I have a question..... - Montana Owners Club

Dave Nowlin · 08-04-2012, 06:17 AM

My oldest son is an over the road semi driver and has been for over 15 years. He has a Challenger which is also made by Keystone. He was taking his family on one last adventure before school starts. They left Savannah Tennessee headed for Santa Claus, Indiana to the water park there. He had put 4 pull-off(used) tires with lots of tread on them on his camper right before the trip. He inflated them properly before leaving and when he got up around Dickson Tennessee on I-40 one of the tires absolutely exploded and did some damage to his camper. He got that fixed and when he got up around Nashville a tire on the other side of his camper exploded. It also damaged the camper. I asked him if he had possibly had the tires going flat before they exploded. He rather angrily told me no. He said I have had enough tires blow up on a semi-trailer to know what is sounds like when a tire explodes. He said it sounded like a bomb going off. I asked if possibly his tire pressures had gone to high due to the high temps we have been having. He said no. He said tire pressures are only supposed to increase one pound for each 10 degrees of temperature. I have a tire pressure monitor on my Montana and I have had tire pressures increase from 80# cold to 92#, 94#, & 96# during warm weather towing. He said if I have seen that kind of increase in tire pressures something is wrong. My tires are only 2 years old and they have done this since new. I typically tow 5 m.p.h. under the speed limit on interstate highways. He said something must be wrong with my monitor. Have any of the rest of you seen the same things I am seeing? I saw those pressure readings in June when it was cooler than it is now. We normally go to Florida in May and October and I always see these types of readings. I believe he blew his tires due to pressure increase from the hot road surface temps. He says I am crazy. There has to be some logical reason.

waynemoore · 08-04-2012, 06:22 AM

Yep I have seen as much as 17 to 25 psi when very hot. Temps will go up as much as 30#f.

Ozz · 08-04-2012, 06:40 AM

How old were the tires? I would want to see the date code on them. Also, how fast was he going, and what was the load rating for the tires, and was the weight within the parameters. Bunch of unknown.
Sorry that happened to him, turns a fun trip into a nightmare.

Crossthread · 08-04-2012, 06:52 AM

Dave, I can only say, without being critical, that they were pulled off the other vehicle for a reason. Using a used tire as a spare is one thing, but as a highway tire is too big of a chance for me to take. Any time that I have a tire off the trailer, I roll it on a flat even surface to see if it tips to one side, or the other. Tipping could indicate early tread separation . Bill

Dave Nowlin · 08-04-2012, 06:53 AM

The date code, I don't know. They were "E" rated tires though and he has now replaced all 4 tires and thrown the old ones away. So we will never know about the date code. I have seen TV weathermen fry an egg on pavement when it was cooler than it has been lately. I wonder what the temperature on the surface of an asphalt highway is in 100 degree temps. in full sunlight. It wouldn't surpries me to learn it can reach 180 degrees or more. The temperature inside of a vehicle with the windows up can exceed 140 degrees

richfaa · 08-04-2012, 06:58 AM

Your increases in tire temps are about average.Maybe the 1 lb for every 10 degrees relats to big truck tires but I never heard of that. I would susoect something wrong with the tires or the weight or the speed.

Dave Nowlin · 08-04-2012, 07:02 AM

Maybe ya'll don't understand the term pull-off. Several tire shops around here have sold them for years. Many have practically no miles due to someone deciding to pull the wheels and tires off a new truck to put custom wheels and different tires on their vehicles. Tire shops buy these from the customer and resell them. Several people around here have been hauling trailerloads of these tires from up north for years. I personally don't cut those kinds of corners. I run new tires on my vehicles. My son is far more frugal than I am. This time it cost him. He does have a far bigger bank account than I did at his age. He usually manages his finances very well. What kind of pressure readings have you guys seen on your monitors?

Art-n-Marge · 08-04-2012, 07:27 AM

No one can judge the age of a tire except by the DOT date code on the tire itself which tells what week and calendar year it was manufactured. In fact, when one buys tires one won't know how long the tire has been sitting at the dealership. It's possible a tire ages faster by non-use than by being used since usage seems to keeps the tire more flexible.

Tires on a trailer are notorious for looking great at the tread but it is near impossible to see tire rot from a tire that sits for long periods of time especially when they sit with a load and are not kept to correct pressure.

There are many stories from many of us that experienced trailer tire issues and the age of the tires has been all over. It is not recommended that pull-offs or preowned used tires be used at the primary hauling tires because of unknown tire rot, unknown lack of use, an old DOT code and not knowing how well they were cared for. ST tires do not seem to be as durable as LT or even P tires since they must support heavier weights and are subject to neglect or misuse.

