Should Light Truck or Trailer Tires be Used on a Boat Trailer

Question:

Im hauling a boat where boat and trailer weigh 3500 pounds. A friend told me to buy truck tires instead of trailer tires. Im looking at 5- ST 205/75 D14. p I will be doing two long range trips per year so radial seems to be better based on your QandA. Should I stick with trailer tires? Do you give discount for purchase of 5? Thanks

asked by: Captain S

Helpful Expert Reply:

You definitely want to stick with trailer tires on your boat trailer. Light truck tires are a type of passenger vehicle tire and as such they are not built with as thick of a sidewall as trailer tires. A thicker sidewall allows a trailer tire to handle more vertical load. I recommend going with ST trailer tires. The ST stands for special trailer.

The difference between a bias ply and a radial tire is the way the rubber is layered. A bias ply is layered around the tire, and a radial tire is layered from sidewall to sidewall with steel belting. A radial tire will be more stable and will yield better ride quality so we recommend them for everyone. At one point there was a large enough price difference between the two kinds of tires, but now they are priced similarly enough that its hard to justify a bias ply.

Based on the weight of your trailer and boat I would go with the Karrier ST205-75R14 Tire Part # AM10235. Each of these tire has a capacity of 2,040 lbs and it is a radial tire.

I attached an FAQ on trailer tires for you to check out also.

expert reply by: Jameson C