Brand new 5th wheel-- blowout from the factory to the dealer

[sasha_j]

Yes folks, here we witnessed a brand new 5th wheel trailer that couldn't get from the factory to the dealer without a tire blowout....so sad. No it's not ours, I just witnessed this while on the road ourselves......

I had to do a detailed write up. Here it is with pics if you're interested. 

clicky here

Please take the time to read it all and view all the pictures before commenting. The only real thing I did not "get" was how these 15" tires achieved their "E" rating. I thought you needed a 16" tire to get to "E" ratings.

Enjoy. 

[Beach-Rat]

My comments are in reference to ST225/75-15 tires..

In 2000 I purchased a 25ft Prowler 5er.. had 225/75-15 Load range "C" Goodyear Marathons from the factory tires were made in late 1996,, ran them thru 2004, X 12k miles.. no problem.. In 2004 they were replaced with "D" Marathons.. another x10k miles without a problem..

2006 purchased a new Arctic Fox 24-5N with 225/75-15 "D" tires.. in 2009 at x13k miles all "no name" factory tired developed "goose eggs" in the tread areas.. all were replaced by Northwood's tire vendor.

2009 Dico (made by Titan) "E" tires were installed.. 2011 with x13k miles.. had first blow out.. more "goose eggs" .. had to buy a "C" bias when second tire failed in Key West..

2012.. four Carlisle "E".. one on way to Key West, three upon returning home (on bias "C") (Carlisle is what the agri-suply store at location of blow out sold)..

2014.. x10k miles on Carlisles.. will be three years old in spring '15.. they look fine..

all tires run at max pressure.. checked every morning (of a trip)..

ST225/75-15 tires are not of the quality that they were in the 1990s..

There is an LT225/70-15 "D" that is made for European delivery vans.. Continental and Goodyear make them in Europe.. sold by Tire Rack... these may be my next move..

BTW.. 16in tires will not fit under my trailer.. I have 31 in axle spacing..

Note:.. yes the LTs are 70s and the STs are 75s.. please do not criticize, offer a solution.. and remember..

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

[goducks10]

sasha_j wrote:
I will say to you skeptics, that YES, I should of got a good shot of the bad tire.

That said, you can also say my perspective on the RV industry is biased based on my experience owning 2 trailers, both of which required wheel and tire upgrades just to run the OEM GVWR ratings. Look at my current sig......

IMO, there has been a long term trend by manufacturers to undersize the running gear of trailers, presumably, to keep their costs down. This may has changed over the last couple years, but ask anyone buying a TH or 5'er circa 2000-2010. You can find 18K rigs with 15" wheels from that era.

Sometimes I think the design specs are put out by bean counters, not engineers. Thus, I am hyper-sensitive to this issue, yes.

Simple answer. Northwood.

[diesel_man_03]

I know the Goodyear Marathon is also made in China, it is not the location of where it is made but rather the Quality of the tire that counts.

[sasha_j]

I will say to you skeptics, that YES, I should of got a good shot of the bad tire.

That said, you can also say my perspective on the RV industry is biased based on my experience owning 2 trailers, both of which required wheel and tire upgrades just to run the OEM GVWR ratings. Look at my current sig......

IMO, there has been a long term trend by manufacturers to undersize the running gear of trailers, presumably, to keep their costs down. This may has changed over the last couple years, but ask anyone buying a TH or 5'er circa 2000-2010. You can find 18K rigs with 15" wheels from that era.

Sometimes I think the design specs are put out by bean counters, not engineers. Thus, I am hyper-sensitive to this issue, yes.

[MrVan]

bpounds wrote:
I usually just stay away from tire threads here, and I probably should have on this one too. No offense meant to anyone.

Fact is that I just cannot relate to all the ST hate around here. I've never had any problem with them. And my wild guess would be that 90% of RV trailers are sold with ST tires, and if they were blowing right and left like some would have you believe, I would see a lot of trailers changing tires on the highway. But I don't. Rarely see the obvious mismatched spare wheel mounted either.

But I also believe the respected forum members who have personally experienced failures. Seems like they tend to be the larger rigs that might have been running very near rated sidewall capacity. And those bigger units have to make large turns and necessarily jump curb aprons more often. Or maybe, like anything else in life, you don't want to ride the ragged edge of capacity. Shame on manufacturers for doing that.

Empirical evidence shows that ST tires are not as bad as the RV.net legend.

You have identified where the most failures are and that is on the heavier/larger rigs. But be careful drawing only the conclusion that they are being used closer to their capacity and that is the single reason for higher failure. Consider this as well. The bigger rigs tend to be used more, tend to be pulled more miles than a smaller weekend only RV. I don't have the statistics but I'm willing to make a fairly large bet that the higher mileage has a large influence in the failure rate as well as being used closer to rated capacity,

[CKNSLS]

bpounds wrote:
I usually just stay away from tire threads here, and I probably should have on this one too. No offense meant to anyone.