It seems like everyone has a tire story and now, sadly, welcome to the club for you and your son. It's not just Keystone products with tire issues.

bncinwv · 08-04-2012, 07:54 AM

I have my tires cold inflated at 90 pounds. When on a long trip recently, tire pressure stayed ay about 105 pounds. Outside temps were 80 degrees when we left and increased to high 90's during the trip. Tire temperatures climbed from 80 degrees to around 110 degrees. This is typical of many of our trips and I feel is a normal range.
Bingo

mhs4771 · 08-04-2012, 08:00 AM

I did that with our Montana, bought the G614s thru a Goodyear dealer and they took my Marathons to resell. They had approx 3000 miles on them. Within a few weeks I had a check from the sale of the Marathons, what they went on I don't have a clue.

**DQDick** · 08-04-2012, 08:36 AM

Age of the tires can be an issue. My Marathons were a year old when the Montana was built. We bought it in 2011 so when we bought our brand new rig our tires were already two years old. They looked new and I'm sure Goodyear sold them to someone who had no idea they were buying tires with a short expiration date.

dieselguy · 08-04-2012, 08:45 AM

I have the TST system ... on a 100 + degree day I can start out at 78 psi at 82 degrees in the morning ... by afternoon on a long pull with air temps 100+, the tires on the sunny side (some roads west of the Mississippi don't have many turns) get up to 122 degrees and the pressure climbs to 89 - 92 psi. His 1 psi per 10 degrees may hold true to OTR trucks ... it doesn't hold true on RV tires.

jwedell · 08-04-2012, 08:45 AM

If memory serves at one time you could not rotate radial tires and reverse rotational direction. Not sure if it still applies. Just a thought.

Dave Nowlin · 08-04-2012, 11:05 AM

I'm old enough to remember the rotational thing as well. I don't know if that still holds true or not. I know one tire dealer who says it doesn't but don't know for sure.

steelpony5555 · 08-04-2012, 01:54 PM

You don't say what the brand and type of tire it was other then E rated. I got take off's for my Chrysler 300 that were BF Goodrichs along with the chrome rims that some one took off a brand new car that they probably put 20's on it lol lol. But I also saw a lot of crappy tires that I would not put on my vehicle in the yard. They may have been some China junk along with being out of date. Remember you are running close to max weights on these tires so after 6 years it's time to look for new tires not matter what the tread looks like. They could have been sitting in the sun for several years which would age the tires prematurely. They take into account the temperature when they tell you to check your tire pressure "cold". They know they are gonna heat up and the pressure will increase. But I bet your son if he checked the date on them, just got a set of brand new old junk tires. Good intentions but he has to watch too.

richfaa · 08-04-2012, 02:08 PM

On our 06 3400 tires set at 80psi on average hot day we would see 90/92. we know what pull offs are they do that around here.Sounds like he got a bad set.

HOOK · 08-04-2012, 04:06 PM

The five threads on today's posts are typical and shout loudly that tires are probably the most discussed topic here . Our opinions vary widely. IMHO , tires are no place to cut corners . You cannot predict the future of road hazards and temperatures. Buy the best tires you can , G rated if possible where the walls are stiffer. Overkill may be the best policy. Maybe some manufacturer will soon solve this problem by producing a quality reasonably priced trailer tire.

RJI47 · 08-04-2012, 04:23 PM

I typically see a 10-15 psi rise in psi and maybe 20 degrees in temp on the truck tires. I run nitrogen in the Montana tires, so the differences are not nearly as much. I was told by the tire dealer that 100+ degrees is no problem for these tires.

Dave Nowlin · 08-05-2012, 08:00 AM

Sometimes you just can't win. This morning at church my son said he checked his tire pressure yesterday morning before he left for the trip home and that he checked pressure on the way home with a guage and outside temp of 98 degrees and he said his pressure only went up 4#. He said that our pressure sensors are no good. You can lead a horse to water but...... We all know the rest.

Hooker · 08-05-2012, 08:13 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by HOOK

The five threads on today's posts are typical and shout loudly that tires are probably the most discussed topic here . Our opinions vary widely. IMHO , tires are no place to cut corners . You cannot predict the future of road hazards and temperatures. Buy the best tires you can , G rated if possible where the walls are stiffer. Overkill may be the best policy. Maybe some manufacturer will soon solve this problem by producing a quality reasonably priced trailer tire.

Agree. The problem seems to be only with trailer tires, not truck or MH tires. I'm on a large MH forum and the only tire discussions there are when to get new ones (age vs mileage) and what brand to buy. There are very very few tire failures on that forum, where it's a routine occurrence here.

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