Check your tires often!

[dagst1]

This will not be a brand x is better than brand z but a please when traveling do a walk around every once in a while.

Here's the reason for this thread.

We had a family event across the state - a little over 200 miles each way so we took our camper and camped at a family members farm. Left to come home Sunday after lunch and part of my pretrip inspection is to check all the tires. All were fine and at the proper pressure. By the way they were 4 years old -give or take and a well known brand. We stopped about half way home to let the puppy do her thing and checked the tires then while stoped all was fine.

Got home and while taking the carrier off the camper i noticed 2 tires were more of a doughnut shape - extremely bowed across the center the other 2 were flat from sidewall to sidewall. Backed the camper on to its pad and while unhitching the front one on the drivers side blew. My ears are still ringing.The good news was it did no damage to the camper at all. This morning the one on the other side had split but was still holding air. Called the local tire shop i trade with and bought 4 new name brand tires - be here Wednesday. I told the guy at the tire shop i was not sure how i would get the camper to him well turns out i don't have to they are sending the guy that does our oil changes and rotations out to remove them then take them back to the shop to install the new tires. I love small towns.

The main thing i want to pass along is to stop every so often stretch your legs and do a walk around and check your tires. It could save you a big repair bill.

2 of the 4 tires had broken belts that's why they swelled up and the one blew the tread off. One was the front on the drivers side and the other was the rear on the passenger side.

[4kids2dogs&RV]

Man, that's scary stuff.
Glad you all made it back safely. Could have been a disaster.

Don't forget your spare.

[660catman]

I do that regularly too and also touch the wheels to make sure bearings are not hot either.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by dagst1

This will not be a brand x is better than brand z but a please when traveling do a walk around every once in a while.

Here's the reason for this thread.

We had a family event across the state - a little over 200 miles each way so we took our camper and camped at a family members farm. Left to come home Sunday after lunch and part of my pretrip inspection is to check all the tires. All were fine and at the proper pressure. By the way they were 4 years old -give or take and a well known brand. We stopped about half way home to let the puppy do her thing and checked the tires then while stoped all was fine.

Got home and while taking the carrier off the camper i noticed 2 tires were more of a doughnut shape - extremely bowed across the center the other 2 were flat from sidewall to sidewall. Backed the camper on to its pad and while unhitching the front one on the drivers side blew. My ears are still ringing.The good news was it did no damage to the camper at all. This morning the one on the other side had split but was still holding air. Called the local tire shop i trade with and bought 4 new name brand tires - be here Wednesday. I told the guy at the tire shop i was not sure how i would get the camper to him well turns out i don't have to they are sending the guy that does our oil changes and rotations out to remove them then take them back to the shop to install the new tires. I love small towns.

The main thing i want to pass along is to stop every so often stretch your legs and do a walk around and check your tires. It could save you a big repair bill.

2 of the 4 tires had broken belts that's why they swelled up and the one blew the tread off. One was the front on the drivers side and the other was the rear on the passenger side.

RV tires are good for 4-5 years regardless of mileage or tread depth, they will age out long before they ever wear out, that's also regardless of brand.
The timing on your blow out was extremely lucky, hopefully you went to buy a lottery ticket that same day.

[sleepyT]

dagst1
I knew exactly what you were talking about before I got to the end of your post...Oct 2018 I lost a outside bearing on my camper, as the shop was finishing the repairs which included a new axle, the shop manager called me out to look at one of the tires on my rig...It looked just like you explained in your post...He said if I were you I would replace this right now because the steel belt had broken...Unfortunately this could happen any time... I agree you should have bought a lottery ticket or two...

[Rrizz]

Glad to hear you were not on the road when it failed. Going out to inspect mine now !

[dagst1]

Update: All 5 tires replaced/mounted/balanced and installed. The 4 on the ground were date code 2015 but the spare was 2004. I am guessing the original tire and you could tell it was never put on. The paint where the lug-nuts goes was still new. Glad i never needed it.

By the way the "name brand" old tires were made in china. The new tires - same brand - are made in the USA!

And no lottery tickets. Did not want to push it.

