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rollindownthero's avatar
rollindownthero
Explorer II
Sep 07, 2020

Fed up with tire blow outs!!!

I purchased a 2018 Prime Time Tracer 253Air in April. For Father's day my daughter got me a Good Sam membership with roadside assistance, thank God!

I have used the TT once a month since May. Have had 3 tires blow out, 2 just this weekend, Labor Day weekend. It has been 3 different tires, different positions on the TT. The TT has double axles. Labor Day weekend had one blow out on my way to my destination, then another one on the way home on Monday. The tires on the TT when I bought it are Towmax 205/75R14's. The TT is not overloaded as I only use it for weekends so just the minimum stuff needed. The guy that came to change it on Friday said I need to get either D or E load rated tires. Currently they are C rated. He said they are just to light of a tire for a TT. Saturday I got another tire however couldn't find a D or E rated one any where. So ended up with another C rated just so I would have something for a spare. Was told by several tire places that to get the D or E rated they would have to be ordered. So before my next trip going to be ordering 5 D or E rated tires and put them on. Hopefully this will solve the issue. If not don't know what else to do.

Has anyone else had this frequent of blow outs or is it just my luck?

BTW, I can't say enough good about the roadside assistance. After you call they get ahold of someone that's closest to your location. Whoever they get ahold of then send you a text message with approximate arrival time. Friday night they said within an hour, actually got there within 45 minutes. Monday they said within 35 minutes and got there within 15 minutes. So way to go!!!

One strange thing is that all 3 blow out have happened on the same Hwy within about 10 miles of the same spot. No work is being done to the road and didn't run over anything. Guess I should go a different route next time.

80 Replies

  • 12th Man Fan wrote:
    How fast were you driving. Most ST trailer tires are rated at 65 mph.


    Never drove over 60, most of the time it was 55. Especially after the 2nd blow out on Friday I made sure on my way home never went more than 60 because of previous history, but sure enough it happened again.
  • 264sr you either don't tow much or have been very lucky. Our tire problems have been: the MH picked up a bolt the size of my thumb on the driver side rear inner tire, Our first Airstream had rapid failure which could be called a blow out, the teardrop picked up a piece of steel, the 5th wheel had a sidewall may pop. In half of the cases it was the tires fault, in the other half it is our wonderful roads. We try to run the best available tires and check them daily. If I were the OP I would use light truck tires.
  • This is my first RV so still learning everything. I have not had the tires balanced. One tire dealer did suggest going to 15" tires, he said those are much easier to find in D or E rated. But then I would have to get all new rims as well.

    I did not check the tire pressure before I left for this last trip this weekend. Guess that's another check list item before getting on the road.
  • Bad tires are not just from China...but “China bombs” is cute to say.

    Yes, I moved from Load Range C to D and haven’t had any issue since. Is your TT level driving down the road? Are you driving 60 mph or so? Are you positive you didn’t hit a road hazard? You check tire pressure before departure every driving day? My tires were made in China.
  • Have you had the tires ballanced, many people dont balance trailer tires and thats a mistake, I had some blow outs and unusal tire wear on a trailer so I had a tire shop balance the tires on the rim and found 2 rims out of round real bad, replaced those 2 rims and all 4 tires balanced and my problems went away..

    :C
  • I've never had a blowout in 15 years. Do you check your air pressure before every trip? You might want to invest in a tire pressure monitoring system.
  • I know someone will disagree with me BUT I had the same problem with my TT until I placed the trailer tires with light duty pickup truck tires..I did have to change the rims from 15" to 16" but it was worth it.
  • That's why they are known as China bombs. You can also consider light truck tires. Whatever inflate to max when cold. If you go with trailer tires go to E rated.