Don’t let your trailer, fail ya! Paul Cowland explains the importance of caring for your trailer tyres

For anyone in the motor trade and on the classic car scene, trailers are an essential part of everyday life. Each barn find, restoration, collection, delivery and sale often ends up making its first – and last – journey on a trailer. Speaking personally, I can’t think of a single week that mine isn’t pressed into faithful service.

And that’s before we start talking about the fun stuff, like racing and track days. That hard-working hardware has towed my beloved VW Golf race car as far as the fabled Nürburgring, schlepping across 5 countries at a constant 60mph. It’s perhaps the hardest working bit of kit on the fleet, and definitely the one that often carries quite precious, rare or expensive cargo. 

For that reason, I always make sure my straps are new, and in perfect order. That my jockey wheel is greased and ready to go, and that my bulbs are all shining bright to keep me legal and safe. 

Tyre pressures and condition? Checked every week, and double checked before a heavy load goes on, but tyre age? Even I’m the first to admit that we professionals perhaps don’t check them as often as we could or should – which is crazy when you think about it. So, for this year, I’ve made a vow to start treating my trailer tyres PRECISELY like my car tyres, and change them just as frequently. A task made considerably easier now that we have a range of speciality and trailer tyres here at Envoy.

Fresh tyres = maximum grip

Would I drive a £30,000 classic on old, out of date tyres? Would I heck! Perceived industry wisdom is to change your rubber at least every 7 years, but even more frequently, if you can. That way, you’re rolling on the grippiest, softest and most compliant rubber at your disposal, with better handling, increased wet weather grip and shorter stopping distances. But have I seen motor trade professionals put classics of similar, or even greater value, onto a trailer with tyres that are almost old enough to vote? More times than I care to mention. When you consider that you’re asking those tyres to cope with the exact same forces, and the even greater weight of the vehicle plus the trailer, then it all starts to get a little sketchy.

To many, trailer tyres are a distress purchase. Run them for as long as you can, and if you get a puncture, whack on the spare and sort out a solution later in the day. But is that really how you want your journey to pan out? When you think about it, the best case scenario is that you’re slightly delayed. But that could mean a very upset customer, a missed trackday or even being pipped to the post to buy that auction bargain… and that’s the very best you can hope for.

As for the worst case scenario? A blowout, at speed, on a fully loaded trailer can be a very un-funny thing indeed. 

The hardest working rubber in the business

Trailer tyres are generally small, in order to keep the trailer’s deck height at a sensible level. This means that they have to turn many more times per mile than the vehicle towing them. Assuming your tow car has, say, 235/45/R18s on, and your trailer tyres are 13”, they’re going to rotate around another 2,000-2,500 times for every 1,000 miles you drive. And, if you’re carrying, say, a 2-tonne truck on a 1-tonne trailer behind your 4×4 pickup, you’re asking 4 or 6 tiny tyres to spread the load of over 3 tonnes. When you start to look at it like that, you realise just how hard trailer tyres have to work, plus how tough and reinforced their construction has to be. This is why running older, degraded tyres is just asking for trouble.

The good news is, Envoy offers a superb range of the toughest, most hard-working and capable trailer tyres for those who have a job to do. And, just like our car and van ranges, they’re built to a premium quality, yet priced firmly in the mid-range so we can all afford to upgrade and renew. 

Cheaper than you’d think…

I’ve just added a 13” set to my own, now rather aged, Brian James race trailer (check out the video below) and it’s transformed the way it tows. It’s much happier in the wet, and you can really feel the brakes biting with the improved levels of grip. When you think that the investment is only around £250-£300, with fitting, and the average load on the back is worth at least 5 figures, then the maths does all of the working out for itself. Besides, you know me, I never like to miss that auction bargain. 

Please do take a moment to check the age and condition of your trailer tyres as soon as you can. It will not only be the best money you’ll spend on the security of whatever treasure you’re towing behind you, but it may very well prevent a very expensive – and distressing – accident. Drive safe, and tow safe!