I travel to Canada from Kansas each summer. Of many miles /years / trips should a person push a set of Goodyear marithon trialer tires . Or do you go by tread depth? There is no weather checking on them

During the first 5 or 6 years you have them,for the most part it would be treadwear and overall condition,such as checking,sidewall condition, etc or whatever physically you may see wrong. However,AFTER 5 years, the recommendation that has come to us these days has been to consider replacing tires REGARDLESS of treadwear,mileage or physical condition.

It depends on the amount of weight carried per tire, tire pressure, alignment of the axles, alignment of the wheels on the axles, amount of braking (on trailers with brakes), and temperature at which the trailer is towed. Tires stowed in a garage will last a lot longer than tires baked in the sun.

Unless the tires are severly weathered, the tread is separating, or the sidwall is buldging, 5 years is young in my book. I personally wouldn't waste money replacing them only because of age unless they were really old, like 15+yrs.

I usually put about 2,500 miles/year on my tires and they last about 10 years or so, at which point they are looking "old" and have little tread left anyway. I've had a couple of flats, but never a blowout.

when you buy your "new" tires check the date and make sure they are freshly made and have not been sitting on the shelf for 3 years. there is a web site for decoding the date on the side of the tire and there is no point in paying for new tires if the date is from last year!

My marathons on my '98 shoreland'r are original. Tread is about 1/4 gone. Each year I test them out by going for a weeks camping trip. It's only about 150 miles away but everything is put into the boat including the kitchen sink. I probably only put about 2000 miles a year on them.

W5

I see mr walleye is waiting for a blow out on the highway at 60 miles an hour. I hope all those lives are worth the risk! good luck and to everyone around you.

Like it or not, if you run a tire over 6 years, you are pressing your luck.

I have had the misadventure to have three different tires blow - on fully loaded vehicles which all had about 80- 90% tread left, but all were over 7 years of age. There was no visible cracking or any other sign of damage - age or otherwise to any of these tires.

After each tire blew and caused considerable vehicle due to the destructive effects of an 8 foot long steel belt whipping around at 60 mph.
Not a plesant sight. Each blowout caused over $5,000 worth of damage to the vehicle.

Now, I never run any tire longer than 6 years. This is regardless of the miles, appearance or amount of tread left on the tires.

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Note:
These issues are much worse and become much more apparent when a tire is loaded to its maximum amount most of the time.

If you have a tire that is loaded only 50% or so, the chance of getting a blow out due to tire failure is much reduced - irrespective of tire age.

Just be forwarned, that just because it hasn't happened to you - it does frequently happen. i.e. having heavily loaded tires blow after 6 years of age due to tire deterioration.

Be safe.
A tire is much less expensive to replace than large $$$$$$$ for boat, trailer, or vehicle repair.

REW

p.s.
Here is a fairly concise article concerning tire replacement as a function of age:

http://www.safetyresearch.net/Library/SRS046.pdf

Take care
REW

I had 2 Marathon trailer tires fail coming back to Ohio from Mn last week They were 4 years old and my trailer is never loaded with anything but my boat. They both had belt failure within 2 hours of each other. Also inflated to 50 psi. My tire dealer said 2 years is the warranty limit from Goodyear. I have made 4 1/2 trips to Mn and only trailer to Erie twice a year so these tires have alot of tread on them. Guess I'll have to buy tires every 4 years to be on the safer side.

Gill

No need to be keeping your eyes peeled for me coming down the road. I took alanexpup's advise and bought a couple Marathons to replace my 12 year old tires.
One thing that I didn't factor into my tire age was that it is in storage at below or at sub zero temperatures for a number of months per year. I don't know if this makes any difference to the tire life.

W5

Any of you guys rotate the tires on your trailer? I have 13" tires, including the spare for a total of 3 tires. I rotate them every year. Right or wrong?

Lunker,

If you have radial tires for your trailer, that could be an issue.

Radials are always supposed to roll in the same direction, so moving the port tire to starboard will cause it to roll in the opposite direction. For a better explanation, look at your car's owner's manual regarding tire rotation.

I suppose it depends on how many miles you put on the tires, but it you are like the average fisherperson, the 5-6 year rule of thumb for replacing tires will kick in long before tread wear is an issue. :( Personally, I don't plan on rotating my trailer tires. My opinion...

Nimstug

Nope, they're not radials. I rotate them to get similar wear on all three. Otherwise, if you simply follow the 5 -6 yr rule, after that period of time, I've got two well worn tires and one never used tire (hopefully), all of which I'm replacing. That certainly doesn't make sense to me.

I guess that begs the question for the rest of you guys. If you DO follow the 5 -6 yr rule, do you indeed dispose of a never used spare because it's that old?

I replaced a 5 yo spare last year that had less than 1000 miles on it. Even when not being used, tires are exposed to sun, heat and ozone which breaks them down. Also, stored tires can actually break down faster than tires in use because flexing releases and distributes beneficial lubricants. Stationary tires dry out faster.