Trailer tire wear question

[DDavisIAMT]

This isn't a RV, but I figured maybe someone could give some insight into the wear I am seeing on these tires.

The wear is the oddest I have ever seen and I was a auto technician for about 7 years as well as a marine mechanic, so I've seen every type of tire wear. From under/over inflated, etc. This one, I cannot figure out.

The wear is choppy with the lead portion of the tread sticking up with the trailing end worn flat. It's like a sawtooth. This is seen equally on both tires. It's about 1/3 out from the center of the tire, both inner and outer of each tire.

The only thing I can come up with is the trailer is way under weight for it's rating. The boat is much too small for the trailer, but I wouldn't think this would be an issue. I also question the tires as they are cheepo brand tires that came with the rims. I would think the trailer axle is out of alignment but I didn't see this with my previous tires. I have probably 10,000 miles on these tires, so they are well used, but this wear is just odd.

[_tiredTeacher]

majorgator wrote:
The recommendations on here are good, but make sure that you heed them on your NEXT set of tires. Your current ones are toast, damage is done, and they even look a bit dry-rotted.

X2

[majorgator]

The recommendations on here are good, but make sure that you heed them on your NEXT set of tires. Your current ones are toast, damage is done, and they even look a bit dry-rotted.

[BubbaChris]

How old are the tires?

If they're more than 5 years old, that could make any other issue worse

[usmohls2]

'tiredTeacher wrote:
Balance the tires.

2x

[DDavisIAMT]

Ok, I may look into the trailer alignment as well as tire balance. Thanks!

[dbbls]

I have seen this type of wear often. Cause is misalignment.

[_tiredTeacher]

Balance the tires.

[RoyB]

I also experienced excessive tire wear on one side of my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer. It turned out to be the wheel alignment weights were bounced off on this tire only. I had the tires replaced and balanced again and haven't seen any funny wear since... I also inspected the shocks on the trailer as well but they seemed to be just fine. My shocks however are installed at very large angle which concerns me about how well they are performing. I have plans to re-position the shocks to be more vertical. My trailer weighs in around 4200 lbs when loaded for trips...

Similar to this google photo


If I had lots of money I would install something like this Australia Kimberly design for independent wheel suspension.


Roy Ken

[Old-Biscuit]

Heel-Toe condition

Lack of tire rotation and misalignment common causes

[westend]

From your other thread about the axle rating, I see that you have a fairly stiff spring set. It nay be that there is some inherent camber with the heavy springs and the way the trailer is used. These type of oddities do crop up and it's almost always nothing a guy can put his finger on. Back in the '70s with Ford's Twin I beam, these types of wear patterns were prevalent. I bet if you start using the boat trailer as a utility trailer and the weight is carried differently, with a new set of tires, the wear pattern will change.