= RV Tire Safety -BLOWOUT- A Real Life Experience

[BuzzWolfAR]

Very much a newbe question. My tire pressure is supposed to be 50.psi. I have one tire at 47.5, and my tire gauge allegedly is +/- 1 pound. Tires filled with
nitrogen. Is a 2.5 psi difference significant?

[1bigmess]

If the tires are 50 cold, that is before they have been driven, then they are almost always good for the rest of the day as long as there are no leaks. If they are 50 when you start, and the next morning they are 47.5, and you don't know how much weight they are actually being forced to carry, do you think they it would do more to prevent a failure if you add the 2.5 or 3 pounds, out leave them at 47.5?

[lynnmor]

Originally Posted by LandKO

My question has to do with the temperatures displayed on the TPMS.
My laymans view (right or wrong) is the temperatures displayed are only an indication of the temperature of the air in the valve stem and not necessarily the temp within the tire itself. The TPMS sensor also must be affected by its movement through the air as the tire rotates. Therefore, what can the displayed temps be used for and how "accurate" are these readings?

I have checked mine with a temperature gun and you are correct, there is a considerable difference between the TPMS and the actual tire temperature. I found that 10 to 20 degrees to be common. Knowing that, just add 20 degrees to the reading for an approximate figure. Seeing a major difference between tires is an indicator of trouble.

[joseph lamb]

So , I have a question .
2000 minnie winnie 22 foot motor home , with 4 Americus Commercial Chinese
Tires mounted and balanced 36 montha ago , with 4000 miles on them .
8500 lb motor home with Dans 70 rear end .

Running 65 pounds of air pressure since installed and two of the tires today are running out of round big time . Rattled my teeth all the way home >

Just started this am on trip back to Tampa .

Looks like junk tires to me . What causes this problem to appear >??

Anyone got their two cents ????????I am going to New Mexico soon .

Joe in Tampa

[CampDaven]

A financial perspective:

If your tires cost $3000, replacing them at 7 years means the amortized cost was $36/month.
At 10 years it is $25/month.
Who will take extra risk for such chump change?
My Michelins would be double that. And I'm good with that!

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by joseph lamb

So , I have a question .
2000 minnie winnie 22 foot motor home , with 4 Americus Commercial Chinese
Tires mounted and balanced 36 montha ago , with 4000 miles on them .
8500 lb motor home with Dans 70 rear end .

Running 65 pounds of air pressure since installed and two of the tires today are running out of round big time . Rattled my teeth all the way home >

Just started this am on trip back to Tampa .

Looks like junk tires to me . What causes this problem to appear >??

Anyone got their two cents ????????I am going to New Mexico soon .

Joe in Tampa

Sorry just not enough data. Tires do not fail due to average loading. You really need to know the actual load on each tire or at least on each axle. If you can't get individual tire loads then assume your motorhome axle is unbalanced at 47/53%

65 psi may or may not be enough air. It depends on tire size, type and the load on that tire.
If your tires have gone "out of round" there is a good chance they are in the process of separating. Get them inspected AT once. This does not mean a walk around the Rv and look at dread depth but measure Radial run-out and lateral run-out.
Read my post on tire inspection.

How often have you checked air pressure? Have you ever been low by more than 5 psi? Have you confirmed your pressure gauge is accurate to +/- 2 psi or less?
Why aren't you running a TPMS?

[Ray,IN]

There is a current thread in the International Rally forum with pictures of the tire failure on the tow dolly. The original incident that caused the tire failure is unknowingly explained by the thread starter.

[loly50]

Tireman. We just purchased a preowned 2015 Lacrosse 318BHS I am sure tires are the originals, we both dont know much about all this, we are new to rvng. Husband says they are only one yr old they should still have a lot of time to be replaced. We are planning for now to only do close by trips here in Fla, and drive at a slow relaxed speed, we are in no hurry, my question is how do we know if they are still good or when they would need replacement before they go bad. It has to be super scary to have one of them go bad on a trip while yr driving. Tks for your experteese and advice.

[rkf]

Driving too fast overheating the tire,low air pressure from what I've seen. No common sense!

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by loly50

Tireman. We just purchased a preowned 2015 Lacrosse 318BHS I am sure tires are the originals, we both dont know much about all this, we are new to rvng. Husband says they are only one yr old they should still have a lot of time to be replaced. We are planning for now to only do close by trips here in Fla, and drive at a slow relaxed speed, we are in no hurry, my question is how do we know if they are still good or when they would need replacement before they go bad. It has to be super scary to have one of them go bad on a trip while yr driving. Tks for your experteese and advice.

I assume you have read the first post in this thread. Calender age is not an absolute. Tires can fail that are only a week or month or year old if run overloaded, under-inflated or over speed. Trailer owners with ST type tires have a couple strikes against them. With few exceptions the tires selected by the RV company are the minimum acceptable for load capacity PLUS the suspension of multi-axle trailers impart significant overload shear forces on the tires at every turn or corner. This is called 'Interply Shear" and this force is trying to tear the belts off your tires.
Now I have covered how you can inspect your tires yourself in my blog. The video I reference shows the side to side movement as well as the out of round shape of the tread. If you find similar movement then in all probability the tire is in the process of failing. It may not come apart next week or in the next 100 miles but it will come apart in the not to distant future.
So review the instructions in my blog on inspection and watch the video to understand what to look for. While not finding the movement is not a 100% guarantee of no failure IMO finding the movement is almost certainly a 100% guarantee the tire is failing.

