Blown tire..............

baro · 09-26-2010, 12:32 AM

Had my first blowout on my CT32GR at 60MPH on I-40.The right rear tire took out the tin above the tire and bent the siding on the entertainment center slide along with the tire skirt. I pulled over quickly, but the damage was done. The tire was shredded but the chromewheel(2830# rated) looks OK. My question is, shouldI upgrade the Komo ST225/75R-15D(2500#+ rated) tires that came withthe trailer(10 months old with 3K miles) to Maxxis ST225/75R-15E(2800#+) tires. I would gladly pay for the upgrade for a safer tire.

The CT32GR is 7715# dry weight and gross weight of 11,144#. The axles weight is 6732#.

Thanks in advance for your help.

drcook · 09-26-2010, 01:17 AM

First thing to do is check the age of the TIRE, not the age of the trailer to determine if you had old tires on the trailer to begin with. Here is a link to a site that will help you decode the DOT code on the tires and tell you the manufacture date to see if you have to get after them for putting on bad tires. Additionally, if the tire was not old, and if I intrepret correctly that the TT is only 10 months old, those tires should have some kind of warranty on them.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

Then, if the tires are truly not old, you probably answered your own question. The TT that we just traded in was a Forest River Salem 28BH. Dry weight a little over 5000 lbs. Without much loaded in the trailer (clothes, dishes, pots and pans) we blew one of the oem installed tires, 205/75 D15's Load range C. As this was our first RV I was not as savvy on TT tires as I was tires that I ran on my trucks, or the hot rods that I had owned over the last 30 yrs.

Bottom line, I started doing some research and found out that a lot (not all but a lot) of RV manufacturers put barely adequate tires on. I upsized the rims and tires on our Salem to 225-75-R15's Load range E. No problems at all now with the new tires even towing for hours on end with air temps in the mid to upper 90's.

The other thing that I did for my family's safety was keep the old tires and use them for storage. Here in Ohio we put the TT awat for the winter. So I have been taking off the good new tires and storing them in the barn and the old tires sit outside in the winter. Of course we had to get new rims, but rims, especially white spoke steel "plain jane" are not that expensive, all considering what can happen.

Additionally, you might consider it a bit overkill, but I went to 2 spares tires also. Some of the places I go out west have towns, and in some places people, few and far between. Or even just driving down the highway the chance of some junk on the road catching both tires on the same side is realistic. When I go out west I even take an extra spare truck tire with me.

As long as we are on the subject of blown tires, I discovered that you can use the plastic ramps from walmart rated for heavy pickup trucks, reasonable cost, to change trailer tires. For the rear, pull up on the ramps of course and vice versa. The opposite tires will lift off the ground and not need to be jacked up. When I change tires in our driveway (has a bit of a slope) sometimes the tires won't quite lift off, so a small floor jack, with very minimal effort will lift them. You can tell that the trailer weight is not on the wheels as the effort, as I said, is minimal. I now carry the ramps with me ANY time I leave the driveway with the trailer behind the truck.

dave

baro · 09-26-2010, 01:38 AM

Thanks for the quick reply.

The tire was manufactured 30th week of 2008. I bought the trailer 10/09 so the tire was 14 months old when put on the trailer. Is that reasonable?

baro · 09-26-2010, 01:41 AM

Dave,

One other question, do you run the recommended pressure of 80PSI(cold) on your loaded trailer?

Hunter11 · 09-26-2010, 01:45 AM

Run the maximum pressure your tire is rated for. I run our E rated tires at 80 psi.

Hey Robert, I see you are in East Texas have you seen the post about the Texas Rally in March? Maybe you can join us.Edited by: Hunter11

Stan · 09-26-2010, 01:53 AM

Good info and experience written above. I would also add that driving habits plays a part in how long tires last. I have seen a lot of drivers take really tight turns which is hard on tires and suspension components. You should never turn hard enough to skid the rear tire. Air pressure, speed, potholes also affect tire longevity. Personally, I would upgrade to load range E, 80PSI tires if the rims/stems can take it.

drcook · 09-26-2010, 02:57 AM

As Stan said " if the rims/stems can take it".

