I'm wasn't a big fan of the 'China Bomb' conspiracy having not experienced any failures in eight of them that came as OE on two new TT's from CW.
I do believe in hedging my bets and always visually inspect my tires, and ensure (every trip) that the pressures are at the MFR's recommended PSI for the load I'm hauling. At every comfort stop I routinely hand check the temps and of course avoid clipping curbs like the plague.
Coming home from Savannah GA last weekend, imagine my horror when the rear passenger side 'Castle Rock' was too hot to touch with a bare hand.
The other three, and my truck tires were warm as you'd expect but not scalding hot. (Note to Santa, please bring me a handheld laser temperature reader from HF currently on sale for $17.99)
Closer examination revealed a noticeable dome to the tread as opposed to the flat profile of everything else.
Sensing the tire was about to fail catastrophically, (I'm guessing the circumferential steel radial plies had separated from the internal carcass) I decided the bumper mounted spare was a sensible option here.
I knew it had never been run, and the pressure was as required as that is part of my aforementioned check list. It's a 'Greenball' 'Transmaster' from Walmart, it replaced the OE 'Castle Rock' one I destroyed in a tight right turn on day one of owning the trailer.....Yeah, tell me about it...
In case you're wondering, all the tires are exactly the same spec. 225/75 x 15 8pr steel belted radial ST tires.
Fortunately the unused (brand new) spare matches the three OE in diameter perfectly, but look at the photo comparing the spare to the one I took off.
Here's what I think is happening, the internal failure has allowed the tire to 'dome' thereby increasing the diameter and consequently the loading, hence the excessive temperature.
I think this was a situation I'm lucky to have got away with. It's going to cost me a set of 'QUALITY' 10 pr tires, but that's cheap when I consider what was riding on these.
What do you think...?