Blow outs

[handn]

I have had three blowouts in one year using factory spec Goodyear Marathon D rated tires on my 25 Safari. I am careful about 65 lb pressure, driving under 65 and watching extra weight. The last blowout was from a dealer installed Marathon less than three months old. I tow quite a few miles in the South and Southwest in extremely hot conditions. I had a four figure trailer tire bill in the past year. (One of my Marathons failed last year due to a road hazard and I replaced two others because they were more than three years old)
Goodyears are made in China these days and no better than no name tires.
Manufacturing trailer tires these days is all about counting beans. Your Goodyear Marathon is no better than the "Towright" or "Pinacle" sold at flybynight tire stores at most interstate exits in hot country.
I run load range E tires made by Maxxis and Carlise inflated to 80 lbs. I notice no difference in ride or handling. I don't have enough experience to say that load range E tires have solved my tire problems but I have run 1500 miles without a blowout.
Rather than stonewalling and saying that "if E rated tires were better Airstream would have speced them", I would like to see a premium trailer manufacturer (Airstream) and its dealers say "we have a problem with our tires and we are going to fix it."

[Action]

Look to see how old the tires are. I bought 5 tires for my boat trailer last month. 4 were made in 2008. One was made in 2006. So it has been sitting in storage for some time. I do not expect it to last long in the triple digit air temps and asphalt temps in the 150's for the next month or two.

>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by handn

I have had three blowouts in one year using factory spec Goodyear Marathon D rated tires on my 25 Safari. I am careful about 65 lb pressure, driving under 65 and watching extra weight. The last blowout was from a dealer installed Marathon less than three months old. I tow quite a few miles in the South and Southwest in extremely hot conditions. I had a four figure trailer tire bill in the past year. (One of my Marathons failed last year due to a road hazard and I replaced two others because they were more than three years old)
Goodyears are made in China these days and no better than no name tires.
Manufacturing trailer tires these days is all about counting beans. Your Goodyear Marathon is no better than the "Towright" or "Pinacle" sold at flybynight tire stores at most interstate exits in hot country.
I run load range E tires made by Maxxis and Carlise inflated to 80 lbs. I notice no difference in ride or handling. I don't have enough experience to say that load range E tires have solved my tire problems but I have run 1500 miles without a blowout.
Rather than stonewalling and saying that "if E rated tires were better Airstream would have speced them", I would like to see a premium trailer manufacturer (Airstream) and its dealers say "we have a problem with our tires and we are going to fix it."

65 psi for your rig, I believe, is way to high. I would drop it to 55 psi.

I would also strongly suggest that you balance the running gear, that is the tire, wheel and hub and drum, as an assembly.

Unbalanced running gear, also contributes to many blow outs.

Andy

[overlander63]

Maybe we could get the people to chime in here, that use Centramatics, and have had their tires balanced, along with their running gear, as far as number of catastrophic air loss (blowouts) they have experienced. I know vibration does a lot of bad things, but if the tires are so unbalanced they cause the tire to "hop" slightly, they may be momentarily exceeding their weight ratings with every bounce. Eventually, all those "momentaries" add up to "quite a while", resulting in tire failure. E range tires have a higher weight rating, so they may not exceed their weight rating when they "bounce" from unbalance.
This is only a theory at this point, but may help explain a lot as far as tire failure.
Just a simple "we used Centramatics, and had X number of tire failures", or a "we don't, and have had X number of tire failures", or "we don't balance our tires, and we had X number of tire failures".
This would be more useful to us as a forum than bashing a tire or trailer brand, maybe we can find a common factor.

[richinny]

i think andy hit on something with his post about tire twist when making sharp turns. the first time i saw it i was shocked. i can see how LT or under inflated tires would be even more prone to this. clearly, trailer tires need to be improved!

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by richinny

i think andy hit on something with his post about tire twist when making sharp turns. the first time i saw it i was shocked. i can see how LT or under inflated tires would be even more prone to this. clearly, trailer tires need to be improved!

Hmmm...How about a dual-wheel, single-axle trailer? No tire twist, less running gear to maintain, how would it affect sway issues?

[tlavergne]

How much do radial tires (and a more flexible sidewall) add to tire twist and blowouts? I wonder if biased ply tires with a stiff sidewall would help eliminate blowouts. Just a thought.
Tom

[richinny]

Originally Posted by tlavergne

How much do radial tires (and a more flexible sidewall) add to tire twist and blowouts? I wonder if biased ply tires with a stiff sidewall would help eliminate blowouts. Just a thought.
Tom

i've been wondering the same things.

