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TIRES TIRES TIRES


capt307

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Good morning all. We recently just completed a 1,400 mile round trip from Ohio to Gatlinburg. On the way down, we had a blowout while going through a tunnel in W. Virginia. We safely got out of the tunnel and to a safe parking area to change the tire. The tire was literally blown apart. Tread gone and the tire just ripped open. Of course it had to cause damage to the RV but not too major. I replaced the tire once we got into Gatlinburg.

Now lets move ahead 8 days to our trip home.

 

Two hours into our trip the other tire from the same side blew. Tire was in the exact same destroyed condition. Seven hours later, and 6 miles from home, a tire on the opposite side blew and caused damage to the RV on that side. Damage was much extensive this time. Since the spare was already in use from the earlier blowout, we were stuck on the side of the road calling around looking for a wheel and tire to use to get the 6 miles hone with. I have had flats over our 24 years but have never had blowouts like this. 3 tires in 3 different incidents.

 

The tires were Goodyear Marathons. ST235/80 R16. The camper is 4 years old and tires were dated 5 years ago. Only about 9,000 miles on them. Properly inflated, not overloaded and no abnormal wear seen. Tire tread was great and there is no dry/sun rot. They are covered when not traveling. Tires were thoroughly inspected and air pressure checked. No clue as to what could have caused this other than tire failure. When i took the 4th tire off to get replaced I noticed some strands of wire coming up through the tread assuming it was belt wire. I assume that tire probably didn't have much time before it would fail.

Has anyone encountered a situation like this or heard of one or any thoughts on why this happened? I have replaced with the tires with Goodyear Endurance tires. Made in America and have a hire speed rating and have seen good reviews on them. Thank you for any input. Picture is of tires 2 & 3

IMG_6420 (1).jpg

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My unit had Maratons on it when I bought it. Towed 30ish miles and belt broke in one. Nipped that in the bulb. Put 6 Michelin XPS Rib on it. Trouble free. That was 4 years ago.

2003 Teton Grand Freedom towed with 2006 Freightliner Century 120 across the beautiful USA welding pipe.https://photos.app.goo.gl/O32ZjgzSzgK7LAyt1

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I have had this happen to me and the problem seemed to be side wall tire flex. Once we switched to LT tires we never had a problem again.

After the first blow out, and your riding on only 3 tires until you could pull over,  I could see you overloading the other tires and causing them to have unseen damage.

Does your TPMS have both temperature and pressure alarms?  If it didn't go off I would look at what temp/pressure your alarm is set at and make some adjustments.

I am sure the tire guys will be commenting soon on your problems.

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We use to have a lot of tire problems on our old trailer which only had 15" rims, over 21 tires replaced and 9 blowouts. At that time the Marathon had a bad reputation as did many that were simply called China Bombs. We had the best luck with Hercules brand but still after about 35-40k they would blow out too. With the new trailer, first thing I did was replace the 16" tires and wheels with 17.5" and Sailuns commercial tires. We probably have about 8-10k on them already with no issues and they do not bend over like the ST tires did in tight turns.

Dave

2005 Freightliner Century S/T, Singled, Air ride ET Jr. hitch
2019 46'+ Dune Sport Man Cave custom 5th wheel toy hauler
Owner of the 1978 Custom Van "Star Dreamer" which might be seen at a local car show near you!

 

Check out http://www.hhrvresource.com/

for much more info on HDT's.

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I got rid of the china bombs on mine and put on Michelin XPS Rib, love them, no more worries.  Great tires.

