New member from Florida

[pretzman]

I have had my Montana for since the first of 2010. We have traveled out west and some trips to Indiana where we are originally from. We love the layout and all the space this 5th wheel offers. On our last trip to Charleston a couple of week we had a couple of blowouts, one doing considerable damage to the side of the camper. I always run 78lbs cold and the tires show no wear or damage. Is there something I should be aware of? How long should tires be kept before swapping out?

[Festus2]

You should inflate your tires to the recommended cold psi indicated on the sidewalls. You didn't mention whether the tires were "D"s or "E"s. There has been a bit of discussion on the forum lately about tires and blowouts. Just because you can't see any signs of wear or damage, that doesn't necessarily mean that all is well. It is recommended that the tires be changed regardless of wear approximately every 5 years - or sooner if necessary.
You should also keep your tires properly inflated and be mindful of the load/weight of your 5th as overloading can also contribute to blowouts.
A growing number of members are also ditching their off-shore tires for domestic ones.

[Tom and Kelley Crawford]

Wow, sounds just like my post. We were driving from the Tampa, FL area to NC for a week. Our Cougar 327RES is a 2010, we had our first blowout in Wildwood, Fl going up. Replaced that tire and heade to NC. In downtown Atlanta on I75 coming home we had our 2nd blowout. Changed that tire and immediatly stopped and bought new tires for the other two and the spare. Took our 5er into the shop today and are awaiting the estimate for repairs. Blowouts were on differen sides so we have extensive damage on both sides, bent frame, ripped both side panels off, wheel well covers and even tore the fabric on the underside of camper. Our camper is only two years old and we have made two trips to NC, 1 to GA and maybe 5 local 1 hr trips near home. Camper is not overloaded and we keep cold tire pressure at 79/80, check it regularly and keep the camper in a garage. After our 1st blowout, the tire tech told us all of our other tires looked good and he thought we had run over something on the interstate that caused the blowout so we did not consider replacing all 4 until the second blowout. Unfortunately neither spot had the Michelin Ribs available or we would have paid the extra money for those. Now we have 5 new tires at the cost of $800. For a few hundred more, we could have had much better tires and peace of mind but in an emergency, you get what you can get. Good luck with your camper repairs and thanks for letting me vent again! Other than this trip, we do love our camper!