Opinions?

My son bought new take off tires/rims from a Suburban for his 92 Yukon. I had a brainstorm of using his old cast aluminum rims on my car trailer. I figured same bolt pattern, why not? I was discussing the idea with a friend, kinda wondering out loud what a tire store would charge to dismount 8 tires, mount and then balance, he kinda looked at me like I was crazy. He asked “why would you balance trailer tires”? My thinking: why not??

If the tire/wheel is out of balance, they will shake. If the tire shades, it’s going to shake the trailer, which is on the truck, possibly causing a vibration.

Is my thinking flawed? Waste of time/money?? Am I crazy??

 

No, money well spent. I looked into buying an enclosed trailer once, and the salesman said the first thing you need to do is go balance the tires. The trailer factory doesn't balance them. And if I were a betting man, I'd say that's part of the problem of trailer tires in general failing after a short amount of time.

I didn't buy that trailer, but since then I always have trailer tires balanced. It is a noticeable improvement.

 

balance them!

 

i have always balanced them, every time they tell me i don't have to, every time i tell them i've never had a trailer tire failure, i'm not starting now. i tow an 8k lbs boat. money well spent for peace of mind.

 

Sounds as your friend is expressing his frugal nature.

 

An out of balance tire at highway speeds is an out of balanced tire.

 

I’m glad I’m not in the minority. I had planned to balance them regardless of the results, just kinda curious if there was a good reason not to.

 

I've never balanced a trailer tire. But they may need it, just as likely as car tires. I used to buy and sell older used cars. Many tire places would advertise free mounting, but balancing was $6.00 each or so, (back in early 80's). Well that $24.00 was a lot, when the tires were only $25.00 each or so. So I tried having them mount the tires without balance. Guess what? No shimmy, shake, etc. After trying that I never did get those cheap new tires balanced. Did probably 8- 10 cars that way.. Point being, I think most new tires are pretty close. I think if a tire is out of balance enough to shake, it's probably bad, out of round, or has a shifted belt, etc. Your results may vary....

 

As others have said, balance them.
Before you mount them however, you may want to physically verify the wheels will fit the trailer hub. Bolt pattern may be the same, but trailers generally have a larger center hub and some aluminum wheels made for automotive applications won't fit. It would suck to pay to have the tires flopped and balanced just to find out the won't fit.

 

Must help bearing life being balanced. Trailer wheels are often lug-centric vs. hub-centric. Be certain to use tapered lug nuts and check them regularly for tightness/torque. This comes from a few years of towing a travel trailer with factory aluminum wheels, the lugs do get loose periodically.

Good luck!!!

 

I just sprung for the Goodyear Endurance tires for my enclosed trailer and I had them balanced. I noticed the difference driving out of the tire shop's lot and down the street! I bought my 20' enclosed trailer and picked it up directly from the manufacturer spring 2021. They give you the cheapest, CHEAPEST junk Chinese tires unbalanced they can get. One lost air on the trip from Douglas, GA to my SC house. Had 2 more flats en route to CT over the last year. And over the winter in SC, when I came to inspect the trailer this past March, yet another flat. Enough.

I went with the Goodyears, had them balanced and I sure hope I have better luck. They are E load rated (2860 pounds) rather than the D load rated (2420 pounds) that were originally on it so that's a plus right there.

Time will tell, but I believe I made the right move in balancing the trailer tires, I'd think it would be a plus.

 

My utility trailer actually runs purple SSIIIs, and I had the tires balanced when they were mounted.

 

CAUTION !!!!

I swapped some aluminum wheels from one trailer to another. The receiving trailer previously had steel wheels and the wheel studs were barely long enough to get 3 threads on the nuts. I was in a rush & didn't pay attention.

A friend borrowed the trailer and all 5 lug nuts came off and the wheel/tire with them.

I ended up replacing all the wheel studs with longer ones.

 

Dis right here^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

At some point you gotta post a picture of those.

 

 

Nice.

I have a bunch of 14 and 15 inch SSIII wheels lollygagging behind the garage but I would have to replace the axle on the trailer to get the right bolt pattern for them.