Tire Blowout

[vacane]

This past weekend we had two tires blowout on our way back from the Outer Banks. The same thing happened two years ago and at that time I replaced all 4 tires. So these on this trip were only two years old. I keep the psi right under the max of 50psi and don't go over 65mph. Both time happened on the return trip. Could heat be a factor? Maybe I should drop the psi a few pounds? Hope someone smarter than me on tires has some suggestions. Having the family stuck on the side of the road is no fun...

[vacane]

Dick_B wrote:
Hard to say without knowing the brand of tires, age, what it says on the sidewall for cold pressure and what weight they are carrying. Sure sounds like they might be heavily overloaded to have two blowouts two years running. What was the cause of the blowouts?
Letting air out is the LAST thing you want to do.
One of the reasons I carry two mounted spares.
Clarification on age of tires. Just because they were installed two years ago doesn't necessarily mean they are two year old. See the DOT info on the tire sidewall.

Sorry for the late reply. Wasn't getting any notifications on the thread. The tires were 3 years old. DOT date 3913 and they are max 50 psi. Not sure what caused the blow out, the tire was shreaded by the time we pulled over. We camp about 15 times a year and trips just as long as going to the OBX, but we always are in VA, PA, WV in the mountains.

[phillyg]

I'm leaning towards you being overweight on the tires. Getting weighed would be a good idea. Load range C tires are lightweights. If you can, upgrade to 15" wheels and LR D tires if they will fit inside your wheel wells and there's no less than 3" between the tires. I don't think you can find load range E tires unless you go to 16" wheels which may be overkill for your trailer.

NEVER reduce tire pressure. It's almost always recommended to use the maximum tire pressure (on the sidewall) in trailer tires. Also, if your tires are speed rated to 65mph, don't drive faster than 65 because you'll overheat them quickly.

[schlep1967]

coolbreeze01 wrote:
4 tire failures in 2 years suggests not enough tire for your trailer. Larger load range E tires, aired to max PSI per sidewall would be my recommendation.

He currently has load range C tires. Going to a load range E would be overkill and would cost him much more money buying rims rated for that pressure.

I had Load range D tires on my 10,600 lb (empty) fifth wheel for 7 years with no problems. I'm sure his 7,500 pound trailer would be fine on D rated tires of the same size.

[krobbe]

I'm not reviewing these tires since I have zero miles on them so far.
The Kumho 857 is a LT tire for commercial light truck, transporter, van and trailers. Only available in 14", it has an 8ply strength (actually twin steel belted with 2ply poly cords) D load range with Q(99mph)speed rating. In 205/R14 it has a max load of 2271 @ 65psi. I just had these mounted on my 14" aluminum rims rated to 65psi. Got em at Belle Tire. Special order. Will put over 4000 miles on them to the South West starting next week. Also just picked up a TST507 with 8 flow thru sensors at General RV(I live near one) for $400. I thought it was a pretty good deal. I see that VulcanTire.com has them for $389. Now I feel like I won't have to check the tires at every stop.

[coolbreeze01]

4 tire failures in 2 years suggests not enough tire for your trailer. Larger load range E tires, aired to max PSI per sidewall would be my recommendation.

[myredracer]

Keystone will provide tires on some models with load capacity that are loaded very close to the actual weight on them (total wt. minus tongue wt.). This may not be illegal, but it is plain wrong... You should have a min. of 10 percent reserve load capacity and 20 percent or more is better. If it has 14" LRC ST tires providing a total load capacity of 7040, I suspect that 2 or more will be overloaded. Before you even took it off the dealer's lot, I would have said it's a case of when, not *if* you will eventually have a blowout on this TT.

Their axles can also be loaded right up to their rating and be at risk of getting a bent axle. Look at the stickers on the axles and they will give you the rating info.

