One bald tire

[Charli]

Just finished removing my tires to give the axles a couple squirts of grease. Noticed that one of the tires has significantly more wear than the other 3 tires. It is bald on the inside with gradually increasing tread as you go towards the outside of the tire, although even the outside of the tire has more wear than the other 3 tires. All the other tires have lots of tread left and are worn evenly.
So do I have one bad tire or is it more significant, like a bent axle. If a bent axle I would have expected to other tire on the same axle to have wear problems as well.
Thanks

[Festus2]

Charli -
If you have uneven tire wear on one side it could mean a loss of camber or overloading and you should have your alignment checked.

[KenBob]

If you run your hand across the worn tire side to side, is it smooth both ways or smoth one way and "grabs" your hand the other. If it grabs, likely a toe problem. It is possible that there is a bent part. There has been some debate that excessive weight over a tire can cause irregular wear. Have the suspension and alignment checked. You may be able to measure at different points to check relative alignment.

[chuck&gail]

You might weigh your tires seperately. Current and last TT both had one tire with 20% different weight on it with normal TT loading. Both cases the tire under the fridge. So maybe that tire IS overloaded.

[Charli]

Got the trailer in yesterday for an alignment and discovered 3 of 4 wheels were misaligned. The tire that was showing the excessive wear was out the most but decided to have them all corrected. They found some play in some of wheels so he tightened them up as well. Also replaced 4 of the bushings and one of the bolts in the shackles. Also replaced the tire with a brand I'm not familiar with, Carlisle, but the tire shop said they were a quality tire, more so than the TowMax I was replacing. All in it cost $1000. but at least everything is straight and tight. Hope it stays that way for awhile.
The more I experience and read on these forums the more I question the quality sacrifice made in the newer trailers to keep the price and weight down. We are currently looking at selling our trailer and getting something bit bigger. Will need to do more research on brands with quality construction and not just the decor and floor plan. Can't expect any help from the salesmen cause they don't know much more than I do.

[chris199]

Had one bad tire also. Inside tread worn much worse than rest of tire. Driver rear tire on TT. Dealer ssid camber ok. Only choice they provided..."replace the beam" for $475. Assuming that means the axle.

[JRTJH]

Chris,

I think you've got Dexter axles under your trailer. If so, I believe they are warrantied for 3 years by Dexter. You might want to do some checking, possibly can save yourself the cost of a nice week's vacation (including fuel) LOL

Good Luck

[chris199]

Just checked the Dexter site....they mention a 2 yr or 24,000 mi warranty.

Is just replacing the one tire when it starts showing signs of wear an option?

$500 for a new axle can cover several one tire purchases. Thinking routine would be
Buy 4 tires...replace one at 18 mo. At 36 to 48 months buy 4 tires..replace one at 18 months, etc.

Also...Dealer said there really is no alignment process. The axle is either properly mounted and camber ok or not.

Found this article. Might be of interest. Im going to try a nearby Hale's service center.
http://www.thisoldcampsite.com/This_old_campsite5/Trailer_Wheel_And_Axle_Alignmen.html

[JRTJH]

Chris,

That article is interesting. As long as they don't apply heat to the tube to "bend it into alignment" it sounds like a great alternative to a new axle.

I've been somewhat concerned with this new alignment system that Keystone is putting on their new trailers. It sounds good when you first think about it, but it is limited to moving the complete axle. Essentially, if one tire is out of alignment, to do any correction, you'd have to move the entire axle, throwing the other end of the axle out of alignment as well. Maybe "halving" the difference would make both tires wear equally and each would wear only half as fast, but it's not a true 'wheel alignment" rather a "best of the worst' kind of correct one/throw one out routine.

I wouldn't continue to pull the trailer with a known tire wear problem. The wear is the "visible part" of the issue, but the side stresses and what they are doing to the tire carcass that you don't see could easily cause the tire to "self destruct" causing some pretty significant trailer damage. Best to take care of it rather than cover it up or "make do".

Alignment, if you can locate a place to do it for you, would be a great alternative.

[slow]

Got the trailer in yesterday for an alignment and discovered 3 of 4 wheels were misaligned. .......................

Hi Charli,

Which shop in Winnipeg did the work for you? Would you recommend them?

[tirnanah]

You might weigh your tires seperately. Current and last TT both had one tire with 20% different weight on it with normal TT loading. Both cases the tire under the fridge. So maybe that tire IS overloaded.

How did you weigh just one tire?? I'm in Alaska, and finding a way to properly scale my trailer is basically impossible, so would be very interested in something that is able to weigh each tire then just add everything up...

My outback is also having this problem where 1 tire is worn a lot more then any of the others, and thinking about it, it is the tire right below the fridge... Had it in the shop this fall before the snow and ice came, but they couldn't get to it with all of the winterization going on, so it's going back in the spring...

Thanks,
Doug

[Charli]

Can't remember the name of the place but it's at the corner of King and Henry (currently in Az for the winter or could look it up in my records). Worst part was trying to back my trailer into their lot across 3 lanes of traffic. I had the work done in summer of '13 and sold the trailer in spring of '14. Never had a problem with towing (like shimmying, always towed great) so only way to tell if the problems was solved would be wear on the tires and sold it too quick to know.