tire flats

[robinnorcal]

Please help me figure this out! I have had several recent tire blow outs recently. I always stop by my tire store and have them check the tires and pressure on my 17', yet I have two very recent blow outs (one in a very inopportune location!)
Thanks for any wise assistance.
Robin Escape 17

[Lynn Eberhardt]

Older tires on really hot pavement were the conditions for blowouts I've had.

[parmm]

Originally Posted by robinnorcal

Please help me figure this out! I have had several recent tire blow outs recently. I always stop by my tire store and have them check the tires and pressure on my 17', yet I have two very recent blow outs (one in a very inopportune location!)
Thanks for any wise assistance.
Robin Escape 17

What size tire are you running, including the load rating? How much does your Excape 17 weigh when loaded? Do you drive over 65 mpg? Has your dealer determined the cause of the blowouts? Are you inflating them according to the tire inflation chart for the tire, or according to the pressure listed on the side wall? You might find the cause in this blog: https://www.rvtiresafety.net/

[gordon2]

You want to know:
1. The weight of the camper.
2. The load rating of the tires.
3. The date of manufacture for the tires.
4. The max cold inflation pressure.
5. The actual pressure before traveling.
6. If any tire has been exposed to a road hazard, chemical spill, excess ozone, etc (as best you can tell).

# 5 deserves a few comments. You should have a tire pressure gauge and a tire inflator, and know how to use them. You need to check the pressure before traveling, and if you only have the tire store check then the tires are already warmed up and the tire shop needs to estimate the added pressure from the tire temperature to match the cold (pre-trip) inflation value. And they might not do that. They might just inflate to the cold inflation value on the tire and that will be low if the tires are warm when inflated. So depend on yourself for proper inflation before traveling.

You might have just hit two road hazards in a short period of time.. it happens. But the tire shop should be able to tell that from inspecting them.

[parmm]

Originally Posted by gordon2

You might have just hit two road hazards in a short period of time.. it happens. But the tire shop should be able to tell that from inspecting them.

Yep, had two flats on my Honda Odyssey van last week!! Have not had a flat tire for years now.

[Borden]

Wife worked for Goodyear so she wanted new ST tires and one rating up from our needs for our trailer. It also had the wrong type of tire not ST.
She said they should be changed every 5 years due to aging and have air pressure checked as above.

With only one axle would not want a blowout.

Hope your future travels are more event free

[Glenn Baglo]

Several owners of single axle trailers have reported that the blow out was uneventful. They realized it had occurred and pulled over. Some owners of tandem axle trailers were unaware that they had a flat and drove on shredding the tire and wheel well.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Borden

Wife worked for Goodyear so she wanted new ST tires and one rating up from our needs for our trailer. It also had the wrong type of tire not ST.
She said they should be changed every 5 years due to aging and have air pressure checked as above.

With only one axle would not want a blowout.

Hope your future travels are more event free

Not trying to rehash and old argument, but not having ST tires is a good thing. Many RV manufacturers are finally getting a clue and installing LT tires instead.

[thrifty bill]

Too little information here to see a pattern. Advice above is good. Tires all have date codes. Old tires need to be retired. Trailer tires rarely "wear out", but they do "age out". When I bought my 1977 Trillium, tires had perfect tread, but massive dry rot and cracking. Needless to say, I removed them on the seller's driveway.

Inflation is very important. And checking inflation regularly to verify.

Finally, UV attacks rubber, so depending on how the trailer is stored when not in use, and your local climate, they will age out even faster.

1995 or 1985 tire, bought the trailer in 2018, so they were way past any usable life.

[Gilda]

Yep, we know the frustration of tire blowouts! On one trip we had to replace 7, yes seven tires due to two incidences. First a trailer tire popped after hitting a pothole on the freeway. Fortunately, we were able to drive safely to the side but it was too dangerous for we 70+ year olds to replace our own tire. Our tow, repair truck (NOT AAA) never came after 5 hours! We called the California Highway Patrol, they sent a truck right away, put on our spare and they never charged us! We still cannot get over this act of kindness. We drove to a nearby campground and the next day we had the other tire replaced, by a tire company across the street, and added a new spare.

The next day we had a car tire blowout! Fortunately, we were able to drive to a rest stop nearby. AAA came by within 1/2 hour and installed our spare tire. We drove to a campground and called Mazda (our tow vehicle). They could replace (non0matching) all four tires (required of our all-wheel drive vehicle) OR we could wait 3 days (because it was the weekend) for delivery of a tire that could be matched. We could not wait as we had a camping trip planned with our son and could not cut that trip short.

What we learned:
1. Be sure to have AAA service for BOTH our TV AND trailer.
2. Ideally, carry a "real tire" as a spare for our TV. The spare tire wheel well is not large enough for a "real tire" spare.
3. Be glad that the SCAMP spare is a "real tire".
4. The California HW Patrol is your friend.
5. Mazda gave us great service, but we later found out that the four tires they installed are discontinued and we have great difficulty to find a ONE in all of the U.S.!

[Borden]

Originally Posted by Gilda

Yep, we know the frustration of tire blowouts! On one trip we had to replace 7, yes seven tires due to two incidences. First a trailer tire popped after hitting a pothole on the freeway. Fortunately, we were able to drive safely to the side but it was too dangerous for we 70+ year olds to replace our own tire. Our tow, repair truck (NOT AAA) never came after 5 hours! We called the California Highway Patrol, they sent a truck right away, put on our spare and they never charged us! We still cannot get over this act of kindness. We drove to a nearby campground and the next day we had the other tire replaced, by a tire company across the street, and added a new spare.

