Tire failure

[jsnip42]

I was on the interstate going about 70 mph when I had a flat on the rear entry side of my Montana. The rubber was so hot I could not hold it with my bare hands to change it. I could not find any cuts or puncture damage to it. Could just getting too hot make the sidewalls loose stiffness? They are 16 inch E rated. It was easy to change though. Spare cranked right down. But it can sure be scary changing a flat 3 feet from 18 wheelers going 70 mph.

[Chester]

Some of the people on this forum have been having problems with axle alignments. You may want to check yours ie are your tires showing wear on the inside?

Another reason a tire can run hot is if you don't have your trailer level with the truck. If the front of the trailer runs high then the tires on the back axle of your trailer will run hot. This can cause blowout. Same for low on the front and then it's the tires on the front axle of the trailer that might run hot.

Also check the manufacture date of your tires. They should be changed evry 5 years even if they don't show wear or age cracks.

These trailers are heavy and expensive. You don't need a $200 tire causing thousands of dollars damage or worse....

[stiles watson]

Wow, that is scary. Glad you are safe. I am assuming your checked the tire pressures before setting out. My discussions with the "tire man" and on this and other forums has convinced me that tire pressure is critical to safety. Since we are going full time, this is it. This is the house. I hope to have all due diligence in keeping it right-side-up.

[Bill Hill]

We've had a number of flats on our old travel trailer and could never figure out why. Additionally, a couple of them happened and we didn't even know until another driver pointed it out to us. Since then we've gotten a Doran Tire Pressure Monitor. It will tell you when the pressure starts to drop from its setting. So far no problems. It wasn't cheap (~$500 for the 8 tire set-up), but it's worth the peace of mind. Well, the wife has the peace of mind, and I get another toy, and you can't have too many gauges, right guys?

[HamRad]

jsnip42,
Sorry to hear of the tire problem. I know what you mean by being so close to the fast traffic. We had a blowout this past August on I-5 at Ashland, OR. Called AAA and waited for 45 minutes for the tow truck person to show up and change the tire. All the time traffic whizzing by at 65 to 75 or so. But all worked out fine.

We never did determine the cause of the failure. Had not run over anything in recent past. When they checked the tire pressure on the other tires they were all at about 90 to 95 psi. I don't think that is too high for the tires but I don't know that. Are there any tire guys out there that would know? When I checked them a couple of days before they were at about 80 psi. They were checked and filled while cold. Obviously when they checked them on the road they were all hot.

HamRad

[Montana_1235]

Low tire pressure can make the tire over heat and blow out.

Our camper had 80 lbs of pressure (cold) in each tire the day I took delivery. Since then I’ve noticed all tires loose pressure. It was three weeks between our first and second trip and the tires were down about 5lbs. I refilled them to 80lbs before starting the trip. Next trip was a month later. The tires on both the TV and the Camper were down 9-10lbs. I refilled them again. I’ve found that the tires on both the TV and the Camper tend to loose pressure while sitting so I check them and refill them before each trip. I also check the lug nuts and have found a couple that have lost thier torque.

On the return trip from the beach vacation this summer my brother-in-law’s inside tire on the TV blew out. He thought he ran over something but after checking his tire pressures he only had 55lbs in them. Not enough for the pin weight he was carrying.

We need to keep tire pressures up on these vehicles because low pressure will cause tire failure for sure.

Bill

[Bowie]

Tire failure while on a major road is one of our biggest fears since we saw a roll-over of a 5'er on our trip. Pretty scarey!!! We try to check tires and lug nuts every morning and mid-day stop. Probably anal--but I would rather that than have a tire to change that I could have avoided. Tire wear from axle issues is also something to watch for. Guess that people with air ride suspensions should also be checking those air pressure guages as well. Glad you were safe

[sreigle]

We take a lot of US and state highways, usually two-lane roads. I also fear having a flat on a road with no significant shoulder to pull onto to change a tire. All flats but one have been while in an RV Park. We had one blowout on our Jayco Eagle years ago but were in a location with a wide shoulder and a roadside park 50 yards away that we were able to pull into. We didn't know about the blowout until the car behind us passed and signaled us. No sway, no indication at all.

[ttanous]

Amazing to see all of these tire failures. I had one on my 2000 Montana traveling at 70 mph on I10 in Texas 2 months ago. The tires had been only 4.5 years old based on the date codes. I replaced all four tires that same day with Michelen LTX tires. A little more money yet a lot more in confidence that they are better than the uniroyals that had been on the trailer. The trailer stayed straight and true during the event. I was really surprised how the coach handle the blow out. Luckly I have had to only replace the bottome panel and fender cover. A couple of hundred dollars only. I suggest also changing the tires before 5 years old. I will in the future not even go for 5 years yet stay in the 4 year time frame.

Happy Camping All!

[Thunderman]

ttanous, I agree with you ,5 years is too long to keep tires on the road. My experience has been 3 years....perhaps if one was fulltiming and moving often it would make a difference.

I had one blowout and lost the tread on the other tire on the same trip. Both were on the same side. I was guilty of inadequate air pressure.