You will find that the rims will have their pressure rating stamped on them, Should be stamped on them. I would have to go check, but I think I run them a few pounds under, like 75/76 or so. I know that mfg'ers give a safetycushion when rating a rim/tire etc, but if you stay back just a couple lbs from max, say 75/76/77 you pick up the benefit of the extra air pressure, but are still well within spec.

In today's litigationous society, you are always better to stay within spec, that way, God forbid, if something ever happened, you can't be blamed, and/or you have a leg to stand on if you have to go after someone, and/or the insurance company doesn't have any grounds for denials. It is awful to have to think that way, but..............

Dave

SWAILES · 09-26-2010, 04:04 AM

Tire issues again......We should welcome every new member with some of this great advice. I also think that Crossroads is going to have to step up and spend the extra 110 bucks per trailer for some good skins. I don't think that a small amount like that would make someone choose another trailer. The bad press and word of mouth about failures might make a potential customer look at another trailer. JMHO

fhenn · 09-26-2010, 04:45 AM

Bad tires can hit at any time, just three or four weeks ago I replaced all four of the tires on the Cruiser, by build date the missons were just over three years old and had maybe 15,000 miles on them. When I got back from Colorado, I notice all four of them had cracks around the rims. With the death of my step son the tire situation was put on hold. I need to take Janet out to get away, and I took the unit to a tire dealer I trusted told him to put tire on it and call me when it was done. He did I picked it up and we left for Abita springs, I got just south of Amite La and I had a blow out less than 100 miles on the tires had to buy another tire down there, do not trust the other three tires, so I will replace them this next month. Dealer said have not had any trouble out of those tires on other trailers (Right) must be empty stock trailers

Hunter11 · 09-26-2010, 05:02 AM

Our trailer came with cheap Mission tires which cost us a lot of money right off the bat. They started coming apart with less than 5k miles on them and I had to replace them with a good set of tires at a cost of $750. I guess you live and learn and our lesson is we will never buy another trailer with a cheap set of tires onit which eliminates about 90% of the manufactures out there.

I don't see this issue changing until someone ends up getting killed because of a cheap trailer tire explodingand the family sues and takes a big chunk out of one of these manufactures. Sad but that seems to be the way it is in the country.

cwit · 09-26-2010, 06:38 AM

How would you go about sueing China. You can't buy a 15"tire built in U.S.A.

SWAILES · 09-26-2010, 06:39 AM

I agree remember what bad tires did to Ford and the sales of some of thier SUVs several years ago they lost millions in legal battels and tens of millions in lost sales. This was all due to installing bargan basement tires. I hope these guys wake up before something major happens.

SWAILES · 09-26-2010, 06:43 AM

I think that Carlisle manufactures 15 inch trailer tires in the US. Regardless of where a tire is made the trailer companies MUST require the tires to meet a specification. From the sounds of things they are just buying the cheapest garbage they can when the need them and allow the tires to age while sitting in thier inventory.

WOW it's Sunday afternoon and this is really raising the blood pressure.

baro · 09-26-2010, 07:11 AM

The tire was manufactured less than 2 years prior to failure. I check the tire pressure immediately before pulling out of camp. I was driving 55-60MPH and did not see any debris on the highway. We had gone 210 miles with one gas stop and one bio break, so it was not excessive heat buildup. My wife(and me)is more than nervous about continuing the trip on these tires. So, I bite the bullet and invest an unexpected $600 tomorrow for the peace of mind.

P.S. I guess the tires will be OK for my trash hauling trailer at home......hope they are 15".

Thanks to all for your input.

