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

[coolbreeze01]

Most "blow-outs" on trailers are flat tires run to the point of disintegration due to heat buildup.

[WTP-GC]

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.

[ken56]

My new Keystone Laredo came with Trailer Kings on it. I have actually rolled the dice and have about 6k miles on them. One has just started to get bulges on it. I assure you that I will be changing out all 4 to Maxxis, Carlisle or the Goodyear......soon.

[K_Charles]

I do a DOT walk around every time I stop and my Chinese tires never gave me a problem, even when I went 75 MPH a lot.

[azdryheat]

Never have had a tire problem on any of my 5th wheel trailers. I refuse to use the Chinese made junk tires that come on them from the factory. Instead, I install LT truck tires. I might give the new Good Year Endurance ST a try, it's made in the US.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

My money is still on something like this happened.

[jkwilson]

I just returned from a car trip to North Carolina myself and noticed an extreme number of all types of vehicles with flat tires all along the road. I noticed 7 different vehicles with donut spares installed, with two of those on the shoulder with the donut shredded. I probably saw in excess of 20 vehicles with flat tires, cars, pickups and RVs, but not a single semi.

No clue if that relates to the RV issue OP saw, but there is probably some overlap in that I believe a lot of people in the world operate under the idea that things like cars, mowers and even RVs are self-maintaining. Those of us who have been around a while remember needing spark plugs every year, changing oil every month or so and a lot of other more maintenance intensive ownership experiences. Things are much more hands-off today so people are less likely to check things like tire pressure or condition.

I think the real issue with the cheap tires is that they have no margin for error. Run them a little low or heavy and they will give it up quickly.

I've destroyed trailer tires over the years every way possible from neglect to physically yanking the tire off the rim on a culvert. The first money I spent on my 5th wheel after I got it home was a TPMS and every time my feet touch the ground on a trip I'm visually inspecting the hitch, tires, truck and trailer.

Stuff is still going to happen, but I'd bet the majority of rigs you saw on your trip had problems that could have been dealt with more easily with a little more care before getting on the road.

Much easier to fix a leaking or separating tire at a gas station than to replace a blown tire along the road.

[ScottG]

mike-s wrote:

CapriRacer wrote:
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!

No, they're not. It's just that (for most of them) the standard pressure/load tables only apply up to 65 MPH. Pressure and/or load rating needs to be adjusted for higher speeds. ST tires can go up to 85 MPH with the proper load/pressure adjustment. Some tires are rated for higher speeds without any adjustment.

Mike is correct.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

New trailers; more than likely new owners.

New owners (and some old owners) don't have a clue when a tire goes low feels like.

New trailers won't have a TPMS on them.

Low tires on a trailer come apart.

A bunch of trailers along side of a road changing tires means a bunch of FOD on the road cutting tires down.

[mike-s]

CapriRacer wrote:
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!

No, they're not. That's a common misunderstanding. It's just that (for most of them) the standard pressure/load tables only apply up to 65 MPH. Pressure and/or load rating needs to be adjusted for higher speeds. ST tires can go up to 85 MPH with the proper load/pressure adjustment. Some tires are rated for higher speeds without any adjustment.

If you had ST205/75*15 tires on a 3500 lb axle, you'd need LRC to support a full load (@50 PSI), and that would be good for 65 MPH. If you wanted to go faster, you could go to LRD and up the pressure to 60 PSI, then you'd be good to 75 MPH. Faster? Go to 65 PSI (which gets you 1940 lbs load per tire at 75), then derate by 10% to 1746 lbs load per tire, and hold your axle load to 3492 lbs, giving up 8 lbs of capacity. Then you're good to 85 MPH.

[ford_truck_guy]

The UN-INFORMED consumer will continue to buy junk....

Until more people realize that the tires should be looked at EARY in the negotiations, nothing will change . . . .

[navegator]

Probably some cheap Chinese brand and an overloaded trailer and under inflated tires also driving over the speed limit.

navegator

[CapriRacer]

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!

[Dog_Trainer]

I think that if I were to buy a new unit I would look the brand of tire over before completing the deal. I put Maxxums on my TT when I first bought it just for peace of mind. JMHO but I do see alot of 5ers being pulled at speeds that would exceed many tire nfg. rating as I do not know of any particular blowout being caused by excessive speed I will leave it at that.