I've got a 20' gooseneck at work that stays on the road, loaded with a bobcat E32 trackhoe. We bought the trailer new in January and, to nobody's surprise, ate through the cheap factory tires pretty quick. I'd say about 8-10k miles and they were slick. We went to the local shop and ponied up for their "best trailer tire" which I don't even recall the brand. As best I can tell, we've put about 30k on these tires and had the first casualty today, the rest won't be far behind.

I've never had to buy trailer tires to hold up to mileage, it's always been time. I would put a good set of tires on the camper and horse trailer and never stacked up enough miles to be concerned with tread or wear, only rot. Everything I read online says a trailer tire should last 5-12k miles, which would be every other month easily. They aren't warranted by mileage, only age and tread depth.

What are your experiences with trailer tire mileage, and what are the recommended tires for a trailer that stays on the road vs one that stays parked?

 

What wheels are on it? For a trailer that is on the road all the time I would be running 17.5 or 19.5 wheels/tires.

 

I used to run through crappy tires every year. 1 set, 15-20k miles. Paid about $95 a tire, mounted. Did this for about 7 years. Finally, last year I went to my tire guy and said, 'Mike, I'm buying 4 of these dang things every year. Can I get something that's gonna last longer?' Sure he says. I've been selling you Bias tires. I'll sell you radials. They'll cost you more though. $5 a piece more. I couldn't believe it. I'm on season 2 with these now, about 25-30k miles and they look like another year left on them. We're only running at about 6k loaded though. I'd say you're probably right on track with 30k.

 

I'll never buy another "trailer" tire again. I switched to light truck tires years ago and have never looked back. I was like most and replace mine because of age but at best I was getting 3 maybe 4 years out of trailer tires. I'm on my second set of LT tires with 5-6 years per set maybe 10-15K miles.

It depends on your wheel size but I'd look into truck tires. Some shops won't install truck tires on a trailer but I just takes the wheels off and bring them to them in the back of my truck and they'll usually do it.

 

At my last job I pulled many trailers. We ran firestone trans force E rated truck tires on everything. Never had and issues.
I did not keep track of mileages, but I was there for a few years & the only ones I remembered replacing were a couple blowouts from road hazzards.

Personally I prefer BFG commercial TA's, but the firestones did a great job.

 

Goodyear G614. Best tire I've ever used hands down.

 

+1 on Goodyear. I have a 20' enclosed hauler and it seemed like I was having a blowout at least once a year. I finally broke down and put two of the more expensive Goodyears on per recommendation. They are now on season 2 and I have two spares just waiting for the two other cheaper tires to blow out. Carlislses are junk in my experience.

I'm liking the sound of the Light Truck tire option too....may have to consider that next time I need to mount up the spares.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. The tires are load boss 14 ply 235/85-16s. I called several tire shops and even a few trailer shops, and everybody I talked to said 30k was pretty good for a trailer tire. Most stated that 12-15k is normal, 40 is usually the max, but it all depends on the load.

 

Single tandems? Are you doing a lot of tight turns on concrete? Got the brakes adjusted too high? What tire pressure are you running? Are they evenly bald, or is there any indication an axle may be off track or bent?

I don't think 30k is terrible for trailer tires due to the fact they take quite a bit of abuse in tight turns, and even not so tight turn.

The specs on that track hoe look like it only weights 7k - 8k. Any reason you're running load range G tires instead of just E? Load range G tires don't have near as much sidewall flex, and if you're running them up around 100 psi, you might enjoy the softer ride of an E rated tire.

 

Singe tire tandem with 7k axles. The machine is about 7k, then add another couple grand for attachments, tool boxes, hand tools, supplies, etc... We do a lot of driving through the oil and gas fields throughout the country. Oilfield lease roads are hard on softer tires, so we went straight to 14 ply after a couple dozen patches and plugs in the stock tires.

A couple wore a little uneven, but I wouldn't say too bad. The inside was bald, with maybe a 1/32 to 2/32 left on the outside. I've been considering 10-ply this round to see if they last any longer. Also planning on finding some with more tread. I found some with 15/32 depth...