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HamRad,
Sorry to hear of your tire incident, but glad you two are okay.
I'll relate my tire experiences here in case anything will help others. I had one flat and one blowout on my 2002 Montana, then later discovered the spare tire rim was cracked where the center round piece joined the outer piece (I'm sure there's a technical term for this!).
The first flat tire simply deflated as I rolled into a rest stop on I-90 in SD near Chamberlain in August 2003. It turned out to be defective and was replaced under warranty, plus a little $ from me for tread wear.
The second incident was a blowout, again on I-90 but it occurred one state west, near Sundance, WY in July 2004. (What is it about I-90 in the summer?) It blew so violently there wasn't enough of it left to determine the cause. I was later told the tires on my trailer were rated for a passenger car, not a trailer. They were General Tires, but sorry, I forgot the load rating and other specifics. When I asked Keystone about this, they denied ever using that brand of tire on Montanas, and claimed the first owner must have put them on. So I replaced all 5 tires with Cooper load-rated D tires.
The next month, I discovered the rim that had been on the spare and now was riding on the right rear (replaced the blowout and wasn't swapped back to spare) was cracked and wobbling while going down the road. A kind man stopped me on a very busy freeway in northern Illinois to let me know, and changed the tire for me. It was a good thing it was on the right side or he would have had more than his shoelaces blown away by passing traffic! I replaced that rim and put it back as a spare just before trading the 2002 for a 2005.
I haven't had any tire problems in the 12 months I've had this Monty - knock wood - but I'm very careful to check tire pressure and heat (using a neat IR thermometer from Radio Shack - thanks HamRad!). The tires are Tacoma Trail AWT load range E.
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