Flat Rear Tire

[Audioa_fan]

My first trip in our 2001 HR Ambassador wasn't the smooth experience I had hoped for. I wanted to put some air in the tires on out way out of town since its cold. My first problem was finding a place with enough air pressure to accomplish that. As I was checking the passenger side outside rear tire I realized it was completely flat and loose on the wheel. I had momentary panic not knowing what in the world I was going to do.

I checked a couple of places that couldn't work on it. Then I tried the Farmer's CO-OP. I don't know why I didn't think of that first. They have to work on every type and size of tire imaginable. They took it off and there wasn't anything in the tire. He inflated it up to 120 pounds and put it back on and lowered it back down and it stayed up. He inflated all the tires up to 120 pounds, most of them were between 85 and 90 pounds due to the drop in temperature.

We drove nearly 4 hours and camped at an RV park for 4 days and drove back home. The tire is still fine. I have no idea what happened to it but something apparently broke the seal. I learned where to get tires checked and repaired locally. I also discovered the importance of "kicking the tires". I do that now at every stop on the road.

I told the previous owner that I will need to make every mistake possible until I understand everything in complete detail. I think I am making good on my promise.

[wny_pat1]

pitch wrote:

Do you think that truckers throw away a set of tires just because one dual went flat? Of course not.

Company I retired from always pulled both off. Replaced both of them. Inspected the one that still held air, and if it passed it only went on a trailer, but not on the tractor. And our tire guy was actually trained by Goodyear in what he was doing. And if one of Goodyear's tires blew out and there was body damage, Goodyear paid for it. Oh, the tires were always circumference measured and mated before mounted on the rig. They would not mount a mis-mated duals!!! Oh, they are still in business, and have been hauling petroleum since 1925. So I guess they know what they are doing.

[Harvey51]

I wanted to put some air in the tires on out way out of town since its cold.

I'm interested in this. Say you start with 95 psi in the tire shop at 20 degrees C (293 Kelvin). Then drive out into -20 C (253 K). The pressure should fall to 253/293*95 = 82 according to some physics formula. Should you leave it that way knowing it will rise as the tires heat up from driving? Or figuring the tires will run a little cooler in cold weather, would you run the pressure up a little, maybe all the way to 95 at the outside temperature? I wouldn't bother adjusting the pressure every time the temperature changed a few degrees, but from the warm tire shop to an Alberta winter is a big change. Would the tire shop take this into account? Should the pressures on the vehicle info sticker be for all temperatures or just summer in Detroit?

[pitch]

It would be nothing but foolish to replace the good tire. The flat tire was not even damaged, it was reinflated on the rim. You have no idea what the tire is rated for,and you have no idea the load that it was subjected too. It is real easy to spend some one elses money.
Do you think that truckers throw away a set of tires just because one dual went flat? Of course not.
Just keep a close eye on the pressure and temps on that side. If you run another 800 or a 1000 miles with no anomalies I would forget about it.

[wa8yxm]

Soemthing to think about.. You say you made it home with no problems

BUT if you drove any distance with that flat.... Then its partner tire was seriously overloaded (Minimum 2x it's rating for the pressure it was inflated to) this can result in serious damage to the "Good" tire and thus all 4 (Since you should always replace tires an axle at a time) should be replaced.

[WeBeFulltimers]

Bobbo wrote:
My father was an OTR bus driver. He kept a ball peen hammer in his grip that always went with him. He never got into a bus to drive it without using it to hit every tire. You can tell a 10 pound difference in tire pressure by the sound/rebound of the hammer. Precise? No. Good enough for his purposes? Yes. Would it have found your flat tire? Definitely.

This is exactly what I did as an OTR trucker for 20 years. Worked great for me. Good hearing is a professional drivers friend.....I still hear the turbo singing.

[JimM68]

Audioa_fan wrote:
Jim,

The tires are all 4 years old and seem to be in excellent shape. I had checked all 6 tires a week or so prior to our trip with a gauge and they were all on or about 95 pounds of pressure. They had dropped in pressure due to a considerable drop in temperature. My intention was to top off the pressure on my way out of town. So I don't know when the tire went flat, but I only drove about 2 miles total on it that way at less then 30 MPH.

I shouldn't have thought it necessary to add this, but I now have a framing hammer to "kick the tires" with at rest stops for bathroom breaks. I will certainly be checking air pressures with a gauge before every leg of a trip. I had never considered getting a TPMS but I am now going to research that option.

Thanks again...

That being the case, I'd take my chances too. Monitor pressure as well as appearance very closely. Inspect the tires before every travel day. Down on your knees looking between the duals and on the back side. Look for tread separating at the shoulder of the tire, and also for bulges and anything like that. Sure would be nice to have the answer to the puzzle of why that tire went down. Maybe as simple as a frozen valve that didn't re-seat after the last time you checked the pressure? But yes, I'd run them.

I had 2 tire troubles in moho#1. First I took out a right rear outer hitting a curb. Put the spare on. The very next day, less than 400 miles later, the inner on that corner failed catastrophically. Not something anyone wants to repeat.

The knight got a TPMS right away. Toward the end of the first summer, it started going BEEP BEEEP BEEP while cruising down the highway at 70 plus. Right rear outer was down under 70 psi! I got her on the shoulder and stopped, and watched as the pressure fell to zero inside of 5 minutes.

Coachnet had my unmounted spare on within an hour.

Inspection of the failed tire showed the tread separating from the sideway for 1/3 of the diameter! Without the warning from the TPMS, this one would have failed catastrophically within just a few more miles.

