I had some Goodyear G104 RST tires on my step deck that I just changed. Many of them turned all lumpy and had really funny wear. I got about 290,000 kms out of them (181,000 miles). Is this a good amount of miles for small trailer tires that started at 13/32nds? I had maybe 3 of them that wore even and they could've gone much longer. The insides had funny river wear and one of the outsides got lumpy on both sides alternating all the way around the tire.

I consistently ran 120 psi in them for Canadian weights. Just switched to Bridgestone R195F tires that start at 11/32. Hoping the shallower depth will prevent funny wear. The trailer shocks are changed about every 18 months. They're in good shape.

With the new tires I can be legal for Canadian weights at 110 psi, but I'm wondering if I should add an automatic tire inflation system to reduce the pressure when I'm light, to 80 psi or even less. I think part of the problem is all the empty miles I do (sometimes 1000+ miles a month) on 120 psi tires.

Wheel bearings are good, shocks are good, and I'm going to have the bushings and alignment checked out soon.

The trailer is an all aluminum east step deck, 2006. It is probably the roughest trailer I've ever had the pleasure of attaching to. A while back I pulled a company combo step deck and couldn't believe how much nicer it rode. Another issue is I think I have ****ty chinese drums on it, they'll be changed right away. The brakes also lasted the same amount as the tires, they're completely worn at 180,000 miles. They won't pass the next yearly inspection.

I just realized I've done 180,000 miles in 24 months. **** I'm lazy.

Were they balanced properly? I had the steers on my [company] '07 Pete 387 doing the same thing, but it took only a couple weeks for them to go from completely normal to barely legal. I thought it was an alignment issue (as did Gra-Gar). When I got the new tires at Greensboro T/A, the alignment machine was out of service, and the mechanic who changed my tires said that they probably weren't balanced. When he mounted the new ones, he balanced them and those tires didn't wear irregularly (at least from June until September, when I turned the truck in).
Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but why does tire pressure matter in terms of the weight you carry? Is that just a Canadian thing?

It could be several things that could cause the irregular tire wear. If it is a spread axle, you can get some odd wear patterns. Sometimes, it is just a bad tire. I just had to replace a trailer tire that had plenty of tread but the inside had the wire showing in one section. It was from the way that I have had to back into spots with very heavy loads and not having a dump valve on the axle. I have seen cupping and various other odd wearing patters that don't seem to have an explaination. I had some cupping on a steer tire. I replaced shocks and the king pins were nearly new. I finally replaced the tire and problem seems to have been solved. Evidently there was a problem in the quality of that tire.

My only experience with the tire size you’re talking about is when I was running them on an enclosed auto transport. In that business, you are always pushing the max on your trailer tires (at least with the trailers we had) and can never get enough on your drives. We experienced all kinds of crazy wear with those 255s. Sometimes an inner rib would wear twice as fast as the rest, sometimes the tires would get lumpy as you’ve described… it drove me crazy.

If you plan on buying the Meritor PSI Tire Inflation System (which I ran on my reefer and just last week had installed on my new Reitnouer) you should be aware that reducing the tire pressure isn’t as simple as adjusting the regulator on the inflation system. You have to manually deflate each tire when you want to reduce the air pressure in them. That is my one gripe with the system, it doesn’t allow air to bleed out of the tires as they heat up and the air pressure rises. I think the idea is to protect the tires from air loss if any one or more of them develops a leak that the system can’t cope with.

It is a 72" spread. Trailer tires aren't normally balanced, maybe I should do that. Pretty sure the drums aren't balanced anyways. Those will be changed soon. The axles do have centramatics.

I always run them on all 5 axles, although I haven't put them on my new trailer yet. I'll have to order them for 19.5 wheels and put them on when I rotate in a few months.

Allan5oh, so how are those R195F tires working out for you? does your step have a spread axle?

72" axle spacing

we get same sort of problem here with or logging trailer tyres ,think it caused by bush roads being crowned for water run off,inside tyres wear on thier inside and even scollop,all makes seem to do it.cti [central tyre inflation] on truck drivers helps them 30lbs off road empty 60lbs loaded .on highway we run 95lbs that truck and trailer,45.5 tonnes [metric].have seen 1 trailer here with trailer inflation but it only to keep presure at 95lbs