Our first blowout

[Lani]

Hi all,

We had our first blowout this weekend. I've been waiting for this dreadful moment and it finally happened. With our Airstream manual in hand, we got the spare on successfully. We had noticed one of our other tires looks a little warped so we are thinking it may be time for new tires on the whole trailer. We have a 2008 International CCD 23'. A campground host in the campground recommend a local tire place and we may check it out. Just curious what kind of prices I should expect to replace all of the tires. Any thoughts? We currently have Goodyear and I assume they are the tires that were initially installed on the Airstream (we bought the trailer used last year) so this our first trailer tire purchase. Should we stick with the same kind of tires we have or is another brand preferred?

Thanks!

[handn]

You didn't get much service out of your tires if one one them blew and one of them had bulges on your 2008 trailer. Freeway driving in hot Southern weather spells the end of D rated ST (trailer only) tires quickly. Changing a trailer tire in hot weather is not much fun. Some owners report body damage when their tires disintegrate.
Lots of threads on this forum on Good Year Marathon tire failures and what to replace them with.
Atter 4 Marathon blowouts, I went with Maxxis E rated ST tires and am going into my third year with no tire failures. The E rated tires are stronger and Maxxis may have better quality control than other manufacturers. Some claim the stiffer E tires will damage their Airstreams. No damage so far on my rig despite thousands of miles on rough Mexican roads.
Others have replaced their tires with LT tires which are made to much higher standards. The downside of LT tires is that new wheels are likely required. I think LT tires are the best solution, if you are willing to spend the money for new wheels.
Or, you could park your Airstream and not drive it unless air temps are 80 and below. Seriously, many posters, most with Northern addresses report no tire problems.

[silverback]

Hello,
It sounds like you guys got lucky and didn't sustain wheel well or worse damage and got the tire changed safely. Do a quick Air Forums search on Goodyear Marathon, blowout, Maxxis etc... and you will find major discussion on this topic. We have never had a blowout (I'm pretty fanatical on tire maintenance) and swapped out the Goodyears after 3 years. We're running Maxxis now. Same load range (D). I highly recommend making an investment in a Pressure Pro Tire Pressure Monitoring system. Good insurance. It will cost a lot more to repair your wheel well and aluminum panels.
-Ken

[firedog]

Good Year marathons are made in the USA now.I have a TPM- it can save your life and trailer.

Originally Posted by silverback

Hello,
It sounds like you guys got lucky and didn't sustain wheel well or worse damage and got the tire changed safely. Do a quick Air Forums search on Goodyear Marathon, blowout, Maxxis etc... and you will find major discussion on this topic. We have never had a blowout (I'm pretty fanatical on tire maintenance) and swapped out the Goodyears after 3 years. We're running Maxxis now. Same load range (D). I highly recommend making an investment in a Pressure Pro Tire Pressure Monitoring system. Good insurance. It will cost a lot more to repair your wheel well and aluminum panels.
-Ken

[moosetags]

We have a 2005 safari 25FB, named Lucy, that we bought new. Lucy's original Goodyear Marathons lasted about 12,000 miles, when she suffered 3 catastrophic failures (blowouts) on the same long trip. Lucy's original Marathons were made in China. We put a 4 Maxxis load range E's on Lucy. The maxxis lasted 28,000 miles without a failure. We replaced these with four more Maxxis E's.

Lucy is a heavy traveler having logged over 50,000 miles in the last three years, and has spent almost 600 nights on the road.

I realize that the newer Marathons are made in the US, but I am still a little frightened of anything Goodyear.

You can expect to pay somewhere around $100 per tire for quality trailer tires.

Brian

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Lani

Hi all,

We had our first blowout this weekend. I've been waiting for this dreadful moment and it finally happened. With our Airstream manual in hand, we got the spare on successfully. We had noticed one of our other tires looks a little warped so we are thinking it may be time for new tires on the whole trailer. We have a 2008 International CCD 23'. A campground host in the campground recommend a local tire place and we may check it out. Just curious what kind of prices I should expect to replace all of the tires. Any thoughts? We currently have Goodyear and I assume they are the tires that were initially installed on the Airstream (we bought the trailer used last year) so this our first trailer tire purchase. Should we stick with the same kind of tires we have or is another brand preferred?

Thanks!

Lani.

Why did the tire blow, is always a good question.

Did it hit an object? It certainly wasn't very old, but it would be wise to check the date of manufacture, in case someone may have switched tires.

Were they properly balanced with the rest of the running gear? If not, that could be the cause.

Andy

[rustyrivet]

There are lots of threads on tires, Marathon and others. I put 4 new tires on last fall. After posts on this forum, I tried to get Maxxis. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the Maxxis and bought a new set of Marathons. They were produced a month before I bought them and were made in Alabama. Haven't put many miles on them yet, so I don't know how they will hold up. I paid about $120 per tire for them. The Maxxis were only going to run about $89 per tire, as I recall. I have since purchased a Pressure Pro air pressure monitor in the hopes of avoiding the experience you just went through. Good Luck. jc

[Bluto]

Maxxis tires are made China, I believe. Maybe Moosetags could let us know where his came from?

[Lani]

Thanks everyone! I checked the Maxxis site and can't seem to find any local dealers near us at the moment. I'm working on getting an appointment at a tire place this weekend to have the tires check and replaced, if possible. Glad to have some feedback from you all in this thread and older tire threads so I know what to look for, questions to ask, etc.

