Balancing Trailer Tires - yes or no

LarryJM wrote:
I also do not buy into those stories that say they can feel/see and vibrations from unbalanced tires.

Larry

Those are the same people who post "I can not even tell it's back there" LOL.

tomman58 wrote:
I used to do it but the installer (more than once) told me it isn't needed on a heavy TT. I looked at my new Jayco with the Goodyears and nope they are not balanced.
Ask yourself have you ever seen a TT tire with wear spots on the tire from being out of balance????? Me neither!

That's my take also and 40+ years and more miles than I can count with no strange wear patterns or issues running unbalanced tires supports the not balanced camp. I also do not buy into those stories that say they can feel/see and vibrations from unbalanced tires.

Larry

bgum wrote:
Anything that spins should be balanced

Including this thread......

Anything that spins should be balanced

Yes balance them. Unbalanced tires will affect the wheel bearings. Along with a smoother tow and less vibration in the trailer!

Not balancing them is just lazy and will cause abnormal wear issues!

Well, I bought my trailer brand new in 2002. The GY tires/basic white painted steel trailer wheels were not balanced..

These are only 13" wheels with ST175/80/13 trailer tires on them..

No issues.

Replaced tires with same size, just upped the LR rating from B to D..

Had them balanced for about $10/tire at the local Les Schwab tire store.

Replaced those tires with another set (if you haven't noticed, I do this about every 5 years, since I still own the same trailer)

Didn't have those balanced..

Still on the original bearings, the Dexter torque flex axles are still working well.

I have never had any "abbey normal" tire wear, but I only put about 2K miles a year on them, since I'm just a long weekend camper at this point in my life..

So, I guess it's just another "what works for me" kind of thing... :)

Do whatever "works for you" and it's all good!

Good luck,

Mitch

marcsbigfoot20b27 wrote:

Jay Coe wrote:
No, because the short spring and no shock produces far more vibration than a tire will. This is asked often, and there's a very good explanation out there if you google it. I'm not going to bother searching for it again, but trailer tires do NOT need to be balanced because they are part of an inherently unbalanced system.

Mine has shocks.
Car tires dont NEED to be balanced either, but they are.
More wear and tear on all parts if tires are not balanced.

In my opinion all tires should be balanced, car truck motorcycle trailer etc.....anything that will go over 40 mph.

Right or wrong I have mine balanced on all my vehicle's trucks, motorcycles and RV'S. It doesn't cost that much more. I also have shocks and air ride on the RV.

None of my RV'S were balanced from the factory.

Maybe I can find a old hunter machine to spin balance the whole wheel assembly on the trailer.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Unless you spin balance your tires on your trailer you're pretty much wasting your time. Unlike car and truck hubs and drums, trailer components don't have balance weights. You can get your tires within a micro gram but everything else will be out to lunch which means everything else will be out to lunch.......or on the money......you just can't tell unless everything in the system is balanced.

X2..... along with trailer springs are only 26"-28" long and are a huge damper for a out of balance tire as one experienced poster brought up earlier.
A tire jumping up and down on any trailer has serious defects and will not balance out anyway. Time to get it off the trailer.

Trailer hubs are not machine balanced so adding weights around the wheel may actually make matters worse if those added weights are on the heavy side of the hub.

Now throw in the fact most trailer wheels lugs won't be concentric to the rims tire bead seat. Sure this can be balanced with the usual spin the tire while off the vehicle.
Hell a tires out of round/or lateral defects can be balance with this method however once it starts rolling down the road it sure won't be roll balanced. Those 26" long springs take care of most of these issue.

One of my old truck tire dealers used the old spin the tire on the vehicle machines on customers trailers. This way spinning the whole tire/wheel/hub assembly will balance the assy. And of course he would match mark the wheel to the axle. Remount the wheel one lug hole off resulted in vibrations.

I've worn out several dozen sets of tires on my flatdeck/stock trailers/enclosed trailers/boat trailers/ rv trailers/etc. Never had a tire balanced .....tire wear was always flat across the tread....if a tire showed cupping around the tread it was usually tread belt separation or damaged carcass.
There are several reasons tires on trailers don't need to be balanced by normal methods that our soft suspension cars/trucks/vans/suvs require.

busterbrown73 wrote:
And since no one has mentioned it, most trailer wheels are lug centric by design. Most retailers only have hub spindles and aren't equipped with lug adapter plates required to properly balance trailer tires (or even aftermarket wheels for that matter).

If you do choose to balance, call ahead and make sure the installer does have the equipment to provide lug centric balancing. Out of 7 tire retailers in my area, only 1 had the plates.

I agree, if you balance, it should be done this way, or old style spin balancing. I don't balance mine, but many that tow at higher speeds, may notice more hop/vibration than I do.

Jerry