Mussl Kar

Happened apx 12 miles from getting home. Had a car behind me in the passing lane so I pulled into the right lane and let them by. I pulled right back out into the left lane because the right lane was doing about 60. Had another car behind me about a min later so I went back to the right lane and saw smoke billowing behind me on the drivers side. WTF, engine or what? Grabbed the mirror control and saw the source. Pulled over onto a very narrow breakdown lane and waited about 10 min for a break in traffic. Coluds still coming out of wheel well, but getting thinner.

Viperbob1

Had that happen to me first time when I was literally on the Golden Gate bridge carrying Kevin Bucklers TRG Le Mans winning Cupcar in my trailer. Replaced ALL the tires with the highest load rated tires I could get. Trailer tires SUCK. One of my customers this week that has a triple axle and a Grand Am car went through 5 tires on way to VIR and back. He is getting 14 ply tires now and will replace every year.

J richard

Just got done getting everything back together after a similar issue two weeks ago. Blew two one year old ten ply trailer tires. Had to leave the trailer (including the cup car in it) 150 miles from home. Tor up the fender as well. Fortunately it as not far from my folks house but it was a pain in the ***, the third tire lost its full tread half way back. This is the second round of blown trailer tires I've had, so I bought the best "available"...turns out the guy at discount said "oh yea they've had some issues"

If one blew the rest will be shortly behind. Bottom line is trailer tires are crap and if they are made in china run (but not too fast or the tires will pop...) to the tire shop and get load range E commercial truck tires and don't look back. If you have 15" wheels you will have to upsize to 16" but I got a nice set of aluminum truck rims, and LT225-R16 Bridgestone 550Rs for about $800 all in at discount tire.

I'm done constantly worrying about cheap *** tires blowing and jack knifing $200k of car and gear, RV and Trailer into a ditch in the middle of nowhere...I can't believe tire dealers sell this crap.

Ok rant over...but seriously ditch the trailer tires guys not worth the danger...

Matt Romanowski

Go to Campers In and talk to their service department. Those guys know trailer tires and have the freshest inventory. Buy Goodyears and you'll be fine. The cheaper tires that everyone sells all suck. The Goodyears are good.

J richard

Matt,

That's what I had Goodyear marathon 10 ply (made in china right on the sidewall)

Really for the cost of what you put in your trailers let alone the damage and inconvienience it just makes sense to ditch the trailer tires.

Matt Romanowski

I personally wouldn't run an LT tire on a trailer. The loads are very different. If you blow a lot of tires, there is something else wrong - axle misalignment, bearings, etc. But, different strokes for different folks.

I can't remember what line it is, but Goodyear does have a made in USA tire.

J richard

Many commercial LT tires are also trailer rated, just find a highway ribbed and high scrub application. About twice a trailer tire but cheap in the overall picture. The load ratings are the same or higher for a similarly rated trailer tire. The other thing is trailer tires are typically speed rated for 68mph max. LTs are typically 112. Better construction all around.

Mussl Kar

In this case the cause was the other tire. The other tire had been loosing air so I checked it out and plugged a small nail hole. It still lost air but more slowly. My last pressure check was a week old as I pulled out early Saturday. I checked out the tire spread in the mirror and both seemed the same. My mental note to check at Devens got lost. With the rear tire soft almost all of the load was on the front. Lucky I caught it before it started ripping the trailer apart. I was able to limp to a Mobil station and pump up the rear enough to limp home on secondary roads the last 10 miles. I removed the rear tire and found a second nail and plugged it. It will become a spare.
Pressure checks are now part of loading the car.

KaiB

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to have this system:

http://www.tsttruck.com/RV_Tire_Systems.html Costs about as much as one tire!

After all these years of hauling all kinds of crap around the country, this spring I mounted the remote TPMS. Every trip with the trailer, I'm relaxed now - just knowing I'm on top, in real time, of the trailer tire situation.

Mental Junkyard

I'd like to see a picture of your trailer/tow vehicle combination, as it sits when loaded. If the trailer rides nose-low, then your front axle will be taking more of the load than the rears, making them more likely to fail. The same can also be true just from how the trailer is loaded. It's a good idea to go to a truck stop once in a while and get everything weighed, axle by axle. If the front of the trailer is heavy, it's also putting a lot of tongue weight on the tow vehicle too. Even if everything is in order, fronts seem to go out more frequently anyway, because they're the first ones to hit any debris or drag on a curb. It's a good idea to have a heavy duty jack in the trailer, one that can lift the axle with the trailer loaded. (Voice of experience here)

85Gold

I am the blowout king tread separation, as soon as you feel extra vibration in trailer, stop and check for out of round. The next thing is the paved runoff on highways is full of trash such as nails, glass, metal bits etc. When you drive sloppy like I do sometimes and drift over you pick up this debris. Usually the front tire rolls it up and the 2nd tire gets the puncture. Carlisle sp. makes a really good trailer tire and that is what I usually run plus I always carry to spares.

Mussl Kar

Just what I am looking for, thanks. They seem to have areasoable acku camera syten too.

It all rides about as flat a possible. Rear tier wih very low presure was the problem.
Got three years on the tires and will switch to the highest load rating in size for next seson. Keeping the existing tirs as spares.
After all that on Suday AM I started to get in my ML500 and found the drivers rear almost flat. Just another nail. Safety seal tire plug weekend.

Doc GTO

Another option for trailers tires is "new every 2." Just replace them every 2 years is what another guy told me. He trailers a lot and uses the pressure monitors and slaps on fresh ones every 2 years.

J richard

This is what I always did and would do as a minimum. However many tires didn't even last the two years. The last tire that went on me lost the full tread off the carcass, peeled down to the tread, heard whack and pulled right off. I took it back to the tire shop the guy looked at it and said oh you must of ran it low, but I had him put a gauge on it, still had full pressure. Pressure monitoring will help catch a low tire but I've had them just explode. Trailer is always loaded to the marks with the tounge weight checked.

cstreit

Classic low-pressure/overload blowout.

Up-rate your tires. They are really only designed to be on a trailer for 4 years. Less if stored outdoors all year.

Next set I install will be rated up 1-2 ranges and I'm installing wireless TPMS, I'm tired of craning my neck constantly to check on tire condition. You never see issues untill it's too late. I also inflate my tires to the max rated psi and check them every trip.