The RVer was oblivious to what was happening and kept sailing along at 70 miles per hour. I sped up, honked the horn and Mrs. Professor signaled he had tire problems. He immediately pulled off and took care of the problem.
When towing it's almost impossible to hear or feel when a blowout occurs to the RV or Toad. Thankfully, other motorists usually honk and tell you when it occurs. So, what can you do to prevent this from happening to you?The most important thing you can do is to make sure your tires are in good shape, properly inflated and your RV is not overloaded. I experienced a blowout on our first 5th wheel right after I bought it. The trailer was not overloaded and I had the proper inflation, but the tires were old and weather worn. If you purchase a used RV and can't surmise the age of the tires, you should seriously consider replacing them.
There are several good tire pressure monitoring systems currently available and these systems can pay for themselves over time. Many tread separations actually penetrate the shell of the RV causing severe damage to the interior, wiring and plumbing. This kind of damage frequently results in several thousand dollars of repairs. A tire pressure monitoring system is cheap by comparison.
If you can't afford a tire pressure monitoring system, then make it a practice of checking all your tires every time you stop for breaks, lunch or a tourist attraction. Visually inspect all your tires and feel them to see if they are overheated. Some RVers use a thermal laser digital thermometer for this purpose. Always check for proper air pressure before you start off the next day. I keep a log of my tire pressure readings and record them once a month so I have a point of reference. This procedure helps you spot a trend of declining tire pressure before it becomes a road hazard. I've been able to identify tires with embedded nails, screws and bad valve stems by using this method.
I want to encourage you to develop good tire safety habits. When it comes to tires, I follow the rule, "when in doubt, check it out!" Jim Twamley - Professor of RVing
12 comments:
In today's world of Chinese junk tires being installed on RV's you can do all of the right things in regards to tire upkeep and it won't d any good. They are just lousy tires.
I bought a 08 motorhome in May 09.
I thought that when I bought the new rig the tires where suppose to be in new condition. Wrong.
They put tires conditioner on the tires to make them shiney.
I drove it from Las Vegas to pensacola FL on the rest of our
vacation, believing were were safe
from tire failure.We made it home safely by the Grace of God.
after a couple of days of rest I decided to check the tires.
The tires were Michilem.All 6 tires
on the rig was dry rotten from rim to between the treads. I learned a valuable lesson, just because they are new doesn't mean the tires are safe.The tires were 2 years old by
the manufacturing date.I spent a lot of time in a day debating with
the manufacturer to replace them.
They told me they wasn't going to do anything about it. I had to threatened them with a law suit
if they didn't honor the gurantee.
I got 6 new tires to replace the bad ones.Michilem did the right thing finially.
Don't travel at 70 mph towing a trailer if you don't want to blow a tire.
Jim,
Its not obvious from the pictures if the tire that failed lost all its air or not. As a Tire Design Engineer it bothers me the way "Blowout" is used to describe various types of tire problems. Basically the term is leftover from when tires had tubes and a sudden los of air would tear the tube to shreds with a loud BANG. Tubeless tires are different.
Normally when a tubeless tire fails it is due to one of two types of failure.
First the sidewall ply fails due to fatigue. If the cord is Nylon or Polyester the cord melts due to a combination of speed and excess deflection. Is steel cord it doesn't melt it just fatigues like a paper clip when you bend it back and forth. Excess deflection is due to underinflation caused by a puncture or long term lack of maintenance. When the sidewall cord fails you may get a Rapid Loss of Air. This is more properly called a RAL not a blow-out.
The second type of failure is a separation or detachment of various parts of the tire structure in the area of the tread. This type of failure can be caused by excess heat, long term aging (which lowers the rubber's ability to stretch as designed) or internal corrosion of the steel due to the introduction of moisture.
If the proper term is not used then you are not really helping understand the root cause of the problem and are unlikely to fix the underlying cause.
We recently had 3 of 4 Goodyear Marathons separate and fail within 3 years of the manufacture date. They had never been over loaded, run at excessive speed, under inflated or had tire dressing on them. One had been sent in to Goodyear 6 months previous for cracking. Goodyear said nothing was wrong with the tire. Goodyear would not warranty the cracking or failures. Unfortunately I think some of our US manufacturers are not doing any better than the foreign ones. Due to availablily I ended up with all Chinese tires on my trailer. I don't expect they will do any worse than the Marathons. So why do we not buy american?
