Tire Failure, Tire Investigation and Camper Damage Repair

[JohnB]

This reply deals with my search to find replacement tires which will help ward off the problems I have had with the last 2 sets of tires.

I had a few choices since I switched to 16” wheels and I wanted to stay with the LT tire. The large difference in the choices dealt with an all steel woven tire verses a combo steel and polyester tire like the BFG Commercial TA tires I had even in a different brand.

The search brought me to 2 brands in the all steel woven tire which are:

The Michelin XPS Rib https://www.michelinman.com/tire/michelin/xps-rib

This is a LT tire with steel woven side walls and tread. It is a very heavy duty tire and it also is a summer rated tire that can be used on trailers. The summer rating had me concerned what that meant as we do camp in the winter, not in snow but in cold temperatures. A call to Michelin customer service confirmed the tire was usable in a trailer application after I gave them the tire size, axle ratings and the GVWR of the camper all which lined up to be inside the ratings.

Then the talk centered around the summer only rating. This tire is normally used as a steer tire on the front of delivery vans, trucks etc. They get a lot of use and abuse. In this case they will not give any time of recommendation that the tire be used below 45F stating loss of traction will occur. And reading the reviews on it, folks who have them even state that have to change the tires come fall/winter as the vehicle is too unstable but they are great in the summer and warmer months. Again this is all in the context being on a motorized vehicle.

I mentioned this was on a trailer application and not a drive or steer axle. They had to check with their manager and the answer still came back they will not approve or recommend this tire be used below 45F as the trailer could lose stability. The rubber compounds friction changes at colder temperatures making it more slippery. I thanked them and that was the end of the call. There are many folks using these tires on their 5th wheels and TT’s all which are heavy trailers. Some the same weight range as mine and some a lot heavier. They reported no changes in winter weather that had been objectionable to them. At this point I was not going to go against the manufacturers advise in the event a braking situation did occur and the trailer slide that would be hanging over my head I messed up.

The next brand was Bridgestone who has 2 tire models in the same type of tire.

The Bridgestone Duravis R250 https://www.bridgestonetire.com/tire/duravis-r250

This is very similar to the XPS Rib and is also a summer only rated tire. It has been used by several RV’ers again with heavy 5th wheels and TT’s which very good success.

The other tire they offer is the Duravis R238 https://www.bridgestonetire.com/tire/duravis-r238

This tire is made very similar to the R250 however it is an all season and all position tire.

I called Bridgestone tech service and started down the same road I had with Michelin. At the start of the conversion they told me the R250 had already been discontinued. Well, they shut down the conversation real quick about the winter issues as the only tires left are in dealers stock and warehouses. We then moved to the R238 which is an all season rated tire. I had a long talk on this tire and ended up having to make a 2nd call to clarify a few things. Here is the learnings on the R238.

• The R250 has already been discontinued and the R238 is replacing it.
• The R238 all season is max temp rated to 120F. They used cautious words in describing the lower temps. It can be used in all "normal" driving conditions which include below freezing. She did not give me a low limit but stated driving down to 0F was within reason.

• I asked for some kind of web link or brochure on the makeup of the R238 as the light truck web page had none. I did find the R238 with a lot of info on the Bridgestone commercial truck and bus site and was the 16” R238 built like the larger 17.5 and 19” tires. I was told are similar and the info would apply.

• I asked if they could tell me the differences in upgrades since the R250. They stated they changed the way the steel in the side walls and tread was layered up and the rubber compounds to make it stronger and be lighter in weight but yet still meet the same load ratings.

• I asked the actual weights as the web page shows both R250 is 52 and R238 at 50#. They went to the spec sheets. The R250 weighed 53.0#, the R238 now weighs 50.8# So it did get lighter.

• They confirmed the R238 tire OD is 29.0" which aligns with my need to interchange with the wheel clearances I have. It also matches the BFG’s I had.

• I asked if the R238 was approved for trailer use. They stated they do not rate it that way. The tire was intended for lightweight truck, like the F350 or Silverado 3500 etc. They could not recommend it for trailer use.

I pointed out the tire is listed in their truck tire data manual as “suitable” for use on tandem and spread axle trailers. They confirmed that was correct. So I asked what is the difference between “recommended” and “suitable”?

Recommended means they designed the tire for a specific application and they can recommend it when that application is used. Suitable means it can be used in that application but the tire was not designed specifically for that use and as such they cannot recommend it. It just may not get the same mileage ratings. They for sure have a set of wording in the ratings that one needs to understand.

