We finally bought and installed new trailer tires on our vintage Airstream frame! In this article we’ll let you know where we bought the tires, the purchasing & installing experience, and tell you all about the cool Centramatic wheel balancers we installed, too!

A quick backstory: in January we purchased a 1979 Airstream Argosy to renovate. Over the last 4 months, we’ve completed a LOT of demolition and a little renovation. To get caught up, click here to watch the videos.

Buying Trailer Tires Online

We’ve been buying trailer tires online for three years – a total of 13 to be exact. Every time we’ve purchased the tires from eTrailer.

Before our first eTrailer purchase we researched many online and offline retailers. Time and time again, however, tire options and prices we’re always top notch on eTrailer. I really liked that the option for purchasing a tire already mounted to a wheel was so easy. The options for rims was larger than I was anticipating as well.

Tires come in sizes from 8in to 17.5in and they offer 11 different bolt patterns. And, shipping is usually free with orders over $100. In fact, we received our tires in four days (and that’s with the 4th of July being one of those days)!

https://youtu.be/N2lA-zMB8z0 

The cons: on two purchase attempts eTrailer was out-of-stock of our desired tired. They were quick to call me and attempt to figure out a solution. This is a rather new issue – both incidents took place over the last month.

The pros: aside from everything already mentioned, eTrailer has quick responding costumer service and send emails a year after purchases to make sure everything is still cool. That takes some guts! What other retailer attempts to follow up on a purchase a year later?!

Installation

Installation might sound a little too fancy. This is just a simple tire change; jack it up, take one off, and put one on.

We did add a cool upgrade during the tire change, though – the Centramatic wheel balancers! This nifty invention sits between the wheel mount & the wheel. Its job is self explanatory – an ever working wheel balancer.

The rim of the Centramatic has thousands of beads inside of it. When the wheel is rotating, the tiny beads offset any unbalances, creating a much smoother ride.

Inland RV hooked us up with the balancers to test out! They specialize in Airstream parts and highly recommend checking them out if you’re working on a renovation like us.

Conclusion

Well, its pretty obvious we like eTrailer – we’re not even paid to say it. They make the buying process easy and, knock on wood, we haven’t had a flat with any of the 13 tires purchased from them.

Let us know where you buy your trailer tires!

And, finally, take a tour of our current tiny home on wheels: a 1985 Fiber Stream.