Have a question about tires. I have a Mcclain trailer 18-20 feet , boat is a Gatortrax 1750, total load around 1200lbs, I have 14 inch tires, original trailer tires on it. They have not worn well at all and I need new tires, they are wearing bad on the inside 2nd tread.
My question is can I run just regular car tires or do I have to have trailer tires on it. Will it pull any different, anyone doing this, car tires are a lot cheaper than the trailer ones.
My normal drive will be 40-90 miles per trip traveling up to 80 miles an hour each trip.

Thanks for the help.

I have the same problem on most of my trailers with trailer tires. This spring I just put car tires on my lawn mower trailer (7x12). The sidewall flexes more than the trailer tires, but they are doing fine. I'm definitely going to car tires soon for my boat trailer, although I'll probably buy a good name brand tire.

You can. Just have to remember that whatever the load rating is take 9% off of it and that's the maximum rating for load if used on a trailer and if you over load the car tire on the trailer and get into a wreck a good lawyer will screw you. They will work but you'll just run into problems eventually and wear them out faster. *Good* trailer tires are made of a harder compound and have much stiffer sidewalls to help keep it from blowing out from the bouncing a trailer does. I wouldn't personally run them but I know a few people that do on lighter boats that don't drive them a lot and they haven't had any problems "yet."

I buy the Carlisle trailer tires from McClain. I also had McClain put a slight kick in my axle to help when loaded and prevent the uneven wear on my tires.

More often than not people do not check the air pressure in their tires. The store manager told me the galvanized rims leak about 2-3lbs per month and that most customer run their tires under-inflated without ever noticing.

Be sure to check your air pressure routinely. I have started getting my trailer tires balanced which has helped add some life. I usually go through a set every 18 months.

My trailer was brand new the first of March and I'll have to replace mine by the end of duck season. I've had the trailer back to McClain and had the axle 'bend' checked and they say it's good. I check the pressure every week or two.

I'm just going to replace the rims with some aluminum ones and good radial tires. The guy at the trailer shop told me straight up the tires that came on the trailers were junk...

On my last trailer I used radial car tires and never had a problem. They were also lower profile and it made launching the boat in less water a bit easier.

For the life of me I'll never understand how one tread will be slick, one cupped, and one looking brand new on the same tire. Especially since I keep mine properly inflated and will rotate them on occasion to try to get a few more miles out of them.

just buy some good radial trailer tires and be done with it.

If you have Carlisle bias ply tires, they wear FONKY. I swapped to radials and they wore flat. But getting your axle looked it is never a bad idea.

Radial tires are definatley where it's at!! There are a ton of different trailer tire companies out there. At my shop we have swapped between several brands that we keep in stock and have found that the omni-trails are the best that we have found. The axle being out of spare and the springs being sprung can cause uneven tire wear as well as running too low or high of an air pressure.

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Torsion axles plus good radial trailer tire no more problems

Radial tires that are the proper load range should fix your problem like others have said. Most trailer tires are bias ply and they are junk. There is a reason they don't run bias ply on cars and trucks anymore.

Im glad its not just me.

Goodyear Marathon radials. On my 4th season and still look brand new. I only put on about 5k miles a year. But would go through the Carlisle cheap crap tires every other year.