Towmax blown tires

CapriRacer wrote:

gitane59 wrote:
To CapriRacer and FE:
What is not a joke is to compare sidewall strength of a ST tire and a LT tire side by side.
If after doing the comparison regardless of tread depth and the slight weight differences tread depth may produce the vast difference in sidewall strength and stiffness is not obvious to you both then we have no hope in changing your minds.......

Just so you know, I am a tire engineer and am very familiar with the strength of tire sidewalls.

But we aren't talking about sidewall failures. We are talking about failures in the belt (tread area). The strength of the sidewall has nothing to do with this type of failure. This type of failure has everything to do with the way the belt area is configured - and that is not at all related to weight.

Am I supposed to believe that sidewall heat buildup due to excessive flexing in ST tires does not contribute to heat buildup in the tread area and subsequent premature tread separation and belt failures? I'm sorry, engineer or not I can't accept in real life your theoretical analysis.

This is likely the result of third tier tire manufacturing materials and processes (which includes 1st and 2nd tier tire manufacturers using 3rd tier materials and processes.)

I fully understand your position here that subpar manufacturing or outright manufacturing defect from specific manufacturers. But that's not what were talking about. We are talking LT versus ST tires performance on heavy 5'vers and the way the ST manufacturers promote their products as the only game in town for tow behind rv's


That's why I find this whole discussion about tire weight so funny - the key to tire durability isn't measureable by weight.

Once more, I understand your position that theoretically tire durability isn't measurable by weight, however in a real life practical application the durability 2 tires, one a 37lb ST and one a 56Lb LT will be dramatically different on the same fifthwheel and I do not accept the position that weight has no bearing on this different performance. Yes the entire tire construction is different, leading to a higher weight but that is precisely why they perform better.


I hope this explains the positions I have taken on the subject - but more importantly, the strategy used to try to fix this problem is dependent on what the true nature of the problem is. I see my role as trying to educate people as to this nature - and in particular, where they are going off on the wrong tangent.

While I do appreciate your theoretical engineering analysis and knowledge of the different variations and designs of various tire types real life experience can not be completely denied and ruled out when many people including myself have switched from ST to LT tires on the same RV making no maintenance process changes and all tire un-expained tire failures have ceased.

While we are at it I will state that as an engineering technologist it is my role in many instances to apply and make work in real life an engineers theoretical plans