Had my first blowout this past weekend

The problem with a TPMS is usually faulty set-up bu the owner and not the TPMS itself. If the coach was weighed and the tire charts say that you should be using 95psi MINIMUM in the tire, then the TPMS should be set higher. From reading the various posts on this forum, that 95 psi is what most people set their TPMS for. This means that the tire has to lose 10% or so before the alarm is sent. Who knows what damage is done to the tire when driving for xx miles with the tire under-inflated until air is added to bring it up to the MINIMUM required air pressure of 95psi. Others have said that they did not add air when the TPMS sounds an alarm when the tire was cold because after they get on the road, the tire will warm up and the pressure will increase.
For the TPMS to have any use at all, it needs to sound an alarm when the tire gets to 95psi, and NOT 10% below 95psi. This means that you have to inflate your tires for a certain amount over 95psi, when the tire is cold before you have driven on it, to properly monitor and protect your tires. Then, when the tire pressure drops to 95psi, you will be warned to add air BEFORE damage is done. Any warning after it has dropped below the MINIMUM of 95psi is too late.

Would like to know the mechanism of that 5-8 year rule Oxidation? Delamination? Belt fatigue? Outer case UV damage? Haven't heard anyone talk tech. I know the tire manufactures dont agree with that rule.

So, anyone know why tires only last 8 years? Or is that just what every one says? Who knows, maybe i hit road debris. They sure looked good at 10 years old.

Cousin_Eddy wrote:
You can try to add order to a******shoot if you want. A few years ago, a buddy of mine fearing aging tires replaced them all with a brand name (bfg) Had two blow outs on the way back on the first trip. Took out his pooper tank. He had to walk back 1/4 mile to retrieve it. Obviously some latent defect. Had to fight with the tire center to replace them all with a different brand for free. What a mess.

You never know what will happen with any brand, even with new tires. ******shoot. Good luck

Age is allways the root cause of a blowout on an old tire ;)
A tire gets old all of sudden after 5 to 7 years :h

You can try to add order to a******shoot if you want. A few years ago, a buddy of mine fearing aging tires replaced them all with a brand name (bfg) Had two blow outs on the way back on the first trip. Took out his pooper tank. He had to walk back 1/4 mile to retrieve it. Obviously some latent defect. Had to fight with the tire center to replace them all with a different brand for free. What a mess.

You never know what will happen with any brand, even with new tires. ******shoot. Good luck

BleedsGreen wrote:
. . . what's with the high cost of name brand vs. not so name brand if the numbers add up?

There are more specs for a tire than are published, and let's not forget corporate support.

For the SUV I purchased General tires that were highly recommended by Consumer Reports despite a very flimsy sidewall. I hated those tires - handling was like the Queen Mary. Yokohamas were OE and I enjoyed the additional 2 sets I bought. Latest set are Michelin LTX (light truck) tires. The sidewalls are very stiff and the truck handles like a sport. Yes, they cost more. Yes, I will buy them again.

I bought Load Star (Chinese) tires for the cargo trailer. I mean, it's only a trailer tire, right? I seldom get to 2/3 GVWR and most of the time run 1/2 GVWR. After a year or two one of the tires delaminated and took out my fender. Tip o'da visor to a buddy who rescued me with a spare tire! Goodyear Marathons came on the trailer and I pretty much wore the original set out. After the Chinese tire episode I'm working on the second Marathon set.

How do you find specs that you trust and will make you happy? I have no idea.

For the Moho the selling dealer installed Dyna-Trac (Chinese) tires. I wasn't thrilled so he gave an option for Continental at $2k more or a discount with a promise to purchase tires as soon as we got home. Maximum load occurs at 125 psi front, 120 psi rear. That's a lot of pressure and it still handles like the Queen Mary! I run them at 110 psi and when they drop to 100 psi the coach starts riding decently . . . . but at what cost? I can't find any sort of pressure vs load derating spec so I'm pretty stuck with guess work psi (I'd rather be high than low). Just finding a web site for Dyna-Trac is quite a trick. And these might be rated for 62 mph, I can't tell. What speed ratings are the name-brand tires? We weren't sure how this Class A thing was going to work out so we went cheap. Yes, they cost less. No, I will not buy another no-name set.