[RLS]

As others have stated, you have some researching to do. My only advise is for you to ask yourself how fast of a driver are you? ALL trailer (ST) tires are rated for 65 MPH max. If you like going the speed limit or above, there are some other tires out there that will do what you need, and you do not have to change wheels to do it. Happy hunting

[garry]

Make sure you check the tire date code on each tire you buy some tires can be a year or older when sold as new best to buy no mre than 3 months but not always possiable.

[TBRich]

Originally Posted by silverback

...<snip>...I highly recommend making an investment in a Pressure Pro Tire Pressure Monitoring system. Good insurance. It will cost a lot more to repair your wheel well and aluminum panels.
-Ken

Ditto what Ken said, no matter what kind of tires you run. We are on 2nd set of Marathons but have had no blowouts...(where's the wood to knock on!) but we did have a rubber valve stem failure...and the Pressure Pros saved us from ruining the tire...we now have metal stems....

[oxblood]

Goodyear Marathons are crap!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a 2003 A/S Classic 34' and it came equipped with this tire. Had 2 blowouts in NM and TX in the heat on the same trip. Lots of damage to the RV wheel wells. Bought new tires and was vigilant about speed, and proper inflation of these D-rated tires. Then I had a blowout in Wyoming coming back from Yellowstone. It was not hot there in September. I'm now going to Carlilse E-rated ST tires. Never going back to Goodyears! Headin' for Alaska this summer. Anybody got ideas on tow vehicle insurance for trucks and/or RV's? Keep on trucking! drsneed

[Bing-Bing]

We bought 6 LT tires and didn't need different wheels on our 1994 34' and have a good 6000 miles on them. We have run from Nebraska to California to Texas twice in both summer and winter and have had no problems. I believe they are C's and 55 lbs. air pressure. LT's are stout.

[Beginner]

What brand name of LT tire did you by in 15 inch?

[ZoominC6]

Originally Posted by Lani

Hi all,

We had our first blowout this weekend. I've been waiting for this dreadful moment and it finally happened. With our Airstream manual in hand, we got the spare on successfully. We had noticed one of our other tires looks a little warped so we are thinking it may be time for new tires on the whole trailer. We have a 2008 International CCD 23'. A campground host in the campground recommend a local tire place and we may check it out. Just curious what kind of prices I should expect to replace all of the tires. Any thoughts? We currently have Goodyear and I assume they are the tires that were initially installed on the Airstream (we bought the trailer used last year) so this our first trailer tire purchase. Should we stick with the same kind of tires we have or is another brand preferred?

Thanks!

Another 'streamer' in Blacksburg! Small world. PM us somethime for a chat.

Dick & Annie

[Ahzmyrah]

There are mega threads out there on tires, a lot of good information and unfortunately a lot missinformaton, rumors and paranoia. Andy's question about why the tire blew is a good one. Tires do not blow out with out a reason. It could be a manufacturing defect or a bad valve stem or a bruise from a pothole or a lot of things including low tire pressure or bad loading on the tire overstressing it.

Some definitions. LT stands for LIGHT TRUCK, ST stands for SPECIAL TRAILER. The overall quality built into the tire has nothing to do with this designation. LT tires are rated to sustained speeds of up to 90 mph. ST tires are rated for sustained speeds of up to 65 mph. Sustained means one half hour at full rated load, max inflation pressure. The load capacity is rated by letter also B, C, D, E, F. Each load rating is followed by a max weight carrying capacity and maximum cold tire pressure for that tire. The higher the tire pressure the more it can carry. Look at your tires, check the weight of your rig, do the math and run tires that exceed the max GVW of your rig with a safety margin. Inflate them to the correct pressure cold which means they either have not been run at all or run less than 4 miles at low speed on a cool day. Run rims that will handle the inflation pressures of your tires. Automobile rims and older trailer rims that were run at lower pressures cannot handle the the 80 psi max inflation pressure of an E rated tire. Rubber valve stems will not support an E rated pressure either. Load your rig properly, make sure that it runs level if it is not level either the front or the rear tires are carrying more weight than they should also they are flexing a great deal more because of weight transfer under acceleration and braking which creates heat. Trailer tires have stiffer treads and sidewalls to create less heat from flex. Light Truck tires give a nicer ride. Both will handle a trailer if their weight carrying capacity is not exceed and they are properly inflated.

[Happycampers]

Yokohama and Toyo both make a 700x15 tire that are very good. We have Yokoham's.

Marvin

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by oxblood

Goodyear Marathons are crap!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a 2003 A/S Classic 34' and it came equipped with this tire. Had 2 blowouts in NM and TX in the heat on the same trip.

How old was your tires at the time of the blowouts? Trailer tires have a history of lasting no more than 5-7 years from date of manufacture (tires). I have a 2006 and had my first blowout on our last camping trip and nearly 30,000 miles on the Marathons that came on our trailer.

Originally Posted by oxblood

Lots of damage to the RV wheel wells. Bought new tires and was vigilant about speed, and proper inflation of these D-rated tires.

I drive mostly on interstates and at interstate speeds and keep an eye on the temperature of the tires using an infrared thermometer and my tires are always approximately 20 degrees F cooler than the rear tires on my tow vehicle. I also always check tire pressure before leaving on each leg of a trip and keep them at 65 PSI. This is particularly important if you travel at "normal" speeds. When I had my blowout there was no damage to the wheel well or any of the panels.

I'm not saying your situation was different than mine, only that there may have been different circumstances than I had.