Trailer Tires

[glasschicken]

We had our Sunline out 4 times this year and had tire blow-outs on two of the trips. The tires were 10 ply, ST 225/75R15, that were two years old and filled to the proper air pressure of 80 psi (I check before every trip.)

I know all trailer tires except some Goodyear's are made in China. Does anyone have a good tire recommendation?

 

[JohnGB]

Hi,

I can try and help. I have been through this and the last ones, the tires flew apart and damaged the camper pretty bad. Luckily, I had materials to fix the beat up siding. Tire failures on the road on a camper is a bad day...

This tire issue can go beyond the brand of tire. I see since you are at 80 psi, you are already upsized to E load range tires above the D's that Sunline put on.

To help better, we need some info on your Sunny. What model was it?

Do you know how many approx, miles were on the tires when they failed?

Have you ever weighed the camper recently?

What is your average towing speed?

Any chances of having pics of the tires when they failed?

Do you still have the other tires that did not fail on the camper? And are they still in the camper? There are some tests you can do on them still on the camper to see if they are too starting to come apart. Trying to help back into why they are failing.

What brand and DOT date codes where on the tires? There are date codes on the tire to tell month and year. They are only on one side wall. Have to look on both sides of the tire. See here https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/how-to-determine-the-age-of-your-tires

When my first set of ST tires failed, I wanted to know what I was doing wrong, if anything. Worked through that and learned a bunch and upgraded from the 15" ST's to 16" LTs. Well after the LT tires failed, I kept looking deeper and learned some more. In the LT tire case I may have been caught up in a BFG commercial tire mfg recall issues. Tandem and triple axle trailers have certain inherent tire issues that go beyond brand and if the tire selected "just fit" into the weight rating.

Hope this helps

John

 

[Tireman9]

We had our Sunline out 4 times this year and had tire blow-outs on two of the trips. The tires were 10 ply, ST 225/75R15, that were two years old and filled to the proper air pressure of 80 psi (I check before every trip.)

I know all trailer tires except some Goodyear's are made in China. Does anyone have a good tire recommendation?

My first question is: Why did the tires fail when only 2 years old?


Have you read, and understood THIS post on tire failure? It is important to remember that if we don't know why something failed to work as expected we may not be taking the right corrective action.
Example. The car doesn't start. Simply buying a new battery is of no value if you had a blown fuse in the ignition system.


Do you use a TPMS? If not how do you knowyou didn't have a puncture or two? Did you confirm the valve core was not leaking after you checked air pressure? You might find THIS post informative.

 

[glasschicken]

My current Sunline is a T-264SR, the tires had probably 500-600 miles on them, I have not weighed my trailer, but during both blow-out all the liquid tanks were empty, The two speeds were 45MPH for one blow-out and 62MPH for the second. Here are a couple pics of the 45MPH blowout.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi,

I'll let Tireman9 comment on the pictures. That is above me on what could create that type of catastrophic failure.

Can you provide the brand and DOT date codes of the failed tires? While you may have only had them for 2 years, they may be a lot older.

Please confirm the load range of the tire. If you are running 80psi that would correspond to an E load range tire.

I had forgot to ask what year camper you had, but the T264SR was only made from 2004 to 2007. The dry empty brochure weight of those 4 years ranges from 6,130# on a 2007 or 2006 with aluminum siding and no walk on roof to 6,330# on a 2005 or 2004 with aluminum siding and no walk on roof.

There is a shipped weight sticker in the camper, it would be on the door of a kitchen, bath or bedroom closet. But still, in your case unless you have something massively heavy in the camper, you should not be out of tire weight capacity and the extra reserve capacity needed for tandem axle trailers. The camper is not that long either at 27' 7".

Sunline rates the camper at 8,600# which allows 2, 270# of cargo assuming the 6,330# dry weight and puts on ST225/75R15 LR D's on it or 2,540# per tire or 10,160# for all 4 tires.

If you have E load range, it is 2,830# per tire, Or 5,660# per axle and total of all 4 to be 11,320#. And this is only the axle supports. The average loaded TW on a T264SR is 1,000 to 1,200#. Figuring 6,330 dry - 1,200# loaded TW - 11,320 = 3,820# of tire capacity for cargo. If you put that much weight on the axles, the leaf springs would be having issues as they are only rated for 8,600#. Or if you had one side very heavily loaded.

