Maxxis tire failure

elkhorn98 wrote:
Ok I always hear you need a stiff sidewall for trailer tires and st tires are stiffer. But this seems to be completely false in my experience. I switched to lt tires with a similar load rating and my lt tires have a much stiffer sidewall. The st stiffer sidewall seems to be marketing hype. Anyone else see this too?

Yes, I compared the original ST tires that came on my camper to the Kumho 857's that I was replacing them with. The Kumho ( commercial LT tire ) has a much stiffer sidewall. It also resulted in a more stable towing trailer, and I have to wonder if the added stiffness is part of that improvement.

on my car hauler trailer I switched from 15 ST tires to 16 inch LT "E" rated tries and all my tire problems went away. Went with an all-season type radial, as I recall its something like 235 16 E LT. Did that after having multiple tires shred in the st line.

Ok I always hear you need a stiff sidewall for trailer tires and st tires are stiffer. But this seems to be completely false in my experience. I switched to lt tires with a similar load rating and my lt tires have a much stiffer sidewall. The st stiffer sidewall seems to be marketing hype. Anyone else see this too?

And, every now and then, you just get a bad tire.

This is the OP.

The tire I had fail was on a single axle trailer.

Thus no twisting or side forces.

The tire had a lot of tread left. I will measure the tire that did not fail in a couple weeks when I get home from this trip.

The tires had never been loaded close to their load rating and I monitor the tire pressures with a TPMS. The tire that failed had not lost any pressure.

Reminder I caught this one before the tread was thrown.

Also I replaced both tires as it seams when one goes the others are not far behind.

I wonder how long the rear tires last on one of these if not off-roaded.

BenK wrote:
Am NOT a tire engineer...just my opinion on this one

I change out all ST class tires on my trailers over to LT class.

Expensive, as the wheels also need to be changed (in most cases)


Am not of the philosophy that the sidewalls MUST be stiff to resist this force
and why I like LT radials of HIGH aspect ratio as I can find

Down side is that the trailer will have a higher tendency to wiggle the side
walls and I've managed that with the highest ply rating and keep them aired up
to max PSI

Bottom line is that all the trailer suspensions I've ever looked at are El Cheapo
NONE had shocks

You are 100% right about the shocks ALL travel trailers should come STANDARD with them.

However I can tell you from an engineering perspective that Sidewall stiffness is integral to ST tires and the special work they do. I am not a Tire Engineer but Sidewall stiffness will reduce the movement that is often mistaken for "SWAY". It helps the trailer hold a better line. LT's might work well too or they might be too flexible in the sidewall, depending on the brand and how they are made.

ST tread is designed for TRAILING and LT tires are designed for traction control and steering. They may be compatible or a certain brand might not work as well as a good brand of ST. It's hard to tell until you experiment.

I have thought about this as well but decided to stay with the ST's

My family was in the trucking business (moving and storage companies from Socal to North Carolina). When I was a kid we bought ST tires by the truckload. I left the family business...didnt want anything to do with it but ended up with my own trucks as a sideline to my regular career for years. I have bought my share of ST tires too. I can tell you for certain I have asked all the questions and watched as the technology and the tires have gotten better and better as time goes on. I have also watched as some of the foreign manufacturers have taken a bigger and bigger market share with really excellent tires at better prices. Toyo, Yokohama, Michelin etc. When you have even a small fleet of say 10 trucks tires become a BIG deal.

Think of any vehicles FRONT tires on pavement being 'twisted' by the
steering wheel...all the while not rolling (moving)

PLUS pushing that tire sideways with very large forces


The tread will try to stick to the pavement and the wheel will twist
the tire sidewall


It is no wonder tire tread plies separate more often

Think low PSI exacerbates this...


Doesn't happen instantly, but over time and depends on how often the
driver does this...on good pavement...toss in after running for hours
on HOT pavement...then at the site...maneuvering in...

4X4Dodger wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"The only thing that would stop this "twisting" action would be a differential on your trailer axles and they dont need that"

Maybe there is something I don't understand but how would a differential stop the "TWISTING" ?

Well actually you are right. Since the wheels turn independently a differential will not help the tires rotate at different speeds from one side to the other. By twisting I meant the wheel variation in turning and flexing.

I was using it more like the aircraft wing analogy just to illustrate something...

I admit it was not well written or explained.

But the rest is valid. It's common and nothing to worry about.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"The only thing that would stop this "twisting" action would be a differential on your trailer axles and they dont need that"

Maybe there is something I don't understand but how would a differential stop the "TWISTING" ?

Need a single axle not a differential.
No RV trailer has an axle to differentiate.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"The only thing that would stop this "twisting" action would be a differential on your trailer axles and they dont need that"

Maybe there is something I don't understand but how would a differential stop the "TWISTING" ?

Well actually you are right. Since the wheels turn independently a differential will not help the tires rotate at different speeds from one side to the other. By twisting I meant the wheel variation in turning and flexing.

I was using it more like the aircraft wing analogy just to illustrate something...

I admit it was not well written or explained.

But the rest is valid. It's common and nothing to worry about.