Tire Trailers

[jp]

First of all, hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday.

Thanks for all the feeback on which trailer tire to purchase. I guess I'm going with the Goodyear Marathon tire. Yet, I have one more question. What is the typical "Load Range" required for a bass boat. I have a 1990 Norriscraft which is 17.5 ft long with a Johnson 150 hp. In what I've seen "C" is the norm, but didn't know if I needed to bump that depending on the lbs. I wish I knew what the overall weight of my boat was, but don't.

So I thought I'd ask the experts. Any info is appreciated.

[redneckshadrap]

I have helped a couple of board members with tires. The Marathon's are the way they went,

Billy

[MarkW]

That's what I did. There is not really any true good trailer tires out there, other then the Goodyear Marathons. There is Cooper, but I have heard nothing but horror stories out of them. Some choose to run car tires---I know almost all Bullet boat trailers come with car type tires and they do fine. But I stick with load range C Marathons.

[mertens357]

BassCat uses car tires on some of theirs as well. If you think about it a 17.5 ft boat weighs about the same as most cars with that size 14 or 15 inch rim. I have the Firestone Indy 500 tires on my BC Puma tailer, and they are car tires and they work just fine.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Shawn

[MarkW]

I will agree with the weight being about the same or close, but trailer tires do take a little different abuse then car tires do. Trailer tires are 6 ply(cars are 4 ply) which also means they have a much stronger sidewall, beings they also don't have any turning components/suspension like a car does. This means the trailer tires, especially a tandem axle, take alot of abuse to the sidewalls. If you don't believe me, just watch a tire on a trailer in a tight hotel parking lot and see how much a trailer tire takes as far as load on the sidewall. Also the suspension on a boat trailer is way less forgiving then what's on a car. Basically the tires on a boat trailer is the suspension--sort of speak.
Car tires will work for the most part----I just think ture trailer tires will last longer,are stronger and can take more abuse. Cost----not a great deal more for a Marathon vs a good car tire of same size. You can buy cheapie 205/70/14 car tire for about $50, but that's exactly what you are getting. Now a better tire might run in the $75-$100 range and a Marathon runs about $100. Not saving alot.

[R19]

www.goodyear.com
usa /trailer rv tires / find the right tire /marathon

You will find a chart with the different size and load range of tires. On the toung of my boat trailer there is a sticker that has the weight of my rig. It weighs around 1380 lbs (if my memory is correct) I had load B class tires that were rated for 1430 and when I replaced them I put on a C class tire with a load rating of 1760. It was a good move. The C class tire pulls better less bounce. One interesting thing I found out was that I thought all trailer tires were max inflate to 50 psi Wrong...B class 35 psi C class 50psi D class 65psi

R19

[MrSplitshot]

Go with the Marathons...

[F16ENGMGR]

Some safety advice,

Never use passenger car tires on a trailer. The sidewalls aren't made to withstand the abuse that's given by your trailer especially with 3,000 pounds sitting on top of them bouncing up and down at 75 mph. Notice the shredded blown out trailers sitting on the side of the road. You get what you pay for. If you want to know your boat weight just e-mail the company or pull it up from their web site. Either way I'm sure the info is easily obtained.