Recommended Trailer Tires for Car Carrier

Question:

It has 2 axles which are 3500 pounds per axle. It is a 16 ft car trailer. On the side, the trailer says a gross weight of 7000 pounds but the registration says 8000 pounds. It"s a 5-lug x 5 inch center. I am not sure what the GVWR is? I am just learning about this. Thanks ps. I hope I have given you some information that helps. I had ordered some tires but they were 5-lug x 4.5 inch. I returned them and just want to get the correct ones this time. I don't want to pay FS $20 a tire to change rims either.....so I need some good ones for my trailer that will not blow first time used. :)

asked by: Patricia A

Expert Reply:

You definitely do not want passenger car tires on your car carrier and the proper tires will have a combined load rating that exceeds the GVWR of your 2002 Betterbuilt, which seems to be 8,500 lbs.

The wheels will need to have the same bolt pattern as your hub, which I believe you said had a 5 on 5" bolt pattern? If you are unsure please take a look at the help article I've added which explains how to determine your bolt pattern.

If you could let me know your trailer's GVWR, your hub's bolt pattern and how many axles you have I can make more specific recommendations for you.

expert reply by: Kyle S

Patti

8/1/2018

Kyle S.

8/1/2018

Thanks so much for that additional info, it was very helpful. Since you know that you have a tandem axle trailer with 3,500 lb axles we can use that to get you the properly rated wheels and tires. You were correct that ST205/75R15 tires will work well and I recommend the Contender ST205/75R15 Radial Trailer Tire # C20515C, which will fit your rims so long as they are 15" in diameter, which since you said you had 215/70R15 passenger tires, I believe you do. These are load range C tires that have a maximum capacity of 1,820 lbs at 50 psi. You are always going to want to inflate the tire to the maximum psi to give you the best performance, allowing the tire to wear more slowly and give you optimum gas mileage.