Tire wear

[mwilliams]

Having now nearly completed a long trip from Florida to Alaska and back while in Washington I noticed that the Goodyear G614 tires on the trailer were wearing unusually. The outer tread band was heavily worn on all four tires. I replaced the entire set in Spokane Washington and while on my return to Florida stopped by MOR/ryde to have them check the alignment of the unit.

I was very pleased that while preparing for the alignment they pulled one of the hubs on a wheel that I had some concern over. In pulling the hub they brought to my attention that the brake shoe on the rear axle brakes were quite worn. I had them replace the brake shoes on the rear axle. I am very appreciative of their attention to my safety.

When they completed the alignment they found that the toe-in was off to some degree and they now have the unit aligned properly.

In conversation with Ben Widington (service manager at MOR/ryde) he indicated that the nature of the construction of the Goodyear G tire causes them to wear on the outside edge. He said that Goodyear knows of this as an issue but tends not to be inclined to do anything about it. I am now on my second set of trailer tires and hope that I will be able to get a bit more mileage out of them than the 20,000 that the last set gave me.

I am interested in hearing what kind of experience other NH owners are having with their trailer tires.

[StmbtRubi]

Mike,

I've experienced the exact same type of wear on all six of my G614 tires. I also discovered my alignment was out of whack after one tire in particular was wearing improperly. Bottom line, after 30,000 miles of towing (nice and level, by the way, 110 psi all around, monitored closely w/ PressurePro and nowhere near overloaded on any axle), I've had to align all six wheels, and I've replaced three of my original six tires.

Not a great track record, but things seemed to have stabilized over the past 10,000 miles or so. I'm hopeful things will continue that way for a while. I feel your pain...

Rick

[mwilliams]

The pain is primarily in the pocketbook.

In an email from Jim Leigh, he has suggested that some of the issue may be on the set-up of my trailer. I have two slides - one on the street-side for the bedroom and one on the curb-side for the living room. He is suggesting that because of additional weight on the curb-side that the tires are wearing more on that side. I will be watching closely to see if this is going on.

What sort of discipline do you have for either rotating your trailer tires; and if you rotate them, what is your rotation pattern (clock-wise, Xed, front to back on the same side)? Do you regularly have your tire shop switch the mounting of your tires so that the outside is now the inside of the tire?

I'm trying to learn what others are doing that might extend the life of their tires.