Fact is that I just cannot relate to all the ST hate around here. I've never had any problem with them. And my wild guess would be that 90% of RV trailers are sold with ST tires, and if they were blowing right and left like some would have you believe, I would see a lot of trailers changing tires on the highway. But I don't. Rarely see the obvious mismatched spare wheel mounted either.

But I also believe the respected forum members who have personally experienced failures. Seems like they tend to be the larger rigs that might have been running very near rated sidewall capacity. And those bigger units have to make large turns and necessarily jump curb aprons more often. Or maybe, like anything else in life, you don't want to ride the ragged edge of capacity. Shame on manufacturers for doing that.

Empirical evidence shows that ST tires are not as bad as the RV.net legend.

You forgot to mention excessive speed and hitting curbs.

[bpounds]

I usually just stay away from tire threads here, and I probably should have on this one too. No offense meant to anyone.

Fact is that I just cannot relate to all the ST hate around here. I've never had any problem with them. And my wild guess would be that 90% of RV trailers are sold with ST tires, and if they were blowing right and left like some would have you believe, I would see a lot of trailers changing tires on the highway. But I don't. Rarely see the obvious mismatched spare wheel mounted either.

But I also believe the respected forum members who have personally experienced failures. Seems like they tend to be the larger rigs that might have been running very near rated sidewall capacity. And those bigger units have to make large turns and necessarily jump curb aprons more often. Or maybe, like anything else in life, you don't want to ride the ragged edge of capacity. Shame on manufacturers for doing that.

Empirical evidence shows that ST tires are not as bad as the RV.net legend.

[grampscamper]

Last fall we picked up a new 5th wheel. We decided to camp near the dealership to make sure everything was working properly. The tires were checked at the dealer. We had 80 lbs. in each tire. When I got home one tire was down 26 lbs. I took it to a nearby tire shop and they discovered I had picked up a screw. Had I not checked the tire I could have possibly had a blowout. No fault of the tire or the manufacturer. I'm not defending the manufacturer as I would like to see better quality tires from the factory. I'm just offering another possible reason for the blowout.
Now I have a TPMS installed. In my opinion relatively cheap insurance.

[bad99ram]

CKNSLS wrote:

sasha_j wrote:
Yes folks, here we witnessed a brand new 5th wheel trailer that couldn't get from the factory to the dealer without a tire blowout....so sad. No it's not ours, I just witnessed this while on the road ourselves......

I had to do a detailed write up. Here it is with pics if you're interested. 

clicky here

Please take the time to read it all and view all the pictures before commenting. The only real thing I did not "get" was how these 15" tires achieved their "E" rating. I thought you needed a 16" tire to get to "E" ratings.

Enjoy. 

Your "write up" is pontification at it's finest.

X2

[2008Wildcat]

Yep, way too many assumptions.

There are thousands of car tire blow outs in a year. They just aren't reported on a concentrated website like trailer tires are....

[CKNSLS]

sasha_j wrote:
Yes folks, here we witnessed a brand new 5th wheel trailer that couldn't get from the factory to the dealer without a tire blowout....so sad. No it's not ours, I just witnessed this while on the road ourselves......

I had to do a detailed write up. Here it is with pics if you're interested. 

clicky here

Please take the time to read it all and view all the pictures before commenting. The only real thing I did not "get" was how these 15" tires achieved their "E" rating. I thought you needed a 16" tire to get to "E" ratings.

Enjoy. 

Your "write up" is pontification at it's finest.

[rickeoni]

We were looking at RVs at the local dealer last weekend and noticed a new trailer with the siding damaged and the wheel opening skirt badly broken . Opened the door to look inside and there was what was left of the tire. Obviously a blow out with the tire grenading due to overheating, the tread had separated from the carcass. With no body damage and not having seen the original tire, there are just too many variables to blame the tire.

[stetwood]

Too many assumptions made here about the cause of a tire failure. I am not defending the "Chinese" tire, but there are all kinds of road hazards out there in addition to faulty valves stems and rims. I have those "China" tires on with two failures, both due to road debris. DW hit a turtle once and the shell cut the tire.

I once bought a brand new American Made tractor and the engine blew with only 12 hours on it. It seems one of the pistons wasn't tighten properly.

[camperkilgore]

I have experienced blowouts from Chinese built tires, all at below average speeds for open highway travel, and while monitoring the the pressures with a Pressure Pro tire monitoring system. One blowout happened right after checking the monitor pressure as we frequently do while towing. Since then I have used light truck tires with no problems at all towing cross country in hot weather at freeway speeds.

It's getting to be harder to find anything that isn't made in China, and as more and more of us discover faulty construction or design in many products that we buy, the argument over whether it's from misuse or other factors will become invalid (it already has for a lot of us).