Towing trailer and glider with a honda civic

On Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 9:35:48 AM UTC-7, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 6:51:51 PM UTC+3, wrote:
On Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 4:09:43 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I have a 2016 honda civic. It’s my only car. Has any one towed their glider and trailer using a small sedan like a civic?

The only car Ive had that tows better than my Bugatti Veyron is my Rolls Royce
Corniche.
OK, Just a few musings you guys might comment on. I've towed Bickle and Cobra trailers and I have found that the type of tire matters. For some reason I have had better luck (Handling wise) with car specific tires and not trailer specific tires.

Sidewall stiffness helps. Either inherent -- crossplys are better than radials, all else being equal -- or created by pumping them up to the maximum pressure.

Has anyone tried putting bigger rims and low profile tyres on their trailer? That would be a very "car" thing.

Further, I have seen different model years of the same car (Ford Explorer in this case) have totally different towing qualities and behavior.

Was the worse one old enough that wear could be a factor?

Actually, The 93 2WD Explorer towed a Bickle trailer better than a 96 4WD. I installed new shocks and better tires on the car and no help. I replaced old (Really old) radial car tires on the trailer with bias ply trailer tires and the handling became scary at highway speeds.
My current Cobra trailer did better (At highway speeds) with the old bald car tires it had when I bought it than with current trailer specific tires. Currently tow with an F-150 and it does well but I did have to add a 50 pound bag of sand to the front of the trailer. For some reason the bag of sand helps substantially when towing behind the truck but was no help when towing behind the explorer. No longer own the explorer.
Should add that here in Utah everyone drives too fast and one needs to tow around 80 just to keep from getting cut off.

Bruce Hoult wrote on 3/4/2018 8:35 AM:
Sidewall stiffness helps. Either inherent -- crossplys are better than radials, all else being equal -- or created by pumping them up to the maximum pressure.

Realistically, the only time you can choose crossply (aka "bias ply") tires is in
the "ST" category (trailer tires), because they aren't commonly available for
passenger cars. The steel belt gives the tire tread more lateral stiffness than a
the same size non-belted crossply tire, and consequently more stability to the
trailer. There are other very good reasons radials are the most common car and
trailer tire; the only advantage of a non-belted trailer tire is lower price.

I actually did the experiment last year, putting same size radials and bias ply
tires on my trailer. The radials let me tow about 7-10 mph faster. Contrary to
"common knowledge", the radial ST tire deflected less laterally than the same size
bias ply ST tire. A similar (not identical) size LT radial tire had even less
deflection than the other two when tire pressures were set for the same load rating.

It's a small sample of the tire universe, but illustrates choosing by assumed
sidewall stiffness is not a good way to choose tires.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
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On Tuesday, March 13, 2018 at 7:55:15 PM UTC-4, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Bruce Hoult wrote on 3/4/2018 8:35 AM:
Sidewall stiffness helps. Either inherent -- crossplys are better than radials, all else being equal -- or created by pumping them up to the maximum pressure.

Realistically, the only time you can choose crossply (aka "bias ply") tires is in
the "ST" category (trailer tires), because they aren't commonly available for
passenger cars. The steel belt gives the tire tread more lateral stiffness than a
the same size non-belted crossply tire, and consequently more stability to the
trailer. There are other very good reasons radials are the most common car and
trailer tire; the only advantage of a non-belted trailer tire is lower price.

I actually did the experiment last year, putting same size radials and bias ply
tires on my trailer. The radials let me tow about 7-10 mph faster. Contrary to
"common knowledge", the radial ST tire deflected less laterally than the same size
bias ply ST tire. A similar (not identical) size LT radial tire had even less
deflection than the other two when tire pressures were set for the same load rating.

It's a small sample of the tire universe, but illustrates choosing by assumed
sidewall stiffness is not a good way to choose tires.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)

I agree that radials work well from my experience. I don't actually understand why people think the tires on the trailer are the problem. The trailer tire sidewalls are not flexing in my experience. In my experience the tires at the rear of the tow vehicle are the critical item.
The trailer tires/axel are the hinge point, however all the resistance from swaying needs to happen at the hitch and forward.

I had a Subaru Forester that had very soft sidewall H rated tires. The komet trailer got extremely unstable at 45mph and higher.

(Without a trailer on even) I could not believe that tire got an H rating it was really soft, you could push sideways on the hitch and watch the entire vehicle oscillate. I thought I was going to have to sell the Forester.

Higher inflation especially of the rear tires helped some.

Instead I changed to a stiff sidewall V rated good quality tire then i could tow very stable up to 85+mph. I also kept the rear tires inflated about 5 psi higher than the fronts.

No change of trailer tires was involved - I usually ran radials on the trailer.

Chris

At 15:51 04 March 2018, wrote

Further, I have seen different model years of the
same car (Ford Explorer in this case) have totally different
towing qualities and behavior.

I have had 1994, 1998, and 2006 Ford Explorers to tow with.
The suspension improvements that Ford made with each
new successive body style have been very noticeable in normal
day to day driving, as well as in towing. I have pretty much no
issues at all in towing my Cobra trailer behind the 2006 Explorer.
I can only assume it would even be better with the 2011 and up
body style.

So, yes... Newer versions of the same model vehicle will probably
have enhancements to the suspension, and may thus be better
suited for towing than older versions of the same model.

RO