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Why trailer tire probs????

wowens79
Explorer III
Explorer III
I didn't wont to take away from the 75 mph thread going, but it got me to thinking. Why do we here about, and see so many trailer tire problems??

How often do you see a tire come apart on a car or truck? I've had great luck with Maxxis tires on my boat and popup, however they are pretty light compared to what many of y'all tow.

You'd think with the size of some of the 5th wheels going down the road, you'd see some truck tires blow on occasion. They have to be at close to max capacity.

I know lots of people buy the cheapest trailer tires they can find, but people do that with car/truck tire also, yet you seldom see flats/separations.
2022 Ford F-350 7.3l
2002 Chevy Silverado 1500HD 6.0l 268k miles (retired)
2016 Heritage Glen 29BH
2003 Flagstaff 228D Pop Up
40 REPLIES 40

Coolerman
Explorer
Explorer
I don't know who made the Tow Masters, but they held up even though they were only C rated. The Hi-Runs did not. I KNOW where they came from. You get what you pay for!
Mark Baker aka Coolerman
2016 Venture Sonic 170VBH
SOLD:2001 StarCraft Gemini
TV: 2018 Ford F-150 Lariat

gmw_photos
Explorer
Explorer
^^^^^ Mark, congrats on the new trailer. Have fun with it ! Regarding the tires, it sounds like you may in fact be good on load rating, with sufficient reserve capacity. That's definitely a good thing.
What some may argue is these tires "may be lacking in build quality". Only time will tell. Best of luck with it and here's hoping for many safe miles of travel, and loads of fun camping days.

Coolerman
Explorer
Explorer
Hello all. I'm back from a long break of no RV'ing. (Moved, built a house, started working two jobs.) However, I can contribute a bit to this thread.

I have a 2001 Starcraft Gemini. Came from the factory with C rated ST175 x 80 x 13" tires. I knew nothing at the time it was purchased, about ST, LT or P tires. Tires, to me, were round rubber things. They held air, they got me where I was going (most of the time). Several years, and two sets of destroyed tires later, I got educated.

I DO check air pressure before every trip, during the trip, and before the return trip home. I DID travel at whatever the speed limit was. Tire history. Original tires (don't remember the brand), had about 3500 miles on them. Was on our second trip to Colorado from KY. Just outside of Denver had a blow out. It was Sunday and no tire stores open. Drove on to Utah with no spare sweating every mile! Next morning at a tire store, they looked at shredded tire but could not determine cause. Bought a set of C rated Tow Master tires. Now I had two spares! Those tires lasted maybe 5000 trouble free miles, and several years, then started showing signs of side wall checking. So I put a brand new set of HI-Run tires (purchased from etrailer.com complete with new rims) on before a trip out to Utah from KY. About 2600 miles. On the way home noticed a bad vibration from the camper and pulled off at a rest area. Could see nothing wrong and figured I had lost a wheel weight. I was 80 miles from home and went for it. Once home I found a hand sized piece of tread/sidewall missing from one of the tires! The other looked like it was about to throw a tread. Pulled those off and put the Tow Masters back on while I figured out what was happening.

I started researching and found out about the load limits and ratings on tires. Some quick math revealed that the C rated tires on my camper were too light. With everything loaded in the camper and TV a trip to the scales revealed the camper tires were overloaded about 150 lb each! My fault for not being better informed. Once I switched to D rated tires, (not easy to find a D rated tire in 13") I have had no trouble since.


I now have a new 2016 Venture Sonic 170VBH I will be picking up next weekend. It has dual axles and 4 14" load range C tires. Camper has a GVWR of 4000. C rated will hold 1360 each (5440 total)so I believe I am good. If I notice any issues I will go to a D rated tire.
Mark Baker aka Coolerman
2016 Venture Sonic 170VBH
SOLD:2001 StarCraft Gemini
TV: 2018 Ford F-150 Lariat

dave54
Nomad
Nomad
phone man wrote:
... These are my first tires that were not considered China bombs.


Some people clain to like maxxis because they are not made in China. The final assembly is in Thailand. The materials (rubber, belts, etc) are made in China and shipped to Thailand.
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So many campsites, so little time...
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phone_man
Explorer
Explorer
I've had one blowout since I've been towing campers of various sizes since 2001. It was a Maxxis tire that was verified to have 80 psi an hour before failure on a trailer weighing 1k below GVWR and being towed at 62mph on an interstate highway when outside air temps were in the low 90s. Not sure what else I could have done to prevent it. My tires are covered when not in use and have a DOT date of November 2014. These are my first tires that were not considered China bombs.

atreis
Explorer
Explorer
IMO, the reason there are so many failures is that people don't know how much weight they're really putting onto their tires, and they don't know (or ignore) that most ST tires are only rated for 65 mph.

Weight: If the trailer is close but under the weight for the tires, one or more tires could still be overloaded if the weight is not distributed evenly. One side could be heavier than the other.
2021 Four Winds 26B on Chevy 4500

gmw_photos
Explorer
Explorer
SprinklerMan wrote:
My rv gets the least amount of use out of all my trailers . But it runs at the highest speeds and longer distances . It has LT tires . my poor experiences with ST tires are all local , short runs , under weight and rarely over 50 mph . I have had numerous treads fly off , disformed tires , tires blow out while parked at the shop just sitting there . I use to run ST tires because thats what the tire store recommended . But after going thru 8 , and 10 tires a season I got fed up ( gets expensive). I started to switch over to LT and even P tires depending on the trailer . I havent had a problem tire since then . I have had nails in tires ( easy repair). I have even worn trailer tires out , something that I havent done in a long time. Is this scientific ? No just real life experiences from someone who uses trailers just about every day for work. Most of the other contractors I know have done the same thing for the same reasons ,the ST tires dont last .

