www.iFourWinns.com

My trailer came with Ds and when I bought it used I replaced them with Es for the extra capacity.

I had a blowout yesterday, air pressure was right, tread and tire looked good. Tube blew and the tread seperated.

Its very hard to fins an E in my tire size, and after talking to a local trailer dealer he says its unneccesary to go up a load range and says I should stick with Ds.

I'm curious to see what others think, as going up to Es didn't save me from a blowout.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

In my experience -- the load rating is probably not the issue. I find most blowouts on radials are caused by some damage to the belt area. This is usually a result of hitting a curb or something like that, perhaps running off the edge of the road or hitting a large pothole at speed.

Assuming the trailer came with D's and that D's have the weight carrying capability, I am not sure you gain much by going to E's ---

I also find it interesting that years ago --before radials for trailers, when we were running nylon bias ply tires, that tires seemed to rot before they had blowouts and tread separations. We ran them for years and years. That is definitely not the case with todays tires.

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DaleG -- West Palm Beach FL
2003 240Horizon -- 5.7Gi -Duoprop

Are bias plys the answer?

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

Here is my take on that. I have used bais plys for years with no real problems. Radials to me is a waste on money for 2 reasons: A. Radials handel better and give you a better ride. This is a trailer not a car. B. Most trailer tires need to be over 32lbs, this will make the side wall stiff on a radial tire, giving you the ride of a bais ply.

I think that radials are more complex to make and more demanding of precise production techniques than bias ply tires. Since many trailer tires come from areas that do not practice the best quality control, a bias tire may be less trouble. I do not see a particular advantage to radial trailer tires because the main advantages of radial tires (the tread stays on the pavement better during cornering, and longer tread life) are not so important in a trailer tire. What's more important is that the sidewall does not flex (radials flex by nature to keep the tread on flat on the pavement). Bias trailer tires tend to have stiffer sidewalls. I have heard good things about Kenda's Load Star tires, I have the bias version on my old Load Rite and have not had any problems with them.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Just replaced mine last week...came with D and replaced with D.

I would say now that it has been almost 2 years since you have had the tires, maybe try some D's this time around. Nothing wrong with Bias ply tires if you can find them in the size you need.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Tire guy is recommending to stay with the 'D' only because he doesn't have the 'E' in stock. I have always found tire shops to 'push' what they have in stock.
Do your homework, know what you want, and have them order them in.

I personally upgrade load range / weight rating when I can. Current boat trailer and camp trailer have load range 'E' on them.

So you lost one tire, what was cause of blow out, tread separation? Did tire get damaged somehow prior to use and after tire warmed up, it failed. You can not blame the load range for that.

Just like when you buy a tow vehicle, you want a margin of safety, you don't want to tow at or above the GVWR or GCVWR. Same with tires, if you load them to the max or above the chance of failure is going to increase. I do know from experience on camp trailer, load range 'D's could not handle any sidewall flex created by a sharp turn, would tear the carcass and once the tire got warm going down the road, tread separation and ultimate failure.

Brand of tires, when and what factory they came from all have factors in performance as well, along with what abuse the tire sees. Do you ever drive over a curb, when backing trailer do you over flex sidewall, hit a pot hole in road, ect....


I would still recommend the heavier tire for your 268, its not a light boat and trailer only has 2 axles to share the load. You could upgrade to a tri axle trailer and then go back to a D range tire.

Currently have 5 trailers I maintain and use, have gone thru many tires. I always choose the heavier tire. I learned the hard way, but the tire shop benefits if you go with the lighter tire and have a higher failure rate.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

Is it a big problem to have 2 E's and 2 D's on a tandem trailer that calls for D's?

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2005 Horizon 250

No, just put the two D's on one axle and the two E's on the other (all else being the same). For these trailers, I'd put the E's on the rear, but it shouldn't matter.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

That's what I wNted to hear Mike.

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2005 Horizon 250

Actually I had a brain fart there. I'd put the E's on the front, since the front tires on these trailers have a harder life (at least the ones I've paid any attention to; put the E's on whichever axle drags the tires sideways in a turn). But like I said, it shouldn't matter.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

FWIW the tire shop that told me stick with D's was a local trailer shop that I didn't purchase from. Ended up getting another E.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225