Tire Rotation

[MnBob]

I don't think I have seen too much about this on the forum. I like people's thoughts on if they do tire rotation on their travel trailer. How often and what type with tandem axles. Thanks.

[oldmanAZ]

Every ~5,000mi our Discount Tire dealer rotates and balances our TT and TV tires.

[DonaandDon]

In ten years of 5rs. Never have.

[ETCrockett]

Personally in 16 years of towing a TT and a FW, I have never rotated or balanced the RV tires. I have seen some threads about getting RV tires balanced and if I were to do that, I would rotate them as well. If you rotate your trailer tires, do you rotate front to back, side to side, or crisscross?

[us71na]

My trailer only has two tires, they are radial ply tires so it is not advised to switch them from side to side.

[norty1]

We have never had enough wear on trailer tires to consider rotating them. They usually age out before rotating is needed. We do have them balanced when new and when having a tire changed out at a facility. Not often.

[Lake Huron]

Balanced, definately. Rotate, ehhh.... I dont really see the benefit. All they do is spin back there. They aren't under power like a drive axle, they dont steer like the front of a vehicle, ... and if your tires are wearing funny, then you got problems. For the majority of us out here we will run out of time on them before we come close to running out of tread.

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by us71na

My trailer only has two tires, they are radial ply tires so it is not advised to switch them from side to side.

I’d like to hear some additional comments on this.
It’s my experience that the early radials should not be rotated side to side. But it’s my understanding that modern radials don’t have that restriction. Our car and truck owners manual show rotating front/back and side/side.
Maybe ST tires shouldn’t?

[us71na]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

I’d like to hear some additional comments on this.
It’s my experience that the early radials should not be rotated side to side. But it’s my understanding that modern radials don’t have that restriction. Our car and truck owners manual show rotating front/back and side/side.
Maybe ST tires shouldn’t?

I rotated the first set of tires after I had pulled the trailer about 7,000 miles. On the very next trip, within 100 miles from home, the entire tread peeled off one tire right down to the steel belt. The Goodyear tire dealer where I replaced the tires warned about rotating radial tires side to side.

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by us71na

I rotated the first set of tires after I had pulled the trailer about 7,000 miles. On the very next trip, within 100 miles from home, the entire tread peeled off one tire right down to the steel belt. The Goodyear tire dealer where I replaced the tires warned about rotating radial tires side to side.

Which Goodyear was it? (Where was it made)

[Murff]

Originally Posted by Lake Huron

Balanced, definately. Rotate, ehhh.... I dont really see the benefit. All they do is spin back there. They aren't under power like a drive axle, they dont steer like the front of a vehicle, ... and if your tires are wearing funny, then you got problems. For the majority of us out here we will run out of time on them before we come close to running out of tread.

What he said!^^^^^

Murff

[us71na]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Which Goodyear was it? (Where was it made)

It was the tire that came on the trailer direct from Jayco.

[Bayoutalker]

Originally Posted by us71na

I rotated the first set of tires after I had pulled the trailer about 7,000 miles. On the very next trip, within 100 miles from home, the entire tread peeled off one tire right down to the steel belt. The Goodyear tire dealer where I replaced the tires warned about rotating radial tires side to side.

How old were those tires? Sounds like something that happened to one of mine but they were too old.

[videoarizona]

Trailer tires, no rotation. Balance yes.

[GraftonGuns]

Murf, Yes definitely. I had them spin balance my new Goodyear Endurance tires when they were installed. No sense in rotating as they don't steer per say......

[Danno]

If you're concerned about tire wear, the best thing you can do is check the alignment. You want around 0" to 1/8' of toe-in. I check all my trailers, and the last trailer I purchased had the rear axle toe-out 1/4" total. You could really tell when towing. I replaced the axle with a new one because they are so cheap it's not worth trying to straighten them out. IMO, rotation is a waste of time but balancing is a good idea although I never have.

[Bopper65]

My understanding for years has been you do not rotate radials frm one side to another. All the car dealerships rotate radials by moving them frm front to rear and rear to front on the SAME side. Unless you have tandem axles, you shouldn't rotate radials at all. I have not rotated my radials yet, I only have about 6000 on them this year, but after the season is over I will move the front to the rear, and move the rear to the front.
I had bias plys on before these radials, and I did rotate them ever year( about 10,000 mi) I moved the left front to the right rear, and so on. I feel it evened out the tire wear, and I was able to get more mileage outta of the set of 4.

[Craiger]

I did not rotate my first set of tires and the rears wore out before the fronts. I plan on rotating the new set once a year to see if I can even out the wear.

[DocBrown]

I've never rotated trailer tires.

I've been rotating my vehicle radials criss crossing the front tires to back, moving the backs to front on same side for something like 30 years. Never once had a problem. In fact I get more out of my tires than most people do.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

I’d like to hear some additional comments on this.
It’s my experience that the early radials should not be rotated side to side. But it’s my understanding that modern radials don’t have that restriction. Our car and truck owners manual show rotating front/back and side/side.
Maybe ST tires shouldn’t?

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