Robert & Susan

drcook · 09-26-2010, 09:03 AM

Robert,

as I mentioned, my old tires were saved for storage. now I know that the weather in Texas is a far cry from the weather in Ohio, but do you have any lengthy downtimes between trips ?

one thing that kills tires is sitting outside in the weather, be it cold, or sunlight or what, it is sitting and being exposed to the weather that does them in. car tires usually are worn out before they can get too old. if you think about it, most people are cycling through auto tires every couple years.

so you might want to keep the extra tires for RV storage purposes. throw them on a set of cheap steel white spoke rims and use them to park the trailer on. then you can put the good tires away in the dark, spray them with silicone spray every once in a while and prevent dry rot.

I will never again leave the trailer sit for 6 mos at a time (Nov through April is when the TT is winterized and put away) without having junk tires on it. Up here in Ohio I see trailers of all kinds, boats, yard trailers, TT, car haulers, etc sitting by the side of the road with a blown tire.

also, don't discard the old tire. take it back to the place you bought your trailer from and see it there is a one year warranty on it, try to get a new tire out of them so that you have a set of 4 for something

dave

Edited by: drcook

rcflyer · 09-26-2010, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baro

I check the tire pressure immediately before pulling out of camp. Thanks to all for your input.

Robert & Susan

Checking the tire pressure could be your problem. Sometimes the valve stem will not reseat and then you have a slow leak. Ihave had this happen many times. I do not checkpressures unless thetire is going to set unused for at least 12 hours. ThenI do a visual to be sure it has not lost pressure. On the trailer and truck I went with a TPMS system. That way I can check pressures before each trip and during the tripwithout touching a tire.

baro · 09-26-2010, 09:25 AM

The trailer has not sit in one place more than 6 weeks since we bought it last October. We did not winterize like you do up North....I just drained the water lines. We normally only have a few days below freezing.

Although I didn't check the tires after our morning start, I do a walkaround at each stop. Maybe, a TPMS would be in order.

Thanks all.

Dayle1 · 09-26-2010, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunter11

Run the maximum pressure your tire is rated for. I run our E rated tires at 80 psi.

This is the one place that I respectively disagree with Keith. If there is a meaningful benefit to running max psi on a tire that is carrying maybe 75% or less of it's rated load, then what should an owner do if the load is 100% of the rating? Can't exceed the max psi, so the only option is to then upgrade to a higher load range tire.Tire manufacturers publish load vs. inflation charts, and if following the chart created greater risk, then the manufacturers would not publish them due to liability concerns. A tire that is overinflated for the real load will be too stiff, it will bounce more and transfer greater stress to the rest of the suspension and trailer. Most of us do not run max inflation on the truck's rear tires when not loaded because of the harsh ride.

geondebi · 09-26-2010, 01:45 PM

I run all my tires at 80 psi. Even the pressure on the door is a little lower (70 Front / 75 Rear) and I find the ride to be much better. It is also easy to watch each pressure with pressure monitor and all tires seem to follow along with each other side to side. My PP came with the Power King tries and one started to come apart coming home from a trip. Lucky I was able to change it before it blew. All the tires were waring out with signs of axle alignment so before getting new tires I had the axles adjusted. I could not find good ST tires here in Southern CA so when Keith talked about putting BFG's on his I did the same. Reading in trailer mags it seems some are coming out with LT tires and not the ST that is supposed to have better sidewalls. With over 12,000 miles on them they still look new. If I were buying a new trailer now I would use the discount for better tires or have the dealer change them out.

Robbie Ribbins · 09-26-2010, 09:55 PM

I have not gone to tpms system yet, but carry a non-contact dit. thermo. and at rest stops or gas stops, walk around TT and TV and check temps on both bearings and tires and if I see a wide range of temps( Have Not seen any yet) then check out for a problem. This only takes about 2 min. and it gives me some piece of mind. Of course outside temp does change readings, but you should still see a problem. This thermo. is avail at Harbor Frieght from 25 to 60 dollars. Don' buy the $10.00 one as I did first but don"t trust it.

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