Internal heat will cause irreparable damage to an ST tire. It will happen over time and you won't necessarily be able to relate a failure/blowout to a particular trip. Besides towing above 65 mph, under-inflation and being overloaded will cause damage to an ST tire due to excessive internal heat buildup. A trailer can be quite a bit heavier on one side due to to a slide out and what's in it. That model of Passport has 2 slides on one side...

Tires should always be inflated to a "cold" psi. The morning is better and should be in the shade for at least 3 hours. NEVER let air out to reduce psi while on a trip. If elevation on a trip and/or the outdoor temp. changes a lot, you may need to add or bleed off some air to keep the tires at 50 psi before heading off in the morning. Tire pressure can go up a lot on a trip, but that is okay and normal. With that wt. of TT, you should have always kept the tires at 50 psi (on LRC) and nothing less and for LRD, 65 psi (unless you look up load rating data for the particular tire).

I highly recommend going to a scale and getting the actual TT weight, the tongue weight and side to side weight. That Passport TT has a CCC that is on the low side. It could be that you are at or over the TT's GVWR, especially if you travel with one or more full holding tanks. The GVWR is 7500 lbs (shipping wt. + carrying capacity) which seems low for a 33'-5" long TT. Our TT is 29' and weighs 7K lbs - one full holding tank will put it over it's GVWR.

I would replace the 14" wheels & tires with 15" and go with 225 wide (not 205) LRD ST tires to get 2540 lbs capacity per tire. LRE would be even better. Some will say that ST tires should never be used and you should have LT (light truck) tires but you will be looking at 16" wheels/tires and they may not fit. One key with ST tires is having as much reserve load capacity as you can so the tires aren't over-stressed.

Besides speed, under-inflation and over-loading with ST tires, you should not run over curbs and also should avoid road shoulders as you can pick up something that can cause a puncture. A big problem in the industry is that nobody tells you how to properly treat ST tires when you buy a new TT and then owners end up with blowouts for no apparent reason.

Please come back later and post what you do to address the issue.

[BB_TX]

Both at the same time? Could have been that one went flat and the added weight caused the other to fail.

Both on the same side, but at different times? Again, could be that one failed putting extra weight on the other causing unseen damage. And that later caused the other to fail.

Different times on opposite side? Who knows.

A tire that destroys itself due to running on low pressure can result in what looks like a blowout. A TPMS will let you know if a tire is losing pressure so that you can stop before it destroys itself.

[schlep1967]

You can get that same tire size in a load range D. That should cover any overweight issues. It would not change anything if this happened due to debris on the roadway resulting in pressure loss.

[wrenchbender]

As large as your rig is you should be have E rated tires

[fla-gypsy]

Your listed tire size is "205/75R14C" and are most likely rated at 1760lbs each which is barely adequate (not adequate in my world). You need to upgrade the tire size to at least ST215/75R14 but a 15" wheel/tire swap would be better if it will fit.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

If you didn't hear a big BOOM more than likely you did not have a blow out.

Way more likely you picked up nail or screw or whatever and the tire bleeds of pressure, heats up and then comes apart.

I read about way less "blow outs" since TPMS came out. Funny how that works out that way. :B

[LadyRVer]

Certainly no expert, but I had two blowouts on trip at Thanksgiving. One down, one back. Fortunately had spare each time. But, method of elimination:
Age OK according to your statement
PSI OK ditto
Speed OK but, I don't drive over 60
Weight????? Have you pulled on scales at a truck stop? That would be my first guess.

The tire shop upgraded all 4 new tires with load range E, I have 15" wheels and 3 different places said no to light truck tires on a 15"wheel.

Edited by Barb

[Dick_B]

Hard to say without knowing the brand of tires, age, what it says on the sidewall for cold pressure and what weight they are carrying. Sure sounds like they might be heavily overloaded to have two blowouts two years running. What was the cause of the blowouts?
Letting air out is the LAST thing you want to do.
One of the reasons I carry two mounted spares.
Clarification on age of tires. Just because they were installed two years ago doesn't necessarily mean they are two year old. See the DOT info on the tire sidewall.