Tire blow out

[William Deak]

Blew a tire on our 13' Scamp a couple of weeks ago going about 70 mph and wound on the rim. This was on a stretch of road that became suddenly quite "bouncy" due to unevenness in the road bed. The tire inflation was checked at recommended 50psi before departure and the tire itself was not worn. Besides being a truly harrowing experience that we do not ever wish to repeat it raised some questions for us. These are standard belted 13" rim trailer tires that came with the trailer. Do others have experience with these? Are there better grade tires available?

[ZachO]

My tires are rated at 65mph max.

What tires are yours?

I've had good luck with Maxxis. There are also Goodyears that have good reviews. There are a couple others people seem to trust. A lot of them are apparently crap...but if you

-always change them out every 5 years regardless of wear
-keep them properly inflated
-stick within their rated speed and weight limits

the chances of blowout are minimized.

But there's nothing you can do to 100% prevent one.

[Jon in AZ]

The tires that came on mine were only rated for 65 mph sustained towing. That could be one factor. It could have developed a slow leak while you were driving. A TPMS might have caught it in time.

Most likely, though, you were simply the victim of a manufacturing defect, sadly common in ST tires, or a road hazard. If you did not sustain fiberglass damage, consider yourself fortunate.

Carlisle and Maxxis are reputable brands making a 13” ST tire. Not a lot of choices in that size, and upsizing is not possible on a 13’er without modification.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by ZachO

My tires are rated at 65mph max. .

My Scamp came with 60 MPH max speed tires.
I changed to a 14" high speed tire, I still drive 62 MPH but now I have a safety margin.

[Glenn Baglo]

You might need to buy a new rim too.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

...A TPMS might have caught it in time.

A TPMS did catch my blow out in time to prevent any damage:
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...tml#post720085

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

...
Carlisle and Maxxis are reputable brands making a 13” ST tire. ..

I went with Carlisle.. much better tire than the Greenball garbage that came with my Scamp in 2015.

[Lockman]

This has been discussed before. I got rid of my 2018 Scamp13 tires when I found out they are rated like most travel Trailers at 65 mph max. I did my research and went with Carlisle ST175/80R13. These are rated at 81MPH max. Also max tire pressure when cold 50PSI.

I feel a lot safer when I now have to increase my speed for whatever reason above 65MPH.


Jack

[Wayne Collins]

Over inflation makes the tire hard, and less able to flex over sharp objects like rocks, curbs, etc. The impact can break the cords in the tire.
Find the actual weight of the trailer on each wheel.
Then adjust the air pressure accordingly. My guess is you could be fine with 35 - 40 psi. then just check the temperature of the tire after driving 50 - 100 miles.
If you can hold your hand against the sidewall for 5 or more seconds, you are good to go. If too hot, add some air.

[steve67]

Tires on my Boler read 50psi cold but Boler recommends 25-30psi. Is/was 50psi too much?

[Bob Durrstein]

ALWAYS check the DOT Tire code:
How to find the DOT code?
The first two digits of the code represent the week of production during the year (from 1 to 52).
The second two digits represent the year of manufacture.
If your DOT code is a 3-digit number, it means your tire was produced before 2000.

If you tire is 4 or more years old, great tread is deceptive. Expecially since camper tires tend to just sit in the sun, they may be rotted on the insidde and look great.

CHECK THE AGE OF YOUR TIRES.

[Lockman]

Here's a helpful bit of information on tires for travel trailers from e-trailer
Check it out.





https://www.etrailer.com/faq-trailer...questions.aspx

[Wayne Collins]

Originally Posted by steve67

Tires on my Boler read 50psi cold but Boler recommends 25-30psi. Is/was 50psi too much?

Yes,
For example.
an ST175/80R13, C-rated tire at 50 psi will carry a load of 1360 lb
or, for two tires, an axle load twice that. = 2720 lb.
25 psi = 905 lb
30 psi = 1000 lb
35 psi = 1100 lb -- MAX for a B rated tire
40 psi = 1190
45 psi = 1270
50 psi = 1360 lb --MAx for C rated.
ALL ST or Special Trailer Tires are limited to Max Speed Rating of 65 MPH

You may want to upgrade to a ST185/80R13 but no need if the fully loaded trailer axle weight is under 2700 lb (C rated tires)

[Jon in AZ]

Some ST radials are rated to 81 mph, the Goodyear Endurance among them.

As to whether you should always inflate to maximum sidewall pressure or use manufacturer load inflation tables as a guide (the source of Wayne’s numbers), I would refer you to numerous previous threads about trailer tire inflation. Spoiler alert: there is no consensus, but lots of contention.

[Rick M]

Everyone is talking about tire size and how many lbs of air, My question was how old was the tire that blew. Like someone else said they might look great but every 5 to 7 years need to be changed.

[Wayne Collins]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Some ST radials are rated to 81 mph, the Goodyear Endurance among them.