While we do not have actual loaded weights, and unless you have something really heavy in the camper, tire weights are not floating to the top. But should not be lost site of.

While the tires failed at a certain MPH, what is your normal towing speed on the highway?

Do you recall hitting any large potholes or large bumps? At any time since you had these tires, even a year ago etc. The highways can be filled with them.

Hope this helps

John

 

[Tireman9]

My current Sunline is a T-264SR, the tires had probably 500-600 miles on them, I have not weighed my trailer, but during both blow-out all the liquid tanks were empty, The two speeds were 45MPH for one blow-out and 62MPH for the second. Here are a couple pics of the 45MPH blowout.

1. I strongly suggest you present the tires to your dealer for replacement but
First capture photo of the full DOT serial for each tire.
2. File a complaint with NHTSA. - You will need the VIN for the RV and the full DOT serial for each tire. You can file two complaints as two tires with different failure dates are involved.
3. FYI the dealer is supposed to file a report with NHTSA on the failures so it doesn't create a problem that would prevent them from honoring even a minimal product defect claim.


Info to everyone. This situation points out the advantage of recording the TV odometer at the start and end of every trip with notes on tire problems if any and allow you to provide accurate mileage.. Also being able to provide weight slips when the RV is fully loaded would also strengthen your claim of not overloading your tires.
Also including a statement about your TPMS readings if you have such a system further strengthens your claim of being a responsible owner.


The pictures seem to show significant bare steel cord which should not happen in a few hundred miles IMO.

 

[RocketDriver]

Hello all. I have a 2006 T264SR that I purchased new in 2006. Love my Sunny! I have STs load range D at 60 psi on. Never had a problem With either brand I’ve had on.

Here is my take on this tire issue. Too much tire at too high of a pressure. A load range E tire can absolutely handle more weight. But do you need more weight capacity? If you do, you are at risk of overloading the axles which will also cause a failure. Over inflation of the tire for the weight of the trailer will cause the tire to round over. The trailer won’t track well and the tire will over heat in the center of the tire.

Google it yourself. “What happens when a tire is over inflated.” Bad things happen. You could reduce your tire pressure to the manufacture recommended on 60psi and most likely not have a problem. There are reason why manufacturers have particular tire sizes and pressures listed in each and every vehicle.

Just my two cents.

 

[Ketchakah]

I been watching these threads on tires pretty intently. All this talk about failure has gotten me worried. I really never thought about it much.

I have been pulling horse trailers for years and have used mostly used car tires. No idea what the ratings or types were. I did not have alot of money, so new ones were not an option. Even the truck would get used tires. The trailer would sit in the dirt for weeks or months between use. I would run them until the tread was almost flat, then another used one would go on. This is not something i would do now, but never thought much of at the time.

Education is a interesting thing.

The point was in all that time, I only had one tire fail on the road and it was substantially cracked. I was very nonchalant about the tire thing in my youth.

Do any of you have any idea why a camper trailer would have more issues then a horse trailer ? Figuring horses weigh between 9 and 1100 lbs. 2 or 4 at a time.

Just trying to wrap my mind around this. Any thoughts ?

 

[Tod Osier]

I been watching these threads on tires pretty intently. All this talk about failure has gotten me worried. I really never thought about it much.

I have been pulling horse trailers for years and have used mostly used car tires. No idea what the ratings or types were. I did not have alot of money, so new ones were not an option. Even the truck would get used tires. The trailer would sit in the dirt for weeks or months between use. I would run them until the tread was almost flat, then another used one would go on. This is not something i would do now, but never thought much of at the time.

Education is a interesting thing.

The point was in all that time, I only had one tire fail on the road and it was substantially cracked. I was very nonchalant about the tire thing in my youth.

Do any of you have any idea why a camper trailer would have more issues then a horse trailer ? Figuring horses weigh between 9 and 1100 lbs. 2 or 4 at a time.

Just trying to wrap my mind around this. Any thoughts ?

In my opinion the issue is the ST tires. No one tolerates flats on their vehicles these days, so regular (p and lt) tires are great quality. Not so much for ST tires

 

[Ketchakah]

So much to learn about. Things i never even considered. Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[mainah-SUN]

That's pretty catastrophic failure some thing big time wrong there. You sure on the 80 psi? I agree on reporting the failure, NHTSA needs to know about that.