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Old 08-26-2018, 08:17 AM   #1
Mandersoon
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Nasty tire blow-out

Hi all,

I was traveling from the Pacific Northwest out to the Midwest with my Mountaineer last week. On day one, I had a pretty bad blow-out that took a lot of the siding and insulation around the wheel-well with it. On day two, the second tire on that side blew as well, though fortunately, did not disintegrate like the first.

My primary question to the group is - any suggestions for where to procure a matching piece of sheet metal to repair the side skirting? I found one resource online that sells a match in 12 foot lengths, but at $290 a pop, that seems a bit unreasonable to me.


Also, as for the failure of the tires, I've come to the conclusion that the tires failed as a result of UV damage. This trailer sat for a couple years with the previous owner with direct southern exposure and no tire covers. I learned a lesson that UV damage is real, and can damage the rubber very rapidly!
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Old 08-26-2018, 09:33 AM   #2
Javi
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https://www.trekwood.com/replacements

Your blow out experience is exactly why many of us replace our tires every two or three years... cheap insurance..
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Old 08-26-2018, 09:35 AM   #3
Ken / Claudia
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Regarding the tires you could be right but, I well bet it was caused by #1 age too damn old, 5 years beyond build date your on borrowed time. What was the date of build stamped on the tires? #2 Under inflation during that trip or before caused damage that is not repairable. #3 Road debris got the first tire. The second blow out was caused by the overloaded condition from the first blow out. That second tire was forced to carry maybe double of what it should from the time of the failure until the weight was removed from it.

Replace all tires including the spare and get a TPMS system. Spend an hour or 2 reading through the tires section of this site. Your failures are common with aged tires or even new OEM tires.
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Old 08-26-2018, 09:42 AM   #4
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I had some 5 year old Marathon's on mine too. I had pulled it about 275 miles and parked it in the yard and about two weeks later I was outside and one of them blew! Just sitting there. I considered myself lucky and went and bought six new 14 ply Super Cargos!
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Old 08-26-2018, 09:46 AM   #5
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Lots of posts on here about tire quality and the need to replace the China Bomb Maypops. Someone gets bit almost every day.
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Old 08-26-2018, 11:04 AM   #6
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The loss of the 2nd tire was very predictable and is a reminder to all that have a catastrophic failure. The 2nd tire was carrying nearly 100% of the load on that side of the trailer. Probably around 200% of its load carrying ability. Internal damage to that tire was fatal and, under the circumstances, that's a normal result.

Just a note: At the age of 5 years ALL automotive and trailer tires need to be inspected by your favorite tire shop. Most won't charge anything for that service if it's just an external check.
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Old 08-26-2018, 01:53 PM   #7
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I'll just say that all 4 tires seemed to be in good shape before we left on our journey. They had plenty of depth in the treads and no cracking or anything of that sort. Also, they were inflated to proper pressures. They did have the time on them, I'll give you that. I checked tire pressure at most stops, and used an infrared thermometer at every stop to check temperature. The hottest one got was 130 degrees Fahrenheit on a 95+ day.

Could have well been the first issue that caused the second blow-out...hadn't considered that.
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Old 08-26-2018, 01:57 PM   #8
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What I've seen in my background I wouldn't ride on a tire more than 4 yrs period. And if I was traveling any long distance a new set of rubber is cheap considering the alternative regardless of age. Last set of tires was 3 yrs old and we were heading to desert from Oregon. Replaced with new and I never gave the tires a second thought on my trip.
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Old 08-26-2018, 02:14 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandersoon View Post
I'll just say that all 4 tires seemed to be in good shape before we left on our journey. They had plenty of depth in the treads and no cracking or anything of that sort. Also, they were inflated to proper pressures. They did have the time on them, I'll give you that. I checked tire pressure at most stops, and used an infrared thermometer at every stop to check temperature. The hottest one got was 130 degrees Fahrenheit on a 95+ day.

Could have well been the first issue that caused the second blow-out...hadn't considered that.

You might do a search on the site on failed tires or China Bombs (they are innumerable) for lots of interesting reading. Looking good on the outside doesn't mean anything; they generally disintegrate from the inside out. Mine looked brand new (and almost were) when one blew as have others. When pulled off the inside of the tire is failing, or in some cases, the tread just comes off due to poor construction. The easiest way to prevent those unforeseen, and many times catastrophic occurrences, without pulling the tires before every trip, is to keep them inflated to sidewall pressure, watch the weight put on them, use a TPMS then replace them at around 3 years. "Looking good" doesn't play into my criteria for assessment any longer on a ST tire.
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Old 08-26-2018, 02:48 PM   #10
Ken / Claudia
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Manderson, bottom line is that these ST trailer tires are way different then any of your motor vehicle tires. Age, overweight, under pressure all kill them. Again look at the date code on the remaining tires. Tell us what it is.
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Old 08-26-2018, 04:26 PM   #11
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As to your question about replacement skirt sheeting, I just replaced a piece very similar to yours on mine. It was a simple 19inch by 1 inch piece about 108 inches long.
I had a local fab shop bend me a piece and I cut out the wheel well and installed it myself. Fab shop charged me 80$ time and materials.
The new piece is white but could easily be painted the original brown. I chose to leave it white as it matched the rest of the white on mine perfectly.