[sleepyT]

Five years of service..?I always heard six years was the cut off date for trailer tires to be replaced despite mileage...I guess like everything else that number has dropped...Good luck with your new tires and happy camping...

PS...I hope the good Lord gives me a sign when it's time to replace my tires...

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by sleepyT

Five years of service..?I always heard six years was the cut off date for trailer tires to be replaced despite mileage...I guess like everything else that number has dropped...Good luck with your new tires and happy camping...

PS...I hope the good Lord gives me a sign when it's time to replace my tires...

Don't know that the good Lord will give you any kind of sign, but the tire manufacturer was nice enough to date them for you.
If they're 5+ years old, especially some "no name" brand, you may want to start shopping before scheduling any long trips.

[dagst1]

The old and new tires are the same brand. The new ones replaced the old model. As for No-name tires i have a set of the cheapest trailer tires you can buy on my utility trailer and they have a date code of 09. Still doing good. As to my problem with the camper tires it was a matter of stuff happens. They could have been 1 year or 8 years old - stuff happens. Do not know why the belts separated but they did. The tire shop said they have never seen that with that brand.But stuff happens.

The main point of the post is to get out while traveling and do a walk around. Even on short trips. Never know what you may find!

[Papa-T]

Yea glad you made it home without damage.

[nanimal]

We bought tire minders. They work great

[toolman.dustin]

Originally Posted by dagst1

This will not be a brand x is better than brand z but a please when traveling do a walk around every once in a while.

Here's the reason for this thread.

We had a family event across the state - a little over 200 miles each way so we took our camper and camped at a family members farm. Left to come home Sunday after lunch and part of my pretrip inspection is to check all the tires. All were fine and at the proper pressure. By the way they were 4 years old -give or take and a well known brand. We stopped about half way home to let the puppy do her thing and checked the tires then while stoped all was fine.

Got home and while taking the carrier off the camper i noticed 2 tires were more of a doughnut shape - extremely bowed across the center the other 2 were flat from sidewall to sidewall. Backed the camper on to its pad and while unhitching the front one on the drivers side blew. My ears are still ringing.The good news was it did no damage to the camper at all. This morning the one on the other side had split but was still holding air. Called the local tire shop i trade with and bought 4 new name brand tires - be here Wednesday. I told the guy at the tire shop i was not sure how i would get the camper to him well turns out i don't have to they are sending the guy that does our oil changes and rotations out to remove them then take them back to the shop to install the new tires. I love small towns.

The main thing i want to pass along is to stop every so often stretch your legs and do a walk around and check your tires. It could save you a big repair bill.

2 of the 4 tires had broken belts that's why they swelled up and the one blew the tread off. One was the front on the drivers side and the other was the rear on the passenger side.

Geez, that's spooky.

I just got back from a 2000 mile trip. An article I read before leaving said tires will start failing at around 160 deg F. Before leaving a purchased an inexpensive laser thermometer on amazon. I stopped about every 100 miles and took temperatures of tires (trailer and truck). Most of the time they were all within about 15 degrees F of one another (sunny side about 5 degrees warmer than shady side. Truck front tires a little higher because of engine heat. Overall, all 8 tires were usually in the 125 degrees F range with ambient temp in the low 90's. One day the ambient shot up to 102 degrees and the tires were running about 135 degrees F.
It was an interesting experiment I thought I'd share. Low tire pressure will certainly jack tire temperature higher. I might analyze that next trip. My current tires are original, have 7000 miles on them and are pretty worn. I just replace the 4400# axles with 6000# axles yesterday because the old tires were so badly worn on the insides.

Safe driving to all,
Dustin

[Papa-T]

Now that’s living on the edge. Lol. Advice, go with Goodyear Endurance tires!

[grtblu]

The president of a major US over the road carrier once asked his VP Operations, "how can we save money on tires?", the response was "put air in them". Appearances can be deceiving so in addition to a tire pressure gauge, I carry a small hand held Infrared thermometer. It takes only a few seconds to measure the temperature of each tire, low air pressure will overheat a tire.

[maggart1]

We just got back from Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon...5k miles round trip! While camping in our new to us 13 Sunset Trail 250RB, I checked out our tires...manufactured 2012. I need lottery tickets pronto!