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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We also used to go through a bunch of goodyear marathons.  It is that hottest summer day on a long trip just like you experienced that will weed out the marginal tires.   And when you blew the first tire it likely flapped and damaged the other one on that side, also running out of the tunnel with twice the weight on it.  Not that I'm criticizing that, I'd have gotten it out of the tunnel too.   If you are anywhere near the weight capacity of the tires that hot day / long trip will kill them.  I personally like a 20% safety margin to be comfortable now after dealing with a lot of tire problems in the past.  Speed will also make the tire run hotter.  When using tpms and running 70 mph, you can see the tires heat right up.  Drop down to 60 and you can watch the temps go back down.  Get it on an axle scale (fully loaded, with all the junk you would normally carry, toys, clothes, food, water in the tanks, kids, dogs, you get the idea) and see where you are really at.  Even better weigh each individual tire.  You may be surprised to find how much variation in weight on each tire.  If you are within 20% of max, a higher rating is needed in my book.  You can upgrade to the goodyear G614 (or equivalent) load range H, or like Star Dreamer, we upgraded our last one to 17.5 and literally NEVER had another tire problem.  Two years and 30K miles later (sold the trailer) tires still looked like new and we literally never even added air.  On marathons I always carried two spares and usually needed them.

Also the wires are certainly broken belts.  Can happen from overheating as noted due to speed or overload (or close to overload), misaligned/bent axle, and simply enough dragging the trailer over curbs and such.  People think it's ok to climb a curb if you go slow, but it still can easily break belts in the tire and should always be avoided.

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need more info: axle ratings, rig weight, etc.

But those of us who tow heavy have switched from 16" rims to 17.5" rims and commercial trailer tires (In my case, Hercules H-902s, load rating of 6802 lbs per tire with 75 mph speed rating.) 16 inch rim size tires just don't have the weight rating to have a safety margin in my opinion, and I bought way too many of those tires and had way too many blowouts over the years on various trailers. If you have a 7k axle, you do not want to run two 3,500 lb rated tires. there is no safety margin in there. In the above example, I run almost 14k of tire on a 7k axle. Overkill maybe, but I don't have blowouts like I used to have. it is worth it to me for that reason. 

2003 International Eagle 9200i, Cummins ISX, Freedomline

2007 Teton Scottsdale XT4

 

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We had all 4 tires fail the same day. That's when I discovered ST tire mfgrs. say to change them every 3 years, due to the extreme sidewall stress when tight-cornering. I solved my 5er's tire problems when I bought 4 Sailun LR G 16" tires. In fact, while in Alaska one axle slipped sideways and ground those 2 tires down to the steel belt. I had the axle repaired, continued our AK trip, including driving 10,000 miles after we re-entered the lower 48 in WA state in a roundabout trip back home.  Those Sailun tires were still running when we got home.

FWIW, all but one ST tire mfgr says to always run sidewall stamped air pressure.

 

2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom USQ40JD, ISC 8.3 Cummins 350, Spartan MM Chassis. USA IN 1SG retired;Good Sam Life member,FMCA ." And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.  John F. Kennedy 20 Jan 1961

 

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Effin Texas heat has eaten my tires the past 2 days.  I replaced one tire yesterday.  The other 3 looked fine.  Today, after about 250 miles, 2 tires on the opposite side of the new tire are close to the wear bars.  

Called a tire service shop in Tyler, Tx and ordered 4 Saliun S637s.  Hopefully they'll get there tomorrow afternoon before we do, then I can stop at the shop prior to going to an RV park.

The brand new tire I bought yesterday will become the new spare tire.  

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First off what speed were you driving? Those tires are rated for 100 KPH/61 MPH.  If you were driving faster than that in Texas heat a lot of tires would blow.  After my first China Bombs blew on my FW I replaced them with Maxxus tires and have over 25,000 miles on them with no problems other than I had an axle out of alignment that were down to the steel belts and still had not blown.  I did replace them with Goodyear Endurance because their speed rating is 140 KPH/87 MPH, they have a load rating of 4080 lbs and they are made in USA.

Dave Watkins

Highland Village, TX

2014 F-350 Dually

Open Range 349RLR

 

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Generally speaking the "Marabombs" that came on your rig were designed to carry the weight of it and very little added on.  I assume you have never driven across a scale?  You need a heavier ply tire like a Goodyear G.  Check the inside of your rim to see what the maximum psi rating is, weigh your rig loaded for travel, and go from there.

Joe & Cindy

Newmar 4369 Ventana

Pulling 24' enclosed (Mini Cooper, Harley, 2 Kayaks)

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