18” wheels on RZX trailer

[Zackdogg]

Just out of curiosity, how many trailers are running 18” wheels? I had a steel belt separate last weekend, tire expanded in diameter, and jacked the paint on my fender.

Tire shop tell me it’s dumb to run an 18” on a trailer with a 255/55/18 as you can’t get a trailer or even 10ply auto tire for it. Highest weight rating that we could find was 2271lbs per tire, which is cutting it a little close, if you ask me. Mine came with 18s, my buddy’s G23 cane with a triple axle on 18s which will at least carry the weight.

Anyone seen that size tire with a better weight rating? Is running 18s common? There must be a bunch of people that would rather look “cool” than run the right tire, unless there’s rubber out there that I’m not seeing..


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[Surf406]

I’ve always ran 18s on every boat I’ve owned, my current boat is a tandem axle 2017 RZX2 and I have 1100 in lead in it and pull it all the time and have never had issues. Personally I don’t listen to the tire shops since boat trailers and boats are in a class of there own. Give boatmate a call and chat them up and they will more than likely be able to tell you if they have had issues in the past.

[bsreid]

I have 16s on mine and it seems just fine.

I have noticed that the 18s are coming with Togo tires, maybe they’re a little different.

[Zackdogg]

If I have another problem with my 18s, I’ll be switching to 16s, which is what my local tire shop recommended, and which sounds like would have been the right move by, I guess BoatMate, or whoever made the bad call to put 18s on these.


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[Zackdogg]

Had yet another tire fail on this thing. I’m done with 18s.. 3rd one this summer.. the steel belts are failing because of weight. I thought the first one might have been because I was towing it a little low on the hitch, and the front tires were carrying more weight than the rear. Trailer sits perfectly level on the hitch now. The lack of weight rating for available tires is the only possible scenario at this point. I’m switching to 16s and 10 ply tires, with a 3085# rating instead of the 2271# that I get with the 18s.. I’m over dealing with these things just to look cool!


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[NICKYPOO]

I’m over dealing with these things just to look cool!

Awwwe. You’re growing up so fast. Soon you’ll have an FAE and you can get rid of your tower speakers just like a big boy! Maybe then you can try the slalom ski.

That sucks man. I’ve had two sets of Carlisle tires on my trailer and every single one failed. Since switching to Goodyear I haven’t had one single tire failure.

[UNSTUCK]

How old were your tires? Dry rot starts from the inside out, so if you start seeing cracks on the outside of your tires you're asking for trouble because the inside is already toast.

[Zackdogg]

Awwwe. You’re growing up so fast. Soon you’ll have an FAE and you can get rid of your tower speakers just like a big boy! Maybe then you can try the slalom ski.

That sucks man. I’ve had two sets of Carlisle tires on my trailer and every single one failed. Since switching to Goodyear I haven’t had one single tire failure.

Hahhahahhahaha!!! We might be splitting that one!! I’ll get the FAE, but the tower speakers aren’t going anywhere!!! I’ve spent hours trying to single, and just leave with hands that I can’t open anymore, that one is bodyweight and/or lack of balance!!!

I’ve been watching them, just because I don’t trust them, so we caught it before we even left the house, luckily. I won’t have to even think about it, with the 10ply, at least.


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[Zackdogg]

How old were your tires? Dry rot starts from the inside out, so if you start seeing cracks on the outside of your tires you're asking for trouble because the inside is already toast.

2 years at most. Last guy stored the boat inside, and it’s well protected where we keep it. The rubber has been fine, it’s the steel belts failing, which my tire place is telling me is either low pressure, or over weight. I’m anal as hell about checking pressures. I can’t say the moron I bought the boat from didn’t run them under pressure, and damage them, or anything, for sure, but visually they’re fine, and I know they’ve been kept at proper pressure since I had it.

The highest weight rating I can find in those 18s is 2271# x 4 is 9080# total weight. Our boats with fluids, lead, and all our other junk are 6500-7000# + 1500# for a trailer.. So we’re only a few hundred pounds from what the tires are rated for. That’s too close, for me when hitting bumps and potholes, and I think the failures are proving that, at least in my mind.