The next day we had a car tire blowout! Fortunately, we were able to drive to a rest stop nearby. AAA came by within 1/2 hour and installed our spare tire. We drove to a campground and called Mazda (our tow vehicle). They could replace (non0matching) all four tires (required of our all-wheel drive vehicle) OR we could wait 3 days (because it was the weekend) for delivery of a tire that could be matched. We could not wait as we had a camping trip planned with our son and could not cut that trip short.

What we learned:
1. Be sure to have AAA service for BOTH our TV AND trailer.
2. Ideally, carry a "real tire" as a spare for our TV. The spare tire wheel well is not large enough for a "real tire" spare.
3. Be glad that the SCAMP spare is a "real tire".
4. The California HW Patrol is your friend.
5. Mazda gave us great service, but we later found out that the four tires they installed are discontinued and we have great difficulty to find a ONE in all of the U.S.!

The car tow package came with full size spare tire and we use modern ST radial tires one weight rating up from required and they are made for our suspension type.

[parmm]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Not trying to rehash and old argument, but not having ST tires is a good thing. Many RV manufacturers are finally getting a clue and installing LT tires instead.

And most of us are running 13" and 14" tires. My Scamp 19 calls for a 205/75r14ST and I run the next size up, a 215/75r14
ST which gives me higher load rating than a 205/75R15ST. Just what manufacturer makes a LT tire for our tires. Tire Rack only shows 3 tires in my size, and they are all ST trailer tires. And saying that many "RV manufacturers are finally getting a clue and installing LT tires" does not apply to our fiberglass egg type trailers without modification such as lifting or installing new axles and cutting out fenders!!

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by parmm

And most of us are running 13" and 14" tires. My Scamp 19 calls for a 205/75r14ST and I run the next size up, a 215/75r14
ST which gives me higher load rating than a 205/75R15ST. Just what manufacturer makes a LT tire for our tires. Tire Rack only shows 3 tires in my size, and they are all ST trailer tires. And saying that many "RV manufacturers are finally getting a clue and installing LT tires" does not apply to our fiberglass egg type trailers without modification such as lifting or installing new axles and cutting out fenders!!

Trailer manufacturers are putting LT tires on a lot of new trailers instead of sticking to the old idea that trailers should only have ST tires, and I'm glad they are, but obviously, if a size doesn't exist, for an older trailer, then ST tires are the right choice. I have never suggested you should modify your trailer or change an axle to accommodate different tires. LT tires are obviously a better choice in many cases, but I have never suggested that manufacturers go back and retrofit earlier trailers with them.

There are 14" tires in LT, but you should always run whatever tire you think is best.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Raspy

instead of sticking to the old idea that trailers should only have ST tires

I don't understand how tires designed for use on light trucks would be better than tires designed and built for trailers ( Special Trailer ).

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I don't understand how tires designed for use on light trucks would be better than tires designed and built for trailers ( Special Trailer ).

Well for one thing, passenger vehicle tires are generally of better quality.. Perhaps we are putting too much faith in the word special in ST tires...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msDcShv_r20

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

tires designed and built for trailers ( Special Trailer ).

Being designed for trailers really doesn't have to mean more than the cheapest tire that can be built, in order to sell them to trailer manufacturers. ST tires are not designed to transport passengers, while LT tires are. It used to be said that bias tires were required for trailers, but that is obviously not true. Radial ST tires are easy to find. I've also found that one good skid on an ST tire, simply because the brake controller is set too high, can grind the tread clear off in a spot and leave them with a flat spot and no tread there.

But it does seem that now the market is responding to the well recognized lack of quality. Goodyear Endurance and Maxxis come to mind. I have no experience with either, but they seem like they are a response to a commonly recognized problem that ST tires are cheap maypop tires. It doesn't seem hard to believe that there are a large number of trailer tire failures.

[Nancy F]

Originally Posted by robinnorcal

Please help me figure this out! I have had several recent tire blow outs recently. I always stop by my tire store and have them check the tires and pressure on my 17', yet I have two very recent blow outs (one in a very inopportune location!)
Thanks for any wise assistance.
Robin Escape 17

I was looking at changing out my wheels and tires as I could get a set locally from an airstream. gave the make of tire etc. The responses were to not use that specific tire because of blow outs. But I cannot find the thread, maybe anyone who responded could tell these people what the brand was incase this is what you are using.

[COMSULT]

As Goodyear no longer manufactures 13” trailer tires, I’ve opted to change to a 14” wheel and tire setup, going with the new Goodyear Endurance trailer tire.
Making some mods on the Eacape Trailer to take the 14” tire. Nothing major, just adding an inch of clearance.
Never had any problems with the Goodyear Marathons, and the reviews are good for the new Endurance tires.

[THene1713]

Originally Posted by Raspy

Not trying to rehash and old argument, but not having ST tires is a good thing. Many RV manufacturers are finally getting a clue and installing LT tires instead.

TIP: First, any tire over 5-yo should be replaced before highway use; (most/many) were/ still are) RATED for MAX SPEED 65-MPH, but recently discovered that you can now (as of 2015?) buy ST Tires SPEED RATED M, L, OR J= speed ratings of 81 or 75 or 62-MPH.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by THene1713

TIP: First, any tire over 5-yo should be replaced before highway use;

Depends where you live and how the trailer is stored. The Pacific Southwest ( Northwest to you ) is much gentler of tires than the southern U.S.
Seven years is more reasonable for replacement.