Why do offroad trailers have offroad tires?

I'm genuinely curious and noticed most if not all offroad trailers I've seen on YouTube are also equipped with offroad tires. The tires aren't steering or providing power, does it actually make a difference for its intended use?

 

All-terrain tires generally have tall, reinforced sidewalls that are designed to resist punctures from rocks and other sharp objects encountered off-road. They also have deep treads. They are more durable. Regular highway tires would be more likely to fail off road even on a trailer.

 

I personally think it's a gimmick. It "looks kewl." If you have matching wheels for both truck and trailer, I might see the argument. I never had a need to match wheels though. I'll just carry the extra spare.

My trailer is on its third set now. It came with Chinese C-load knobbies, since then I've replaced it with an E load highway trailer tire, twice. There are two important traction duties of a trailer tire - they need to stay in line (not jackknife) and they need to have braking power.

When it comes to washboard gravel at speed, the street tires actually wandered slightly less than the knobbies. On off camber mud, the knobbies were only a slight advantage, and only when the trailer couldn't follow the ruts made by the truck. There was no difference in braking off road, but the street tires do much better when braking on wet road.

Over terrain that's guaranteed a puncture from mesquite thorn and sharp rock alike, the E load streets never lost a pound. To be fair, everything I said was on mild to moderate terrain. Ain't nobody taking a trailer rock crawling.

 

I'd like to believe that 1. You'd want a quality tire on any trailer and 2. Because it might look good.

The main reason why my friend did it is because he just wanted to ensure anyone renting his trailers didn't have to worry about a blowout of some sort that could occur on a cheaper tire.

Not real sure how true that would've been but I will say he was a long time wheeler and friends with large Jeep communities (the Real ones).

Old pic I snatched online; his company used to be Rockbox Offroad and he made specialized off-road trailers he would rent out or sell

 

It doesn't need to have an All Terrain tread. But I'd want TOUGH E rated tires on a trailer I was taking off road.

 

Because they drive offroad

 

Anything but chinese bombs

 

Trailers don't drive anywhere, they get towed.

 

And that changes what makes contact with the ground? Troll elsewhere

 

Your response to the OP wasn't very informative was it? I responded to you in kind. Both statements are true, but lack substance. Since you asked a question though, here is an informative answer. There are a lot of different considerations for tires that steer and/or transfer power to the road vs trailer tires, whether you are on or off road, as the OP mentioned. That's why you can buy "trailer tires" and it's not recommended you use them on a vehicle but lots of people use vehicle tires on trailers.

I also haven't seen mentioned some people consider trailer tires to be sacrificial, they put vehicle matching tires on the trailer so in the rare event they run through their spare(s), they can use the tires on the trailer for the vehicle. If need be you can ditch the trailer. When far away from home and you limp into Podunk for tires it is much easier and usually cheaper to find tires you can put on the trailer and keep matching tires on the vehicle.

 

My experience on Rubicon indicates otherwise. Saw a few Jeeps pulling trailers.

 

I’d speculate that Offroad tires would benefit a trailer in muddy/snowy/slippery conditions. Sure they’re not driven or steering, but they do have better/more aggressive tread to eject buildup and maintain traction to stop the trailer from sliding around. Thinking about off-camber and/or braking situations here.

Otherwise yeah, just need a robust tire to resist blowouts and getting sliced by sharp rocks or branches. Not to mention the added loads of the trailer getting bounced around.

 

Great discussion. Never considered being heavy duty or resistant to punctures.

 

I run the same wheel/tire combo as the truck. I addition to the above spare tire redundancy I feel there are some other advantages. No need for me to run a hitch with lots of drop. Larger tire is more unsprung weight but larger diameter means less RPM than a smaller tire at the same speed. Larger diameter does make it easier to get up and down ledges. I also air down as needed, though the trailer is relatively light and I usually run a lower pressure based off of chalk test.

Tread does help it stop off pavement but a lot of that comes down to brake controller settings. Not adjusting the controller for different surfaces can easily overcome any advantage of an AT over a legit trailer tire.

For a lightweight single axle trailer I think they do fine. The issues I see on the bigger trailers is due to tandem axle setups. I don't think LT tires are a good choice due to the scrubbing that happens.

 

I am sure off-road trailers with knobbly tire sell faster.