exploding trailer tires

[cdhd2001]

I will never buy a Carlisle trailer tire ever again. My 5th wheel blew out 3 brand new less than 1k miles Carlisle ST D 15" tires. I upgraded from 15" to 16" wheels and am running the same 245/75R16 E rated tires that are one my 3/4 ton. Finally showing some dry cracking after 5 years.

 

[Joe1]

I remember reading about 20 years ago where a farmer in the mid-west and his son were filling a large tractor tire with air when it exploded and killed the both of them. Apparantly the farmer had patched a very old and brittle farm tractor tire and was trying to set the bead with a lot of air pressure (around 100 psi) when the old tire failed and killed the both of them. For some reason that story stayed with me. Most tractor tires are pretty low pressure and under normal circumstances they wouldn't blow up, just blow out.

We have a neighbor with an old tractor from the 40's and he claims the tires are the original. They are old and brittle with some of the cleats broken off and they just don't look safe but they hold air.

 

[rback33]

Give you three guesses what happened to my wife on the way to the show and the first two don't count..... Was glad I had a tire in the shed I could have mounted on Sat after I drove up so I had a spare coming home...

On the way back i came across two trailers pulled over, one with a blow out... found out after i stopped she had blown one on the way to the show, but did not replace before heading home... she had nothing to put on... she was about 30 min from home and I was little over an hr....guess whose spare was the only one available that fit.... I put it on an prayed God would take care of me since I helped take care of her... it worked.... she brought it back to me the next day with a couple of steaks... never met her before in my life, but trusted her to bring it back.... I would want someone to do that for my wife if it came down to it... I only need to buy 8 tires right now..lol 4 trailer and 4 car.... thank heavens my escrow analysis dropped my house payment 125 bucks a month....

 

[Renze]

About the underrated tires, most light truck and Van tires are rated for 170 km/h.
If they are for trailer use, they usually can take a 5 to 10% higher load than at their rated speed. I dont think any authority would approve a trailer with tires that are rated less than what's on your license papers. At least, that's the law over here.

Indeed there are a lot of unspeakable chinese brand tires, in Holland we call them "chewing gum tires" because the rubber is usually so soft that you can actually hear the road chew your tires away...

 

[JoeinTX]

"rocking a long in rd gear...~ 20 MPH.... when BLAM.. sounds like a bomb went off and the wind shield is pelted with stuff.... right front tire had blown.... "


Having nothing to do with the topic, but your post made me think about one of the most harrowing tractor moments I've had. I was piloting the ol' MF 98 in one-pass discing/seeding several years ago and as I came to a swinging corner I had a wheel rim failure that got my attention. Standing up, to get a better view of the turn, I had a 40 year old chrystalized front right rim take a squat. Well, there I am laying literally across of the steering wheel as the old Detroit hums along while the right front wheel hub wallows itself out and digs into the soft ground as I'm frantically trying to right myself and throw the hand-clutch out of gear. Got it all done, but, we had a serious moment or two as the tractor took a notable dive and I had to wrangle around to get us all stopped.

And, like the above, I was probably lazing-back on the seat thinking about Friday night a few moments before it happened.

 

[sandman2234]

LoneCowboy,
Sorry to hear about your troubles with tires. Having run in excess of a couple million miles pulling a trailer, I can attest to two things. Most tires are damaged when they are run low on air pressure. Most manufacturer's put the lowest grade of tires on a trailer that they can get away with( including myself). I built a two axle car hauler to haul 2 conversion vans back in the early 90's. I put load range G tires on it. Owner changed the air pressure to 32 pounds for the first trip(DUH!!) and blew two almost immediately. He replaced them with E range which wouldn't hold the weight of the first ones, so he was constantly buying tires. He finally took my advise and purchased 5 of the heaviest load ranges tires he could order and made it policy to check the air twice a day. His tire woes got better, but never went away, as the trailer needed 3 axles, but he didn't want to part with that much money.
A nail can ruin your day even if you make it home without blowing the tire if you run it low.
David from jax

 

[Joe1]

Sandman:

You make a good point about tire pressure.

In 1982 while working for the Feds, I drove a 1981 Chevy Malibu enforcement vehicle complete with a police package which included 6 ply Goodyear police tires ($105.00 each). One night after running for about 20 miles at 85 mph, I heard a bang and pulled over. I had blown about a 8 - 10 inch long piece of the cap off of one tire from sidewall to sidewall and was down to the inner steel band.

When I took it to Goodyear the next day, they said that they were having a lot of problems with these tires which they couldn't understand because these were their best tires. Their thought was that the tires had very stiff sidewalls so they always looked like they had enough air even when they were underinflated. The heat buildup from highspeed runs caused sidewall flexing which caused the tires to overheat and they failed.

I was pretty thorough about checking the vehicle and maintenance, but admit other than visually looking at the tires (which looked ok) I never checked the pressure, that is until this eye opening incident.

I had a dual rear tire go flat on a motorhome before a trip. I always check the tire pressure before going on the road and although the tire looked OK, it had leaked down to zero because of a leaking valve stem. Had I not checked it, the other tire would surely have failed from a 100% overload.

I do learn from my past mistakes.

 

[Jimbrown]

I gota pull my 3 horse goose neck to Phoneix and back on Sunday. Its 105 in the shade I just know I am gonna loose one tire I just hope it ain't two.

 

[rback33]

I gota pull my 3 horse goose neck to Phoneix and back on Sunday. Its 105 in the shade I just know I am gonna loose one tire I just hope it ain't two.

Better take a spare spare...

 

[sandman2234]

A spare spare and a tire pressure guage. Plus some extra time to sit in the shade and let the tire cool down somewhere along the way. Running at night is the best option during too hot days.
David from jax