RollinFreenEasy wrote:
I'm new to this forum, (been lurking for a long time) and was looking for a way to determine what temperature trailer tires should run, and what temp would be considered excessive. There is a good reason for my interest. Last January we were eastbound on I-20 headed for Fredericksburg, Texas when we had a catastrophic blowout. I was letting the rig roll over 65 on the downhill. Ripped off the j panel and fender on the drivers side of our trailer, the tread began to come off and shredded the black waterproof material above the tire resulting in $1600 worth of damage. The tires were checked at the start of the run and were at 80 psi as stated on the sidewall. They were Goodyear Marathons and only 2 years old. While trying to decide what tire to replace the destroyed tire with the shop foreman at the Goodyear store in Fredericksburg showed me a Maxxis M8008 that was the same size as the Goodyears. The Maxxis tire was 13 pounds or 14 pounds heavier. It would seem that more material in a tire would be a good thing. While putting the new tire on the trailer I decided to shoot a little grease in the ez lube axles and shackle bolts and spin the remaining tires to check for anything out of the ordinary. It was a good move, I found a bubble about 3 inches in diameter on the inside of the tire opposite the one that blew. I called the shop foreman and had him send their tire truck and 3 more new Maxxis tires. On the plus side Goodyear has a damage claim team and after filling out a couple of forms, sending pictures and an estimate for the damages and leaving the tire at a Goodyear dealer to be sent to Akron Ohio they sent me a letter that I and a witness had to sign to the effect I would not pursue the matter and they sent a check for all damages. A couple of lessons were learned. I will NOT exceed 65 mph nor will I buy anything with Goodyears.
There is a way to determine if you have a potential problem with operating temperature - pressure build up:
Anything over 10% buildup is considered excessive. Anything over 15% requires immediate action.
If you exceed these values, you need to reduce your speed or increase your load carrying capacity by either going to a higher load range or a larger tire.
Please note it takes about 1 1/2 hours to reach a stable temperature in a tire. My recommendation is to measure the pressure 45 minutes after starting out to see where this would end up - and follow that up with another reading 45 minutes after that.
Also please note, this does not guarantee you won't have issues. It's just an easy way of detecting a specific problem.
