Tire Blow Out and Question on how to fix Underbelly?

EM

emam

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Posts
854
Well it finally happened. On a drive up to Texas from Tucson, that tire that I had had trouble with a few days back blew. Luckily we were on a stretch of empty road and I was able to come to a stop within a few hundred feet.

img_66558_0_3d532f9f4773deb12b5cd2c09a70415b.jpg

The way the tire blew, the entire tread was flapping against the underbelly and tore a small hole in the fabric lining. :(

img_66558_1_9029094d194d9bd7a8de45636b26f890.jpg

My question is has anyone ever fixed this? The insulation that covers the floor was blown out, and I can see clear through to the OSB Decking. I'm worried that this will get wet, and spread out into the floor where it might cause serious long term damage.

Right now, the area that has the fabric missing is under the couch, so I wont notice it for awhile, but I dont want to let it creep up on me.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience in repairing this?

Thanks
Pat
 
Hi Pat,

Sorry to hear about the tire. Hopefully it didn’t cause too much damage. The underbelly and insulation should be an easy fix.

We had a similar experience from a blow out. That is the tire tread ripped a hole in the underbelly material. I got a roll of tape from Sunline that matched the material they used to cover the underbelly.

I looked in the garage to see if I had the tape here, but unfortunately I think it’s stored in the trailer so I can’t tell you any specifics on the type of tape it is.

This tape worked extremely well to cover the hole that was created. If I remember correctly it was about 3” or 4” wide.

My suggestion is to go to an RV parts department and ask them about it, they should know what type of tape it is.

Hope this helps a little.
Hutch
 
While crawling around under the Tweety, Steve noticed an X shaped cut in our underbelly fabric. His temporary solution was a piece of plastic from a big dollar store pancake turner and duct tape...until he figures out something more permenant. The slits are right under the dinette pedestal like they had to replace that from underneath, or maybe the original owners switched from the wobbly one leg type to a center pedestal...strange. Anyway...he dismantled the pancake turner and put the plastic flipper part up under the fabric, then used duct tape to secure it. I know he considers this a temporary fix until it warms up and he can fix it more appropriately. (although we had a temporary fireplace mantle for 20 years before it got replaced, so you never know! :)) BTW....I am SO jealous of you people that are still camping!!!
 
You may want to check a place that sells mobile home parts and supplies. The Stuff under our coaches is the same "fabric" used on the underbellies of mobile homes. A long term fix, or actually an upgrade, may be to cut and rivit (or screw) thin aluminum sheeting on the entire underbelly of your coach, like an (gulp) Airstream. This would protect the underside of your coach from any and all road hazzards. My F-304 has aluminum sheeting and/or that plastic "cardboard" stuff covering the entire underbelly. With as much traveling as you do it may be worth the cost and $$$. Just a suggestion.
Lowell
 
I can plainly see that this was a chinese made mission tire. I will say no more at this time. I haven't decided what I will replace them with, but the missions on my Sunline will be gone before it hits the road again. I know there are mixed feelings about this, but I feel strongly about made in china stuff that has rubber parts. It won't last very long.
 
Sorry to hear about your damage, Pat. Can't help you with how/what to repair it with. As for your Mission tires, just wondering if ya know how many miles you have on them. I had 18,000 miles on mine when one finally lost a hunk of tread, but causing no damage. So, I have to say, I was not upset with the performance of my Mission tires. But, I kept Aero 303 on them, Sunny was under the RV port unless traveling,and I always kept proper air pressure in them, so I felt I got good use out of tires rated for trailer service. I now have Power King TowMax tires installed by Goodyear in Elk City, OK. These tires will also have the air pressure checked regularly, Aero 303 on them, covered when idle, and I now also have the Pressure Pro tire monitoring system on them.
 
Jon:

When I replaced the tires on my T-2051 two years ago, the tire dealer told me that they were made in a Goodyear plant in Canada. Hopefully, they are still being made in the US and Canada.
 
Al,

I knew they made them in Canada, but I thought they idled that plant a couple years ago. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I remember someone saying they got some of the last Canadian made Goodyears.

Jon
 
Thanks for all the suggestions from everyone. Hutch, I'll stop at the next RV store we pass and see if they have any of that tape you spoke of. I tried Duct Tape, but it came off within the first day of traveling.

Lowell, That is my master plan to have the underbelly sprayed with the Icyene insulation and then have the underbelly riveted with a thin sheet of aluminum. It's always just where this money is going to come from for these master plans :? We're still searching for that tree some say it grows on :D

Not to get into a pissing match about tires, but we've had no problems with our mission tires, except for the time I rubbed against a curb and a large chunk of rubber came off the sidewall of one. I figure that was my fault as they are only 4ply tires and dont have too much sidewall protection.

We had that tire replaced with a Goodyear and the other 3 seem to be wearing just as well as the Goodyear. This one that just blew we had replaced with a Carlsyle from a Wal-Mart because of their road hazard warranty the mega store offers. For $9 extra per tire, they will replace the tire due to any blowouts or wear within a certain mileage. I figured for $9, what can you lose?

The tires have over 20,000 miles on them, but while we were at General RV last summer, the store manager looked at them and explained because we are traveling non-stop, mileage is different then when someone might have a set of tires that has that amount of miles on their coach but the tires might be 5 or 6 years old. Not too many people put over 20,000 miles per year on their camper. Except for a few who go on those power tirps like Kitty and do it all in 6 weeks!!

Kitty, do you have 16" rims? I Googled those Goodyear tires and could only find them in 16" models? I really want to move up to a higher rated tire due to the fact that we are probably right at our maximum wight limit for the trailer, and a higher rating wouldnt put so much stress on the tires.

Sorry this is so long, but we've been having trouble getting reception in the area we are in, so I couldnt reply to any of your responces till now.

Thanks for all the suggestions
Pat
 
Jon:

Sorry to hear that. I'll have to do some research when I decide to replace the Missions on my T-2553. Thanks for the follow-up.
 
Hi Pat,

It was such a beautiful day here today, so when I headed back out to my bus this afternoon I uncovered one of Sunnys' tires to double check the size. Tires are 205/75R15, and they are Power King TowMax. Didn't think I had 16" wheels, but wanted to make sure.

Kitty
 
Thanks Kitty, I'll check into those and see what I can find

Pat
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New posts

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom