**** CAUTION : Tires May Not Be The Problem

[Jager]

Greetings everyone,
Like many on here I had numerous problems with tires blowing out prematurely. I tried multiple brands and with little or no help. Fustrated i move up from E load rating to Sailun 637's (G load rating I believe). Well first off let me say the Sailuns are AWESOME, truly unbelievable tires. I have a little over 2,000 miles on them and they still look new. On top of that I just torture tested them (see link below).

http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18707

I messed up and got into a parking lot with no way out. I'm lucky enough to have a tow vehicle that can turn sharper than an 2500 on the market today. Using the incredible turning ability to my TV I cranked the camper around in the parking lot and made it out. That was nice but in the process I bent the heck out of my suspension.

What I find truly amazing is that the tires seem to have suffered NO damage. The tires literally gripped the ground and side walls were so tough that the steel suspension hangers gave out first.

In the end please learn from my painful lesson:
1) DO NOT crank your camper around so tightly in a turn as to force your tires to skid across the ground, especially if you are on payment or concrete.

2) If you do #1 above I would suggest that it may be the cause of your tires growing ripples in the side wall and blowing out much sooner than you feel they should. Putting this kind of pressure or force on your tires is very bad for their life expectancy.

3) If your tires are actually strong enough to survive such a torture test . . . well your suspension may not be.

Just a word of advise from the newly educated ;-)

[Ken / Claudia]

Question, since I do not know those tires. Are they trailer tires or LT tires. It may or may not have anything to do with the damage, not saying it would, just asking.

[Jager]

I found out about these tires on this forum. I absolutely am loving them. It is amazing that they took the pressure I applied to them and didn't bubble or rip the side walls out.

This is the only website I can refer you to in an effort to answer your question. The tires didn't "cause" the damage to my camper any more than guns kill people or spoons make you fat. I caused the damage by doing something I shouldn't have. I am better educated now and won't be doing that again.

http://www.sailuntires.ca/MRT/S637.html

[TomHaycraft]

Jager, your experience has me curious. While weights of our trailers are quite different, I'm curious to know how tightly you had to cut the trailer. I routinely have to back mine in, making 90 degree turn to park in driveway to empty and wash after trips, then into storage, not to mention some parks.

Street in front of our house has the least room and therefore limits the "arc" I can make to minimize getting to 90'.

Thanks in advance.

[JRTJH]

There is a thread discussing the installation of "too much tire" on the forum. One of the issues is that by installing a tire with limited flexing in the sidewalls, it's possible to transfer that road shock to the suspension and possibly create other issues. Tire sidewalls are designed to flex which absorbs some of the road shock before the suspension is affected. By installing tires with stiffer sidewalls, you may transfer too much road shock and create increased suspension wear or damage.

While I'm no expert on tires, I wonder if it's possible that these bent suspension hangers may have been, in part, damaged because the sidewalls on the heavier tires didn't roll and allow the tires to slide sideways during that extreme turn?

It's no consolation, but would a damaged or "popped" tire have been less "total damage" than the bent hangers?

I wonder if changing the "weakest" link may have impacted this suspension damage?

[Desert185]

Good thought on the impact (really...no pun) on the suspension system. I'm down to either Maxxis or Sailun tires, and the Sailuns seem to be a bit more robust tire of the two, but probably not enough to do any harm to the suspension, I'm thinking.

Maxxis would be stock, 235/80-16 and Sailun would be 235/85-16. Pretty much a wash on dimension.

[mguay]

Just another thought.....I wouldn't be only worried about the suspension. My suspension hangers came from the dealer bent and no one would work with me for warranty. I fixed it and am pretty sure it won't happen again. Back on topic. At 3 yrs old I swapped the BlowMaxes for a set of LT's. 3 weeks later I had 2 cracked wheels! Check your wheels too!

[Jager]

mguay - do you have steel wheels? Where did they crack, in the spokes? How visible was the crack?

I have aluminum alloy wheels. I can't imagine what it would take to crack them. I guess it must be possible.