Tire pressure

My new (to me) trailer has 4 of the following tires (tandem axle) ---

ST 205/75R14 Poly Steel Radial ply tire
4 ply tread - 2 ply sidewall
Load Rating C
Max load 1760 lbs at 50 PSI (4 X 1760 = 7040 lbs.)

What should I inflate them to (cold), given these specs? 50 PSI is a 'max load' rating, and not necessarily what you're supposed to inflate them to, right??? Seems very high. For instance, my '98 Pathfinder SE tires specify to inflate (cold) to 26 PSI front and rear.

Just spent a lot of time rebuilding the brakes, repacking bearings, etc. and want to make sure they're inflated to spec. Just don't know what 'spec' is for these 'Trailer Service'. Thanks for any feedback/confirmation.

It all depends on the load class rating of the tire. It appears to me that you have the correct tires on your boat trailer. The load class C tire is suppose to be inflated to 50psi.

Your 98 Pathfinder probably has light duty passenger tires. They probably have a max rating of 35psi on the tires. I have seen vehicle manufactures recommend a psi less than the max rating of the tire manufacture.

My boat trailer has a sticker near the tongue of the trailer with information about trailer weight wheel and tire size load class and max tire psi...my trailer load class C inflate to 50psi http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif

Run them at the max load thats is on the tire or you may have tire wear issues....

The Pathfinder's tires are rated for a certain load at '50 PSI' (forget exact load spec'd, but it says '50 PSI' on there, just like with the Tow Master tires. However, the Pathfinder manual (and door jam/glovebox stickers) both specify to inflate both front and rear to 26 PSI.

This is where I questioned how much I should actually inflate the trailer tires to, because apparently just because something 'says' on the tire that it's rated at such and such at, say, 50 PSI, doesn't mean you should inflate to 50 (as is the case with my Pathfinder).

Hence my confusion.

However, from what you're telling me, it would sure seem that I should indeed fill those trailer tires up to the max load rating of 1760 pounds per tire, at 50 PSI cold. Okay, done. Hope that's the right thing to do, cuz the 2 tire stores I called whilst awaiting replies hadn't a clue (sadly and somewhat unbelievably).

Thanks -- and if you have any final clarification/confirmation to offer, I'm all ears! (and eyes). Appreciated, James

Inflate them to 50 psi and check them at least once a month to make sure they stay at that psi. Trailer tires are no where near anything like your car tires, completely different animal.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rangerguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Inflate them to 50 psi and check them at least once a month to make sure they stay at that psi. Trailer tires are no where near anything like your car tires, completely different animal.</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif

A couple links to read

http://www.championtrailers.com/tire_art.html

http://www.taskmasterproducts....s.pdf

Thanks for all the feedback, including the links to 'why trailer tires' etc. Very educational. Much appreciated, as always.