Are Your Trailer Tires Balanced?
Are your trailers wheels balanced? I don' think any of the trailers I have had had balanced wheels. I just changed the wheels on my TH and was wondering should I balance the wheels or not? I h...
Forum Discussion
I am not against balancing tires for a RV. This question came up with me when I decided to change the wheels from steel to aluminum.
My experience is that none of the past Toy Haulers and trailers I have had came with balanced tires. Checking further I could not find one Trailer manufacturer that balances Travel Trailer tires from the factory. Forest River, Keystone, Lance, Airstream none come with balanced tires. It has to be more than just saving a few $$, Airstream sells for about $5000 a foot there not a big fan of cost cutting.
I have also contacted my wheels supplier to find out if the wheels I bought are Hub or Lug Centric. You must know to have them balanced properly.
This is a second statement from the Tire manufacturer. They sell tire and wheel combinations for all kinds of trailers including boats.
Good afternoon,
Balancing tires is done for ride comfort, and since trailers are pulled behind a tow vehicle, the bonus of ride comfort is typically minimal to the passengers inside the tow vehicle. Some people may want the bonuses of tire balancing for their trailers or tow-behind campers though and it can definitely be done with no negative effects when done properly.
The reason we don't recommend having ST Trailer Tires balanced is because most shops are not equipped to balance trailer tires, and won't know that they are unequipped to do so, so they will try it and only create problems. Passenger car tires and wheels are known as 'hub-centric', meaning the center point of their spinning is around the hub, this is what most shops are used to doing. Trailer tires and wheels are different, they are lug-centric. Balancing trailer tires requires an adapter for your standard tire balancer that will balance around the lugs rather than around the hub. Doing it this way will yield the correct results.
Add to the fact that our most popularly sold wheels are hot-dipped galvanized (for boat trailers), which have a thick galvanized coating giving them a very uneven surface, are almost impossible to balance even with the proper adapter. With the benefits being minimal in most cases, and some cases it is extremely difficult to get a good balancing job, we typically err on the side of caution and just don't recommend it.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Loadstar
Thank You
My experience is that none of the past Toy Haulers and trailers I have had came with balanced tires. Checking further I could not find one Trailer manufacturer that balances Travel Trailer tires from the factory. Forest River, Keystone, Lance, Airstream none come with balanced tires. It has to be more than just saving a few $$, Airstream sells for about $5000 a foot there not a big fan of cost cutting.
I have also contacted my wheels supplier to find out if the wheels I bought are Hub or Lug Centric. You must know to have them balanced properly.
This is a second statement from the Tire manufacturer. They sell tire and wheel combinations for all kinds of trailers including boats.
Good afternoon,
Balancing tires is done for ride comfort, and since trailers are pulled behind a tow vehicle, the bonus of ride comfort is typically minimal to the passengers inside the tow vehicle. Some people may want the bonuses of tire balancing for their trailers or tow-behind campers though and it can definitely be done with no negative effects when done properly.
The reason we don't recommend having ST Trailer Tires balanced is because most shops are not equipped to balance trailer tires, and won't know that they are unequipped to do so, so they will try it and only create problems. Passenger car tires and wheels are known as 'hub-centric', meaning the center point of their spinning is around the hub, this is what most shops are used to doing. Trailer tires and wheels are different, they are lug-centric. Balancing trailer tires requires an adapter for your standard tire balancer that will balance around the lugs rather than around the hub. Doing it this way will yield the correct results.
Add to the fact that our most popularly sold wheels are hot-dipped galvanized (for boat trailers), which have a thick galvanized coating giving them a very uneven surface, are almost impossible to balance even with the proper adapter. With the benefits being minimal in most cases, and some cases it is extremely difficult to get a good balancing job, we typically err on the side of caution and just don't recommend it.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Loadstar
Thank You
