Another Blowout Report
Well, it happened to me this past weekend too. While traveling home from a week long outing at Wekiva Springs State Park in Fl, a truck hauling pine tree trunks pulled on to the interstate just ahead of me spewing all sorts of bark and wood derbies - 30 minutes from home. I tried to avoid by slowing down, but just when I thought I was OK - BAM! My right rear tire decomposed into the mess you see below.
Luckily, this happened at the entrance to a rest stop and I was able to limp in and park. Unfortunately, I didn't have the means to jack the TT up and change the tire myself - the penalty for this being having to call Good Sam Roadside assistance and wait three hours. This has already been remedied with the purchase of a new jack to replace the old one with a leaky seal.
Luckily, the guy who was dispatched was great and had my tire changed in less than 15 minutes. He mentioned tires with a higher load range would not be a bad idea, although I'm not exceeding my gross weights.
Not a whole lot of damage occurred except for the black fabric directly behind the tire being ripped to shreds and the support for the wheel well skirt twisted, but repairable.
How do you go about fixing the fabric? Is there a source for it? Can you use any kind of tape successfully to seal a patch?
My tires are well maintained and I was running at the correct pressure, but are OEM with a date code that makes them born in 2010, so I'm thinking of replacing the entire set. We are both working folks, so I've put under 10k miles on them.
Have been through all the threads regarding this, and not wanting to start a new tire from china thread - just thought I would inform others to stay away from these types of trucks as hitting the stuff falling off it is clearly what caused my blowout. And hopefully get some good tips on how to fix the fabric underneath.
Luckily, this happened at the entrance to a rest stop and I was able to limp in and park. Unfortunately, I didn't have the means to jack the TT up and change the tire myself - the penalty for this being having to call Good Sam Roadside assistance and wait three hours. This has already been remedied with the purchase of a new jack to replace the old one with a leaky seal.
Luckily, the guy who was dispatched was great and had my tire changed in less than 15 minutes. He mentioned tires with a higher load range would not be a bad idea, although I'm not exceeding my gross weights.
Not a whole lot of damage occurred except for the black fabric directly behind the tire being ripped to shreds and the support for the wheel well skirt twisted, but repairable.
How do you go about fixing the fabric? Is there a source for it? Can you use any kind of tape successfully to seal a patch?
My tires are well maintained and I was running at the correct pressure, but are OEM with a date code that makes them born in 2010, so I'm thinking of replacing the entire set. We are both working folks, so I've put under 10k miles on them.
Have been through all the threads regarding this, and not wanting to start a new tire from china thread - just thought I would inform others to stay away from these types of trucks as hitting the stuff falling off it is clearly what caused my blowout. And hopefully get some good tips on how to fix the fabric underneath.
