Tires...why do rv tires blow apart so bad?

Just my opinion, weight and tire pressure.

Irover wrote:
To be accurate; that tire pressure is rated at ponds per square inch. 10X100 sq. ins. = 1,000 sq. ins. x 85 pounds = 85,000 pounds pressure according to basic math. Now have you figured out why they blow all to pieces; considering also what joelc wrote. Irover

What is a Pond per square inch?

Even if your math did work, what about the surface area of the rims and sidewall, everything feels the force. What about the centripidal force due to speed applied to the gas within the tire, the wieght of the gas is increased along with the weight of the tire at rated speed. What is the 10" the width? and 100 the circumference? If 100 is the circumference that is about an 35" diameter tire, but how are we to know that since circumference isn't measured in sq in.

What about the pressure increase to to the increase in temperature?

You need to state your assumptions in order to do basic math.

As a reference a 35" tire with a 20" rim will exert approximately 87 G's of force to the outer edge of the tire at 70mph.

Irover wrote:
To be accurate; that tire pressure is rated at ponds per square inch. 10X100 sq. ins. = 1,000 sq. ins. x 85 pounds = 85,000 pounds pressure according to basic math. Now have you figured out why they blow all to pieces; considering also what joelc wrote. Irover

WOW! that is all I have to say about that math.

To be accurate; that tire pressure is rated at ponds per square inch. 10X100 sq. ins. = 1,000 sq. ins. x 85 pounds = 85,000 pounds pressure according to basic math. Now have you figured out why they blow all to pieces; considering also what joelc wrote. Irover

AO_hitech wrote:
RV tire blowouts are probably mostly due to age. When they fail from age they just "come apart".

^^This.

I had a blow out recently on a USA made Goodyear G159 on my gooseneck flatbed utility trailer. I check the air pressure before every trip with a gauge. Got approximately 5mi from home when she went boom.

Tire easily had 75%+ tread. Always maintained, never recapped, trailer is always stored indoors, tires never were patched. Took it to the tire store I bought it from and they stated that the tires are 20 years old. No warranty. So I am looking to replace 4 almost perfect tires just based solely on their age.




BTW, made in China has little to nothing to do with tire failures.

I have been running Chinese 245/70-19.5s on my F-450 company truck for years without a single blowout. Tread wear is a different issue though.

joelc wrote:
1. Made in China
2. Under inflation
3. Too old. More than 6 yrs.
4. They are over weight rating.

There it is... In a nutshell

With 2 or 3 axles that close together,rear tire does not get a lot of cooling air.Plus if front tire hits any road debris,guess where it goes,straight into the rear tire,not like on a car where it has time to slide across the highway before it gets to the rear tire.

If they put something like 1/4" steel plate around the wheel well then everybody would be complaining about the extra weight and cost.

Truck tires have been having issues since the days when pretty much every tire was made in the USA.

It is mostly because there is no protection around the tire. The wheel wells are constructed of weak materials and there are a lot of exposed fragile things like plumbing and plastic tanks near the wheels. This is unlike a motor vehicle.

I believe they could if they wanted to build a sturdy wheel well around the tire, and protect fragile undercomponents from debris.

But they don't. Because they can get away with not doing it.

I agree with most of what has been posted including the list from joelc. But one thing no one has mentioned is that ST trailer tires are all speed rated at 65 mph. More speed than this and the tire will heat more than it is supposed to. Add to that if it is under inflated and old. No one ever wears out a trailer tire. How many times have we seen posted "there was plenty of tread left". There is always plenty of tread on an RV trailer tire since we just don't tow them that much. I know a few do, but not many. When a trailer tire gets up to the 5 years it should be replaced - period.