I would describe you as I said in the previous post, a user with greater needs ( higher speeds, longer distances ) and higher expectations ( insistence on the highest likelihood of arriving without a failure ).

Your experience mirrored mine, and when I started hauling a lot of horses and having kids in the truck also at the same time, the need to "avoid being parked at the hazardous side of the road" to change a flat became ever greater. I sought a solution, and found it.

The oddest thing to me about this whole discussion over and over again is the absolute insistence from the ST fans is that we LT users are flat out WRONG. That part of the whole debate is just beyond my understanding, especially in every single thread on this, LT users are able to support their argument not only with individual experience, but with supporting facts from the industry. The ST proponents just won't hear of it though. Go figure......the internet.....it's a funny 'ol place.
As always, a new user, a person looking for answers needs to do some reading, do some actual use, and then come to their own conclusion.

EDIT: was just thinking about something a few posters have said about "why the tire industry does not promote LT for use on the 300,000 or so RV's sold each year" ?
A search indicates total car and light truck tire sales are over 200 million annually. It could well be the industry considers the RV market to be so small, it's not worth the effort to sell there ?

SprinklerMan
Explorer
Explorer
My rv gets the least amount of use out of all my trailers . But it runs at the highest speeds and longer distances . It has LT tires . my poor experiences with ST tires are all local , short runs , under weight and rarely over 50 mph . I have had numerous treads fly off , disformed tires , tires blow out while parked at the shop just sitting there . I use to run ST tires because thats what the tire store recommended . But after going thru 8 , and 10 tires a season I got fed up ( gets expensive). I started to switch over to LT and even P tires depending on the trailer . I havent had a problem tire since then . I have had nails in tires ( easy repair). I have even worn trailer tires out , something that I havent done in a long time. Is this scientific ? No just real life experiences from someone who uses trailers just about every day for work. Most of the other contractors I know have done the same thing for the same reasons ,the ST tires dont last .

gmw_photos
Explorer
Explorer
When thinking about the percentage of failures of different types of tires, it might also be useful to think in terms of how the trailers are used. I would suspect that a very large percentage of travel trailers only roll but a "few miles" each year. Many, if not most owners have a working life that means the trailer may only go camping several weekends a year, not far away, and perhaps one "big trip" a year of less than a couple of thousand miles.
Point being, when not used much, could well be a entry market level product like a inexpensive tire, might serve that user well.

The other side of that coin is that some of us pull a lot more than that and so we might consider our needs and expectations are higher.
This hobby is a lot like other hobbies ( motorcycling and boating are examples ) where many folks buy this stuff, and then end up not using it as much as they had hoped or wanted.

Huntindog
Explorer
Explorer
rbpru wrote:
Over 300,000 TT and 5vers sold each year for the last three years, or more than 3 million tires. What percentage do you see on the road side, and of them how many were punctures, underinflation, or other road hazards.

I have never seen the hard numbers on the failure rate of P, LT or ST tires; just a lot of rhetoric.

I have also never seen a tire company advertising in the RV or Trailer magazines that you should replace those dreaded ST tire with their superior LT tires. It seems they would rather loose sales.

Maybe I am not looking in the right magazines.
I have never seen the reverse either.
Maybe they don't want to sell ST tires.
Huntindog
100% boondocking
2021 Grand Design Momentum 398M
2 bathrooms, no waiting
104 gal grey, 104 black,158 fresh
FullBodyPaint, 3,8Kaxles, DiscBrakes
17.5LRH commercial tires
1860watts solar,800 AH Battleborn batterys
2020 Silverado HighCountry CC DA 4X4 DRW

rbpru
Explorer II
Explorer II
Over 300,000 TT and 5vers sold each year for the last three years, or more than 3 million tires. What percentage do you see on the road side, and of them how many were punctures, underinflation, or other road hazards.

I have never seen the hard numbers on the failure rate of P, LT or ST tires; just a lot of rhetoric.

I have also never seen a tire company advertising in the RV or Trailer magazines that you should replace those dreaded ST tire with their superior LT tires. It seems they would rather loose sales.

Maybe I am not looking in the right magazines.
Twenty six foot 2010 Dutchmen Lite pulled with a 2011 EcoBoost F-150 4x4.

Just right for Grandpa, Grandma and the dog.

Bigimac
Explorer
Explorer
ok - "next size up" & "pay the price" - wisdom, safety, piece of mind, & an happy wife ... yup 2x
2013 Capri Sportsman Grande
2015 Chevy Crew cab 3500HD SWD gasser
Toyo Open Ctry ATII 275 70R/18
10150# loaded; 10.5 mpg @ 70mph

gmw_photos
Explorer
Explorer
SprinklerMan wrote:
lbrjet wrote:
Bottom line is most trailers have never had a blow out.


My trailers didnt get that memo .


Mine either. I've changed more tires at the side of the road then I care to think about back in the day. I learned the hard way, "you get what you pay for".

This kind of reminds me of camera gear. You can get about 75 to 80 percent of "the goodness" for about half the cost, or if you want the really good stuff that lasts longer and performs better, well, you just have to step up and pay the man. "good tools cost money"

SprinklerMan
Explorer
Explorer
lbrjet wrote:
Bottom line is most trailers have never had a blow out.


My trailers didnt get that memo .