MoHo Rear Tire Blew... while sitting in my driveway

[Michael_Wild]

Not sure what stress caused this to happen, but my passenger inside rear blew while my Airstream 310 was sitting in my driveway. The pop was loud, sounded like something fell against that wall of our house.

Temperature was -8C, no direct sun on tires for most of the day.

Any thoughts on why this would happen?

Should I replace with the same Michelin X 8R 19.5 or something different? Do I need to replace all four?

[Isuzusweet]

If you don't know the date codes of all your tires, I would suggest you find that out first. The below link will show you how. Remember the DOT date number will only be on one side of the tire.

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...-of-your-tires

Once you have established how many tires are over 10 years old and need to be replaced, then you need to decide what make of tire to buy. Unfortunately Michelin no longer makes a RV tire in 8R19.5", and hasn't for a while. Hankook AH-11's and Toyo MZ120 are very good makes in 8R19.5 with various Chinese brands as well.

Make sure you get date codes for the new tires BEFORE accepting them. You want tires as new as possible (less than 1yr old).

As for what made it blow........I have a feeling it was old age.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[tjdonahoe]

Old age is tough on tires....

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

Make sure you get date codes for the new tires BEFORE accepting them. You want tires as new as possible (less than 1yr old).

I'm not sure how to do that. I'm thinking back on my last tire purchase. The service manager said, "We can have them in from the warehouse later today." The next time I saw my vehicle, the tires were mounted.
I guess you could say, "Send over ten tires and let me look at all the date codes before you mount them." but in my area you'd be told to hit the road.

BTW, if my tire blew in the driveway, I'd thank my guardian angel. That happened to me once in my youth. I drove 120 mph for 40 miles and had a flat in my driveway. But back then I was immortal. I've used up all my "death defying" freebies.

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

I'm not sure how to do that. I'm thinking back on my last tire purchase. The service manager said, "We can have them in from the warehouse later today." The next time I saw my vehicle, the tires were mounted.
I guess you could say, "Send over ten tires and let me look at all the date codes before you mount them." but in my area you'd be told to hit the road.

Yes, for most tire purchases for daily automobiles, the tire turnover is such that you wouldn't have to worry about it; for our size 8R19.5, the choices are getting fewer, and tires can sit around for a while gathering dust, until foisted off on unsuspecting buyers. You may have to be assertive, but I would definately want the newest tires I could get.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

. . .
. . . You may have to be assertive, but I would definately want the newest tires I could get.

Exactly. Just tell them when you place the order that the DOT date code must be newer than xyz. If you have to write this onto the sales contract that you sign, so be it. Charge the deposit and final purchase on a reputable credit card that is good at consumer protection, and you should be all set IMO.

If the tire store balks, just remind them that they don't want to accept "stale" tires from the warehouse, either.

[mayco]

When I bought new tires for my 310 a couple years ago I stipulated that they had to be less than a year old, stamped. They didn't have a problem with it. I bought them at Tire Barn which is a national chain but go by a couple different names across the country.

[slowmover]

No better place than at home . . . belay that: second to across the street from the college swimming pool at spring semesters end.

[davejay]

Hey,
That s really weird. I can see, maybe an outside tire going in the hot sunlight, but a inside one. Someone was watching over you. Look up. What are the odds of that happening. When that stuff happens to me, I get to thanking the man, for watching over me. Been there, done that, DJ

[Mike1997]

That's very strange for any tire, much less one on an RV, to simply blow out while parked. I have had 2 blowouts with RV's both while driving. First was with my Class C Telstar coming down Donners Pass on the CA/NV line, it was right rear inside tire. Second was with the Airstream on I-40 westbound at the NC/TN line, right front blew out at 65mph. The Telstar had old tires..no dates but then it happened in 1996. The Airstream tires were 5 yrs old.

[CapriRacer]

Maybe I can help explaining why an inside dual would fail while the vehicle is sitting still.

First, as tires age, their rubber breaks down and they lose adhesion with the steel belts. Eventually, the inflation pressure proves too great for the rubber to contain, so the tire explodes.

Second, heat plays a large role in how rapidly a tire ages - and inside duals, which don't get cooling from the passing air, run hotter. So the inside dual generally ages faster than the outside dual.

Third, rubber has the unusual property of stretching when a force is slowly applied. Put another way, if a force is rapidly applied, rubber will tend to fail at a lower value.

So as a tire ages, it will reach the point where the rubber is slowly failing, and it could fail when the vehicle is not moving.

[davejay]

Losing an inside tire while driving could be caused by under inflation on either outside or inside tire. Also, here's a weird thing. Out west ,it seems like the ruts are more pronounced. If your coach isn't wide enough to run in the truck ruts, one tire is going to have more weight on it, because it'll be running on the top of the rut. Thus, more heat generated on the side wall of the tire. You combine that with low air pressure on one of the duals, and you got makings of a blowout. I put an extension kit on my inner tire valve stem. I got a high quality pressure gage. And I check my pressure often. My GMCs had a tendency to have alignment issues. That's a big heat sourse for tires. Dual tires, not so much, the weight is equalized more. The tag axle on our coaches wouldn't build to much heat either, it really doesn't take much weight.its more of a stability thing. And maybe a cosmetic thing too. Did the tire blow at the bead line,or sidewall. Side wall is indicative of under inflation at some time. Could also have been an injury to the tire. Like running over a 4x4 or big pothole. That'll break the belting and weaken the sidewall. It's just really good it happened in a safe place. God is good. He does watch over the crazy things,unforeseen by us. DJ

[tjdonahoe]

Probably used too much when it was new....

[Mike1997]

DaveJay - Thanks for the details you experienced on west coast. I remember the truck ruts and how it first made me think I had alignment problems.

When I had the blowout near Reno, the rear tires were simply old. Found bubbles on 2 of them once we got into the shop. They were inspected and normal before leaving Florida and I put over 1800 miles on them but heat was a factor.