On Monday, July 7, 2014 7:07:15 PM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
The people that tell horror stories about multiple trailer tire failures must be doing something wrong... old tires, excessive load, excessive speed, road hazard abuse, overheating, under-inflation etc..

Speaking from personal experience (having a tire blowout at 2am outside of Twin Falls, ID) I will state that a lot of people underestimate the effects of aging on trailer tires that are only used a few times a year for actual hauling. UV degradation and general aging (with cycles of temperature and humidity) cause wear even when the tires are in a relatively benign-seeming environment and held at good air-pressure and such. Here's a link with some useful information about this subject: http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/inf...erTireFacts.do
(Note the relatively low speed-rating and mileage expecations for trailer tires, when compared to passenger tires)

My personal plan is to never have tires on my trailer more than 4-5 years old (3 years old, if I'm planning a big cross-USA trek for a National contest or similar event).

--Noel