Paul,
You say the tires never were overloaded or run at excessive speed. Does this mean you have actual, by-tire individual weights with the trailer fully loaded?
Did you also increase the inflation by 10 PSI per Goodyear instructions for their "ST" tires? Did you keep your speed below 75 100% of the time and check your "Cold" inflation every travel day?
If so then I can only say that you have been very un-lucky.
To be sold in the US for use on highway all tires must be certified as capable of passing DOT tests. These tests are run at 100° on a drum which concentrates the load to stress the test tire past the maximum load point.
As I understand it most ST tires are limited to 65 mph MAX. Goodyear has made an exception and you can read their instructions at http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/marathon_gen_info_032806.pdf
Max speed does not mean you can go faaster for a short time. It means MAXIMUM Ever.
Note I just changed my ID from hedo2Guy to Tireman. I have 40 years experience as a Tide Design and Quality engineer so do know a little bit about tires.
A couple of years ago, 2007, I heard that the manufacturer of the "China made" tires on my 2004 Open Road 5er was doing a silent recall. After checking it out I found that I was elligable and that they would give me $525 for my tires. With that thought in mind and after much research I purchased Titan ST235/80R16
LR E. They're expensive, list at that time was over $300 but Les Schwab ordered them for me and only charged $228 per tire, including freight.
The Titans are made by Goodyear but they're not the same as the Marathones. They're hard to find, even on the Internet. I found them at: http://www.titanstore.com
I'm no tire expert by any means, but here is what I have observed during our 4+ years of 9-10 months/year of travel.
1. A high percentage of trailers are being towed over the recommended 65 mph limit of the manufacturer, as well as over the posted speed limit.
2. I'm assuming this was Washington State - ANY vehicle that is pulling a trailer or a car, by state law is limited to the truck speed. That is 60 mph in WS, not 70 or 75 as in other states we have been in. That's strike 2 against the driver.
3. What about the stress on his front tire from this incident? Want to make a bet on how long it will take that one to let go?
General observation-many rv'ers are only able to use their rigs for a total of maybe 4-6 weeks a year. That may be on the high side. Where are their trailers sitting during the rest of the time and on what kind of surface? All of that takes an unseen toll on the tires no matter how "new" they are/were.
Please, these are just observations I have made since we have been on the road. I hope I don't sound overly judgemental, but I have a hard time being convinced that it is all in the fault of tire manufacturing and/or design. Just my 2 cents worth!
About 20 years ago I had a car hauler trailer that came with bias ST tires. I was less than impressed with them so switched to LT tires to benefit from more modern design and based on my experience a more robust construction. If you consider making such a chage you MUST ensure you know the real maximum load on the each tire and that the wheel can handle the inflation you will need.
LT tires are much easier to find too.
after 8 years of fulltiming pulling 33ft fiver...rig came from manufacturer with 8 ply tires !!! boom boom 10 plys better but blew at 55mph ..now using 14ply steel belted with NITROGEN...maintains pressure best and no condensation damage inside tire by changes in temp/humidity....my advice increase to heaviest duty tires your rig can hold....check rims for inflation limits...my aluminum 16in max out at 95psi tho tires can go to 110ps1...
Baja
So as I understand it your mfg provided Load Range D 65 psi max tires and you had tire failures. You switched to Load Range E 80 psi max tires but still had a failure "at 55 mph" which really not part of the discussion as I know of no normal radial made for highway use on an RV that is not capable of at least 65mph with most OK at 75.
Now you are running Load Range H (max of 110 psi) but you are running less than 95 so you do not exceed the wheel max.
I am wondering what your individual tire loads really are. You never mentioned.
What pressure are you running in your LR-H tires to ensure you never exceed 95?
Changing from 78% Nitrogen to 96% may will provide dry gas but I am wondering what you are doing when you check your air each travel day and discover you need to top off your tires?
Could you go into more detail about your tire pressure log?
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