I looked into the Trekwood option but it would have been very costly to ship up here to me.
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Old 08-26-2018, 05:38 PM   #12
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Date-code on the remaining two Goodyear Marathons is 5012 and 5112 - going on 6 years old! Holy cow. Now I know. Will be getting those replaced as well before heading out again. Thanks for the tips.


Harleydodge - thanks for the tip to seek out a metal fab shop, it's a good one.
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Old 08-26-2018, 05:45 PM   #13
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You've looked at the date codes; be sure and look at the gvw of your trailer and the load range of the tires you intend to buy. They should cover the gvw of your trailer with a safety margin.....IMO. Don't buy underrated tires.
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Old 08-26-2018, 06:03 PM   #14
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And don't replace with GY Marathons. Get a better tire. Lots and lots and lots of info in the forum with ideas. Carlisle, Sailun, Maxxis, or GY Enduarance should be where you look.
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Old 08-26-2018, 06:21 PM   #15
sourdough
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And don't replace with GY Marathons. Get a better tire. Lots and lots and lots of info in the forum with ideas. Carlisle, Sailun, Maxxis, or GY Enduarance should be where you look.
^^^Chip brings up a good point. I spotted you had Marathons but forgot to mention it. They are a "may pop" tire. Goodyear used to make good trailer tires, and may be doing so now with the Endurance (time will tell), but the Marathons are not to be trusted. Carlisle HD, Maxxis, Endurance seem to be the best in that size as best I can tell.
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Old 08-27-2018, 09:09 AM   #16
Tooth Ferry
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Tires

Explore the possibility of LT tires. The FirestoneTransforce tires on our Montana HC 305 RL have over 40,000miles on them and expect to get another10,000. They replaced TowMax originals that had to be replaced at about 3000 as thet were losing pieces of tread andhad big bubbles in the tread area.
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Old 08-27-2018, 02:55 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Mandersoon View Post
Date-code on the remaining two Goodyear Marathons is 5012 and 5112 - going on 6 years old! Holy cow. Now I know. Will be getting those replaced as well before heading out again. Thanks for the tips.


Harleydodge - thanks for the tip to seek out a metal fab shop, it's a good one.
The ST tire manufacturers have kept right in step with the new RVIA recommendations for 10% reserve load capacity above the vehicle's certified GAWRs.

You can now replace your original tire size (ST235/80R16 LRE) with the same size in a LRF. Most all of the ST manufacturers already have them at retailers throughout the USA. The advantage of using that upgrade to LRF is it uses the same load inflation chart as the LRE, so your trailer's tire labeling will still be valid.

The LRF will provide 3860# of load capacity @ 100 PSI. So you need to insure your current wheels and valve stems are rated for the 100 PSI. It's recommended to use steel valve stems with trailer tire applications.

I don't do brand recommendations. However, I have researched some of the LRF brands. The average tire weight was 50 - 55#. Average speed ratings are 75 - 81 MPH.
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Old 08-29-2018, 09:34 AM   #18
Kansas Gary
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Mandersoon: Now that you need to replace all your tires have you considered upgrading both the tires and wheels on your RV? I have been researching this and really thinking about doing that to my RV in the near future. You might want to check out this web site and see if it just might work for you also. www.boarwheel.com they do have a couple of ideas I really like....
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Old 09-02-2018, 07:59 AM   #19
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Upgrade

I upgraded the cheap factory tires to G rating after two failures on practically new tires. Say "NO" to Chinese tires. Many American branded ST tires (like Goodyear) are Cheap Chinese tires! I purchased Goodyear Goodyear Unisteel G614 RST Radial Tire - 235/85R16 126R. They are American made and they didn't need balancing (I had them checked). Sidewall failure is the most common failure I've seen on under rate tires
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Old 09-02-2018, 08:05 AM   #20
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Did you also take a picture of the inner side of tire, so the side that was not in the direct sunlite? I bet damage- pattern is yust the same as on sunside.
This damage often is courced by overheating, wich on its turn is courced by to much deflection for the speed.

Many ST tires are calculated in maximum load for 65mh and so have no reserve anymore for things like inacurate r eading of pressure, unequall loading R/L and misyudging of real weight on tire.
For that reason max pressure is prescribed.
And that is often even not enaugh to prevent overheating.
And nowadays a higher pressure then AT is not allowed anymore.

But still the tiremakers give pressure/ loadcapacity lists, that go back to 25 psi , calculated with the formula that was introduced for diagonal tires in 1928. These give higher loadcapacity's for the lower pressures then the calc for LT tires, so even more deflection so heatproduction at same speed, and heatproduction was already to the edges, when AT pressure and given maxload on tire.

So my question is , what pressure did you fill for what weights on tires?
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