Trailers have a pretty tough life. They sit around, exposed to all kinds of weather, and then we throw a load on them and fly down the highway, sometimes at speeds well above the legal limit. We worry about tie-downs, trailer lights (sometimes) and even give the tires a kick. We ask a lot from our trailer's tires, and for the most part don’t give them much thought.
So consider for a moment that many dealers sell new trailers with used ‘take-off’ tires, or new tires that are barely adequate at best. That’s probably OK if your V-dub powered moon buggy weighs less than your stack of credit card bills, but most of us drive real-world robust rigs that might push the limits of inadequate meats. Throw in the tire temperatures generated when the thermometer hits the triple digits, and it gets even worse.
We’ve personally run several different brands of tires on our trailers in the past, and even some so-called ‘trailer specific’ tires. Most with less than fantastic results, we might add. In fact, over the years we’d come to accept uneven tread wear, checking, and squishy-squirmy sidewalls as the norm.
Horsey type people are notoriously fickle about the safety of their expensive equine investments, so when we noticed that many of the horse trailer companies spec’d Goodyear Wrangler HT’s on their high-end models, we figured that it was worth a look.
Lucky for us, when we purchased a new Stidham Brothers, 12,168 lb.GVW, 4-horse, gooseneck trailer, it came with the same Goodyear Wrangler HT’s straight from the factory. We’ve been running these tires in a size L235/85R16, load range ‘E’ for three years now with excellent results.
Goodyear Wrangler HT's
By the staff of C4x4
Even with over 10,000 miles on them, the HT’s tread looks new (spare shown for clarity), with no visible signs of uneven tread wear, or sidewall checking whatsoever.
Goodyear specifies the Wrangler HT’s as an all-weather tire for heavy-duty trucks, 4x4’s, full-size vans and RV’s. In fact, you’ll see them on many new vehicles right from the factory. We think that they’re pretty good trailer tires too, but be sure not to exceed the load rating of the tires.
Based on our observations, we give these tires an A+ rating for durability and stability.
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