• As I was talking to them about the tandem trailer application, I asked if they had any better tire then the R238 for the trailer? The tech looked through all his literature and said it would be the best they had just they do not design trailer tires so they had nothing better to pick from.

Here is some useful links on the R238 in the Truck and Bus site

The R238 T & B listing. Note this only shows the 17.5 and 19” tires . Use the other link above for 16 and 17” tires. https://commercial.bridgestone.com/e...s/product/r238

A cut away of the tire showing the make up https://commercial.bridgestone.com/c...02-06-2018.pdf

The Truck Data Book. Lots of info. Page 3 has the application data https://commercial.bridgestone.com/c...06-13-2017.pdf

After reviewing all this I decided to go with the Duravis R238’s. I needed a tire that can better handle the tire scrubbing and I really cannot go to a larger capacity tire as I already upgraded from 15” to 16” and I’m at the end of the load upgrades that can fit in the camper.

These heavy duty tires are in a different league when looking at them compared to the light duty LT truck tires. They have side wall scrub guards to help protect the side walls from curbing and the tire makeup is listed to hold up better for scrubbing on the tread area. A key point to help reduce the problem I had which failed on my prior ST tires and BFG LT tires.

Here are some pics if the R238’s mounted on my rims.


The tire beads and side walls are much thicker. The bead itself is 1/4” thicker than the BFG LT’s. Part of this may be a need on how to bind off the steel belts.


The tread pattern

On the camper. Note: camper is still on jack stands in this pic


Here we are down on the shop floor


The goal with these is to help ward off the tread separation issues I have been having. I still need to verify my weights and see that I am at or above the extra reserve capacity need. A trip to the truck scales will be in the near future.

This heavy duty type of tire may not be a need for everyone. The heavier the camper it seems the worse the tread separation issue can be, at least from what I have been exposed to.

This type of tire also costs a lot more than the standard ST trailer tire and even more than a truck LT tire. However after dealing with the pain of rebuilding the camper damage I have not yet finished, I needed to correct something and this route made the most sense to me, at least at this time. I will for sure report back issues I find. May take a few years, but I will let you know.

I have some more to post yet on the damage repair. The door side needed a lot of help fixing that side.

Thanks for looking.

John

[Digmenow]

Did you buy 4 tires or did you go with 6 to allow for 2 trustworthy spares?

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by johnnybgood

They are Hankook Dynapro HT
235/65R16C

Apparently a fairly odd size.

Those are not "LT" tires but are European "Commercial" tires. Similar to US LT bot not identical.
The 85 psi comes from conversion and rounding of Eurpoean inflation in kPa to US Psi.

[Rocketgirl]

Well, I have been on an RV vacation since 5/11, so I did not keep up with your posts. As of yesterday afternoon, I wished I had seen something like this before I left last week. I had a blow out on the T1950 yesterday.

(I want to contribute to your post, a new post would be close to a repeat of what you have here.)

To make a long story short, I bought the trailer about 3 years ago and the dealer put "new" tires on it, turns out they were old stock ST205/75 Towmasters 14" and 4+ years old when they were put on the trailer, date codes worked out to within a few weeks of 8 years old as of this week. They were darn near new to look at prior to the trip, just maybe 2000-3000 miles on them. The trailer sat all last year unused, but I did move it occasionally to minimize flat spots on the tires. Although I did not see anything wrong with them prior to my trip, my BF nearly needed a microscope to notice just a bit of sidewall cracking, that disappeared with detailing.

Mistake #1 - Although my BF felt I should consider replacement prior to the trip, I thought I could get a couple of trips in before getting new tires.

Mistake #2 - The first campground was really a tent campground with no hookups, although they welcomed trailers. The spot was asphalt, but head a MAJOR angled drainage ditch in front of the spot that I had to back through, nearly dragging the RV bottom and giving it an extreme pitch going both into and out of the site. I think this caused extreme stress to the tires and could have caused the initial beginnings of tred separation. NO MORE roughing it campsites!!!

Made it out to the National Park okay, no incidents. Started back to E. Tennessee yesterday.

Mistake #3 - As mentioned by several other people on this thread, I stopped briefly during the heat of the day mid-trip for a 15 minute brake. As soon as we got back on the highway, there was a weird vibration that we first thought was the highway. We kept the speed to 55. Several miles down the road, I noticed the tarmack changed, but the vibration did not and I mentioned it to my BF who was driving. Within a mile or two after the mention, we heard the blow out, took the foot immediately off the gas, and coasted off to the shoulder.

We limped to the next exit and found a safe place to put on the spare. Upon inspection, a second tire on the opposite side was ready to blow also. Pictures are attached.

Since we were away from home, our options were a little limited. We found a nearby Walmart that had Good Year Marathon (4) ST 205/75 R14 LRC that my BF had researched a few weeks before as possible contenders. I am hoping we made a good choice. I do want to get a matching spare, having a mis-matched one for the limp-trip to Walmart was not a good ride at all.

What a day! We are still recovering today.

To add insult to injury, we had 3 hours to go after getting the tires replaced and I drove most of the way with a "wrath of God" torrential downpour thunderstorm for about 2 of those hours, wash outs, mud washs, hydroplanes, etc. The good news is, the tires seemed to work great, although I don't usually drive RV's in conditions like that so I don't have a lot of harsh weather experience to compare to.

Here is a picture of the tire that blew out, I think it looks like the other similar blow-outs mentioned in this thread:



Here is a picture of the "divit" forming on another tire, on the other side of the RV, ready to blow. We also can see there is an inward "cant" on the tires, which would add stress to LT tires specifically:





Odd sized spare:

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by PTHutch

John,

Do you know if ST tires are designed and built to handle "Interply shear" better then LT tires?

Hi Hutch,

I connected with Roger and this topic will take some time to explain and he needs his home PC of "stuff". He is at a rally right now without a very good internet connection giving a seminar. When he can get back home, it may be awhile, he will address this for us. Like all other good RV'ers he is out and about camping... or trying to.

Thanks

John

[Tod Osier]

Just ordered 5 new yoko LTs .

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Digmenow

Did you buy 4 tires or did you go with 6 to allow for 2 trustworthy spares?

Dig,

I bought 5 shinny new Duravis R238's, 4 running tires and 1 spare of the original set. Had to buy a rim for the 5th one as,

During my LT failure 2 weeks ago when the 1st tire went out, I had to buy something on the road to get back in some level of tire health as I still had about 200 miles to go. So I replaced the first tread separation on the road with a Firestone LT Transforce tire. It now has 200 miles on it.

So, I have 5 R238's and 1 Transforce mounted one rims to fit the camper. 6 now if we are counting....

In the semi distant future we will start longer trips and stays. Since I bought the $160 Transforce already mounted on my rim, it created a working spare for a future time I hope I never have to use it... Or at least a working rim to mount something on when I am way far from home.

Thanks

John

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Tod Osier

Just ordered 5 new yoko LTs .

Good for you!! Having a bad tire day is "no fun"....

[mainah]

Interesting John I have 4 tires on my T1700 that are made in a similar design that are Vietnamese. I figure the Vietnamese know a lot about rubber. I can tell you this there is a marked difference in rolling resistance lot less gear shifting.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Rocketgirl

To make a long story short, I bought the trailer about 3 years ago and the dealer put "new" tires on it, turns out they were old stock ST205/75 Towmasters 14" and 4+ years old when they were put on the trailer, date codes worked out to within a few weeks of 8 years old as of this week. They were darn near new to look at prior to the trip, just maybe 2000-3000 miles on them. The trailer sat all last year unused, but I did move it occasionally to minimize flat spots on the tires. Although I did not see anything wrong with them prior to my trip, my BF nearly needed a microscope to notice just a bit of sidewall cracking, that disappeared with detailing.

Mistake #1 - Although my BF felt I should consider replacement prior to the trip, I thought I could get a couple of trips in before getting new tires.

Mistake #2 - The first campground was really a tent campground with no hookups, although they welcomed trailers. The spot was asphalt, but head a MAJOR angled drainage ditch in front of the spot that I had to back through, nearly dragging the RV bottom and giving it an extreme pitch going both into and out of the site. I think this caused extreme stress to the tires and could have caused the initial beginnings of tred separation. NO MORE roughing it campsites!!!

Made it out to the National Park okay, no incidents. Started back to E. Tennessee yesterday.

Mistake #3 - As mentioned by several other people on this thread, I stopped briefly during the heat of the day mid-trip for a 15 minute brake. As soon as we got back on the highway, there was a weird vibration that we first thought was the highway. We kept the speed to 55. Several miles down the road, I noticed the tarmack changed, but the vibration did not and I mentioned it to my BF who was driving. Within a mile or two after the mention, we heard the blow out, took the foot immediately off the gas, and coasted off to the shoulder.

We limped to the next exit and found a safe place to put on the spare. Upon inspection, a second tire on the opposite side was ready to blow also. Pictures are attached.

Hi Rocketgirl,

A real bummer on your tire failures. I feel for you. A bad tire day is not fun. Several things may have contributed to a tire failure like yours and without knowing more about your setup, I cannot really tell from here all the contributors. I will pass along some thoughts you can go over to review in case you have not for the future.

First off I'm not an expert tire person, but I am a learning RV'er who "wants to know" if I did something wrong to cause my failures so I can correct it for the next time. There is always a learning or confirming in every kind of failure and tires are no exception. Here are some things my research and experiences have found.

From what you told us, tire age of 8 year is not on your side regardless of what the tire looks like outside. And where they have sat for those 8 years. Being exposed to the sun for half their life on an old aged tire, the sun's rays do havoc on rubber products. White tire covers if the camper is stored outside is better than black tire covers. On ST tires, 5 years is about recommended age max unless there have been heavy inspection by a knowledge tire person every year after.

Tire pressures, have the tires "always" been aired up to max sidewall cold pressure at the start of "every" trip? Yes I know what I am asking for is a big job to do, does anyone really do that? The way the tires are made and sized on a tandem axle trailer, they have to have full load capacity on every trip plus reserve capacity. If you have a trip where one or two tires are lower in pressure, then damage of some type is happening on that trip, long ago and maybe forgotten. As the tire age comes into play those past events become bigger problems. Using a tire pressure monitor on the camper helps stay on top of this easier.

Your 14" tires for sure need full load pressure to support the camper and still have some level of reserve capacity. The reserve capacity is another need when we are talking about tandem axle tires. The scrubbing of the tire in turns creates excess stress on the tire and the common way to keep it low is to have enough reserve capacity in the tire.

Actual loaded tire weights, including individual tire weights is a need to know that your rig setup allows the tire to have the needed reserve capacity and not be in an overload. Going to a truck scale is not a large cost but it takes some time and there is a way to measure the weights to get the most use of them. Have you ever weighed the camper fully loaded and with the WD hitch engaged on the truck?

Tire inspection, this is something that is a constant need in a quick sense and an annual very in depth sense. Every gas stop, every start of the trip, every time your towing and out of the vehicle, take a walk around and look over the camper, tires and WD hitch. Just looks for something not right. I was able to find 2 of my ST tire failures before they let go by looking. And when bulges of any kind show up, right then and there is possible is the time to change it. Annual tire check, this one is more involved and as the tire get older it becomes more important. See this blog post by Tireman9 RV Tire Safety: Inspection

I missed doing that close tire spin test last fall and that was my mistake. Heavy LT truck tires have more subtle differences then ST trailer tires but the end result can be the same. Tires that have sidewall or tread spin bulges are problems that have to be changed before use.

Speed, ST trailer tires "many times" and most likely on your older ones have a speed rating of 65 mph max. When you go over 65, the heat generated creates small damage that keeps building inside the tire to show it's ugly head at the least opportune time. Again one of those things like low air pressure, it is cumulative. Some of the new ST tires now have higher speed ratings. The tire sidewall should list the speed rating.

Curbing, it is easy to hit a curb pulling in and out of dump station, gas station etc. ST tires or any tire without extra protection features get hurt inside when you scrub the sidewalls. The harder the scrub the worse the damage inside. Maybe a long time ago a hard hit happened and was forgotten about. In time that contributes to a future failure.

Road hazards, they are everywhere.... pot holes at 50mph to a ST tire or any tire are a mega jolt into the tire and the camper. It can start some level of damage that would not otherwise be there. Anything else hit in the road at speed creates a tire hazard. Where most RV'er camp is never a smooth black top road just awaiting us.

When you look at that list, they are "some" of the more common issues that contributes to tire failures and not all. And it may not be one big issue, but a lot of smaller ones all adding up to align with a older tire that at the most wrong time to rear its ugly head.

Review the list and see if any come to mind that may have occurred or may not have not occured. Tire quality is another topic and I did not mention that but it can play into this too.

Hope this helps

John

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Rocketgirl

Well, I have been on an RV vacation since 5/11, so I did not keep up with your posts. As of yesterday afternoon, I wished I had seen something like this before I left last week. I had a blow out on the T1950 yesterday.

(I want to contribute to your post, a new post would be close to a repeat of what you have here.)

To make a long story short, I bought the trailer about 3 years ago and the dealer put "new" tires on it, turns out they were old stock ST205/75 Towmasters 14" and 4+ years old when they were put on the trailer, date codes worked out to within a few weeks of 8 years old as of this week. They were darn near new to look at prior to the trip, just maybe 2000-3000 miles on them. The trailer sat all last year unused, but I did move it occasionally to minimize flat spots on the tires. Although I did not see anything wrong with them prior to my trip, my BF nearly needed a microscope to notice just a bit of sidewall cracking, that disappeared with detailing.

Mistake #1 - Although my BF felt I should consider replacement prior to the trip, I thought I could get a couple of trips in before getting new tires.

Mistake #2 - The first campground was really a tent campground with no hookups, although they welcomed trailers. The spot was asphalt, but head a MAJOR angled drainage ditch in front of the spot that I had to back through, nearly dragging the RV bottom and giving it an extreme pitch going both into and out of the site. I think this caused extreme stress to the tires and could have caused the initial beginnings of tred separation. NO MORE roughing it campsites!!!

Made it out to the National Park okay, no incidents. Started back to E. Tennessee yesterday.

Mistake #3 - As mentioned by several other people on this thread, I stopped briefly during the heat of the day mid-trip for a 15 minute brake. As soon as we got back on the highway, there was a weird vibration that we first thought was the highway. We kept the speed to 55. Several miles down the road, I noticed the tarmack changed, but the vibration did not and I mentioned it to my BF who was driving. Within a mile or two after the mention, we heard the blow out, took the foot immediately off the gas, and coasted off to the shoulder.

We limped to the next exit and found a safe place to put on the spare. Upon inspection, a second tire on the opposite side was ready to blow also. Pictures are attached.

Since we were away from home, our options were a little limited. We found a nearby Walmart that had Good Year Marathon (4) ST 205/75 R14 LRC that my BF had researched a few weeks before as possible contenders. I am hoping we made a good choice. I do want to get a matching spare, having a mis-matched one for the limp-trip to Walmart was not a good ride at all.

What a day! We are still recovering today.

To add insult to injury, we had 3 hours to go after getting the tires replaced and I drove most of the way with a "wrath of God" torrential downpour thunderstorm for about 2 of those hours, wash outs, mud washs, hydroplanes, etc. The good news is, the tires seemed to work great, although I don't usually drive RV's in conditions like that so I don't have a lot of harsh weather experience to compare to.

Here is a picture of the tire that blew out, I think it looks like the other similar blow-outs mentioned in this thread:



Here is a picture of the "divit" forming on another tire, on the other side of the RV, ready to blow. We also can see there is an inward "cant" on the tires, which would add stress to LT tires specifically:





Odd sized spare:

Possible answer
It's not easy to work off pictures of tires. Really need close-up in full sunshine BUT I think the 1st tire with thsidewall "blister" failed from an impact or curb hit.
Sometimes the body cord can be broken but the sidewall rubber holds the air. Eventually ( 10 to maybe a couple hundred miles later the sidewall give out and you loose all the air. A TPMS woult tell you immediately when the air left the tire.
If you still have the tire and are interested I can walk you through what is needed to move my confidence from 55% to maybe 95% it was an impact.

See THIS post of one of my personal tires that was discovered before it lost air.

Just because I am a tire engineer doesn't mean I can also have a failure too

The other tires

[Trailblazer]

Hi John, Sorry to hear about your latest ordeal with the tires. I was shocked to read this especially with the LT tires. As you may recall I switch to LT tires just after you did 5 years ago on our Sunline 5th wheel after having the same tread separation issues you were having. We had zero issue with those tires the entire time we owned the Sunline and as you may recall I made sure the tire shop got us the freshest tires possible. Ours were the Firestone Transforce tires which I also ran on our truck at the time. It would have been interesting to see if I would of had the same issue with the Lt tires as you did if we still had the trailer. Unfortunately like you our travel mode changes shortly after putting the LT's on the 5th wheel so I doubt I had much over 10,000 miles on the tires when we sold the unit. I will be very interested to hear what Rogers says about what may have happened to cause your blow out along with if there is a difference with the Interply shear between ST and LT tires. When we ordered our new 5th wheel, we made sure it came with G rated ST tires on so I had extra load carrying capacity on the tires. My original thought was to switch these tires our to LT tires in a couple of years but I am not wondering if that is a good idea or not. I will be following this tread closely to see what you find out and what Roger says about the tires.

On a side note, I did notice the damage to the fender skirts on your trailer. Are you going to be able to get replacements for them or are you going to have to get new ones made?

[JohnB]

Hi Bill,

The fender skirts, yes I need one for sure and will buy 2. I'm hoping the 2 that are listed on Icon Direct will be a match. There are slightly different and I'm not sure that Sunline did not tweak the design as time went on. I think the actual camper axle spacing and the fender sheet metal cut out would be the same, but the outside shape is a little different on Icon ones they already have the mold for. And the dimensions they give online you really cannot tell how it would fit the camper. I called them and I have to take pics and email them to have them check.

Good for you upgrading the tire size on the new camper. I have not heard of many complaints about too large of a tire on a camper yet...

Thanks

John

[JohnB]

Hi Folks,

I will do a more detail repair write up but I have run out of time right now. I will leave you with these pics of the door side. The repair is completed with the exception of a fender skirt and a door bezel (trim). I created a waterproof seal on the fender area to not allow water into the floor area without the skirt. It will take a little time to get new skirts and I am going to attempt to repair the door trim as I cannot find one already molded that fits.

From this




To this






Be back soon. Thanks for looking.

John

[Tod Osier]

John, I found that the icon fenders were a lot cheaper from camping world. Order camping world and they direct ship from icon. I think the savings was in free shipping mostly, but that was over $40. I have not installed mine, but they seem a perfect match.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Tod Osier

John, I found that the icon fenders were a lot cheaper from camping world. Order camping world and they direct ship from icon. I think the savings was in free shipping mostly, but that was over $40. I have not installed mine, but they seem a perfect match.

Thanks Tod, Never thought of CW for these, I will check it out.

[BenB]

Also try Amazon, thats where I ordered my shower dome, was cheaper than Icon direct.

Not sure if this is the right size, they have lots listed.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00...n+fender+skirt

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[JohnB]

Thanks Ben on the Amazon lead. I looked and it seems Icon is selling them on Amazon too. I was hoping Amazon was selling them directly. The Amazon return policy is better than the Icon one with a 20% restocking charge in case they do not fit.

I have a lead on possibly 2 new ones from a fellow club member that he may have left when he sold his camper. Will see here soon.

[JohnB]

We made a 285 mile camping trip this past weekend with the new tires. It was a good test out. Mega rain while towing, mega potholes interstate, and some good roads. I had some concerns about hydroplaning with the camper but it stayed right where it needed to be, behind me. Seems the water fly's out the back with the deep grooves. There are not any sips on the 2 large side ribs and that was my first preconceived notion about hydroplaning.

I checked and tweaked my axle alignment this winter after adding more frame reinforcing steel on the slide side. While 285 miles is not much, I do not see any scrub on the tires yet. Not even the little tire rubber spikes (tire mold vents) sticking up are still all their across the face of all 4 tires.

The body roll on the camper may be a little less too. It was not bad on the BFG's but these R238's feel a little better. The stiffer sidewalls may be helping this.

The combo of the shocks and rubber equalizer on the camper seems to be working well with these stiffer sidewall tires. With 20 miles of bad interstate on I-71 south of Columbus, amazingly nothing inside the camper was bounced around very badly like I thought it would be.

So far so good.

Thanks

John

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Trailblazer

Hi John, Sorry to hear about your latest ordeal with the tires. I was shocked to read this especially with the LT tires. As you may recall I switch to LT tires just after you did 5 years ago on our Sunline 5th wheel after having the same tread separation issues you were having. We had zero issue with those tires the entire time we owned the Sunline and as you may recall I made sure the tire shop got us the freshest tires possible. Ours were the Firestone Transforce tires which I also ran on our truck at the time. It would have been interesting to see if I would of had the same issue with the Lt tires as you did if we still had the trailer. Unfortunately like you our travel mode changes shortly after putting the LT's on the 5th wheel so I doubt I had much over 10,000 miles on the tires when we sold the unit. I will be very interested to hear what Rogers says about what may have happened to cause your blow out along with if there is a difference with the Interply shear between ST and LT tires. When we ordered our new 5th wheel, we made sure it came with G rated ST tires on so I had extra load carrying capacity on the tires. My original thought was to switch these tires our to LT tires in a couple of years but I am not wondering if that is a good idea or not. I will be following this tread closely to see what you find out and what Roger says about the tires.

On a side note, I did notice the damage to the fender skirts on your trailer. Are you going to be able to get replacements for them or are you going to have to get new ones made?

The InterplyShear force is not a function of the letters on the tire sidewall.


More load > More Shear
Lower Inflation > more shear


If you go to higher LR tires and run higher inflation the Shear will be lower.


Now there are construction features that can help resist the rubber tear that can grow to a sep but it gets technical pretty fast.