Trailer tyres, tubes or not??

[wayno60]

Whats the consensus on whether you should run tubes or go tubeless???

cheers

[Noelm]

Tubes, or find some sort of "goo" that will seal the tyre bead and stop salt building up under the edge causing slow leaks, been there, done that, and only have tubes now.

[wayno60]

cheers mate.

[Dignity]

Noelm, that explains boat trailer tyres but why do my trolley, tyres and wheel barrow tyres always have a slow leak, can never seem to get over these which have tubes in them, pump them up and next time go to use them, flat again. Changed valves, buy new tubes, no difference or am I the only one.

[tropicrows]

Most likely cheap inferior tubes that have very small holes or very thin walls that allow certain molecules thru. Like he and H.

[stue2]

As I understand it rubber has a shelf life. Some of those small tube have been sitting around for a long time. Tres on trailers are often ten years or more old. They will not conform to the rim as well as a new Tyre will hence the bead always leaks. New tubes rub on old walls and reduce life. I believe the life of a Tyre is around 5 yrs.
Cheers
Stu

[bluefin59]

I run tubeless on alloy rims and my tyre fitter puts a liquid rubber sealer on the rims ..matt

[DATCOL]

Tubeless Seals the water out other wise the rims will rust around the valve stem if tube type
Also tubeless runs cooler as there is less friction than between tube & side wall Cheers COL

[Noelm]

Yes, tubeless do seal the water out..... for a while, then a tiny bit of salt sits in the bead (on alloy or gal rims) and then it's just a matter of time before you start pumping up the tyres regularly, then start getting a flat if the boat sits unused for a while, and so it goes, I have seen this dozens of times, and the owner of a tyre service near my local ramp will strongly recommend tubes when doing repairs on boats, and he gets plenty! This topic has been discussed many times here, someone (I think Andy?) said his tyre guy had some sort of special "stuff" that was used on the bead when new tyres are fitted, and it seemed to be OK.