Blow outs and tires

Switch to LT or MT tires. Stay away from the ST tires.

Stories of RV tire blowouts, mostly on cheap, Chinese tires, are legendary. Best advice I can provide, is get your rig weighed ready for travel, and ensure your tires are rated for the load. Adjust psi up (but never above the tire's maximum) or down, consistent with the load table. If you need a G-rated tire, Sailuns are highly recommended. In the E-rated range, the GY Endurance excels. LT tires are not generally used where ST tires are specified.

Haven't had a blow-out, but did have a tread separation that took out the fender, bent the steps and damaged some underbelly stuff. Insurance took care of it without question and no hesitation. After replacing the tires, we continued to have tire wear issues on one tire. At the advice of our RV tech guy, we had it aligned and that was part of the problem. We then upgraded from D load range tires to F. A G load range wouldn't fit our rig. Since that we have had ZERO problems and this has been 4 years, when with the last set of D range tires, we continually had problems every year. If you have ever read Roger Marble's RV tire articles on his blog - rvtiresafety.net, Chinese made is not the issues - over weight, improper care - including driving over the recommended speed, alignment, etc. are the issues. Note - I sent Roger pictures of our tires and the damage and from that he made the tire separation diagnosis. He's a great guy and great resource to have. Take his advice.

We’ve been on the road full time for over 8 years now, have pulled the TH 65,000 miles, and have had 6 tire failures. I have always used a TPMS system and check pressure every travel day. Thing is, these rigs are heavy, our nation’s roads are in very sorry condition, and stuff happens. I carry a full spare plus always carry an extra unmounted tire because roadside assistance can mount a tire on the road. I have had 2 failures at the same time before. The front tire delaminated and the trash from it ripped the steel valve off the tire behind it.

Btw, the myth of China bombs is just that. I’ve run into many full-timers and they have had failures with American made brands. Anyway, good luck and check your tires at each stop. You may spot an upcoming failure before it happens.

arhayes wrote:
We’ve been on the road full time for over 8 years now, have pulled the TH 65,000 miles, and have had 6 tire failures. I have always used a TPMS system and check pressure every travel day. Thing is, these rigs are heavy, our nation’s roads are in very sorry condition, and stuff happens. I carry a full spare plus always carry an extra unmounted tire because roadside assistance can mount a tire on the road. I have had 2 failures at the same time before. The front tire delaminated and the trash from it ripped the steel valve off the tire behind it.

Btw, the myth of China bombs is just that. I’ve run into many full-timers and they have had failures with American made brands. Anyway, good luck and check your tires at each stop. You may spot an upcoming failure before it happens.

We had a TPMS too when our tire separated. No warning, just happened, then the TPMS went off.

Dirtclods wrote:
How many of you have had a blow out?

I now carry two spares for my trailer. I've tried different tires and always have what the PSI is on the tire. Never had one go on any dirt roads always on the pavement.

How many axles on your hauler?

I had a guy at a tire shop explain to me that more axles increase the chances of punctures and blowouts on the subsequent axles. Now before you say, "No duh... More axles = more times = more flats", his point was that he sees more flats on the 2nd and 3rd axles because the front tires tend to kick up the hazards and then the next tire or two run over the exposed hazard.

I can't say my experience has been scientific, but it sure seems like I get more flats in the middle and rear sets of tires.

I also air down a little when I'm towing in the summertime. I check my tires the night before we take off and fill them cold, but the next afternoon could be 40° hotter out and then the tires are way overinflated.

I think my rears are more finicky because of the weight in the garage and the amount of scrub when I turn. Again though, just observations and not a lot of science.

I dumped ST tires (C/D/E) years ago when pulling non rv trailers for a living. Too many ruined tires and down time on the side of the road changing tires or waiting for a small town tire store to open. We also carried two spares per trailer and some times ran out of tires.
For my trailers with tandem/triaxle 5.2k and 6k axles...or 10k-11k tandem dual axles I use a LT235/85-16" E @ 3042 lbs capacity. Check out the Bridgestone R238 commercial grade all steel ply carcass same as the old tried and true Michelin XPS Ribs. I have poly carcass LT 16" E on my 11400 lb 5th wheel trailer and get in the 50k-55k miles before tread wear bars just start showing.

On other trailers with 7k-8k axles the commercial grade all steel ply carcass Sailun S637 in a ST235/85-16 load G at 4400 lbs capacity. I have a set of these on a 36' triaxle GN stock trailer. Tires have around 35k miles now and going on 7 years old.

Using the tires above we don't have tire problems anymore nor do we need a lot of reserve capacity above the trailers axle ratings as some rv folks tend to do using ST C/D/E tires.

Blow out? Not sure. Had one seemed to leak down and shredded before I knew it was flat. Had another that threw the tread clean off while still holding pressure. Had another that was starting tread separation and was lucky to see it before going too far. Couple repairable road hazards and once a cracked steel wheel leaking down. No kaboom on any of them.

An area of tire inspection that is easily over-looked is dry-rot. Normally, everyone checks the sidewalls but rarely is the area between the tread blocks inspected. I have seen several tires that have sidewalls in great condition but when inspecting between the tread you find a different story. This is one way a tire that seemed to be in road-worthy condition can surprise you, in all of the wrong and unpleasant ways.

Something to add and I know this is the TH forum so most rigs in this category are 16” or possibly larger commercial size wheels.
But some guys always preach “use LT tires”. That’s fine for 16” and up.
Until now there have been zero 15 or 14” LT tires that have anywhere near the load cap of heavy ST tires. But Falken iirc now offers a high load cap 15” LT tire. Good news for anyone with 15” wheels who can’t get off the LT tire bandwagon.