossible to remove. All this with my butt hanging out over the white line getting wiped by every SOB that don’t know enough to use the other lane.

I’ve got 175/80-13 tires on mine now. Anyone see an issue going slightly wider to 185/80-13 Would think a little more tread on the road is a good thing?? Also any good pricing out there on the GY Marathons. I see $73 online from Tire Rack.

Anyone have any experince with Super Trail tires made by Cheng Shin? I know of a couple construction companies that use these on their equipment and bobcat trailers that are contantly running over weight and they have had good luck with them.

Rock, I’m also going with the 185 over my current 175’s, they take the same rim size so switching shouldn’t be a problem.

I called a local Goodyear dealer in Rochester and got the price of $67 for 175/80R13 Marathons mounted. Extra for valve stems, balancing and disposal.