SeniorGNC
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Re: Michelin LT failure
Tireman9, In my hurry to make it to the tire shop before they closed I failed to take any pictures of the tire. I wish now that I had. Basically, the only thing left intact was the beads. There was no tread remaining at all. There were pieces of nylon with some loose casing parts attached between the beads - that is all. The picture you have above has more remaining tire than what I had. I checked the tire pressures before departure that day (like always) and it was fine. (75 psi. Why? Tire rated for 80 psi, wheel rated for 75 psi.) At this time I am investigating TPMS brands and models. Kevin274Views0likes0CommentsRe: Michelin LT failure
Looks like time for some updates. First I feel like a dummy. Of course I don't want to put sensors inside an all steel tire. The Faraday cage will attenuate the radio frequency from escaping the tire! Duh. (Thanks Chris, I should have snapped to that one.) How much weight I'm carrying on the axles: He did not mention the weight being carried. From my first post in this thread: SeniorGNC wrote: Last time I scaled I was about 8600 lbs total on the two 5200 lb trailer axles. About my comment about the valve stem mounted sensors providing temperature data: I don't think the sensors are "cooling in the wind". My rationale for this was that the valve stem and sensor are outside the tire, and I would think that a temperature gradient would set up in the valve stem and sensor in the flow field. Of course, if I go all steel tires I need sensors outside the tire - so it is now a mute point. Kevin242Views0likes0CommentsRe: underwhelmed by tail lights
I changed out to LED taillights. Not just a bulb replacement, but a dedicated assembly like in the above post. It made a huge difference. When I added a receiver mounted basket/bike rack I also installed additional LED taillights on the basket. Now I have 4 lights that cannot be missed by folks behind me. They worked great just a few days ago when I was changing a tire on the side of the road...410Views0likes0CommentsRe: Michelin LT failure
Chris, thanks for the interesting pictures of the Bridgestone Duravis R250. That may well be the way I go. It also matches the recommendation from a small local tire retailer that I spoke with after my tire failure. He is located in the country in central Texas and many of his customers are ranchers with large stock trailers. The overwhelming choice of his customers who pull on both paved and gravel is the Bridgestone Duravis R250. (Full disclosure: this is also his recommendation to them) However, he reports that these customers also replace with the same tire, so that seems to backup his recommendation. Of course, this is all based on his word, but he came across as a no BS good honest man. The OEM tires/wheels were no name ST225/75R15 LRD. Therefore the LT225/75R16 LRE tires that I am now running are as large as I want to go. My bolt pattern is 655. (6 bolts on a 5.5 inch diameter.) I do have a question about TPMS for the forum. It seems like all the ones I find are mounted on the valve stem. Some even do both pressure and temperature. I’m not sure how responsive the sensors would be to temperature out in the “cooling wind” as they rotate down the road. Does anyone know of a good TPMS that works with a trailer having the sensors mounted inside on the wheel? Thanks everyone, Kevin274Views0likes0CommentsRe: Michelin LT failure
Thanks for the responses. Let’s add some clarification: I don’t know the specific tire failure mode. Was it a sudden blowout, or slow leak and the tire overheated, who knows? Like I said, I had no idea that I had a failed tire. I do not currently have a tire pressure monitoring system. However, I am drafting a letter to Santa for an early Christmas gift… Trailer tires are Michelin LTX M/S 225/75R16 LRE (Previous set replaced last year was LTX A/S, probably a better choice but not available when I needed them) I replaced both tires on same side because I do not know how long I ran on a single tire, which was obviously overloaded with the other tire failed. I have been a Discount Tire (and NTB) customer for over 20 years. Discount gave me a very good price on the replacements due to the 1 yr old tire failing and my long customer history. The store manager concurred the LTX M/S should be a good tire for this case. Thank you Discount Tire for helping me out. My DW and I are planning a Yellowstone trip in two years for the family. I will have a TPMS and perhaps XPS RIBs or R250's by then on the trailer. FYI: the truck has Michelin XPS RIBs 235/85R16 LRE272Views0likes0CommentsMichelin LT failure
Well, I never expected to be writing this but I had a blowout on my second set of Michelin 16” LT load range E tires. They were only a year old. We were on our way back to Houston Tx a week ago from a long summer vacation loop through the southwest desert. (About a 3000 mile pull.) On the last day just a couple of hundred miles north of home on US 84 we lost a tire to what the tire store manager called a catastrophic blowout. (There were just some inner casing pieces between the beads.) This was during the heat wave, I think the outside air temperature was about 103 degF. I pull at 60 mph, checked my tire pressure in the morning as I started and thought I was good. All that came to an end when a car pulled up next to me and held up a sign saying “blowout”. Bummer. I could not even tell I was down a tire. There was no indication based on handling. Last time I scaled I was about 8600 lbs total on the two 5200 lb trailer axles. Now I don’t feel so invincible tire wise. It cold have been due to a bad tire, a leaky valve stem, road hazard, who knows? Maybe it is time for RIBs on the trailer and a tire pressure monitoring system. Good thing I carry a tire changing ramp and DOT triangles. Oh well, time to go fix the damage to the trailer…19KViews0likes131Comments
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