Blowout issues

[SabreCanuck]

I am constantly reading about people that have a blowout on tire mfg such and such or camper mfg such and such and instantly replace all four tires with the current "latest and greatest". Some go so far as to say they are blaming the mfg of trailer for not chipping in on cost under warranty.

I am curious why so many people don't think about road hazards that could potentially cause a blowout? Nails, chunk of cement, pothole, basic road hazard stuff. Why always so passionate about blaming the mfg for something that could very well be just Stuff happens?

How can the mfg of tire or camper not know the driver didn't drag the trailer across a curb causing the damage?

Sometimes I feel sorry for the manufacturers.

[mileshuff]

RustyJC wrote:
Some of these "China bombs" have exploded while mounted on the unit as spare tires that have never been on the ground.

Because there are many people who have had 'China Bomb' tires that have lasted many years and 1000's of miles and others who have had good name brand tires that blew out. I've had a bit of each myself. The trouble with China Bombs is you never know just what you're getting. Luck of the draw.

[RustyJC]

I don't understand why there's any controversy over the fact that there are good and bad tires out in the RV market today. Some of these "China bombs" have exploded while mounted on the unit as spare tires that have never been on the ground. How in the world did underinflation, overspeeding, road hazards, etc. have anything to do with that?? SMH....

Rusty

[garyemunson]

I suspect many 'blowouts' were from low pressure. Driving RVs is generally an all-day event and if you pick up a nail the tire has plenty of time to lose pressure and fail. Driving around town, you go into a store and come back out to find a flat, driving long distances and you have an at-speed failure. The best case I know for TPMS.

[Fisherguy]

rhagfo wrote:

Dannyabear1 wrote:
Do you read about many people having blow outs on their tow vehicles? Junky chinese tires are the problem.

X2!
We have had one blowout in like the last 30 years. It was a 10 year old Copper tire on our 89 F250, and it had a lot of miles in that ten years.

Getting ready to replace the LT's on our 5er as they are OEM and 12 years old. Just starting to show age cracking around the bead.

Wow, I had a 6 year old Commercial TA with signs of a belt separation last fall and people told me I was lucky they lasted 6 years, people saying they change their tires every 4-5 years, I can't believe no one said anything about your 12 year old tires.
I have a hard time replacing tires with only 2/32nds worn off of them.
What kinda LT's lasted you 12 years and what did you replace them with?

[laknox]

Whiskey River wrote:
fj12ryder I have no idea why some tires blow & some don't, just a suggestion.
Like you, my truck never gets used. It was new in May 08 & I still have original tires. It will be 9 years old in 2 months & has 39,000 miles or 4300 miles per year. Towing is probably 3,000 to 3,200 per year. The 5er was new in 08 and on 2nd set of tires. No problem with either set & they are ST tires...........

I have a 15 y.o. D'max and have < 100k miles on it; I don't drive it too much. My last 2 sets of tires, a set of BFG Long Trails and a set of Rugged Trails, had a75% failure rate. 6 of the 8 tires separated in < 5 years for each set. I'm done with BFG after 40+ years of running them. Now have Cooper Discoverers. We'll see...

Lyle

[K_Charles]

Our last 2 TT had junk ST tires and I never had a flat. I got a nail in one and ran it soft a few times. I added air a few times before I saw and plugged the hole. I drove at 70 most every time we got on the interstate and a few times faster then that. Make sure the tire isn't overloaded and it will be fine.

[Whiskey_River]

fj12ryder I have no idea why some tires blow & some don't, just a suggestion.
Like you, my truck never gets used. It was new in May 08 & I still have original tires. It will be 9 years old in 2 months & has 39,000 miles or 4300 miles per year. Towing is probably 3,000 to 3,200 per year. The 5er was new in 08 and on 2nd set of tires. No problem with either set & they are ST tires...........

[Durb]

The question should be: "Why does Goodyear spend money to redesign, upgrade, market and distribute their ST tires when they already have 'superior' LT tires in their product line?" What sense does that make? Why not just market their existing LT tires to the RV industry?

My theory is that ST tires are loaded at or over capacity 100 percent of the time. People boast 20 pounds under capacity for their tires and then are not towing level. Or, their tires are at capacity and they keep loading more stuff into the trailer indiscriminately. My dealer installed Towmax tires on my trailer (newbie). I have 12,800# of tire capacity supporting #8,200 pounds of axle weight. I don't anticipate any problems.

