Well, I joined the blown tire crowd over the 4th holiday.I had just installed a TST monitoring system and within 120 miles, tire exploded. As the monitoring system was new, I was watching tire pressures and temps closely, nothing unusual when the tire blew. Was luckily near a closed rest area, pulled over quickly, and changed tire. The tire did some damage but I have repaired it.I have had flat tires on cars before but not on a trailer. This thing just exploded; don't know if the tire went over anything or just blew up. Just happy it happened where it did.Was glad I carry a 12 compressor with me because the spare only had 20 lbs in it. Although the compressor takes a while it is nice to have.And before you ask, 225x75 15 ST, about six years old(mfg date 08).On return trip while accelerating on the on ramp, a truck with a Cardinal fifth wheel let us in and quickly disappeared down the road. About 20 miles later, saw pieces of tire on the road and the Cardinal pulled over a little bit down the road with the left rear flat. He was just onto the shoulder with his left wheels on the shoulder with no more room to pull over at that section of highway. Hope he made out alright.

We had a tire blow on us last summer; the tires in question were probably about 2 years old, but had seen heavy use. Fortunately no other damage to the trailer, and we were lucky to have an entire lane to wait in for help - that area was under construction, with the left lane blocked off for many miles. I think that tire had been one that had shown signs of unusual wear, and was most likely related to prior problems with the wheel hubs on that same camper. Glad you came out ok; hope the Cardinal did the same.

When you say you installed the monitoring system, did you have to dismount the tires and place the sensor on the rim, or is this some sort of valve-stem item?If you had to break the bead on the tire, do you think that increased the risk of failure, being an old tire?Or maybe you installed new tires while at it? Not implying that is the cause of failure, just pondering ;)BTW, glad you're okay. These things really can fly out of the blue.

I think a lot of tire issues that are blamed on tire construction, wrong pressure, speed, age, etc. are really road hazard issues. Hard to know if you hit anything.In 15 years RVing I have had two tire failures on the road: one a trailer tire in a construction zone, who knows what I hit.Fall of 2012 out side of Austin I lost a drive tire on the Volvo. Attributed it to tire age on a recap. Then a few months later while doing maintenance I found a 3" long, 1/2" bolt with a welded washer loose in the frame of my hitch. It had obviously been bouncing around on the road and I am willing to bet that it was the actual cause of the tire failure.

This supports what many of us have known for years; when it comes to junk tires there doesn't have to be any smoking gun. IE no low tire pressure, speed, age or anything else. They simply come apart inside because they're well.. junk.

Makes you wonder if you should have invested in better tires rather than a TST system, eh? Ditch those STs and get real tires.

exploding tire | Good Sam Community

Dennis_M_M
Explorer
Jul 13, 2014
I think a lot of tire issues that are blamed on tire construction, wrong pressure, speed, age, etc. are really road hazard issues. Hard to know if you hit anything.

In 15 years RVing I have had two tire failures on the road: one a trailer tire in a construction zone, who knows what I hit.

Fall of 2012 out side of Austin I lost a drive tire on the Volvo. Attributed it to tire age on a recap. Then a few months later while doing maintenance I found a 3" long, 1/2" bolt with a welded washer loose in the frame of my hitch. It had obviously been bouncing around on the road and I am willing to bet that it was the actual cause of the tire failure.
DiskDoctr
Explorer
Jul 13, 2014
When you say you installed the monitoring system, did you have to dismount the tires and place the sensor on the rim, or is this some sort of valve-stem item?

If you had to break the bead on the tire, do you think that increased the risk of failure, being an old tire?

Or maybe you installed new tires while at it?

Not implying that is the cause of failure, just pondering ;)

BTW, glad you're okay. These things really can fly out of the blue.
kknowlton
Explorer II
Jul 13, 2014
We had a tire blow on us last summer; the tires in question were probably about 2 years old, but had seen heavy use. Fortunately no other damage to the trailer, and we were lucky to have an entire lane to wait in for help - that area was under construction, with the left lane blocked off for many miles. I think that tire had been one that had shown signs of unusual wear, and was most likely related to prior problems with the wheel hubs on that same camper. Glad you came out ok; hope the Cardinal did the same.

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