(US) Cobra Tire Redux

On 9/28/2010 8:05 AM, hretting wrote:
I have 14" rims and looking to replace my tires. Dave...where did you
get Vredestein Comtrac. I have never heard of them. I've been told to
get heavy duty D rated TRAILER tires as they have an extra side wall
to help with the heavy swaying. I'm concern as the rims are metric and
the tires will be purchase locally.

If you have 14" rims, they will take standard 14" tires. The bolt
spacing might be metric, perhaps.

What I've read agrees with Dave N: go for the higher speed rated LT
tires if you can. The LT tire construction has more tread stability the
comparable ST tire, and the higher the speed rating, the more stable the
trailer will be. Unfortunately, the choices of LT tires are limited in
the 14" size.

You don't say how heavy your trailer is, but if it's over 2000 pounds, I
suggest the Michelin Agilis LT 195R14C, 2090 lbs max load, and use the
tire pressure required for 1.2 x (your load). If your trailer is less
than 2000 lbs, these are probably much more tire than you need. Also,
check the tire diameters, as they differ.

I use the Michelin Agilis LT 185R14C tire on my 2500 lb trailer, but
that size isn't available any more.

And now for my usual lecture... It's not "sidewall stiffness" per se
that is important to stability, but lateral tread stiffness (how easily
the tread distorts with a side load). They don't give you that number,
but for trailer stability: belted tires are preferable to unbelted,
higher speed ratings are preferable to lower speed ratings, lower aspect
ratio preferable to higher aspect ratio.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz