Tire blow-out and now the clean-up....

[jsms264]

Just came back from a "tour of NC" visiting family. Alot of driving/towing. Made a pass thru the Blue Ridge Parkway and stayed at Big Meadows on the way home, very nice!

Anyways, about 75 miles from home we had a tire blow-out. Didnt even know it until I heard the rim scraping on the road. Luckily there was a rest area right there so was able to get to a safe area to change out tire. Which was a real challange as the tread wrapped around the axel and knotted/molded in such a way I had to cut it off. Not easy with a small wood saw cutting thru the metal reinforcment. Note to all who read this post...throw a hack saw, or at least a hack saw blade in your toolbox. I took 2 hours to get back on the road, after being on the road for 10 hours allready.

So, thats the story, now my question. Any reccomendations for removing all the tire rubber from the side of the TT? Luckily there is no damage from the tire tread flying before it wrapped the axel, but it left alot of marking. Any suggestions?

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[nasa42a]

Joe.....

Glad you didn't have more damage!

I believe I'd first try "Goof-Off" or (as 2nd choice) "Goo-Gone" on the rubber. I'd not use anything with acetone in it, as it tends to soften and mar the plastic and/or paint.

Frank

[Steve Collins]

Joe, you may have some success with mineral spirits (paint thinner). It should not be a problem on the fender or the awning arm or the water heater door.

But test it first before using it on the skin of the trailer. I've used it to remove pine sap and other nasties from the skin of my 2453, but it was a small amount and very little rubbing.

[JohnB]

Boy Joe that is a bummer…. WOW. And yes I will add the hack saw. Thanks. Never thought of that and there are other things one can do with it too now that one thinks about it.

I’ll second to NOT use acetone on the aluminum siding. It will dissolve the Krystal kote and you will be looking at silver….

However it will be OK on the plastic but I do not know if it will cut the rubber stuck on mess.

Mineral sprits is OK on the white aluminum and has not affected my white siding/alum trim. I had to use it to take some Eternabond off with. It has more oil in it so it does not seem as aggressive

Franks suggestion on the Goo Gone might work. But I would be cautious on the aluminum, test and see how it goes slow.

Now to the tire…..

Any ideas on what went wrong? Did you know for sure it was OK in pressure somewhere before the trip? And was it at max side wall pressure? And how old was it?

A heads up. Once 1 tire goes out the other one on that side is in serious overload. Don’t know how far you went since you could not feel it but it may have been affected. It is common to have 1 blow out then a few hundred miles later a 2nd one. I do not know of a magic formula on how long and how hard you can run in overload before the problem gets ya.

Good luck and let us know what cleaner works as this will come up again for someone else. Hopefully not me….

Thanks

John

[luvrque]

Joe,

Glad to see you didn't have more damage and especially that a rest area was near. I always have a fear of not having a safe place to pull over away from the fast moving vehicles when you need to.
I think you already got good information on what to use to remove the rubber.

It looks like the tread may have separated & then from riding on it finally blew out. I had a 12" or so piece of tread separate from one of my 4 tires on my boat trailer a few yrs. ago. I never knew it untill I got home. It did NOT lose any air. I don't know how long I rode on it. The tires were app.6 years old with very low miles & with the correct air in them. I then replaced all 4 tires.

Like JohnB asked: "Any ideas on what went wrong? Did you know for sure it was OK in pressure somewhere before the trip? And was it at max side wall pressure? And how old was it?"
That would be very helpfull information for all to know.
Thanks,

[jsms264]

Thanks all for the replies! I tried black streak remover on it and it totally removed it from all the metal areas, and worked ok on the plastic but more work is needed. I'll try a little mineral spirits first (I have some already) on a test area of the plastic and let you know how it works, if that doesn’t I buy some goo gone and try it and report back on the results as well.

What do I think caused the blow-out?

First the trailer is a 2005 and the tires are probably 2004 manufacture. They are in excellent shape, like new. The previous owners never towed it and almost never used the TT. It was on a seasonal site from 05 to 09. The tires were covered so very little UV ever hit them until I bought it last year. They are Mission Radials ST225/75R15 load range D. I did check pressures before the trip and additional times over the 10 days were gone. Pressures were good and consistent though-out the whole trip. I run 55 psi cold, I do not max. to 60. I also do visual inspection every time I stop of the tires, hitch, doors, etc. including what I call a punch test of each tire to be sure they all feel and sound the same (its a farmers way of checking tires in a hurry)

Second, my opinion/guess on the cause. I believe the primary cause was some bridge construction I just went through. I hit a metal expansion joint that went all the way across the highway and very exposed. It was on a slight curve around a bend and that tire took all the force...I felt it. I think as luvrque suggested it cut the tread and thus lead to the blow-out. Luckily it was a construction zone, 45 MPH with the concrete barriers, cause the barriers bounced the rim grinding back so I heard it right away. I estimate from the time I hit the bridge, figured something was wrong, and came to a stop was 1 - 2 miles @ 45 MPH. Funny thing is I thought I was dragging a trunnion bar, so actually was relieved it was a tire and not a hitch problem.

I also believe the tires became too hot and weakened the rubber. Not a scientific belief but it was almost 100 degrees all day, and the pavement was way hotter. We were at about 8 hours of moving time (2 hours non-moving) which added to the heat on the tires, and we went from the crazy hills/curves of the Blue Ridge Mountains through the same in the Allegany Mountains, which again stressed the rubber. I think this because every stop when I would check the hubs for heat and the tires for pressure, the rubber was extremely hot, more than usual.

[264SRinPA]

Your tires are under inflated. You should be running those tires at 65psi.

[nasa42a]

Joe....

Regardless of tire appearance/visible wear, I believe that at 5 years it's time to bite the bullet & replace them....and to keep them inflated to max recommended capacity thereafter.

I don't know of ANYONE who actually has worn out a trailer thru normal tread wear. I admit that I tend to think of tires as cheap life insurance.

Frank

[luvrque]

Originally Posted by nasa42a

Joe....

Regardless of tire appearance/visible wear, I believe that at 5 years it's time to bite the bullet & replace them....and to keep them inflated to max recom ended capacity thereafter.

I don't know of ANYONE who actually has worn out a trailer thru normal tread wear. I admit that I tend to think of tires as cheap life insurance.

Frank

Frank,

I see you had or have a QUE, did you change the tires on it, if so what ones did you buy?
The ones on mine were made the 3rd.week of Nov.in 2005 They are Mission steel belted radials Load range C max pres.50 lbs. They have only been out of the barn app. 7 mos. total. Tread is VG. I run 48lbs. cold pres.
BUT like you said cheap insurance. I am going to buy new ones BEFORE my next trip.

Many years ago I and many others I knew used trailer tires (boat & TT) just like any other tires till the tread was low or signs of cracking showed up. That was to the age of 10 or 15 yrs. sometimes & without problems.... But then again for some of those yrs. we did not have seatbelts etc.... Much different times I guess.

Does anyone have ANY advice on what to buy or not to buy..
Did anyone with a QUE without tire problems buy new tires yet ?
Also does Anybody not feel the tires should be changed after 5 yrs ?
Thanks

[nasa42a]

Joe......

We did have a Que for just a bit less than 2 years (but 25,000+ miles). Tried to be fair to the Mission tires. Had one puncture (successfully repaired/plug & patched) early on. Utimately had to replace them due an axle problem (axle also had to be replaced) that wore the inner tread belt down to the steel cord w/in a few thousand miles. Replaced them with Goodyear Marathons.

