What Will Cause Excessive Wear on the Outside of the Tire on a Single Axle Cargo Trailer

Updated 05/14/2013 | Published 05/09/2013

Question:

Wondering where to start diagnosing the solution. Tailer has what I believe to be a 3500 GAWR axle. New higher quality trailer tires balanced as well had been installed. Notice that those tires have started to smooth more on the outside of the tire. Old tires were low quality tires and likely wore out due to excessive trailer weight. We removed lots of unnecessary weight and thought we had gotten closer to trailer capacity. GVWR is 2990 so we took it to a scale and determined it to be still over weight by 600 lbs. Weight issue will be resolved by removing more stuff. With the tires starting to show slightly more wear on the outside is there some other component issue that needs to be checked?

asked by: David

Helpful Expert Reply:

Since your trailer has been over its weight capacity most likely the problems you are experiencing with your tires are directly related to this. I would recommend getting the weight of the trailer under the capacity and then check the suspension components to make sure there is no damage.

A problem that arises from an overloaded trailer with a suspension issue is the uneven wearing of the tires on the outside. Because of the overload, your suspension components may be excessively worn allowing too much movement, therefore, wearing out the outside of your tire prematurely.

According to our tire guru, there are three main cause/effect issues when it comes to tires. First, excessive wear on the outside of the tire means the trailer has an alignment issue with the tire which can be caused by worn suspension parts and overloading. Secondly, excessive wear on both the inside and outside of the tire means the tires are under-inflated. Lastly, excessive wear on the inside of the tire means the trailer is overloaded.

I have attached a link to our suspension component page to assist when you have your issue located.

expert reply by: Lori W