This past Summer, took our 15 foot fiberglass on a long road trip
instead in the usual half mile to the marina. The tires are the small
4.80-8 utiltiy type tires, and needless to say, they overheated
badly.....
long story, but I'll be upgrading to a biger tire this Summer.

Here's my question. It seemed that the speed at which the load was
being carried created the heat. While pondering the trip home
(semi desperate and after a few beers) I considered filling the tires
with water (say 50%) in an attempt to dissipate the heat to the rims.

I never did this, but have pondered the the effects of water in a tire
at speed. Would the balance go for a bundle or would the water be
thrown evenly within the tire by the certifugal force?

I made the trip home by upping the pressure to 60 p.s.i. and by
driving slower.

Would water have helped of would I have been courting a disaster?

Joe,

Doubt it would have helped. Matter of fact if the temps of the tires were high
enough it would have encouraged evaporation thus increasing pressure
considerably. Furthermore, the water would never have contacted the rim during
travel as centrifugal force would hold the water against the tread area, right?

Of course, the smaller the tire the more rotations it makes for a given speed.
I have learned to always use the largest diameter wheels/tires possible on
trailers. For a small trailer it could require an axle upgrade but would be
worth it, IMO.

BTW, I'd pull those hubs and take a real close look at the wheel bearings.
They probably got pretty warm on that drive???

Butch

Joe wrote: This past Summer, took our 15 foot fiberglass on a long road
trip
instead in the usual half mile to the marina. The tires are the small
4.80-8 utiltiy type tires, and needless to say, they overheated
badly.....
long story, but I'll be upgrading to a biger tire this Summer.

Here's my question. It seemed that the speed at which the load was
being carried created the heat. While pondering the trip home
(semi desperate and after a few beers) I considered filling the tires
with water (say 50%) in an attempt to dissipate the heat to the rims.

I never did this, but have pondered the the effects of water in a tire
at speed. Would the balance go for a bundle or would the water be
thrown evenly within the tire by the certifugal force?

I made the trip home by upping the pressure to 60 p.s.i. and by
driving slower.

Would water have helped of would I have been courting a disaster?

On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 09:39:29 -0400, Joe Here wrote:

This past Summer, took our 15 foot fiberglass on a long road trip
instead in the usual half mile to the marina. The tires are the small
4.80-8 utiltiy type tires, and needless to say, they overheated
badly.....
long story, but I'll be upgrading to a biger tire this Summer.

Here's my question. It seemed that the speed at which the load was
being carried created the heat. While pondering the trip home
(semi desperate and after a few beers) I considered filling the tires
with water (say 50%) in an attempt to dissipate the heat to the rims.

I never did this, but have pondered the the effects of water in a tire
at speed. Would the balance go for a bundle or would the water be
thrown evenly within the tire by the certifugal force?

I made the trip home by upping the pressure to 60 p.s.i. and by
driving slower.

Would water have helped of would I have been courting a disaster?

I agree with Butch, plus I think you would have been courting disaster for
this reason: At higher speeds, the water might well have concentrated in a
single area in the wheel. This makes the wheel unbalanced and
out-of-round. As the wheel goes out of round, the effect is magnified. A
blow-out might well have occurred.

As Butch said - use larger tires. Also, if you don't already have them,
bearing buddies are a very big help in keeping the bearings lubricated,
particularly when you use the bra to keep water out.
--

Larry
email is rapp at lmr dot com

This past Summer, took our 15 foot fiberglass on a long road trip
instead in the usual half mile to the marina. The tires are the small
4.80-8 utiltiy type tires, and needless to say, they overheated
badly.....
long story, but I'll be upgrading to a biger tire this Summer.

Here's my question. It seemed that the speed at which the load was
being carried created the heat. While pondering the trip home
(semi desperate and after a few beers) I considered filling the tires
with water (say 50%) in an attempt to dissipate the heat to the rims.

I never did this, but have pondered the the effects of water in a tire
at speed. Would the balance go for a bundle or would the water be
thrown evenly within the tire by the certifugal force?

I made the trip home by upping the pressure to 60 p.s.i. and by
driving slower.

Would water have helped of would I have been courting a disaster?


nitrogen helps tires run cooler

"Wwj2110" wrote in message

nitrogen helps tires run cooler

How does that work?

JG

As some one else said check the wheel bearings. Also raise the air pressure to
the max allowable for the tires ( usually imprinted on the side wall ). NEVER
NEVER PUT WATER IN HIWAY TIRES. The centrifugal force could tear the tire apart
or worse in my opinion the water could get hot engulf to turn to steam and blow
up.

Mike
***********

This past Summer, took our 15 foot fiberglass on a long road trip
instead in the usual half mile to the marina. The tires are the small
4.80-8 utiltiy type tires, and needless to say, they overheated
badly.....
long story, but I'll be upgrading to a biger tire this Summer.

Here's my question. It seemed that the speed at which the load was
being carried created the heat. While pondering the trip home
(semi desperate and after a few beers) I considered filling the tires
with water (say 50%) in an attempt to dissipate the heat to the rims.

I never did this, but have pondered the the effects of water in a tire
at speed. Would the balance go for a bundle or would the water be
thrown evenly within the tire by the certifugal force?

I made the trip home by upping the pressure to 60 p.s.i. and by
driving slower.

Would water have helped of would I have been courting a disaster?

They have it at race tracks. Otherwise you need a tank of it. Know anyone
in the hvac business, they use it to purge refrigerant lines while they
braze. Not really likely to help enouhg to be worth the trouble though.
The other posters are right, bigger wheels are the right solution.

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Wwj2110" wrote in message

nitrogen helps tires run cooler

How does that work?

JG

I don't think they run cooler, but I know that using nitrogen the pressure
stays more consistant as the tire heat up
"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Wwj2110" wrote in message

nitrogen helps tires run cooler

How does that work?

JG

On 25 Oct 2003 23:08:05 GMT, (MIDEMETZ) wrote:

As some one else said check the wheel bearings. Also raise the air pressure to
the max allowable for the tires ( usually imprinted on the side wall ). NEVER
NEVER PUT WATER IN HIWAY TIRES. The centrifugal force could tear the tire apart
or worse in my opinion the water could get hot engulf to turn to steam and blow
up.

Mike
***********
Thanks for the feedback. I have since replaced the the hubs which
will allow for a bigger wheel, will upgrade the tires when $$$ allow.

I the army, (S.A.D.F.) we used to put water in our Unimog tires. This
was for land mines & I'm not sure exactly why. They were however
capable of near highway speeds.

As for Nitrogen gas, as someone suggested, Nitrogen has the property
of very linear compressiion. As you double the pressure, the volume
halves. It's also used in off-road suspension systems.

Interesting. I wonder if this was to provide more mass to absorb the
overpressure aspect of the blast (should the mine be detonated). Anyone know
about this stuff?



I the army, (S.A.D.F.) we used to put water in our Unimog tires. This
was for land mines & I'm not sure exactly why. They were however
capable of near highway speeds.