I read the tires thread all the time and have always wondered how so many folks had so much trouble with trailer tires. When I owned trailers in the past (many years ago) I just didn't have trouble with the tires. I will say that I only made shorter trips and didn't keep a trailer more than a couple of years. I just figured "keep them aired, balanced, no abuse" and I would be fine for a reasonable time period; well.............
I bought my trailer on March 1 2014. The tires are dated 0913 (looked at today) and I had about 7500 miles on them. I had had my local tire dealership go to my storage facility, pull the tires/wheels to inspect and re-pack all the bearings a couple of weeks ago. They said the tires looked really good (and they did). I had the tires inspected due to the concerns raised by this forum and others. They looked OK to me but wanted a second set of eyes on them. The tires are Trailer King ST225 75 15.
Today we left for FL with high hopes, excited about the trip and the fun about to be had. Fifty (50) miles from our house I heard a buzzing sound and looked in the mirror to see cream colored "something" coming out from behind the trailer. I shut it down and walked around. I thought I must be imagining things until I looked closer at the right rear tire.....there was no tread and little black strings were hanging down into the wheel well. Closer inspection revealed that the tread had simply detached from the entire tire. I looked up into the top of the wheel well and saw a hole about 18" long eaten through the bottom wood layer, the insulation and it had started eating on the underside of the flooring. I was pretty shocked that what appeared to be a good tire just disintegrated. Good Sam roadside assistance was not helpful so changed the tire and drove back home. We now have repairs scheduled for the RV.
I stole the line from a Monkeys song "I'm a believer" because now I am. The China bombs DO just self destruct for no rhyme or reason. I had told my wife about all that I had read about the Chinese tires and we had decided to replace them when we returned from this trip. I was just going to "make one more trip" because they looked so good and I hated to waste money. BAD CHOICE!
For those thinking/pondering about this and wondering if you should replace them.....do it before something bad happens. Our experience, and damage, could have been much worse if the entire tread had not wrapped around the axle and kept it from doing further damage. I have asked the dealership to get me 5 Maxxis M8008 ST Radial tires to replace everything on it. Should have done so sooner - just hard headed I guess. I know many, many have had these issues....guess it was my time to learn. On the bright side; my wife pointed out that I still had 6 weeks of therapy left from a total knee revision they did a few weeks ago so I could get back to that
Below is a pic of what to expect from these things. Just be proactive like I wasn't (I was fanatical about 65psi on the dot, not in direct sunlight in our storage unit, always balanced etc. but it didn't help).
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