[laknox]

fj12ryder wrote:

laknox wrote:
So, an ST tire simply isn't designed to withstand all the twisty-turny stress when you have to back into a tight space? If so, why are they sold as TRAILER tires to be installed in an application where that's going to happen on a somewhat regular basis? Just sayin'...

Lyle

From what I've read ST tires are not tested as rigorously as LT or passenger tires. So if you have a marginal tire it only makes sense to label it an ST tire.

As far as an ST tire "designed to withstand all the twisty-turny stress when you have to back into a tight space", I think that can be strictly attributed to marketing hype. If you've ever examined a good LT tire right next to a "good" ST tire you'd never believe that the tissue paper thin sidewalls of an ST tire will withstand anything like the stronger sidewalls of an LT tire.

Sorta my point, fj. :B

Actually, I think that the term "blowout" is a catch-all term that we use for catastrophic tire failures and that many of the "blowouts" people report are actually tread separations and that the carcass is still holding air. I will state that overspeeding ST (or any) tires is just asking for a tread separation and I feel that this is what hurt me on a very early trip, before I even knew about the 65 mph speed rating on my FW tires. I lost my first tire in my 2nd year and < 1,000 miles and the other 3 went the next year < 2,000 miles. One trip with about 100 miles of 75 mph speed, full pressure, mild evening temps and lightly loaded. Yes, classic Blow Masters were on the trailer...

FWIW, I don't understand why the mfrs won't take a proven LT that we like to use as trailer tires, make some minor cosmetic changes, up the capacity and label it as an ST. ST "Ribs" or ST "R250s" as 2 examples.

Lyle

[fj12ryder]

laknox wrote:
So, an ST tire simply isn't designed to withstand all the twisty-turny stress when you have to back into a tight space? If so, why are they sold as TRAILER tires to be installed in an application where that's going to happen on a somewhat regular basis? Just sayin'...

Lyle

From what I've read ST tires are not tested as rigorously as LT or passenger tires. So if you have a marginal tire it only makes sense to label it an ST tire.

As far as an ST tire "designed to withstand all the twisty-turny stress when you have to back into a tight space", I think that can be strictly attributed to marketing hype. If you've ever examined a good LT tire right next to a "good" ST tire you'd never believe that the tissue paper thin sidewalls of an ST tire will withstand anything like the stronger sidewalls of an LT tire.

[fj12ryder]

Whiskey River wrote:
Well I'll get in. I think RV tire's not being used is also part of the problem. Your pick-up or car in your garage or drive way gets used everyday, or couple/three times a week. The tires get heated up, cool down, heated/cooled, they get to flex and are not sitting in the same spot for 6 months or more. Now RV's, most sit most of the time, weather indoors or out. Couple trips during the summer maybe, then a thousand mile trip to Florida or Arizona and sit for 4 to 6 months. Some covered, some not. Some move during the seasons so as not to "flat spot" them, most not. And while sitting for 5 or 6 months, the air pressure drops and instead of having 80psi when parked, 5 months later the psi is 65. So RV tires are abused somewhat just by not being used.
And as SabreCanuck says, all the road debris may cause a weakening tire that blows 6 months later when you hit nothing. And the DOT's of all the states have not been able to design a bridge abutment or expansion joint to join the bridge to the existing ground does cause some teeth jarring moments.

The only time my truck gets used is when I pull my trailer. The rest of the time it sits, just like my trailer. I've had zero problems with the truck as opposed to the trailer. No flats or blowouts with the truck tires, the same cannot be said of the trailer tires.

FWIW I've never had trailer tires drop 15 psi while parked. The max is usually 5 psi or less. It and the truck usually sit from the middle of October to the middle of April.

[laknox]

So, an ST tire simply isn't designed to withstand all the twisty-turny stress when you have to back into a tight space? If so, why are they sold as TRAILER tires to be installed in an application where that's going to happen on a somewhat regular basis? Just sayin'...

Lyle

[phillyg]

Anecdotally, it seems a
a lot of folks post about cheap Chinese tires, that's why. Now, I suspect some are caused by poor inflation, a road hazard or something else. But most mfgrs. put cheap Chinese tires on their products so there're a lot of them out there. So yes, I believe most Chinese tires are ****.

[buc1980]

I got a lot of problems with the early Goodyear G614.Looks that they are good tire now but they are so expensive.That make me turn away from them and go with Sailun tire.