[stetwood]

I too hit the tires, sound and bounce different, and also touch them and bearing areas. Too hot means there is a problem too.

[Audioa_fan]

Jim,

The tires are all 4 years old and seem to be in excellent shape. I had checked all 6 tires a week or so prior to our trip with a gauge and they were all on or about 95 pounds of pressure. They had dropped in pressure due to a considerable drop in temperature. My intention was to top off the pressure on my way out of town. So I don't know when the tire went flat, but I only drove about 2 miles total on it that way at less then 30 MPH.

I shouldn't have thought it necessary to add this, but I now have a framing hammer to "kick the tires" with at rest stops for bathroom breaks. I will certainly be checking air pressures with a gauge before every leg of a trip. I had never considered getting a TPMS but I am now going to research that option.

Thanks again...

[JimM68]

check the age on your tires.
The "good" tire on that side is bad, as stated above, overloaded enough to cause permanent damage if the rig was driven any length of time with 1 flat.

You'll be buying at least 2 new tires.
Depending on the age of the tires (look at the dot date code on the sidewall) the best thing might be to put 2 new tires on the front, and the front tires on the rear, if all six match right now.

When we had our gasser, I checked all six tires with a good gauge each and every stop. (after I lost the first one, a messy experience)

When I got the DP, I also got a TPMS, which has paid for itself and then some by alerting me to a failing tire just before it actually failed.

[Jim_Shoe]

wny_pat wrote:

Jim Shoe wrote:
I added a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) to my 'C' after driving the last leg home from a trip. I checked all the tires before pulling out of the CG, but when I got home, the left rear inside dual had no air pressure. It did, however have a 10 penny nail in it. Somewhere in that last 300 miles, I picked it up. It could have happened pulling out of the CG or pulling into my garage. No damage to the MH or to the tires, although I replaced both tires. I didn't notice any difference in the way it handled, which is a scary thought.

Jim,
Most likely, the tire beside the flat tire, that carried all that extra weight that the flat tire was not carrying is now junk. Good thing you replaced it because it would have soon blown out!

The very reason I replaced both tires. I much prefer to sit in an air conditioned waiting room and watch someone else deal with it than try to deal with it myself on the side of the road somewhere.

[wny_pat1]

Jim Shoe wrote:
I added a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) to my 'C' after driving the last leg home from a trip. I checked all the tires before pulling out of the CG, but when I got home, the left rear inside dual had no air pressure. It did, however have a 10 penny nail in it. Somewhere in that last 300 miles, I picked it up. It could have happened pulling out of the CG or pulling into my garage. No damage to the MH or to the tires, although I replaced both tires. I didn't notice any difference in the way it handled, which is a scary thought.

Jim,
Most likely, the tire beside the flat tire, that carried all that extra weight that the flat tire was not carrying is now junk. Good thing you replaced it because it would have soon blown out!

[Jim_Shoe]

I added a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) to my 'C' after driving the last leg home from a trip. I checked all the tires before pulling out of the CG, but when I got home, the left rear inside dual had no air pressure. It did, however have a 10 penny nail in it. Somewhere in that last 300 miles, I picked it up. It could have happened pulling out of the CG or pulling into my garage. No damage to the MH or to the tires, although I replaced both tires. I didn't notice any difference in the way it handled, which is a scary thought.

[wa8yxm]

This is not as important on a trailer as a motor home but it is still important.

Two pressures which are all but guaranteed to be WRONG for your rig are the ones written on a sticker somewhere inside the rig (mine is a kitchen cubbord) and the one molded in the side of the tire... Here is why.

If the tire is under-inflated (Generally the sticker is low,, NOT ALWAYS) then there is excessive flexing of the sidewalls.. This leads to overheating of the tire and sidewall blow out... (Remember the ford Explorers of a few years back.. YUP, ford said to run 'em 5PSI low, This in my not very humble opinion was a major contributor PEOPLE DIED).. Also the tire wears more at the outer edges while the center remains like new,, Also control is reduced as the rig can "Dance" a bit on the tire,,, I've lost control of a trailer because of this (minor loss quickly regained).

If you overinflate, you get the tire wearing more in the center, and if the tire overheats (Rare but it happened to me once, on a car) the blow out happens again,, Plus it is a much harder ride and again, control may be reduced under many conditions.

At the proper inflation for the load the tire is carrying: The entire tread lies flat on the road,,, The tire is working AS DESIGNED, control is at maximum and the ride is .. Well,,, Proper.

How to find out what the proper pressure is two ways.

1: Contact www.rvsafety.com if I have typed it properly, Find the Weigh or weight link, make an appointment,,, They will call and interview, set it up and arrive with charts for YOUR tires in hand.. NOTE: when they call you need to know the make and model of your tires.

2: Do the research on the tire maker's web page to find the chart, Find a FLAT scale, segmented is best, and park on it so that each axle is on a segment. Get total weight... Now pull around and park so only one side is on the scale, the other is on the ground (This is why it has to be a flat scale, not a bridge scale) and get the one-side weight.. Total - one side = other side.

Look up proper inflation on the charts.

This will give maximum tire life and maximum control epically under less than ideal conditions (Example raining)

RV Safety (Aweigh we go) will cost about 2x the scale at least the ones I've checked out. Truly not a bad deal.

[2012Coleman]

The op put quotes around "kicking the tires". I'm sure he meant checking the tire pressure correctly. Of course he didn't check pressure by just kicking the tire. Give the guy a break.