Yeah, I've pretty much had a moron moment.
I realize I was mistaken, in the last year I had my truck tires replaced and my RV rims (1 of the factory steel rims rusted through). My tires are actually about 3 years old. We've been travelling around the U.S. those three years and they're just worn down too much. It's odd they blew on the same day, but if the tire was old and was taking extra pressure from the spare being Load D or just the stress of driving 2 slow miles on 3 tires to get off the 95, it seems plausible. Bad road, under inflated, extra load, older tire... it all adds up.
The only problem is that I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere and the guy only has Hi Runs. Nothing much I can do about it. Putting on 4 new Hi Runs, 10 ply. They're new and price isn't terrible. So we'll see how it goes.
I had a real mental lapse with these tires. When I got the rims last year I was thinking I got rims and tires but my wife corrected me and I checked the receipt. I didn't get tires because my Maxxus tires still looked good and I never had any problems with them. They just reached the end of their life I suppose. It's actually amazing how good the tread looks considering we've been driving them around the country for 3 years. Must easily be 50k miles on them and they still have some decent tread (the 2 that didn't blow on me).
When I said driving at 70 I mean psi, not mph. I usually run around 65mph on interstate although I do get up to 70 sometimes.
Also, I can't afford the weight reduction for LT's. I thought about it last time but we have been living/travelling and we just can't afford that much weight reduction. We're just below max and there isn't much we can get rid of.
I guess when I got new rims I should have gotten 16's. I didn't want to do tires at the time and do jump to 16's you have to do it all at once. It was, and still is, a financial decision. Can't buy new rims again so I'm stuck at 15, but I am also sticking with the 10 ply (E's).
So lessons learned today:
1. Keep tires inflated to max
2. Keep better track of when you need new tires
3. Keep the speed down to 65 when towing
Tires are getting mounted now, at the local library while the kids do school and I check in on some work. Should be back on the road in a little bit.
