Have you experienced tire failure on your 30' with Slide-out? If so, please E-Mail with your details and possible solutions (tchristopher@tcgco.com). I have experienced several myself and have done everyhting I can think of to prevent them. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Tom
The slides are heavy and with the 15" ST tires you are almost at max weight. Each one of my tires sits with 2000 lbs on them. I still run with 15". Converting to 16" with LT tires would be a good solution. I changed to Maxis radials 'E' rating and keep the tire pressure at 65 psi cold and so far so good. Lots of opinions on this topic.
Regards. Vinnie
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"Old fashioned service on your late model Airstream"
I have a 28' slide and have had two flats. Both occurred on the inaugural trip home after purchase years ago. The reason, the tires had been mounted incorrectly with rubber valve stems and stored such that that side was exposed to UV daily which rapidly degraded the material.
I replaced all the tires (15") with E rated and metal valve stems. I have pulled the trailer in excess of 26,000 miles since without incident. Cold pressure = 65 lbs.
We have a 30' with a slide and I had 3 flats with the standard 15" ST tires, mostly Goodyear Marathons. I switched, like many, to a 16" rim and Michelin LT E rated tires. I also added the Centramatic auto balancers both to our AS and TV. Never another issue with tires. Only safe way to go IMHO.
Pap
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2008 F-250 4X4 Lariat V-10
2002 Airstream Classic 30' w/SO #2074
2007 Kubota 900 RTV
1996 Ford Bronco
2007 Lincoln LT
Had 3 tires fail. A Marathon near the end of season 3. A section of tread pealed off. Tire held together and failed with a broken belt as I arrived home and was backing into the driveway.
Replaced the Marathons with E rated Maxxis tires. The two front axle tires had belt slippage which cause the tires to balloon in size. Failure occurred on the first outing of season 4. Happened sometime during a 200 mile drive home from a rally. Again I found the problem when I backed the trailer into the drive. I noticed that the distance between the tires had decreased when I was blocking the wheels.
In the case of the Marathons I ran at 65 PSI. I ran the Maxxis tires at 80 PSI. I'm very careful about speed and inflation and my tires are always checked prior to departing from home and from my destination campground. The trailer is stored indoors so we didn't fail from UV exposure.
I switched to 16" Sendel wheels and Michelin LTX E rated tires. I also run them at 80 PSI. This will be their 4th season of use this spring.
My feeling is that due to the weight of the trailer, ST tires cannot survive more than 3 years. After that point of time (on these slide outs) they no longer are reliable due to the high amount of weight that they carry. Remember that the Classic 30' and 31' model trailers (both 31' long) were the heaviest trailers that Airstream has built on a tandem axle.
Jack
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Jack Canavera
STL Mo. AIR #56 S/OS#15
'04 Classic 30' S.O.,'03 GMC Savana 2500
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