Please please check your trailer tyres!

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Farmer Chalk

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Only a plead for people to check their trailer tyres properly...as we are heading into the season that people are starting to emerge and start using their trailers again...

I say this purely as I was pretty happy with my servicing regime of both our truck and our trailer. I am fairly competent and fairly particular that both are kept upto spec and are safe...hence I regularly check both before use..

Last weekend I was completing a routine check on our Ifor Williams 505... the tyres superficially had minimal wear and looked perfect.. however I gave them a proper inspection and was totally horrified at what I found..

Although they looked perfect at a quick glance I found that on three of them the tread was totally delaminating from the tyre carcass. This was only where the tyre had sat and just a small amount of cracking was present where the tyre had stood over the winter! It was not that obvious with a superficial look.

The potential for the tyre to let go doesn’t bare thinking about..especially with a horse on board..

Therefore if you haven’t changed your trailer tyres in the last three years then consider maybe it’s time..they are not that expensive!

Sorry to bang on but I was horrified how bad they got in such a short period of time!

Look for any signs of cracking on the rubber especially where the tread meets the sidewalk... and check the whole circumference...

Better to be safe than sorry!
 
No a little bit older than that but not by much... think they age prematurely through being exposed in all weathers and sitting for most of their life in one position through lack of use...
The point I was trying to raise was superficially they looked great with almost new tread...so a quick kick and a visual look of the tread they looked fine...

It was only looking at the properly that you could see the cracks between the tread and the sidewalks... one of them was horrific and you could start to see the separation... Frightened myself!

Knowing most boxes sit around most of the year just wanted to warn people accordingly..

Just bought 4 new GT 8 ply ones from the certain internet site for £160...for that money it’s not worth the risk...
 
The Caravan Club recommend changing tyres every 5 years irrespective of wear. My current tyres are 3 years old on a 13yo trailer.

I have had a tyre fail due to age whilst in use, it's not to be recommended :oops:. The tyres looked good, apart from some tiny sidewall cracks, so as they held their pressure overnight after being pumped to running pressure in pre journey checks, we thought we were ok and would replace them later.

Being flashed down by passing vehicles due to a disintegrated tyre whilst on a narrow main road with a newly purchased 2yo in the back was stressful :eek:.
 
Totally agree with you. Having experienced a blow out on 2 year old tyres, it's not something I'd like to repeat. In my case I think it was probably due to last year's hot weather and the appalling number of potholes on local roads. Under inflated tyres and overloading are the most common avoidable causes apparently.
 
I had 2 of mine done about a month ago, very slight cracking due to being sat in the sun but I won't chance it at all. Other side are absolutely fine. For £120 fitted by my local mobile trailer service guy it's just not worth the risk. I'm one of these that looks at everyone's tyres as I'm wandering through the parking at a show & can't believe the state on some of them!
 
I had some very old tyres replaced on the lorry I bought a couple of years ago. The guy who did it said there is a substance added to tyres to keep the rubber supple, but it only works when the tyre is under pressure from being used. Horseboxes and trailers don't get used as much as cars, hence the tyres crack. So I guess if you want to keep your tyres in good nick, you need to drive the vehicle more often. Easier said than done......
 
As far as trailers are concerned check that the tyres are trailer tyres and not car tyres as car tyres are not suitable for trailers. Trailer tyres are designed to take a far higher air pressure than car tyres.

It is the Ultra-violet rays in daylight that break down tyres and this is why they need to be replaced when 5 years old.
 
A timely reminder. We picked up a sharp flint (I actually wonder if it was a stone age arrowhead, the remnant left in the tyre looks the right shape) on the way back to the yard and it was definitely on it's way out as a tyre like yours were. Was just easy to replace all 4 at once, and not a massive expense. Do ensure you buy the correct rating tyre for a trailer though.
 
Have been looking at trailers past couple of weeks, most have been around 2008-2012 so 7-11 years old. Most of the owners couldn't say when tyres last changed, or that they had never changed them. One we bought was 2008, checked the dot marking - tyres probably have been changed around 2010. Sidewalls are all cracking so will be the first thing I get changed.

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Yes and considering what load they are put under during a turn...

Mine looked great on the sidewalls it was where the tread met the top of the sidewall as if the tread was separating from the carcass....but it was not obvious and you really had to inspect them to see it... it was mostly in one area where the trailer had been standing....

Glad the thread has provoked a few people to check!!
 
Is there a way of telling how old tyres are if it's not known? Ie, is there anything marked on the tyre that tells you? (And is it any different whether it is a trailer/car/horsebox tyre?)
 
Sorry, me again. If it's recommended tyres are replaced every 5 years regardless of wear, and if tyres have a date stamp on them, would it not flag on an mot if they were overly old? (Thinking lorry here obviously as know trailers don't get mot's!)
 
This has been in the news a bit as a lady's son was killed due to a blow out on a coach and it turned out that the tyre was 20 years old! This is apparently perfectly legal but she is campaigning to make it law that commercial tyres have to be changed every so many years. So I presume currently as long as the tread is ok and no obvious defects they would not be flagged on a plating for being old.
 
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