Blown Tires

[Bubtoofat]

Just returned from Overland Expo in North Carolina. On the way down from Michigan we saw six fifth wheel trailers on various parts of I75 and I40 with blown tires. Each one of them had significant damage to the wheel wells. All of them looked like brand new campers. That's the most we've ever seen in a single trip. Yikes! What the heck are manufacturers putting on these campers that pass for tires these days? I don't know what brand tires these were but if I were a betting man I would put my money on China made. Check those pressures often, don't overload, and get rid of those Chinese Maypops.

Mike

[RinconVTR]

CapriRacer wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:
don't tell that to goodyear, my goodyear endurance tires are stamped on the side with a N (87mph) speed rating with NO requirements for reduced load or increased pressure above 65mph.

And the load rating is the same as any other ST trailer tire of similar size.

Now am I going to cruise down the road at 87mph with my trailer in tow? NOPE, but it is good to have a higher speed rating.

Don't forget that the trailer manufacturers could have spec'd that higher speed capability with the old Marathons, but chose not to. So Goodyear recently developed a tire that corrects that oversight.

Goodyear made no mistake on their speed ratings, but provided information to customers in a piss poor method; via publication.

What they did right on the Endurance is finally mold the actual rating on the sidewall WITHOUT any additional stipulations.

[JIMNLIN]

ST tire threads reminds me of Fords 6.0/6.4 engine debacle.
Yeah its not just the fact those ST tires were made in china as evident we had the same issues with ST tires when they were all made in the USA. Being a niche tire and a low volume product there wasn't pressure from the feds to make them more reliable and in line with a P or ST tire on the same trailer.

There are some excellent made in china ST/P and LT tires.

The industry is improving the ST C/D/E tire's finally. Goodyear knew the Marathons were not reliable as evident of the new designed Endurance.
Same with Carlisle terrible Radial Trail ST tire line which. Carlisle came out with a new designed with the RH series and now the HD series that look more like a automotive tire.
The Providers are another new gen ST tire that has been around since the '00-'01 era with no reports of across the board issues like the old ST maypops.
And the new gen 16" load G commercial grade all steel carcass such as the Sailun S637.....and other load G poly carcass tires.

ST tires are finally showing improvement. We all can benefit from them.

[arkie_guide]

I think a lot of people do not check the made dates on their tires - you can buy a new TT, but the tires maybe 4 or 5 years old when you buy them. Air pressure means the life of the tire. In my years I have blown tires of many makes, regardless of my precautions. There are some excellent tires made overseas - in fact very few are made in our USA, it is a dam shame.Goodyear and cooper have some made in the USA, I would still check the made on date.I buy a new tire I want a new tire, pay no mind what a sales mqan may tell you, he has no interest in you only his pay.

[Cummins12V98]

I have said many times when buying a RV just BEFORE signing on the dotted line look at the salesman and say the signature will be applied when a QUALITY set of tires in installed!!!

[fj12ryder]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

HALALUAH


It's a case of RVFCOTD lol.

RV Forum Obsessive Compulsive Tire Disorder.

Out of the 380000 or so towables RVs sold last year alone most came with Chinese made ST tires. Out of those 380000 owners the vast majority have never participated in an online RV forum, nor have had a tire issue with their Chinese OEM provided tires.

Keep them aired up and look at them once in awhile, stay off of the road shoulders which are nothing more than debris fields, and keep your eyes open while towing while doing so at a reasonable speed.

Blowout? Horseshit! 99% user error IMO.

You'll just have to get used to the fact that a lot of us won't take your opinion, yes opinion, as gospel. Those cheap ST tires worked well enough with lighter trailers, but were not satisfactory with trailer over 10,000 lbs.

And that's my opinion. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Keep them aired up and look at them once in awhile, stay off of the road shoulders which are nothing more than debris fields, and keep your eyes open while towing while doing so at a reasonable speed.

Blowout? Horseshit! 99% user error IMO.

Yep. I have never seen a tire blow out while in travel on a trailer. I've ran out of fingers and toes the people I've seen towing with a flat tire. A few times I have seen people happily towing a bare rim on the road with sparks flying. They didn't have a clue. :R

My friends and I have broken every rule in the book when it comes to tires. I've have run for hours at a time at 75 to 80 MPH. Up to a few years ago I have run all China tires. In 35+ years I have been towing I have only had one tire go away; and that was a nail in the tire. Tire went flat and I didn't catch it soon enough.

Ralph you are the only person that I see talking about keeping off of the shoulder of the road. A good friend used to tow a NASCAR all over the US. He said when the driver of the car would drive the tow rig he would get a whole bunch of flat tires but when he drove the tow rig he would never get a flat tire. His friend wanted to know why? My buddy told him; "keep the mutha %#$@#&^& truck and trailer out of the gutter and you won't get flats either!"

Bottom line? Trailer tires get nails in them and go flat. People keep on towing them until they come apart.

[mike-s]

westend wrote:
...those loads are dynamic and most tires see higher loads than what they're rated for.

Dynamic loads are already compensated for in tire ratings. That's why, per federal regulation, "When passenger car tires are installed on an MPV, truck, bus, or trailer, each tire's load rating is reduced by dividing it by 1.10..." Passenger cars experience less dynamic load than vehicles made to carry cargo.

