How To Determine If Your Trailer Can Switch To A Larger Wheel And Tire

Question:

I have a 2021 KARAVAN TRAILERS MOVE I EXTENDED 1250 ALUMINUM TRAILER and the plate says the rims are 12x4, Id like to know if I can fit a 15x6.5 rim on it, I would remove the flap on top of the wheel to make room but I dont know if I can get the wider rim. Would that be possible? Thanks in advance.

asked by: John W

Expert Reply:

To determine if the a wider and taller wheel will work on your trailer you'll need to do a bit of measuring. You'll measure horizontally from the wheel over to the frame and then vertically from the wheel up to the fenders to make sure there's enough clearance. You'll want to maintain at least 3" of clearance between the wheel and fender so that when you hit a bump in the road and the suspension compresses the wheel won't rub the fender.

If you measure the width clearance of your current wheel and add an extra 1.25" you can gauge where a 15 x 6.5 rim would sit and see if it's too close to the frame. If so you could try looking for a wheel with a negative offset to push the mounting point in and wheel outwards for a bit more clearance.

The wheel diameter being 3" larger could possibly be offset as well with a low profile tire, but that would be kind of a waste on a boat trailer so removing the fenders and remounting them higher or getting new ones to accommodate the larger wheels would be the better option.

In shorter terms, what you're wanting is possible but might require a bit of extra work and could potentially be a bit pricey. Let me know what measurements you get and what your current tire size is on the sidewall of the tire and I can do a bit more digging with some real numbers to see where you'd end up.

expert reply by: Kevin C