Mixed Tire Types

[phipps33]

We just bought a NTU travel trailer. I noticed that 3 of the tires are radials with one being bias. Is this a problem?

[JIMNLIN]

Hopefully you found the answer to your question.

http://www.rvtiresafety.com/

Use this from Tireman9 tire blog.
You will find days of reading about tires for our trucks and trailers and car and motorized RVs.

[phipps33]

I never meant to start a war here, guys! I knew when I asked the question the tires were old and needed replaced anyway, but I was curious whether the mixing of tire types and weight classes were detrimental.

I do apologize to the poster I snapped at. I know he was just trying to help out. I'd had a bad day that day and took his post the wrong way.

So, let's stop the snapping at each other and let it go....let it go.....let it go......oh, sorry, went into "Frozen" mode there!! LOL

[hohenwald48]

Sorry, when the OP wrote "Sorry for the questions, I'm trying to learn as much as I can." I understood the OP was looking for an education not a recommendation. My mistake.

[darsben]

hohenwald48 wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

darsben wrote:
ALL your questions are moot until you know how old the tires are.
Get the date codes then we will talk

phipps33 wrote:
Really?!? SMH

I'm well aware of replacing tires before they wear out, but I am trying to learn more about the various tire issues to look out for and your reply didn't provide any useful information.

How novel :R ... you're criticizing darsben for providing the most important information about trailer tires that you or any RV owner needs to know - the fact that it's the age of the tire (as determined by it's manufacturing date code) that's most important, not whether they've yet "worn out" or even whether they may be mismatched. Clearly you aren't as "well aware" as you think you are. :S

Are you implying that if the tires are of recent vintage it would be ok to mix bias ply tires with radial tires and that if they are old they should not be mixed? I guess I just wonder why you think the only factor that goes into the decision is the age of the tires and everything else is moot.

No what I am saying is if the tires are old the discussion is moot because they all need replacing because of age and it does not matter if some are radial or bias ply. OLD IS OLD replacement of a 6 year old or older tire would be the proper protocol. SO UNTIL THE age of the tires is known the cure is not.

[hohenwald48]

SoundGuy wrote:

darsben wrote:
ALL your questions are moot until you know how old the tires are.
Get the date codes then we will talk

phipps33 wrote:
Really?!? SMH

I'm well aware of replacing tires before they wear out, but I am trying to learn more about the various tire issues to look out for and your reply didn't provide any useful information.

How novel :R ... you're criticizing darsben for providing the most important information about trailer tires that you or any RV owner needs to know - the fact that it's the age of the tire (as determined by it's manufacturing date code) that's most important, not whether they've yet "worn out" or even whether they may be mismatched. Clearly you aren't as "well aware" as you think you are. :S

Are you implying that if the tires are of recent vintage it would be ok to mix bias ply tires with radial tires and that if they are old they should not be mixed? I guess I just wonder why you think the only factor that goes into the decision is the age of the tires and everything else is moot.

[SoundGuy]

darsben wrote:
ALL your questions are moot until you know how old the tires are.
Get the date codes then we will talk

phipps33 wrote:
Really?!? SMH

I'm well aware of replacing tires before they wear out, but I am trying to learn more about the various tire issues to look out for and your reply didn't provide any useful information.

How novel :R ... you're criticizing darsben for providing the most important information about trailer tires that you or any RV owner needs to know - the fact that it's the age of the tire (as determined by it's manufacturing date code) that's most important, not whether they've yet "worn out" or even whether they may be mismatched. Clearly you aren't as "well aware" as you think you are. :S

[wanderingbob]

In actuality we do not enuff about your usage , are you leaving on a ten thousand mile trip or ya gonna drive up to the lake and leave it parked . Do ya intend to load it heavy ? In the olde days before internet ya would have just drove it and survived very well . Now we have the weight police , the tire police , the rubber glove police , et al . If ya ain't gonna go very far or drive real fast ,I would not worry about it .

[myredracer]

hohenwald48 wrote:

myredracer wrote:
May *look* okay but you won't know how often he towed over 65 mph and/or under-inflated, hit numerous potholes and curbs, etc.

Remember, most all TT's are towed from the manufacturer to the dealer so you could say the same thing about a brand new unit picked up on the dealer lot. My tires have "Max 65PSI" printed on them and when I picked up the unit I checked them and they had 75PSI.

You are so right. If you live on the west coast, your brand new TT can have well over 2,000 miles on them and you have no idea how the driver treated them on the way out. It's not right if you ask me. It's possible it's a contributing factor to the blowouts that get reported here.

We followed a delivery guy out of Indiana in northern Ca. last month and he was doing well over 65 mph on the straights and we'd pull up to him on the curvy sections (they don't use WDHs) plus the road was pretty rough in spots. You can bet that there sole aim is to get to their destination asap in any way possible.

[hohenwald48]

myredracer wrote:
May *look* okay but you won't know how often he towed over 65 mph and/or under-inflated, hit numerous potholes and curbs, etc.

Remember, most all TT's are towed from the manufacturer to the dealer so you could say the same thing about a brand new unit picked up on the dealer lot. My tires have "Max 65PSI" printed on them and when I picked up the unit I checked them and they had 75PSI.

[myredracer]

If the owner installed a mix of tires like that, I'd say he didn't treat the tires very well. The tires could have been well-abused and ready to fail at any time. May *look* okay but you won't know how often he towed over 65 mph and/or under-inflated, hit numerous potholes and curbs, etc.

I would install a set of new for your own safety and prevention of damage.

[JIMNLIN]

The do not mix radials and bias ply goes for any tire in a steer/drive or trailer position.

However your broad statement about tires on a motorized vehicle position vs trailer position has some merit at least even though it didn't help the OP with his question about mixing bias and radial tires on his trailer.

[hohenwald48]

A lot of the tire information promulgated on this board is related to motorized vehicle tires and may or may not relate to TT tires that are not providing any drive force. It's difficult to sort fact from urban legend.

[JIMNLIN]

phipps33 wrote:
We just bought a NTU travel trailer. I noticed that 3 of the tires are radials with one being bias. Is this a problem?

A dot date code won't help your question.
Bias and radial mix ??
Here is what I've found when I was on the road.

Do not mix bias ply with a radial on a trailer that sees lots of highway use. Sure we can mix them on a old utility trailer or a lawn service trailer or a hay wagon/etc that spend most of their life rolling around town or close to home.

The biggest safety issues IMO is braking. With a bias on one end of a axle and a radial on the other the axle won't have balanced braking especially under hard braking events and on wet pavement. One brake can lock up and flat spot the tire.

Same goes for tires with different load ranges or different tread patterns and much different tire diameters.

Uniroyal says;
*If you must use radial tires with bias-ply tires on the same vehicle (not recommended), the radial tires must always be placed on the rear axle. Never mix radial and bias-ply tires on the same axle.*

A google on mixing radial and bias ply tires has days of reading.

[phipps33]

Atlee wrote:
ZIf I were you, I'd replace all four of those tires with the same size, including load range, and I'd make them radials. And among the 50 psi tires, I keep the best and youngest one for the spare.

That's the conclusion I've come to. Guess I need to hit up the fat guy in the red suit!! LOL