Got me!!!

[SAD]

Blowout on RV about 15 minutes after leaving campground. Tires were at 80 psi as they were supposed to be. No excessive speed - ST (special trailer) tires are rated for 65 mph. Was doing 60 or so.

Just went off like a bomb. Blew the sheetmetal/fiberglass trim pieces to smithereens. Also tore the fabric and ate insulation under the floor of the slide-out just above the tire itself.

In my driver's side mirror, I just saw plastic, metal and what appeared to be cotton candy (insulation) flying through the air - all immediately in concert with this loud BOOM.

Trailer did not waver, swerve, vibrate or behave erratically at all. I just had to find a spot to pull over..... On this 2-lane highway with no shoulders out in the middle of nowhere... With no place to turn off for miles in any direction. YAY!



^^ Tire showing tread separation.... Notice the perfect straight tear perpendicular to the tread pattern....



^^^ Well whaddya know? On the back side of the tire... notice the perfect straight tear perpendicular to the tread pattern here as well??

Oh... And it's in the exact same spot as the one on the other side of the tire.

If you set the tire on end, and look straight down towards the (missing) tread, both splits are in exactly the same spot....

I'm thinking manufacturing defect. Grrrrr.....

Planning on replacing all 4 with something NOT made in China.

[SAD]

Oh wait... Did I forget to mention... That floor jack we were going to use? It couldn't lift the trailer.... That winch that lowers the spare tire down to the ground from under the trailer? It blew apart and the cable was all balled up - couldn't lower tire...... Did I mention it was 99 degrees outside?? LOL

[Festus2]

Sad part is (no pun intended) is that the tread on this tire looks almost new! So did you end up calling your friendly road service guys to come to your rescue? It looks like a real mess and an expensive one at that. The good parts are that the trailer came to a stop safely and no one was hurt.

I'm sure you'll find plenty of threads about "which tire should I get" together with a good measure of advice on which tire to buy and not to buy.

[SAD]

After we found the 2-1/2 ton craftsman hydraulic floor jack inadequate to lift the trailer enough to change the tire, we stacked my 2x6 and 2x8 boards I use for leveling. Drove up on them with the good tire in order to change the dead one.

Not sure why we didn't start out with this idea to begin with. I've seen the trailer-saver product for enough years that it should have been my first thought.

We didn't call roadside assistance of any sort. We came up with ideas, sweated our arses off and we're actually back on the road within about 60 minutes.

[hankpage]

Bright side .... nobody injured .... looks like only plastic and aluminum ... Hydraulics and fiberglass look okay from here. I hope insurance covers it .. good luck in you quest for new tires. .... We gave up on floor jacks for trailers years ago ... only bottle jacks or run good tire up on 2x10s ..... Hank

[SAD]

Yup... Was pretty uneventful as far as the blowout... No on injured. Which is always a good thing!

On the damage.... I plan on 1) asking the local RV dealer (non-keystone) to give me a quote to fix.... 2) researching the wholesale cost of getting the parts and doing it myself.. And THEN making a decision of how to handle.

Luckily, outside of the darco and insulation underneath, it's all purely cosmetic. I'll get the darco repaired right away.... And then figure out the rest as I have time.

Researching tire choices (4 tires) now.

[gvansickle1]

That really sucks SAD. Glad to hear everyone came through it unharmed! Good luck on the repairs.

[therink]

That stinks and I bet those tires are less than 3 years old. If 16", I recommend a decent set of LTs. After reading too many posts such as this, I put a set of Firestone Transforce LTs on my fiver before I drove it off the lot.
Post back and let us know what you decide.

[bobbecky]

It's pretty sad that no one has asked what the weight is on those axles. Before you look at tires, the very first thing should be getting weight on those tires, then go from there. You got real lucky this time, so now you see why many of us have upgraded to real tires, be they LT's or 14 ply all steel trailer tires.

[SAD]

Originally Posted by bobbecky

It's pretty sad that no one has asked what the weight is on those axles. Before you look at tires, the very first thing should be getting weight on those tires, then go from there. You got real lucky this time, so now you see why many of us have upgraded to real tires, be they LT's or 14 ply all steel trailer tires.

I would be very surprised if this was due to overload based upon their load rating...

I have yet to weigh this trailer (had it two years ) however.... And plan to do so before the next outing. Will certainly post up results.

[Kristi]

Yikes! Glad no one was hurt & the trailer still handled well enough for you to find a place to pull over. Hopefully the repairs won't be outrageous.

[KYFamily]

They look like the same rims and tires I have. I very diligent on checking pressures and such but if they just blow, not sure what you can do but buy different tires. Guess i'll start looking into LT tires.

[Quad]

Those are the same rims I have also. I'd be looking into LT's.


2005 Silverado 2500HD D/A
2013 Laredo 321BH

[Bob Landry]

I looked for 15" and they are hard to find in LT. LT would be a good choice, just be careful about the load rating. Some of them in the same size are rated lower than the ST even though tje speed rating is more..
The TowMax in the photos are the same as what came on my trailer. After two years, they looked brand new, but I had read enough about them that I never looked back when I was leaving Discount Tire. I went with the 10 ply Maxxis, we'll see how they do.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by SAD

I would be very surprised if this was due to overload based upon their load rating...

I have yet to weigh this trailer (had it two years ) however.... And plan to do so before the next outing. Will certainly post up results.

I magnified the pictures of the failed tire as far as I could without complete distortion. To me, it sure looks like a rapid tire failure. Probably caused by it hitting something sharp in the road at highway speed.

To satisfy other suspicions the tire should be inspected by an experienced tire person.

FastEagle

[SAD]

Date code indicated 4x11 (can't remember exact week, but was forty-something of 2011)....

NOT and old tire - especially considering the Jan 2012 build date on my 2012 trailer I bought on March 6, 2012.

[fla-gypsy]

If those are 16" I would recommend an LT tire. Those of us with 15" wheels just don't have any options. Glad no one was injured.

[GaryWT]

Glad no injuries and good to hear the trailer handled well. Nice save on lifting the trailer.

[bsmith0404]

Originally Posted by SAD

Oh wait... Did I forget to mention... That floor jack we were going to use? It couldn't lift the trailer.... That winch that lowers the spare tire down to the ground from under the trailer? It blew apart and the cable was all balled up - couldn't lower tire...... Did I mention it was 99 degrees outside?? LOL

This is something many people do not think about. When changing a tire on these beasts you can easily be lifting 6k lbs or more. I've known people who just plan to use the jack that came with their truck. Most truck jacks are designed to lift one corner of a 7k lb truck, so less than 2k lbs. I went to wally world and bought a nice 12 ton bottle jack in a handy carry case. Very compact and fits neatly in my front storage compartment.

Sorry to see what happened, it's amazing how much damage a tire can do to an RV in a very short amount of time.