[westend]

Blowout? Horseshit! 99% user error IMO.

Ultimately, yeah but I'd have to lower that from 99%.
One large cause of tire failure may be a mfg that specs tires to carry 80% of the load or 100% of the load. But, those loads are dynamic and most tires see higher loads than what they're rated for.
Random road debris will get you too, as will a poorly installed tire (I just visited Tires Plus for the third time, trying to get a leaking vehicle tire fixed).

[Ralph_Cramden]

WTP-GC wrote:
Well...another tire blowout thread!!!
Blowouts come from using junk tires...or old tires...or overloaded tires...or mis-aligned axles...or under-inflated tires...or over-inflated tires...or punctured tires...or new tires...or chinese tires...or USA tires...or tires going to fast...or just about any tire!!

Remember: CHINESE TRAILER TIRES ARE THE VAST MAJORITY.

See someone on the side of the road with a blown-out china-bomb, well they're figuratively speaking one in a million users. See someone with a blown-out US made tire, they're like one in a hundred. If you see more china-bomb blowouts, well that's because there's simply more of them.

Meanwhile, some junk peddler will be seen hauling his raggedy-old utility trailer loaded at twice the capacity up the interstate at 70 MPH on tires that look like just got drug out of the bushes and thrown on a set of rusty rims. No spare tire, no jacks, no nothing...but he'll get to where he's going just fine.

I make no assumptions when I see someone with a blow out.

HALALUAH


It's a case of RVFCOTD lol.

RV Forum Obsessive Compulsive Tire Disorder.

Out of the 380000 or so towables RVs sold last year alone most came with Chinese made ST tires. Out of those 380000 owners the vast majority have never participated in an online RV forum, nor have had a tire issue with their Chinese OEM provided tires.

Keep them aired up and look at them once in awhile, stay off of the road shoulders which are nothing more than debris fields, and keep your eyes open while towing while doing so at a reasonable speed.

Blowout? Horseshit! 99% user error IMO.

[Paul_Clancy]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
My money is still on something like this happened.

That was the cause of my last tire failure (car). Because tire was not repairable and awd need for matching wear - cost me a new set. Went Michelin at Costco for the free road hazard warranty.

[CapriRacer]

ktmrfs wrote:
don't tell that to goodyear, my goodyear endurance tires are stamped on the side with a N (87mph) speed rating with NO requirements for reduced load or increased pressure above 65mph.

And the load rating is the same as any other ST trailer tire of similar size.

Now am I going to cruise down the road at 87mph with my trailer in tow? NOPE, but it is good to have a higher speed rating.

Don't forget that the trailer manufacturers could have spec'd that higher speed capability with the old Marathons, but chose not to. So Goodyear recently developed a tire that corrects that oversight.

[Dtank]

ktmrfs wrote:

CapriRacer wrote:
And part of the problem is trailer manufacturers not specifying large enough capacity in their tires. Don't forget that ST tires are speed limited to 65 mph and that bit of information generally isn't told to new trailer owners!

don't tell that to goodyear, my goodyear endurance tires are stamped on the side with a N (87mph) speed rating with NO requirements for reduced load or increased pressure above 65mph.

And the load rating is the same as any other ST trailer tire of similar size.

Now am I going to cruise down the road at 87mph with my trailer in tow? NOPE, but it is good to have a higher speed rating.

Love this stuff.
There was a time when you could go to the *official* Goodyear Marathon
site and find that you could run 'em at 70 pounds.

Yeah - whoopee - at 65 -or 70 lbs *USA* Marathons were "USA Bombs", before GY switched mfgr to China, and of course they then became ST China Bombs.

Research the tire - *not* the country of manufacture.
China is very capable of producing quality tires to desired mfgr specifications! (even Michelin has mgr facilities in China!)

.

[ktmrfs]

CapriRacer wrote:
And part of the problem is trailer manufacturers not specifying large enough capacity in their tires. Don't forget that ST tires are speed limited to 65 mph and that bit of information generally isn't told to new trailer owners!

don't tell that to goodyear, my goodyear endurance tires are stamped on the side with a N (87mph) speed rating with NO requirements for reduced load or increased pressure above 65mph.

And the load rating is the same as any other ST trailer tire of similar size.

Now am I going to cruise down the road at 87mph with my trailer in tow? NOPE, but it is good to have a higher speed rating.

[wa8yxm]

When it comes to tires there are several possible issues....

1: CHEAP.. (China Bombs) Some RV makers buy Michelin Some "Lowest Bidder" and some will get a grade light on the tire to save $$$ and increase profit I suspect (Can not prove)

2: Do you know the Cargo Carrying Capaity of your RV? (I do, and it's not much)

People blow the tires up to either A: A standard pressure (IE 27 psi) or ...
To the sticker pressure (Might be 28, Might be 35 might be XX)
or to the pressure molded in the sentence
Maximum load xxxxx at maximum pressure of yy

All 3 are usually WRONG so the tire ends up ... In many cases, UNDERinflated for the load applied..

And finally.. Not all states do a good job of road maintenance.. South Carolina cost me an engine believe it or not. (Thankfully Nationwide Insurance paid).