Trailer tires, radial vs. bias ply

[falconbrother]

From what I can see most travel trailers come with bias ply tires. My brother switched his out for automotive radials and claims they pull better and that he has had none of the issues that he had with bias ply, like chunks of tread falling off and blowouts. Is it safe to put radial car tires on a travel trailer? What about the weight ranges, car/truck vs. travel trailer?

[GrandpaKip]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
You will have some people on this forum say if you run P's on a trailer you will kill every single man woman and child that's on the road you're on.

That's a fact! An alternative one, anyway.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

You will have some people on this forum say if you run P's on a trailer you will kill every single man woman and child that's on the road you're on.

We ran P tires on our car trailer for years. After 23 years one threw the tread off of it. It still held air though. We just put a new set on and kept on towing.

I ran bias up till a few years ago. I liked them "slightly" better than SBR for towing. Check out the difference between the side wall and you will know why I liked them better.

I don't like SBR because they tear things up when they go. Bias just goes to pieces and that is that.

That being said I do have a set of SBR on my trailer now. Bias were getting too hard to find on the road.

[Rainier]

Lwiddis wrote:
I understand from a number of sources that passenger car tires don't have the stiffness in the sidewalls to safely handle a travel trailer.

Yes! x2

[theoldwizard1]

time2roll wrote:
I would stick with ST or LT radials at time of replacement.
Get tires rated to carry the full GVWR.

CONCUR on both !

[rbpru]

In recent times I have seen Bias, Radial and Diagonal ply tires. Every maker will tout the advantages of their design.

ST tires are designed by the tire industry for Trailer use and are found on most Horse, utility and RV trailers from the factory. They are designed for straight line pull and most are limited to 65 mph. They have stiffer sidewalls.

LT tires are designed by the tire industry for light trucks, they are often rated to 75 mph and the tread varies for the type of service they are intended for, typically a blend of highway and mud and snow service. There are far more choices of tread and load ratings. People sometime prefer them for TT use because of the more rigorous testing they have to undergo; though the tire industry does not advertise them for such.

P tire are for Passenger car service and are often found on half tons and SUVs. They provide a smooth and comfortable day to day ride. It is not unusual for folks to increase the tire pressure when towing to stiffen the ride.

I use ST radials on my TT because they are supposed to have less rolling resistance.

Some of the Vintage era TTs used car tire because there as nothing else.

[Stumps]

well you asked.... so my opinion based on personal experience with both on a pop up camper-

RADIAL.

[jesseannie]

I put bias tires on my 6k weight trailer. They now have about 5000 mils on them they pull no different than the radials I had on it. The test will come when I see if they have the sidewall cracking issue I had on the radials.
Jesseannie

[ScottG]

I haven't seen a bias ply tire on any trailer since the 80's.
And there sure haven't been any of them at the RV shows.
But I can tell you from towing with both that the radials have a lot more stick, especially in the wet.

[Terryallan]

falconbrother wrote:
From what I can see most travel trailers come with bias ply tires. My brother switched his out for automotive radials and claims they pull better and that he has had none of the issues that he had with bias ply, like chunks of tread falling off and blowouts. Is it safe to put radial car tires on a travel trailer? What about the weight ranges, car/truck vs. travel trailer?

What brand are you looking at. I haven't seen anything but radials on any of the trailer we have loked at in the past 14 years. From Jayco to Coachmen.

but the tires still blow after 4 or 5 years. So far for me. 3 1/2 years is all I'm getting out of radial TT tires, and I take very good care of them.

[falconbrother]

https://rvingwithmarkpolk.com/2012/11/08/trailer-towing-st-tires-vs-lt-tires/

Learned some things here..

[JIMNLIN]

P or LT or ST tires work fine on trailers when properly fitted to the trailers axle weight requirements.
....Many trailers (rv and non rv) come with P tires.
....Not many bias ply tires are made anymore as most trailers come with radials.
.... P tires aren't speed restricted like ST tires.
Hell before the tire industry gave us the infamous ST tire all we had were passenger tires on lighter trailers and light truck tires on our heavier trailers.

P tires (44-51 psi) on trailers with 3k-3.5k axles work great. Years back our passenger car tires had a 32 psi max pressure which wasn't enough pressure to hold the tires seated to the wheel on a heavier trailer. Tubeless tires would pop the beads with 100 percent air loss resulting in the tires coming off the wheel as the trailer was pulled around a corner or backing maneuvers.

Tell your bro this from fed regs regarding using a P tire on a trailer;

fed regs wrote:
per 49 CFR FMVSS safety regs 571.110

S4.2.2.2 When passenger car tires are installed on an MPV, truck, bus, or trailer, each tire's load rating is reduced by dividing it by 1.10 before determining, under S4.2.2.1, the sum of the maximum load ratings of the tires fitted to an axle.

Example; the P tire may have a 2201 lb capacity.....divide by 1.1.....the P tires actual capacity is now 2000 lbs.

If using a P tire on a lightweight trailer I would select a P tire with 10-15 percent reserve capacity above the trailers axle rating.

Heavier trailer above say 7k I would use a ST or LT tire.

[bob213]

Automotive radials (P rated) are not a good choice for a travel trailer. They don't have the side wall strength of an ST tire. Once you get into the 16" rim size LT tires with the correct weight capacities are a good choice. There are commercial 14" tires like the Hankook Radial RA08 that are not ST tires but will will fine with a higher LR than an ST tire. The Maxxis Bravo series is a non ST radial that would work. Finally, Goodyear's new Endurance ST tire is sounding pretty good.

[coolbreeze01]

Bought a new Kit Companion in 1995. It came with made in the USA Goodyear Marathon radials. Original tires were still on it when we sold it in 2002.

[Lwiddis]

I understand from a number of sources that passenger car tires don't have the stiffness in the sidewalls to safely handle a travel trailer.

[time2roll]

I would stick with ST or LT radials at time of replacement.
Get tires rated to carry the full GVWR.