Killing trailer tires

[johnsmith12]

Originally Posted by OneRVer

Be careful, you might get an email from the Man telling you he is going to delete your comment. I know. I have had a couple removed. Not suppose to talk about the condition of our country.

Sorry to say that Unions have been part of the problem boys. Consumers demand cheap products....cheap products can't be sold if the worker that produced that product makes $50/hour compared to $50/day elsewhere. I don't like it either...just stating a fact. Dang greedy CEO's have to move their factory to where they can maintain quality (I know..that word means many things!) while producing at the lowest cost. Then when it comes to tire production, regulation in the U.S. makes the process much more expensive. If I'm wrong, then why is every single radial trailer tire made overseas? I dare you to find one brand of RADIAL trailer tires still made in the good ol' USA......doesn't exist. The ONLY answer is to produce them cheaper in the USA and lower regulations if you want production back here. The tariff placed on radial car and truck tires made in China did nothing but RAISE the price of ALL tires to US Consumers.......every US made tire raised their price too! Dang greedy CEO's

[Coma]

As was pointed out, tires are too small for the job. In my case, I had larger axels and bigger tires put on. I went from 3500lbs axels C rated tires to 6000lbs axels and D rated tires for size, tires failures went to zero. All remaining flats were stems. Fixed that with metal stems.

[Midniteoyl]

The tire in the pic looks like it was scuffed real bad... any real sharp turns on rough concrete? Maybe backing up?

Either that, or your brake locked them up...

[CD]

I agree with those that say to get a bigger tire(Cap.). In 1970 I did that with an 18'TT single axle. I went from a 14" 4ply tire to 7:00x15 LT 6ply tires. They were on the TT when I traded it in on a bigger TT 25yrs later. The min size tires get hot and don't last. IMHO that's why 5/7 yrs is max for a tire.

[The Sarge]

I've had lots of trouble with RV tires too. I think the reasons are twofold. One, the tires are made in China and generally, they're junk. Two, the axles are almost always at the limit for the RV (because it's cheaper that way for the manufacturers and they skimp wherever they can) so they bend and go out of alignment easily. I'd be willing to bet the OP has an alignment issue.

[lynned]

Our first trip we were virgins to the road. We went from San Antonio to Tucson. Coming back from Tucson 30-40 min's a a tire blew out and shredded on a brand new tire, took out a bunch of wiring and the storing goings on. Hopefully the tire manufacturer eats the tire with less than 900 miles on it. I used to be a mechanic, so everything was right, preasures, you name it, now way was I going to screw up first time out.

Oh well, luckily the insurance will cover most.

Ed and Lynn

[Perry White]

Looks to me that tires been hopping. Don't see any weights. Your telling us you didn't see that wear pattern before it blew?

[Hikerdogs]

Originally Posted by Mekanic

I killed 2 tires on my vacation out west and started on a 3rd.
All of these tires were Goodyear Marathon trailer tires.
The GVWR of the trailer is 7499 lbe and the tires are 205/75R14 sized. THe tires came on the trailer in 2005 and had plenty of tread left. no crakes either.
in all fairness the first one was mostly my fault for sticking it back on when it had a plug repair in a bad area (Tread /sidewall transition area) I got flagged down on I-70 and when I pulled over it was just 2 sidewalls left on the wheel. that was in MO.
On the way back in Sayre OK When i was doing a walk around i saw a broken belt in the tread and a bald spot. It was getting bad and i knew it wasen't long before it would let go so I replaced it. They were not underinflated.

Now the last goodyear on it starting the same thing except It doen't look like it has a broken belt....yet.
I am planning on changing it out shortly.
Anybody else seen this sort of thing on one of these goodyears??

