What is the Difference Between Trailer Wheels and Vehicle Wheels

Updated 11/22/2024 | Published 05/08/2018

Question:

Howdy, I am curious to learn how your conventional steel trailer wheels differ from passenger car oem style steel wheels? I would imagine that they have different offsets, but is the construction different? Thicker steel, welds, etc? Are trailer wheels designed for different loading, and more side loads? The centers on these look similar to GM oem wheels. Thanks,

asked by: John T

Expert Reply:

The differences from trailer wheels, like the Dexstar Conventional Steel Wheel with Offset # AM20504 that you referenced, and vehicle wheels, like GM OEM wheels, can vary based on a lot of things.

Trailer wheels are specifically designed to be used with trailer tires. Trailer tires have sidewalls that are more stiff so that they can better handle the vertical load while vehicle tires have more flex in the sidewall to help make the ride more smooth for passengers and accommodate the movement of driving.

Not only is their construction slightly different, but the bolt patterns, widths, offsets, and weight capacities will vary as well. Trailer wheels tend to not have an offset (with the exception of a small portion of wheels) so that the load will be right above the tire which makes for better load bearing tread wear. Since the load in a vehicle varies from the load in a trailer, vehicle wheels tend to almost always have an offset.

Even if you have a trailer/vehicle wheel that matches up perfectly with the opposite of what its supposed to be used for we still recommend only installing them on what they were created for. This will ensure that you can travel safely and get the most use out of your tires and wheels.

I have attached some helpful articles on trailer tires and wheels that you can check out for more information.

expert reply by: Jon G

Ray

11/21/2024

I only see opinions, zero facts. I see custom wheels, a load rating of 3750lbs per trailer wheel, that's around 3900. Same wheel for a car or LT ( look the same) shows no load rating in its ad. In most cases the car / LT wheel is about 2 times the price, 1 wheel. The trailer wheels are sold mostly in pairs, car & LT each / one. To this old red neck, buying 4 trailer wheels is going to save around 50-60 % on 4 wheels. My Tacoma weights less than 5,000 lbs, why buy Light Truck tires ?? Unless someone can convince me other wise...... I'm waiting on an expert opinion, with facts.

Jon G.

11/22/2024

@Ray I don't have any stats, studies, or research done by a university or anything like that to link - the best I can offer are the help articles that our team here at etrailer have written after doing extensive research. I've attached a link to these articles blow for you to check out. We briefly mention the whole LT thing in the "7 Common Questions Everyone Has About Trailer Tires" article. Ultimately you can use trailer tires on a vehicle if you want to, you just won't get the performance or life out of the tires the same as if you used vehicle tires for your truck. The confusing part is that some trailer tire manufacturers will label their tires as LT (light truck) but they are still built for trailers - I'm pretty sure this is just a marketing thing. Trailer tire sidewalls are stiffer and less forgiving, plus they aren't designed to be on a "drive-type" axle so you won't get as nice of a ride or performance with the trailer tires.

Helpful Links

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