[SteSpot]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

65 psi for your rig, I believe, is way to high. I would drop it to 55 psi.

I would also strongly suggest that you balance the running gear, that is the tire, wheel and hub and drum, as an assembly.

Unbalanced running gear, also contributes to many blow outs.

Andy

Where do you go to have the tire, wheel, hub and drum assembly balanced?

[moosetags]

I have actual experience with the OEM Load Range D Goodyear Marathons vs. Load Range E Maxxis.

We have a 2005 Safari 25FB, named Lucy, that we purchased new in June, 2006. We use Lucy a bunch and by May of 2007, we had already logged about 11,000 miles and 150 nights on the road. We are very meticulous about checking our towing gear and check tire pressure daily on the road.

In May of 2007, we set out on an epic journey to see the the National Parks in Wyoming and Montana. This journey is chronicled on these Forums under the string title, "Lucy's Great Excursion" which includes descriptions and photos of our "tire blowout adventures".

To make a long story short, we had three of the OEM Marathons blowout on the highway (two in the same day). We bought a complete set of Maxxis E's, and we run them at 72 psi. The Goodyears had failed within 12,000 miles. We have now put just over 20,000 miles on the Maxxis with no tire failures or problems.

Brian

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by SteSpot

Where do you go to have the tire, wheel, hub and drum assembly balanced?

We use the following equipment and procedure to balance the running gear.

Wheel Balancing Photos - Inland RV

Andy

[doorgunner]

We used to use the tire truer and strobes on the race car. The stuff is still out there , find someone who uses their stuff if you are not close to Andy's shop!
Amermac, Inc. - Tire Truers and Balancers - Ellaville, GA

DG

[overlander63]

There is also a process called "match balance", where the tire/rim assembly is rotated at a speed or around 20mph or so while on the vehicle. The machine shaves tiny bits of rubber off the heavy part of the assembly until balance is achieved. This is roughly the equivalent of a high speed running gear balance. There are, of course drawbacks to this, such as if a tire has to be removed from the wheel for repair, it would have to be "rematched".
Western Auto and Sears both used to do this, but I don't know who currently has the equipment.

[Fyrzowt]

Re balancing,
The same thing can be accomplished using a wheel spinner that spins the wheel/tire assembly up while still mounted to the vehicle.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Fyrzowt

Re balancing,
The same thing can be accomplished using a wheel spinner that spins the wheel/tire assembly up while still mounted to the vehicle.

That's pretty much the same thing, but the match balance uses no weights. I've found the aluminum wheels don't balance as well with the stick-on weights, and they tend to fling off periodically.

[Action]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Hmmm...How about a dual-wheel, single-axle trailer? No tire twist, less running gear to maintain, how would it affect sway issues?

This would be less interior space inside the trailer or a tire/wheel assembly that sticks out from the body of the trailer. illegal in most states unless there is an attachable fender surrounding the outter tire/wheel.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Action

This would be less interior space inside the trailer or a tire/wheel assembly that sticks out from the body of the trailer. illegal in most states unless there is an attachable fender surrounding the outter tire/wheel.

>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

That part would be a trade-off, the tire sticking further in would be offset by there only being one of them, instead of two.

[SteSpot]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

We use the following equipment and procedure to balance the running gear.

Wheel Balancing Photos - Inland RV

Andy

Please excuse my ignorance, but when you say drums are you saying that you have to take the brake drums off of the axles to balance the running gear? pj

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by SteSpot

Please excuse my ignorance, but when you say drums are you saying that you have to take the brake drums off of the axles to balance the running gear? pj

Yes.

The drums, especially on older trailers, are pitifully out of balance.

Whatever rotates, must be balanced, as an assembly.

Andy

[GStephens]

It was requested earlier that anyone running centamatics respond to this thread. I run Goodyear Marathons with centamatic wheel balancers installed. I put on over 15,000 miles with the combination last year towing from Texas up through Alberta and British Columbia and back down through each of the western states. I've logged an additional 6,000 miles so far this year without a single flat or blowout. I balance my tires and let the Centramatics handle the running gear. I'm either very lucky or the combination works.

Prior to the installation of the centramatics, things moved around inside the trailer and I had actually popped a few rivets. Since installation, I've noticed no additional popped rivets and things pretty much stay where you put them inside the trailer.

Whether you have the wheel, tire and drums balanced as an assembly or whether you try and address this problem with centramatic balancers, I feel Andy is correct, the problem should be addressed.

GStephens