Recent blowout - the good and the bad

[Dayle1]

So, had a blowout last week, first trip with the new fiver. Forth blowout in almost 30 yrs towing. Anyway, a few thoughts.

The Bad:
1. Clearly the tire failure
2. Limited shoulder, stopped on the white line with other side almost in a ditch
3. Stopped on a blind curve, bridge ahead with no shoulder
4. With a broken foot and a handicapped wife we were stuck
5. Very marginal cell reception

The Good:
1. Tire failure was catastrophic so Houston, we have a problem
2. Emergency stop was automatic, quick and very smooth
3. Quick stop, no damage to the trailer or rim
4. Early morning, so low temps and shade
5. Within 30 min. 2 ranch hands stopped to help and got us back on the road in 10 min.
6. 20 miles to the nearest tire store and they were super quick at replacing all four STs with LTs.

I now have 1200 miles on the new tires including some pretty rough roads.

[Reelay]

See my post "Blow Out Tire" 08/13/2017

[ol_Bombero-JC]

cummins2014 wrote:

Me Again wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Tire failure due to what? No TPMS? What is an automatic stop?

Why do people ask why a ST tire failed? Failure is integrated in their design and use on large 5th wheels.

Huh !!!!!! :h Thats a pretty broad stroke you are painting. How do you account for the Sailun ST tires the S637's stellar reputation for durability, and lack of failures, if failure is integrated in their design.

There are lots of "New Name" ST tires that "pop up" (pun?) and deserve the bad rep that many ST tires have had for years.
BTW - that 'bad rep' even included GY ST Marathons Made in the USA, then China.

However, LOTS of good reports on Sailun - try a search on "Sailun Tires", be sure to spell "Sailun" correctly!

Not sure if this involved the Sailun S637...
Sailun changed the designation from LT -to- ST to avoid the import tariff on LTs. Same tire, same specs...:W

BTW - China is very capable of manufacturing quality tires. Just depends on what the buyer (ultimate distributor/retailer) wants.

YOU can be a tire distributor too! Got the bucks? - The Chinese will be happy to manufacture the "Me Again" brand, and ship cargo containers (to the US, or?) chock full of them..:S

~

[laknox]

2oldman wrote:
Body damage will be directly proportional to how fast you're going. My one and only tire failure while driving occurred at under 40mph. I was very lucky. Only the tire was destroyed.

My one full-on tire failure was on I-17, heading north. I noticed that I was suddenly pulling harder than it should be up a very slight grade and decided to pull over. Tread was broken and wrapped around the axle, but carcass was intact. (That's also the day that I found that a Harbor Freight 6T bottle jack wouldn't lift a single axle and I had to use my truck's jack to lift the trailer.) Fortunately, no damage since I'd slowed a bit for the grade and the tread more-or-less rolled off the carcass before breaking. Had to cut part of the tread away to get the rim off, though. Hit a tire shop a few miles down the road and got a new tire. This was in 2nd year of FW ownership, with < 2,000 total miles, including delivery from the OR Komfort factory.

Lyle

[2oldman]

Body damage will be directly proportional to how fast you're going. My one and only tire failure while driving occurred at under 40mph. I was very lucky. Only the tire was destroyed.

[time2roll]

Yes I have also lost an entire tread cap. Pulled over with no loss of pressure.

[bluie5]

A TPMS isn't a guaranty there won't be any body damage. I have TPMS and had the tread separate and flop around as I'm trying to stop. I was almost stopped before the rest of the tire blew out and TPMS went off. Flapping tread did do damage.

[Dayle1]

2oldman wrote:

Dayle1 wrote:
Dont know the brand and dont really care, whatever FR uses. They were steel belted and still totally disintegrated.

A puncture will cause the tire to deflate and then the wheel to destroy the tire. That could be the reason.

Nope, a puncture will cause a tire to loose air. Even if the object doesn't remain in the tire, maybe at least a mile to loose a significant amount of air. Then the tire begins to fall apart and damages the trailer in the process. Imagine hearing a gun shot and how fast you can stop at 60 mph? I traveled less than 500 ft. The tire exploded from the inside. The tire bead survived the stop and protected the rim from direct contact with the road. No damage to the trailer except for a small crease in the aluminum skirt.

Without question a true blowout, and not due to over inflation. Years ago I had a similiar blowout on a Carlisle tire. Gun shot, pull over and a silver dollar size hole in the side was missing. That tire remained intact, only other damage was scuffing to the bead from the loose rim.

[RinconVTR]

2oldman wrote:

Dayle1 wrote:
Dont know the brand and dont really care, whatever FR uses. They were steel belted and still totally disintegrated.

A puncture will cause the tire to deflate and then the wheel to destroy the tire. That could be the reason.

Exactly. This is why these tire blow out threads bother me.

While I have never experienced a blow out over generations of travel, I have caught more than a few low tires the morning before departure but I got lazy and didnt always check.

So I've run TPMS the last few years and have neglected manual checks each morning having the system in place.

Sure enough, on our last big trip it alarmed one typical morning as soon as I pulled out of the campsite (didn't even leave the property). I had 45lbs in what should have been 65lbs. I tried re-filling once and lost 10psi in 4 hours. Had to put the spare on.

TPMS on the trailer absolutely saved me from a blow out due to low PSI.

[2oldman]

Dayle1 wrote:
Dont know the brand and dont really care, whatever FR uses. They were steel belted and still totally disintegrated.

A puncture will cause the tire to deflate and then the wheel to destroy the tire. That could be the reason.

[Dayle1]

dwayneb236 wrote:
I'm thinking maybe "mentally" automatic?

Yep, hear the tire blow, look in the mirror and hit the brakes. Totally automatic, no thinking, no guessing.

Dont know the brand and dont really care, whatever FR uses. They were steel belted and still totally disintegrated. Didn't have the TPMS installed yet, was going to wait til I could get steel valve stems and LTs installed. In this case, the TPMS would not have helped.

[cummins2014]

2oldman wrote:

Me Again wrote:
Why do people ask why a ST tire failed?

You again. I'd sure want to know why a tire failed.

I agree

[cummins2014]

Me Again wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Tire failure due to what? No TPMS? What is an automatic stop?

Why do people ask why a ST tire failed? Failure is integrated in their design and use on large 5th wheels.

Huh !!!!!! :h Thats a pretty broad stroke you are painting. How do you account for the Sailun ST tires the S637's stellar reputation for durability, and lack of failures, if failure is integrated in their design.

[2oldman]

Me Again wrote:
Why do people ask why a ST tire failed?

You again. I'd sure want to know why a tire failed.

[hotpepperkid]

Smart move going from ST to LT tires