Trailer Tires ??????

[john59]

I believe this subject has been brought up before. Nine days ago, on our way to Ft Wild I had a blowout on the trailer. Tire destroyed, but luckily minor damage to the trailer. Some flooring insulation torn apart.
The tires Carlisle radials. The tead depth would pass 2 PA state inspections on a car. Probably 24,000 miles left. The problem, all of the other tires had a bad (broken belt) in the same place on the remaining tires. 1st groove on the outside looked like a marble inside the tire----Yes, I do check air pressure. I replaced all 5 (incl spare) with bias ply steel belts. I am done with trailer radials. Tried to get E load, but settled for D load.
This is scary stuff----Any thoughts.
john

 

[LarryJ]

I believe this subject has been brought up before. Nine days ago, on our way to Ft Wild I had a blowout on the trailer. Tire destroyed, but luckily minor damage to the trailer. Some flooring insulation torn apart.
The tires Carlisle radials. The tead depth would pass 2 PA state inspections on a car. Probably 24,000 miles left. The problem, all of the other tires had a bad (broken belt) in the same place on the remaining tires. 1st groove on the outside looked like a marble inside the tire----Yes, I do check air pressure. I replaced all 5 (incl spare) with bias ply steel belts. I am done with trailer radials. Tried to get E load, but settled for D load.
This is scary stuff----Any thoughts.
john

Two thoughts and I don't buy into the Chinese/US thing are ...

1. You need to know exactly what load you have on the tires and that can only be done with stopping at a scale which I always do at the first fill up when on a trip.

2. Realize anytime you hit a pothole, etc. you probably have damaged a tire that might fail at some point down the road so pay close attention to the road.

3. If you have a tire failure and don't see it immediately you might have damaged the other tire by overloading it on that side that might fail later.

4. Always with very, very, few exceptions you have to be anal in keeping ST tires inflated to their max if OEM since the reserve is not that high. A cold tire pressure check every 2 or 3 days on an extended trip is not unreasonable.

5. When stopping for gas/pitstop whatever always feel the rims and check your tires closely to see if everything looks "KOSHER" so to speak.

These simple rules have served me well for the last 30+ years and over 150K miles of towing w/o a single "BLOW OUT" on the last two TTs.

I replaced some no name tires back in 1995 with towmaster bia ply and had one bubble up in the first 200miles of towing and switched to the GY Marathons in 1995 and have had no issues. My current trailer has close to 6K on it with the dreaded Chinese GY Marathons and they are doing great.

Larry

 

[clkelley]

Unless you are full-timing and doing a lot of traveling, time and sun exposure is your worst enemy on trailer tires, not miles and not tread wear. You will not put near the amount of miles on your trailer tires that you do on your car tires. Four - Five years is about the max on trailer tires even if you use the trailer very little.

I agree with Larry on checking the trailer tires pressure frequently and doing a walk around each stop you make.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Carol's info is very important - never judge the trailer tire by the tread depth. I replace mine every 5 years at most and go by the manufacture date, not when the tire was put on. I also don't poopoo a tire because of its Chinese origin. I run Kenda tires on my motorscooter and they are some of the finest motorcycle/scooter tires available despite their Chinese roots. A lot of people are swearing by Mexican tires - I question the quality control of anything made in Mexico after having two cars made in Mexico that were pos - the work ethic just isn't there.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I have read many stories of poor Carlisle tires.

 

[LMC]

Our tires never see five years. We had a blow out in summer of '08 so we put new tires all around. This past summer, the tread came off of one of the year old tires. We had under 1000 miles on that set of tires. DH lifted it up off the ground thru last winter/spring (we use it summer and fall) to help extend the life of the tires. We just got it out of the shop from the repairs (took a while to find the parts, they took it in in July) and I am going to go get regular truck tires put on it. I talked with the guy at the tire shop and he said if the were 15's there were not many options but I have 16's so he said we could use what they would put on a pick up. I guess we will try that this time around.

 

[des1954]

I vaguely recall an article in Motor Home magazine regarding tires on RV's and assume the same principle could be applied to TT's.

Larry is absolutely spot on regarding the weight. You need to be very aware of how much weight you are adding with almost every item packed. I know for a fact with Class A RV's that some models are almost to their chassis weight limit before you even put a fork in the drawer - the high end Country Coaches being one of them. Read the manual to see what your cargo load specifications are, and how to distribute the weight when packing. Go to the first scale you can find and weigh your TT/RV so you know where you're at.

Jen is spot on regarding the elements and the unit sitting unused more than it's being used. Tires will dry-rot even in enclosed storage. The one way to delay the dry-rot process is to get the unit on the road as much as possible. The heat generated from the tires rolling on the pavement helps to keep the tires malliable and slows the progression of dry-rot. It's probably more of an effort to do this with a TT, but we take our MH out on the road once a month if only to run it for 15-20 miles - partly because it's a diesel & needs to be run, and partly due to keeping the tires malliable. MH tires are very, very expensive and I'd rather do some preventative maintenance and keep the $$$ in my pocket.

Check the air pressure in your tires before you load and after you load. The verdict is still out in my book about running the tires a little softer than the OEM suggests. I'm no expert by any means, and on my former SUV I did run the tires a little softer to give me a cushier ride, but my DH makes sure the tire pressure on the MH is exactly where it's supposed to be. One MH tire costs as much as a set of tires for a car! YIKES!!

If you take precautions and keep up with maintenance, your tires will last a little longer - and your ride will be a lot safer.

Good luck!

 

[bord1niowa]

I was talking to a guy who puts nitrogen in the tires. Does it really help? Anybody use it?

 

[mnsprk]

Nitrogen will let the tire run cooler and does not expand and contract as much as air. It is used extensively on aircraft tires due to the heat build up on landing. Is is worth the cost in an RV? I think that has yet to be determined.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Air is about 78 % Nitrogen so I just use that