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CWtheMan · 06-15-2019, 06:38 PM

I’ve never had much confidence in antidotal trailer tire failure reports.

Once, when going west on I-15 out of Las Vegas we had dual right side failures. An eighteen wheeler in front of us threw a complete tread. I avoided the tread with our truck tires, only because the left lane was open for a fast left lane change. However, the following right side trailer tires both hit the tread. The lead tire blew immediately and the one behind it was flat when I got stopped. Trailing a couple of hundred yards behind us was our friends with the full story. Both of our trailers had the same size wheels & tires so with his and our spares we proceeded on to Barstow, CA where I got some new right side tires.

Another time with a whole set of new tires on the trailer we had a catastrophic failure just east of Oklahoma City on I-40. With that new set I had the installers put all new steel valve stems in those wheels? The valve stem was missing from the wheel with the failure. It’s a toss-up if it was properly installed or if something flew up and knocked it off. I had to get two new tires because the one left supporting the load was hotter than a firecracker when we got stopped.

Sometimes failures are reported with “tire pressures just checked, never exceeded the tires speed restriction, trailer not overweight and we use a TPMS.” And I ask; what’s the low pressure setting on the TPMS? Or, did you get wheel position weights?

Owners need to wise-up about RV trailer tire inflation pressures. OEM tires have always needed full sidewall pressures and now with the 10% in load capacity reserves they still need that max pressure. If you go to an extreme overkill with replacement tires you should get your money’s worth and inflate them to a minimum of 20% in reserves.

NHTSA does not blatantly look the other way. However, their hands are tied without proof. Sending in pictures with tread/sidewall cords visibly melted only proves the tire was overheated. Their statistics are heavily in favor of consumer abuse when that condition is visible.

There are numerous recalls for vehicle certification label errors with tires, wheels, and their inflation pressures or load capacities having unsafe conditions.

Sometime when you have a little extra research time go back a number of years and look for a major recall for Uniroyal LT tires. They were OEM on some models of Keystone RV trailers back then.

06-15-2019, 06:38 PM	#47
CWtheMan Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Taylors, SC Posts: 3,031	I’ve never had much confidence in antidotal trailer tire failure reports. Once, when going west on I-15 out of Las Vegas we had dual right side failures. An eighteen wheeler in front of us threw a complete tread. I avoided the tread with our truck tires, only because the left lane was open for a fast left lane change. However, the following right side trailer tires both hit the tread. The lead tire blew immediately and the one behind it was flat when I got stopped. Trailing a couple of hundred yards behind us was our friends with the full story. Both of our trailers had the same size wheels & tires so with his and our spares we proceeded on to Barstow, CA where I got some new right side tires. Another time with a whole set of new tires on the trailer we had a catastrophic failure just east of Oklahoma City on I-40. With that new set I had the installers put all new steel valve stems in those wheels? The valve stem was missing from the wheel with the failure. It’s a toss-up if it was properly installed or if something flew up and knocked it off. I had to get two new tires because the one left supporting the load was hotter than a firecracker when we got stopped. Sometimes failures are reported with “tire pressures just checked, never exceeded the tires speed restriction, trailer not overweight and we use a TPMS.” And I ask; what’s the low pressure setting on the TPMS? Or, did you get wheel position weights? Owners need to wise-up about RV trailer tire inflation pressures. OEM tires have always needed full sidewall pressures and now with the 10% in load capacity reserves they still need that max pressure. If you go to an extreme overkill with replacement tires you should get your money’s worth and inflate them to a minimum of 20% in reserves. NHTSA does not blatantly look the other way. However, their hands are tied without proof. Sending in pictures with tread/sidewall cords visibly melted only proves the tire was overheated. Their statistics are heavily in favor of consumer abuse when that condition is visible. There are numerous recalls for vehicle certification label errors with tires, wheels, and their inflation pressures or load capacities having unsafe conditions. Sometime when you have a little extra research time go back a number of years and look for a major recall for Uniroyal LT tires. They were OEM on some models of Keystone RV trailers back then.