As to whether you should always inflate to maximum sidewall pressure or use manufacturer load inflation tables as a guide (the source of Wayne’s numbers), I would refer you to numerous previous threads about trailer tire inflation. Spoiler alert: there is no consensus, but lots of contention.

Consider this. the more load you put on a tire, the more it squats, sidewalls bulge. In order to compensate, you add air to keep it at the design rolling radius.
that's why they publish load/inflation charts. otherwise, you can reduce speed, and or distance, to avoid overheating the tire, due to the flexing.
Have you ever seen a pickup or small utility trailer loaded with dirt or sand, that has not had enough air in the tires?
If you insist on using the max pressure, you may as well have solid rubber tires.

[Barb and Alan]

Don’t forget the other factor in blowouts, road debris. Doesn’t matter if you’re running perfect pressure, load, tires, and speed. If there’s a “gotcha” on the road and you hit it that’s all she wrote.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by William Deak

Blew a tire on our 13' Scamp a couple of weeks ago going about 70 mph and wound on the rim. This was on a stretch of road that became suddenly quite "bouncy" due to unevenness in the road bed. The tire inflation was checked at recommended 50psi before departure and the tire itself was not worn. Besides being a truly harrowing experience that we do not ever wish to repeat it raised some questions for us. These are standard belted 13" rim trailer tires that came with the trailer. Do others have experience with these? Are there better grade tires available?

How old were your tires? You say originals but no year of trailer. If they were 7 years or older then that is part of your problem. No matter how much tread are on them they dry rot even from the inside and should be replaced. Many tires are not rated for 70MPH and that is really to fast for a small trailer or any trailer for that matter. We never go over 60MPH. Tires stay cooler that way. Tires do have a speed rating on them.

[ZachO]

Originally Posted by steve67

Tires on my Boler read 50psi cold but Boler recommends 25-30psi. Is/was 50psi too much?

You've already got all the info you need from previous responses, but not knowing how much you already know, and at the risk of stating the obvious, I'll do it anyway. 50psi is the MAX air pressure for your tires. The tires often give a minimum and maximum. The recommendations from Boler assume a certain tire (whatever it came with from the factory) with a certain load range, then give you the inflation they feel is right for that specific tire, given the weight of the Boler.

The tire isn't telling you "I must be inflated to 50psi", it's telling you that you better not inflate it higher than 50.

I'd say, unfortunately, that you should ignore the Boler recommendation. Know your tire rating and know your trailer weight. That's the only way to know the "right" inflation. If you don't feel like doing any of that work, then running the tires close to the MAX inflation is your safest bet, though your trailer and everything in it may suffer from a seriously stiff ride.

[rdickens]

Bill,

Our 2017 Scamp16 Deluxe came with load range D tires.

As of early 2017, I think that Scamp now uses load range D tires on all of
their trailers. (Load range D tires are stronger and carry more weight than
the load range C tires that Scamp used before.)

At Discount Tire, the load range D Carlisle tires were the same price as
the load range C tires so, I would suggest replacing all of your tires with
Carlisle load range D tires. If you start with stronger tires to begin with,
you will retain the capability to carry your trailers weight for more years.

Discount Tire has/had a "learning" section on their website that talked
about trailer tires losing about 10% of their strength (i.e. load carrying
capacity) each year after their DOT manufacturing date.

I had posted about this early in 2017.
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...res-78639.html

If one of your tires has "aged out" and blown, I would guess that the
others are likely to also be at the end of their useful life.

Best of luck to you!

Ray

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by ZachO

You've already got all the info you need from previous responses, but not knowing how much you already know, and at the risk of stating the obvious, I'll do it anyway. 50psi is the MAX air pressure for your tires. The tires often give a minimum and maximum. The recommendations from Boler assume a certain tire (whatever it came with from the factory) with a certain load range, then give you the inflation they feel is right for that specific tire, given the weight of the Boler.

The tire isn't telling you "I must be inflated to 50psi", it's telling you that you better not inflate it higher than 50.

I'd say, unfortunately, that you should ignore the Boler recommendation. Know your tire rating and know your trailer weight. That's the only way to know the "right" inflation. If you don't feel like doing any of that work, then running the tires close to the MAX inflation is your safest bet, though your trailer and everything in it may suffer from a seriously stiff ride.

The problem with older trailers is the tire may have been a different technology at the time the inflation sticker was applied. Early Scamps also had a 26 psi recommended pressure (on load range B tires). My Scamp recommends 50 psi, the maximum sidewall pressure on the factory load range C tires. I've read they now install load range D's, and I don't know what the sticker says..

As to finding the "right" pressure, it's important to understand the load-inflation charts give minimum pressures (or maximum weights if you look at it the other way). They are pressures below which damage will result in sustained use.

The "right" pressure lies somewhere between the load-inflation minimum and the sidewall maximum. Given the consequences of underinflation are far more serious than overinflation (off-highway use might be an exception), most people run at or close to the sidewall maximum.

I'm in the "close to" camp.