Are today's WHEELS just as bad as the TIRES????

[Farm_Camp]

Purchased the TT in my SIG in 2013. In the last 12 months I have had two, count them TWO of these four RIMS fail. Both in exactly the same manner: Hairline cracks in the steel.

The factory installed wheels were just the plain white painted steel variety. I've got a total of under 20K Miles towing the trailer. Probably closer to 12K Miles. Last year one tire went flat while I was parked at a campground in Gatlinburg TN...

I Automatically blamed the "China Bomb" factory installed tire and purchased a new tire.

The next day the brand new tire was flat as well...

Discovered a tiny hair line crack in the side of the rim, not close to any of the welds... I replaced the rim and thought no more of it - how may rims ever fail??? Fast forward almost exactly 12 months and another rim has failed in the exactly the same manner... Two of the exact same failures in two rims in 12 months.

That was enough for me - I needed new tires anyway and went ahead and got 4 new wheels to go with. Upped the Load range of the tires, added a TPMS... Clearly my "luck" requires this! 🙂

I'm just wondering - am I just that "lucky" or is this kind of failure just more common than I thought? I certainly don't remember reading many posts about failed rims. Maybe I got a bad batch?

Before somebody asks - no accidents, serious curbing incidents, off-roading, nothing out of the ordinary. My truck is somewhat underpowered for the trailer so I'm almost never towing in excess of 63-7MPH... Just normal towing. Probably less towing than most...

[mkirsch]

Problem with aluminum is after a few years they corrode and won't hold air anymore.

[JIMNLIN]

Cracked/busted wheels are a problem more so with folks on the road pulling/hauling than RV trailers.

My equipment trailer mfg is just down the road from me. They buy in large quantities from Rockwell American/etc USA made steel wheels. They have very few defective wheel returns compared to steel/aluminum wheels from they've used from Asian rim countries.

The remaining wheels are probably from the same defective batch and should be dumped.
I would go with a made in the USA Rockwell American or Carlstars that are made in the USA.

[Bedlam]

My Weekend Warrior had cutouts in the rims that started to spider in the corners. I replaced the rims with RaceLine's.

My enclosed trailer needed new tires and I found mail ordering mounted tires on rims were not much more than buying new tires and having them mounted on existing rims locally.

[Farm_Camp]

LOL. I'm just saying we have not added a lot of weight in stuff to cause overloading. We keep it mostly empty and just take what we're actually going to use on a given trip.

But those mice are kinda shifty acting if you ask me.

🙂

[gmw_photos]

Yeah, blame it on the mouse. Probably a mouse from chinna. You just can't trust them commie mouses....

[SoCalDesertRid1]

I don't think the mouse did it.

[Farm_Camp]

I don't think it's a weight or inflation pressure thing unless it's been that way from the factory.

The wife is scared of getting mice and so we generally do not keep lots of extra "stuff" in there.

I still have one of the failed ones. I'll have to see if I can see a manufacturer name.

[3oaks]

Appears the trailer manufacturer went with the cheapest supplier for wheels and got exactly what they paid for, very cheap wheels that are prone to failure. Unfortunately the end consumer pays the price. 😞

[SoCalDesertRid1]

Possibly a cheaply made rim with poor manufacturing quality control or bad design, too thin metal in the rim shell.

Or possibly tires inflated beyond the pressure capacity/rating of the wheels.

Or possibly the loaded axle weight is greater than the weight capacity/rating of the wheels.

[Rainier]

Trailer overweight?

[Old-Biscuit]

NEVER have had an issue with steel rims.......beat them up, banged them, dented them, slammed them into curbs, bent them etc

Have had aluminum crack/fail so I stick to steel rims.

Happen to know MFG. of your problem rims??

[time2roll]

I had similar recently but the wheel lasted 10 years. Good excuse to replace all with better rated and better looking aluminum. Good time to go up a wheel and tire size if you are inclined.

[coolbreeze01]

Not common and sounds like they were defective. I would let Starcraft and the NHTSA know.