Also get and run TPMS on all trailer tires.

[FastEagle]

Think, Trailer Tires! Why do they fail so unexpectedly?

There is no clear answer, only speculation. Anecdotal information drives speculations into name calling and negative design confidence.

As everyday tire users we are spoiled. We don't suffer tire failures with our everyday vehicles. When we do they can almost always be accounted for. Most of us will go for many years without a single tire failure. Then we get an RV trailer and POP goes the tires.

The tires on our everyday vehicles are - in most cases - specifically designed for the vehicle they are on. They are quality graded for all sorts of conditions with tread designs to match the grading. Their load capacity has been derived from the maximum loaded vehicle with, at the very least, a 6% reserve left over which will seldom, if ever, be used. They are constantly in use so the built-in chemical compounds stay in action and degrading is held at the bare minimum. Most of them will wear out long before they will ever get old enough to be effected by degradation or age or both.

On the other hand the RV trailer also has tires specifically designed for their position. And, that's where almost all of the similarity ends. Seldom has a tire design been scrutinized as often and with such detail as the ST tire. Almost all of the American manufacturers have given up on the trailer tire or have sent it to their off shore plants in faraway places like China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan or Thailand etc.

There is no requirement for RV trailer manufacturers to provide any load capacity reserves when fitting tires to the trailers they build. Many will take full advantage of that flaw in the fitment regulations and provide tires with zero reserve load capacity, adding to the early and catastrophic failure rates.

Most users that have had a ST tire failure or numerous ones are not going to like or agree with many of my analogies on this subject. The overwhelming evidence will support my stance but there are no official statistical findings to support what I say. But, logic always has a strong influence on many outcomes in the absence of other evidence.

In the absence of numerous recalls for the ST tire one must assume the design is sound and cannot, by itself, have caused the many failures reported against it.

Once the design is ruled out of the failure scenario the cause must lie elsewhere. So, is there a single cause or a combination of causes? I like multiple causes over the single one. Of course any highly abused single cause can also be the culprit.

Here are my accusations. We overload our trailers. We speed with our trailers. We take a somewhat lackadaisical attitude about our trailer's tire pressures. We store our trailers for long periods of time - six months or more - with no regard for the tire's condition or pressures. The trailer may not even be level which causes tires on the low side to become overloaded for their entire time in storage. We don't balance or rotate our trailer tires. Sometimes the spare is exposed to the elements for so long it explodes.

Remember, ST tires are different. Their life cycle is age.

When you buy motorized vehicles you have some idea about tire usage because of mileage. Nearly 100% of the time your RV trailer was delivered on the tires it has on it at the time of first sale. Maybe the delivery driver took good care of them, did the Dealer? Maybe the dealer took good care of then, did the Delivery Driver? And, just maybe, they never had the care needed to provide you with more than minimal service.

FastEagle

[lynnmor]

Of course it must be the fault of the delivery guy, the dealer or the owner. There is no way that the cheapest product, made in countries known for cheap junk, could ever be an issue. Why would anyone ever defend this stuff?

[Tall Tex]

I can't count how many times I have been passed, while driving 70ish in the right lane by someone towing an RV and then down the road finding them on the shoulder with a trailer blowout. All tires have their limits, age, weight and high speed are a recipe for blowouts. Modern diesel pickups are capable of towing any RV much faster than the trailer tires can stand up to. A little common sense goes a long way.

[soonerdave]

This has been a very interesting thread, loved the information provided by tireman!

I am not an expert but would like to post my personal observations.
I lived full-time in a campground just off a major interstate in the south for four years, I had the opportunity to see many travel trailers pull in with flats, blowouts, tread seperation, and in many cases a LOT of body damage.

I noticed that the majority of incidents occurred in the summer, particularly on hot days. Many of the trailers appeared to be carrying a lot of weight, as evidenced by flattened leaf springs. When casually asked, most of the drivers stated they were driving 65+ mph when the tire failures occurred. I usually also asked when the tire pressures were checked, most answers were "a few days ago."

Looking back at this thread, my observations seem to confirm that heat, excessive loading, and improper tire pressures were the primary cause of tire failures.

Seems to me most, if not all, of the tire failures could have been avoided. I could not begin to add up the dollars spent on replacement tires and body repair, and this was from just one campground!

Fortunately for most of these travelers there was a VERY honest tire shop fairly close that kept a good supply of trailer tires in stock. One couple from Canada had to replace all four tires on their trailer, they limped in on two that still had air but no tread, holy c...!!! After getting the tires replaced the husband told me he would have spent more than twice that much in Canada for tires, guess they are expensive there.