The sidewalls are very flimsy - it was way too easy pushing in the sidewall to instal Dyna Beads.

I should have a TPMS system . . . . maybe after my first blow out!

Just my 2c.

Best,
- bob

Groover wrote:
In my experience 10 years is too old. I have had tires much newer explode without warning. Two were Khumo that were only three years old. They technically totaled my p/u as the damage was greater than the value of the truck. I also had a Michelin explode after 7 years. I had 2 Goodyears deflate due to sidewall rot after only 3 years. The weird thing was that the other three on the vehicle (presumably from the same lot) ran another 3 or 4 years.

There was a lot of talk about tire life after the Ford Explorer rollover cases. The tire industry fought establishing a defined life because some dealers have poor inventory management and want to keep selling tires up to 10 years old. On the other hand, Michelin refused to take any responsibility for the tire that exploded based purely on it being 7 years old.

I plan to put a TPMS system on my coach soon but I don't believe that it would have given me any notice of the 4 explosions I have had so far in my life. Maybe I am wrong, we will never know.

We will of course never know for sure.
But I have personally had my TPMS warn me of an air pressure loss in time to get off the road.
The tire in question was suffering a tread separation, and would have, within a few miles, beat my wheelwell to death, screwed up my toad, and bounced down the highway causing God only know what damage to those behind my.

A good TPMS costs no more than ONE TIRE! If you don't have one, buy one today.

Dutch_12078 wrote:

Bigdog wrote:
TPMS won't give you any warning in the case of a blowout as usually it is a sudden catastrophic event. If it's gonna blow, it's gonna blow.
I have talked to too many folks that think that having a TPMS is a substitute for checking the condition of the tires and actual cold pressures before starting out in the morning.

The more common cause of blowouts is low tire pressure that allows the tire to flex beyond its limits, something a TPMS will warn you of. A good TPMS is also quite capable of reading cold pressures before starting out. Visually checking tire condition at every opportunity while traveling is always a good preventative measure of course.

Agreed. Been there, done that, got the T shirt.
What could have been an unmitigated disaster was instead a no cost 1 hour delay.

TPMS + unmounted spare + coachnet = peace of mind.

I will definitly get a TPMS. I had a blowout this winter, no damage, probably due to a rock in between the two tires. One was probably low and as it gets larger when underinflated, I stop on the road side where there was big rocks on the ground, the tire blew shortly after. If I had a TPMS, I would have known the tire was still slowly leaking.

The Goodyear tire that blew had a slow leak and I think it was leaking from the tire wall. I had it taken off twice to find the leak and it seemed nice in and out, no fault was found.

rgatijnet1 wrote:
When using a TPMS on duals, with the extended valve stem, the temperature reading of the tire is almost useless. The temperature it senses is way too low to be of any use in determining if the tire is overheating.

The temperature on my inner duals go up in sync with the outer duals, even though the readings are different. The relative changes are what I monitor, not the specific readings. My inner duals usually read higher than the outers while underway, but that's as expected.

In my experience 10 years is too old. I have had tires much newer explode without warning. Two were Khumo that were only three years old. They technically totaled my p/u as the damage was greater than the value of the truck. I also had a Michelin explode after 7 years. I had 2 Goodyears deflate due to sidewall rot after only 3 years. The weird thing was that the other three on the vehicle (presumably from the same lot) ran another 3 or 4 years.

There was a lot of talk about tire life after the Ford Explorer rollover cases. The tire industry fought establishing a defined life because some dealers have poor inventory management and want to keep selling tires up to 10 years old. On the other hand, Michelin refused to take any responsibility for the tire that exploded based purely on it being 7 years old.

I plan to put a TPMS system on my coach soon but I don't believe that it would have given me any notice of the 4 explosions I have had so far in my life. Maybe I am wrong, we will never know.