New Tires

[arcamedies]

Just a note to everyone. Even though having new tires installed (towmasters) I took the trailer immediately out for a 10 mile spin and had my brother drive while I parked myself in the trailer (not usually recommended). We found that a new tire was out of round, merrily hopping down the road. We returned to the Goodyear dealer and he spun them up on the trailer and saw the lumpy tire that eventually would have caused premature wear, a blow out, or trailer damage. An old instructor told me once, just because somethings new doesn't mean it's perfect, if they were, tires wouldn't need to be balanced.

[Minno]

Did you have the tires balanced before you put them on the trailer? On one of those fancy computerized spinning balancing machines (whatever they're called)? I would think the person doing that would notice an out of round tire before it ever got on a vehicle, wouldn't they?

[ROBERT CROSS]

They should have....but most modern balancers have a shroud that covers the tire while spinning.

Though it doesn't take much to spin it by hand without the cover, to make sure it's not square.

[arcamedies]

The fella was not a rocket scientist, the tire took 9 ozs split inside and out and had a small weight opposite the large weight that should have told him something was wrong but he felt oh well the machine zero'd out and he didn't have another tire to put on.... GAHHHHH

[ROBERT CROSS]

Are they going to replace the defective tire?

[Ahzmyrah]

Where did you buy the tires? I used to be a tire dealer. The biggest weight I ever had for use on the machines was a 1 1/2 oz. for automotive size applications. If it needs anymore than that there is either something wrong with the tire or the rim or both. Bought a brand new Porche 911 Cabrio once that was delivered with 2 1/2 oz. on the outside of one of the front rims and refused the car until they fixed the tire. To much weight is a sure tip off that something isn't right.

[ZoomZoom]

A technical advisor from Dexstar told me once that you cannot balance a trailer wheel with a conventional spin balancer as they rely on a cone through the center of the wheel, the center may not be true, in most cases it's not, if it's going to be spun it needs to be mounted on the studs or a manual balancer like the old Snap-On. The out of round on the trailer though would indicate a bad tire.
Greg

[ROBERT CROSS]

Don't think that's true, the Hunter Road Force uses a cone mount system.

GSP9700 Road Force Measurement System

Had ours done at work before installing the Centramatics.

[arcamedies]

Went back since dealer said they got 4 new tires in to make sure they could fix the one that was out so bad (I found that odd). Mechanic said oh look your wheel has a wiggle on the outside musta been hit. When I looked, it wiggled on both the inside and outside so I readjusted the wheel on the machine itself and cured the wheel magically (boy I'm good). Found out that the wrong size came in (205's) and said the heck with it put 4 new tires from another brand on. Marathons still not available yet, so they said.
Now with the magic wheel and 4 new Carlisles the trailer rolls merrily along very smoothly as it should.