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[bsreid]

I find that very strange you’ve had so many problems with the 18s. This gets me thinking how heavy he your boat? Your trailer can’t handle it and your 440 can’t push it. Maybe there is something else going on.

What brand are you running? Most of the new ones I’ve seen have been toyo.

[freeheel4life]

I find that very strange you’ve had so many problems with the 18s. This gets me thinking how heavy he your boat? Your trailer can’t handle it and your 440 can’t push it. Maybe there is something else going on.

What brand are you running? Most of the new ones I’ve seen have been toyo.

That's an interesting point. Maybe it's time for a trip to the ol CAT scale and get a real #. I always do a reweigh without the trailer so I can calculate tongue weight. It's a whole $13.50 when I do 2 weighs at our local TA.

[UNSTUCK]

FYI, My RZX3 on a double axle trailer comes in at 8600 pounds fully loaded for a day on the water. That is the boat sitting on the scale by itself. That weight is spread between the four tires and the trailer jack. My boat's axle weight when hooked up to my truck is 7900 pounds. That's the weight of the boat minus the tongue weight that the truck is supporting. So assuming my four tires are sharing the load evenly, that puts 1975 per tire. That is close to the max, but not the max. And even if it was, that would be ok.

The really scary part, for me is the 8000ish GVW of this trailer.


One other thing to think about as well is the actual age of the tires. Not just when they were purchased. There is a date stamp on every tire. After 6 years every tire should be scrapped no matter what. I thought I scored a set of 18's for $50 each and free shipping. When they arrived I saw the date code put them at over 6 years old. They looked no different than "brand new tires", as they were brand new tires. I was not happy, but should have known better.

[Zackdogg]

I find that very strange you’ve had so many problems with the 18s. This gets me thinking how heavy he your boat? Your trailer can’t handle it and your 440 can’t push it. Maybe there is something else going on.

What brand are you running? Most of the new ones I’ve seen have been toyo.

I’m assuming the same weight as all the others, a little under 6k, but I’m only basing that off specs.. I guess it’s worth looking at, but I have no clue what could be that much heavier.

Could be part of the problem, the are a Nexen, which I had never heard of until I had a set. They all match and the boat is only a couple of years old, so my assumption is that Boatmate put them on, which also made me assume they were decent enough. I’ll happily admit that I could be making too many assumptions.


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[Zackdogg]

That's an interesting point. Maybe it's time for a trip to the ol CAT scale and get a real #. I always do a reweigh without the trailer so I can calculate tongue weight. It's a whole $13.50 when I do 2 weighs at our local TA.

I’ll do that... I don’t know how it could be much different from others, but maybe there’s something to be found out..


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[Zackdogg]

FYI, My RZX3 on a double axle trailer comes in at 8600 pounds fully loaded for a day on the water. That is the boat sitting on the scale by itself. That weight is spread between the four tires and the trailer jack. My boat's axle weight when hooked up to my truck is 7900 pounds. That's the weight of the boat minus the tongue weight that the truck is supporting. So assuming my four tires are sharing the load evenly, that puts 1975 per tire. That is close to the max, but not the max. And even if it was, that would be ok.

The really scary part, for me is the 8000ish GVW of this trailer.


One other thing to think about as well is the actual age of the tires. Not just when they were purchased. There is a date stamp on every tire. After 6 years every tire should be scrapped no matter what. I thought I scored a set of 18's for $50 each and free shipping. When they arrived I saw the date code put them at over 6 years old. They looked no different than "brand new tires", as they were brand new tires. I was not happy, but should have known better.

That’s pretty close to what I had off the top of my head.. not sure what you have for lead, but I’m dragging 700lbs of that around in there, too..

I agree, the tires shouldn’t be an issue if they’re even a pound under the weight they’re rated for, but not sure if the number on the side of the tire is 100% accurate. Guessing that 1015 is the date stamp?? So that’s less than 3 years old..

I am surprised to hear I’m the only one having problems with these.. after 3 tires in 4 months, I was sure I’d hear from someone else with similar problems..

Thinking about my use of these tires, I do back the trailer up a curb every time I put it in our backyard. I wonder if that’s responsible for breaking the belts down, in some way..




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