What tire wears most?

[Ron in BC]

OK, finished my under the tongue spare tire holder. Time to put the spare there permanently.

My trailer spare is brand new, never used, and the other tires have quite a few miles on them so it makes sense to rotate the new tire onto the trailer and use the most worn one as the spare.

It's been rainy and wet and I haven't yet measured tread depth to see if any one tire is more worn than the others.

So I'm thinking, and that's always my downfall , that there might be a pattern to which tire wears the most.

I'm thinking that when you turn right at intersections the turn radius is much less than that when making left turns. Therefore maybe the passenger side tires scuff and wear more.

I'm also thinking that the front PS tire might follow the truck more and the rear scuff the most.

So I'm predicting that my rear PS side tire is going to show the most wear. Or maybe the higher number of highway miles completely obliterates the relatively small amount of wear due to driving in city traffic.

Anyone seen any evidence to support this theory?

Ron

[75thRanger]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

OK, finished my under the tongue spare tire holder. Time to put the spare there permanently.

My trailer spare is brand new, never used, and the other tires have quite a few miles on them so it makes sense to rotate the new tire onto the trailer and use the most worn one as the spare.

It's been rainy and wet and I haven't yet measured tread depth to see if any one tire is more worn than the others.

So I'm thinking, and that's always my downfall , that there might be a pattern to which tire wears the most.

I'm thinking that when you turn right at intersections the turn radius is much less than that when making left turns. Therefore maybe the passenger side tires scuff and wear more.

I'm also thinking that the front PS tire might follow the truck more and the rear scuff the most.

So I'm predicting that my rear PS side tire is going to show the most wear. Or maybe the higher number of highway miles completely obliterates the relatively small amount of wear due to driving in city traffic.

Anyone seen any evidence to support this theory?

Ron

If your theory is correct, how will you act on it? (or not). Rotate more often, maybe?

[John in Santa Cruz]

i've never worn a trailer tire out, they've always aged out before they wear out.

[padlin]

I replaced mine at about 30k, they all looked evenly worn. I had rotated them once during that period.

[Ian and Sue]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

i've never worn a trailer tire out, they've always aged out before they wear out.

Aren't you retired? You need to travel more!

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

My trailer spare is brand new, never used, and the other tires have quite a few miles on them so it makes sense to rotate the new tire onto the trailer and use the most worn one as the spare.

I doubt there are many people who actually wear trailer tires out. I doubt there is much use in trying to rotate them.


You really should be replacing tires every 5-ish years, and it's pretty hard to wear out a trailer tire that fast.

[HABBERDABBER]

This Fall I was about to leave after visiting friends and did my walk around. I noticed I had a flat forward tire, door side. When removing, I noticed a lot of wear on the outer edge of the tire. The others probably have 15K on them and looked normal. I don't know if this is an axle misdalignment or extra wear from turns.
I didn't bother with patching that tire and simply replaced it with another Carlisle.

[glsails]

On our last trailer (a '98 A/S Safari), I was always careful to check tire pressures and tread but the trailer design (Airstream wheel wells are low and cover the top 25% of the wheels) makes it hard to see the insides of the tires. My daughter and I had taken a trip to the Oregon coast and I noticed something weird on the inside of one of the tires as I was setting up the trailer to camp. Turned out that we likely had a bent axle (maybe both axles) and the very insides of two of the tires had worn all the way down to the steel cords while the outsides of the tires looked almost new. What I had noticed was the steel cords starting to unravel on the insides of the tires. Fortunately, we were in the campground, if I'd towed another 50 to 100 miles, we would likely have had a catastrophic tire failure or two. Anyway, my point is that seriously uneven tire wear can mean you have axle alignment issues and that uneven wear sometimes can get overlooked unless you are careful to check tires all the way across the tread, edge to edge. Our Escape is in the build process so I don't know what it is like checking tires, but it looks a lot easier than on an Airstream due to the wheel well design. Good luck, and may your wear be even!

[Eggscape]

Your theory will be correct Ron depending on how many very sharp turns you have had to make. As for front or back...since the front tire has the extra weight to tow correctly it should as you say be planted and the rear slides on the pavement. However the extra weight on the front tire might mean it has the power to shave off the most rubber as the other 3 grip the road latterly.

Not on our Escape, but on the cargo trailer the 4 bias ply tires would show high wear after very few miles. Replaced them once with bias ply again and they went just as fast. Said nuts to that and bought some radial tires and all has been good.

[escape artist]

Hi: Ron in BC... I'm sad to say It's the spare tire around my middle!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[C&G in FL]

I replaced mine at 35,000 miles because they were 5 years old and I wanted fresh rubber. I never rotated the originals and as Bob previously stated, they were all evenly worn, but with plenty of tread left.

[Ron in BC]

Alas, I was wrong, and not for the first time I might add. Shocking but true.

Turns out the driver's side rear had a measurable difference less tread than the other 3. So much for my theory. So it's my "new" spare tire.

Overall I'm not impressed with the tread depth right from the start. Seems like a different brand of tire than my 19 had and less tread to start with. Might be wrong.

Can't help but notice my truck's LT tires, at 25,000 miles, have at least a third more tread depth than the unused spare had. I'm thinking that I'll go with LT tires, I was going to say in the next year or two, but given the current situation maybe they'll just age out in place.

Ron

[Eggscape]

Next time you are out and about with your trailer, check that drum temperature to see if it is hotter than the rest. Maybe the brakes are making that tire work harder than the rest.