Just wanted to post up some info for tire shoppers.
I have a 22' car trailer, yea it's not a TT, but I figured it was applicable. In 2007 I upgraded to 225/75/15 Load E Maxxis M8008 tires, all 5. I only haul a light race car, so even with it being an older heavier trailer it grosses out at about 6,000# most of the time with occasional trips at 7,000# gross. The tires alone are good for 11,320#. Most of the trips are 1 to 2 times a month local(50 miles one-way), 60mph max-local roads, and average quality as far as pot holes. I don't curb my trailers, do everything I can to miss pot holes, check pressures monthly before each trip, and keep them covered when not in use. Most of the time the car is in the garage so the trailer sits there with 3,600# on the tires/tongue jack.
On average 3 times a year we travel to events that may range from 175-250 miles one-way at 7,000# and may reach 70mph. But usually its just 60/65.
Yesterday we loaded a friends car 3,600# so I was probably closer to 7,200# gross than my usual load, and we headed out to drop it off about 250 miles away at a race shop. Pressure check the night before we left showed 78# in all four tires(I usually run 80# max press for E tires), the tires looked good, plenty of tread, NO cracks.
After about an hour at varying 35-60mph we grabbed food(any time I stop I always touch each tire and hub just to see if one feels hotter than the rest). Then hit the interstate, 70mph zone, so I eased up to 70 and noticed how the road quality had deteriorated and felt less smooth than my last trip out that way(about 2yrs ago).
Roughly 75 miles later we hit 2 lane 60mph max for what should have been a good 100 miles, with the balance of the trip on mixed roads, nothing high speed. Air temp was in the mid 80's.
I noticed the trailer had started vibrating like when your front tires are out of balance, so we decided to stop since we had room to pull over as we entered a town. Both drivers side tires were splitting in the first outside groove of the tread surface and you could see the steel belts, passenger side was ok. It appeared the belts were failing in the tires. We threw the spare on, which I had plugged in the past and had rotated from use to being the spare, it has always been covered too. And we limped onward while my co-driver located a shop in route that only had one tire.(Its a DICO but figured it was better than my splitting one I had now, plus I figured it'll become a spare once I get my new set it looked like I was needing!)
Once we dropped the car off I was only running about 3,600#. A 90min layover for paperwork and lunch and I dropped the tire press to 50# and all the tires looked ok, so we hit the road.
Somewhere in the next hour we developed a vibration and the third Maxxis decided to join the rest. We made the 250 miles home, and the total score seems to be 1 DICO and 1 plugged Maxxis in good shape, 3 Maxxis doa. At least nothing blew out, and we weren't stranded.
Moral of the story: After 6 years its time to spend money, no matter how good you treat them, how good they are new, how good they look now(the tire guy even asked what was wrong with the tire-until I rolled it over toward him), trailer tires need replacing sooner than you want too.
I have run Maxxis M8008's on 4 different trailers, one a work trailer that takes a beating on and off road and actually wears the tires out before they age out. So even though these looked great but failed, i'm buying another set of Maxxis M8008's this week.
2012 Dutchman Voltage 3905
2004 Dodge 3500 DRW Crew Cab 8' bed 4x4 w/Cummins & built auto trans
Reese 22K Hitch
Prodigy P3 brake control