The rest of the tread has Very even wear. on the 2nd ite i replaced it looked just like that but it had the typical broken belt buldge next to the bald stripe.
The new cheapy triler tire I bought in sayre OK still has the nubs on the tread after 8oo miles or so!!
Its a real mystry to me. No cracks in any sidwalls or tread. Good tread. about 1/2 tread in fact. But Really I have lost all three goodyears on the trip I just didn't replace the last one yet. THe last one has no bulges like a broken belt but you can see its days are numberd.
When I was checking it on the road ALL 4 tires on the trailer were within 5 degrees of each other.
These goodyears on mine were made in the US (Made in 2005). THe new tire and the good used ones I bought on the trip were made in china.
Now for the bad news : I looked at the Goodyear Marathons now in stock on a recent trip to wally world (in the 14 inch size) and low and behold they are now from China.
I just found there are US made trailer tires
And they even have 10 ply rated tire in a 15 inch rime size!!
http://www.intercotire.com/tires.php?id=27&g=3

I see a worn out tire. There's a tread depth indicator at the spot where the damage has occoured. There's also another one directly across from it between the second and the inner most treads. The tread across the tire is worn to the point that both indicators show wear. When the indicators are at the surface of the tread there is 2/32" of tread left on the tire. At that point the tire is considered no longer safe and should be replaced. Since both tread wear indicators show wear there is less than 2/32" of tread left.

[ajlcal]

Originally Posted by HD4Mark

Not to start an argument here but if everyone in the U.S.A. had a union scale job we would have no problem affording American made products. Just think then we could make more stuff here and make more jobs and more people would have enough money to buy more American made products. See where that might go? Instead greedy corporations that pay their CEOs ridiculous amounts of money send our work overseas to sell us substandard products in the name of corporate profit. End of rant and thank you for listening

I like the way you think

[WeatherTodd]

if the tire says Max 50 psi and you are fully loaded... you need to remove a few lbs of air as the tires will heat up under load raising the pressures. If you exceed the sidewall recommended... blow outs and blown belts are not out of the question.
You should also store the trailer tires on wood and cover them.

You can check the pressures prior to rolling...then a few miles down the road if you are using a standard tire guage. Be easier to monitor with a TPMS.

[CD]

Originally Posted by WeatherTodd

if the tire says Max 50 psi and you are fully loaded... you need to remove a few lbs of air as the tires will heat up under load raising the pressures. If you exceed the sidewall recommended... blow outs and blown belts are not out of the question.
You should also store the trailer tires on wood and cover them.

You can check the pressures prior to rolling...then a few miles down the road if you are using a standard tire guage. Be easier to monitor with a TPMS.

I respectfully disagree with you. If a tire over heats at max pressure it is overloaded. The tires are made to stand the normal increased pressure. If you decrease presssure when fully loaded it will over heat and that will be the death of the tire.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by WeatherTodd

if the tire says Max 50 psi and you are fully loaded... you need to remove a few lbs of air as the tires will heat up under load raising the pressures. If you exceed the sidewall recommended... blow outs and blown belts are not out of the question.
You should also store the trailer tires on wood and cover them.

You can check the pressures prior to rolling...then a few miles down the road if you are using a standard tire guage. Be easier to monitor with a TPMS.

I beg to differ. RV tires (ST tires) should be inflated to sidewall maximum. Carlisle Tire thinks this is so important they state in their warranty that if the tires are not inflated to sidewall maximum the warranty is void.
You should not try to reduce air pressure, anticipating pressure rise from heat, as explained in the warranty pdf.
Over 90% of all tire failures are due to under-inflation according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association.

[Mr_D]

Yep, the pressure on the sidewall takes into consideration pressure rise while in use and is the COLD pressure.
If you deflate the tire then you may be running too low a pressure and cause the failure. Pressures on tires are ALWAYS given as cold, that means sitting overnight or less than ONE MILE driven.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by WeatherTodd

if the tire says Max 50 psi and you are fully loaded... you need to remove a few lbs of air as the tires will heat up under load raising the pressures. If you exceed the sidewall recommended... blow outs and blown belts are not out of the question.
You should also store the trailer tires on wood and cover them.

You can check the pressures prior to rolling...then a few miles down the road if you are using a standard tire guage. Be easier to monitor with a TPMS.

These are the kinds of posts that make me wonder about tire failures and blaming the manufacturer.
If you lower the tire pressure when it gets hot then you may lower the pressure below that required and be the cause of the failure. Then the owner complains that they did everything right and it must be the manufacturers fault.