Metal wheel wells?

Air conditioning duct material is very thin. Much thinner that my steel wheel wells on my equipment trailers. Big tires like a LT 235/85-16 E or G has ruined more than a couple of those heavy gauge steel wheel wells for me.

Better stick with 1/8" or 9 or 10 gauge at a minimum for tires that size. Smaller lighter tires may get by with A/C thin sheet metal.

Not sure why you would PLAN on having a tire shred and damage your trailer. 85,000 towing miles on my current trailer and 60,000 on my previous one and I've never had the problem.

I have to agree with the above post, when a tire blows and tears up it can do damage to any thing in it's way. I know a guy who had a ford pickup and his front driver wheel blew and the tire tread came up and hit under the door and he could not open the door. the door casing was moved up about three inches from normal and that is some very hard metal back in the 60's.

Well I agree that there is no practical way to eliminate trailer damage when a tire "explodes" but a little 16 gauge would go a long way in reducing the extent of the damage.
B.O.'s comment about about "Real" tires is well taken but I have lost a couple of tires that lost pressure due to puncture and then shredded because I didn't notice it in time.

I like Stripit's fix. AC ducting material should work just fine. I had a blowout too. Little damage to the side skirt but damaged the floor above. Most of the energy was absorbed by the spare wheel lift drive shaft. Bent that.

Anyhow to fix under the floor I happened to have an old dually mudflap. Cut that to size. Glued & screwed under the floor & we are set.

I agree with B.O. I had a tire separate on a full size truck at 65 miles an hour, it took the running board and the fender around the tire well and rolled them up into a ball.

If I were to do this I would use Aluminum diamond plate, it would add several pounds, but right over the wheels so not change to pin, or hitch weight.

stripit wrote:
Years ago I lost a tread on a tire and it did tear out the covering and broke up some of the plywood structure directly above the failed tire. I figured rather that take the slide out apart to replace the broken wood, as that wood did nothing but keep the elements out I would install a new metal panel. I went to a heating/ac company that could bend sheet metal and had them make me a panel with a 90 degree bent lip that I wanted so the metal would fit perfectly. I used a sealer caulk & self taping screws to install the "bullet proof" panel. Now I don't care what those tire do it will never hurt the area above them again. Total cost about $25. and maybe 1/2 hour of time. The metal shop had 3 different thicknesses of metal and I choose the thickest, price was negligible, maybe 4 dollars between thin and thick. Having it cut and bent it fit like a glove.

Might help but I really doubt a piece of sheet metal is going to stop any damage. When a tire grenades then a part of the tread whips around while doing 50-60 mph. If it can rip the side of the trailer open I don't think a piece of tin will stop anything. Why not invest in some REAL tires so this won't be a concern..

B.O.

Years ago I lost a tread on a tire and it did tear out the covering and broke up some of the plywood structure directly above the failed tire. I figured rather that take the slide out apart to replace the broken wood, as that wood did nothing but keep the elements out I would install a new metal panel. I went to a heating/ac company that could bend sheet metal and had them make me a panel with a 90 degree bent lip that I wanted so the metal would fit perfectly. I used a sealer caulk & self taping screws to install the "bullet proof" panel. Now I don't care what those tire do it will never hurt the area above them again. Total cost about $25. and maybe 1/2 hour of time. The metal shop had 3 different thicknesses of metal and I choose the thickest, price was negligible, maybe 4 dollars between thin and thick. Having it cut and bent it fit like a glove.

in our recent trailer shopping we've seen 2 trailers that have metal barriers above the wheels. Those are Lifestyle which uses an aluminum box and Landmark which uses what looks like a thin steel sheet.