Could very well be a defect in workmanship. I took my trailer to have WERM flooring put in it. This is a horse trailer with living quarters. I had to drive about 250 miles on I-40. I had recently purchased an infrared heat spy gun and during my drive I had to stop at a rest stop to drain the lizard. I thought to self.. take that new heat spy gun and measure temperature. I had one trailer tire that was reading about 30 degree's hotter than the others. I pulled out my air gauge and checked the pressure. It was actually higher air pressure than the other tires so the heat was not from under pressure. I continued on and had my flooring installed. On the return trip again I stopped about half way back and rechecked temperatures and temperatures. The same tire was again about 30 degrees higher temperature and the pressure was still higher than the others. I continued on home and as I was getting ready to pull off I-40 a guy pulled beside me and pointed back to my trailer.
I pulled to the side of the road and went back. As 2oldman's tire mine looked the same. only the sidewalls were left. The main tread was long gone. My trailer has torsional axles so you never know when you loose a tire unless you see debris in the rear view mirror. Anyway, I assumed there was internal separation in the plies and the friction was what was creating the heat plus the tire did have some age on it. Tires are manually built and contamination between the plies of rubber are a source of premature failure. I worked for a rubber company for 31 years making automotive and industrial belts. The company I worked for make tires until around 1975 (when steel belted radial technology came out). I purchased a tPMS within the last 6 months and it has already been put to use a couple times.