At present, we have about 16,000+ miles on the Goodyear Marathons that came on the Hi-Lo. They've been troublefree, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. My feeling is that any of the big-name tire companies (Goodyear, Michelin, B F Goodrich, Cooper) would probably be the manufacturers who would most pay attention to the quality control in their contracted overseas factories (my current TT's tires were made in Indonesia).

Construction quality aside, careful attention to tire inflation appears to have a great deal to do with tire life/prospective tire troubles.

Frank

[jsms264]

Mike...65 psi??? I did error in my earlier post, max cold psi is 65 not 60, but I should run at max pressure? I have run at max 65 psi before and didn’t like how it felt/handled? Found 55 to feel the best, but I didn’t know that on the TT I should run max psi??? Please advise as I must plead ignorance here?

As for the age of current tires and replacement of all tires with new....yes I am deciding what to do? I knew those were getting up there in age and was hoping to get this year out of them, BUT, now that this has happened perhaps now is the time. I need to replace one (the blown one) so should replace all of them including the spare with the same make/vintage? I run Goodyear tires on the TV and my car and have had very positive experience. Goodyear Marathons are TT tires? Are they ok?

[Honda03842]

We also have Goodyear Marathons on our trailer. They are three years old now and have more than 20,000 miles on them, a good percentage on dirt roads. We have had no problems. I run them at 5 pounds under max reccomended pressure, check tire pressure before every big run and visually check the tires at each stop during the day, touching each for temperature. I do this to the TV as well.

On our tow vehicle we run Bridgestones.

[Sunline Fan]

Yes, the Marathon is a trailer radial from Goodyear.

You should run trailer tires at the max pressure listed on the tire. They are designed to be run at that, as long as the tires aren't overloaded.

I have had a lot of luck with the Goodyears in the past, and I intend to replace my Missions with that when the time comes. I use is so infrequently and it sits inside all the rest of the time, so I hope to get another year or two out of them. If I do lose one in the meantime, I would replace them all then.

One thing that's worthy to note here is since you lost the one tire, the other tire on that side was probably stressed a lot and would probably fail soon anyway. So if you were to just replace one tire right now, be aware that one may go soon too.

Jon

[henryj]

Joe, according to load inflation tables, your tires are not under inflated at 55 psi on a 264SR which has a GVWR of 8600 lb. An ST225/75R15 LRD is able to carry 2270 lb. at 55 psi. As long as you're not overloaded, and considering 1000 lb. of your GVWR is actually on the tongue, you do have a considerable margin.

However...
1. You should not play with load inflation tables unless you know exactly what your combination weighs at each axle. It's not just a matter of lowering pressure to get a better ride.
2. Heat--mostly caused by under inflation and/or speed--is the most common cause of tire failure. An under inflated tire flexes more and creates more heat which is harder to shed on a really hot day. Ditto for high speed.
3. A trailer tire that is getting on to 5 years in age is approaching the end of its life--especially for high speed long distance travel. Yours are at least 6 years and...
4. A tire that has sat on the ground for a couple of years without any rotation or proper inflation checks likely has a very weak spot in the sidewall. Even covered tires will age and dry out. Rotation and flexing of the tire on the road moves oils from the inside of the rubber to the outside and helps keep the tire in decent condition as it ages.

I would buy at least 4 new tires and inflate them to 60 psi. A stiffer sidewall will help resist sway, although I know you've said before that you have a really stable rig and I sure do like that 4WS. My gut says 55 is just too low especially for running 65 mph on a really hot day. I would rather find a happy psi and stick with it all year than mess around with adding or subtracting. And, if you don't know the weight, by all means weigh the rig or use 65 psi. You wouldn't be the first RVer carrying way more weight than they thought. Read through the links on the Goodyear website--there is lots of additional information on RV tires.

Trailer tires from major manufacturers are becoming really scarce. Cooper quit making them in the last year and Goodyear is just about the only game in town, but at least they have brought many sizes back to "made in USA". Use tirerack.com for research and pricing info even if you don't buy from them. They have an excellent website.

Henry