Catastrophic Tire Failure - Significant Damage - Recommendations?

[21Airstream]

Thanks for the added info (as I was under the impression the XPS Rib was a dedicated trailer tire) but I don’t tow in the Winter. Ever. (I’ve never owned a 2WD truck either.).

I might as well look at Toyo tires (which is what I run on my TV).

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

PS3 -- How about these 16" Michelin Agilis CrossClimate tires suggested by Ray?

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f43...es-200420.html

https://www.michelinman.com/tires/cr...ssclimate.html

[ . . . although not available online at this time . . . ]

Peter

https://www.discounttiredirect.com/b...s-crossclimate

[Action]

Originally Posted by 21Airstream

+1. I think I’m gonna go with the Michelin XPS Ribs next time too. The price isn’t that much higher than the LT Tires and they’re designed as a trailer tire to begin with. I’d definitely have more peace of mind when we’re on the road.

For what it's worth, Michelin has stated over and over on their website and when asked, they do not make a tire designed for trailer applications.

With that said, many trailer owners have Michelin tire on their trailer. AS installs Michelins if asked to do so. And Michelin is generally very good towards customer service for trailer owners that have Michelins on their trailer.

But I don't think Michelin states anywhere that they design any tire to be used on a trailers.

>>>>Action

[vintageracer]

The XPS RIB Michelin tire is one of if not the BEST TIRE Michelin makes or anyone else for that matter when it comes to Light/medium truck tires! NO the XPS RIB is not designed or recommended by Michelin as a trailer tire HOWEVER the XPS RIB tire does not know that and works great on heavy trailers!

Steel Cords for the tread, Steel Cord sidewalls and they last FOREVER! Pick one up sometime and you will see the HUGE difference in tire weight when compared to the a regular LT tire in the same size.

The XPS RIB ought to last a longtime as they cost over $300.00+ each in your regular 16 inch light truck tire sizes! It can easily cost you $2000+ to "RE-TIRE" a Crew Cab Dually!

The Michelin XPS RIB and the Bridgestone V Steel equivalent are by far the BEST light to medium duty truck tires available. They do not ride very good however they will last and not blow out! You will see a lot of XPS RIB Michelins on triple axle enclosed car hauler trailers and other long/heavy trailers.

I have run Michelin XPS RIB tires on several of my trucks for over 120K miles before replacement. The XPS RIB'S on my trucks have lasted 2 to 1 mileage wise over any other LT tire I have ever tried. Yes they last that long! In the end the XPS RIB tire is not expensive for a truck that runs a lot of miles.

As mentioned in another post by someone Michelin tires do their best when being driven on not sitting and aging!

[21Airstream]

Skimping on tires is false economy and I don’t believe in it. I’m not wealthy but only a rich man can afford to buy it twice. The tires on my Ram (Toyo M-55) aren’t kept in stock by my tire dealer (Les Schwab) because the demand is not there... but they order them for me and that’s what I run. Less than $2,000 on a $60,000 (MSRP) truck is the cost of doing business to me.

Airstreams aren’t cheap either, and we’ve kept our FC 27FBQ longer than our TV’s. I’m not gonna skimp on tires for it either.

BTW, in my former life I served as a State Trooper. My agency bought Goodyear tires cheaper than what the local Goodyear dealer could buy them for (it was more expensive to install the tires than it was to buy them). We installed new tires at least twice a year, Summer & Winter Goodyear pursuit tires. I inspected my tires religiously (at least once a day) and while I occasionally had flat tires, none of them (in twenty-eight years) was a blow-out. After I promoted, I really kept an eye on my Troopers’ equipment.

I know the issue of trailer tires is pretty ambiguous (for no good reason, really) but I just don’t think you can be too picky about tires.

BTW, I just wanna add that I know we all like Michelin tires but one year we were told that we might not get new tires due to the need for kevlar in the war... then Goodyear told us they already made our tires for us (because they know about how many LE needs every year). I never forgot that...

[Native143]

I have the Michelin XPS Rib tires on my 20'. They have been reliable, ride really smooth, and I have not put an ounce of air in them in two years, well nitrogen. Only because of their date, 2916, will I replace them. Found new ones for $246 at Tire Kingdom. I live in Florida so winter is not an issue, but have had them in freezing weather while traveling. No problems that I noticed. Probably because they were running most the time and not sitting for more than a few nights.

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

Not sure what you are basing your conclusion on. Weather Check surface cracks do not in themselves mean the tire is "unsafe" or that it will delaminate. Not sure if I have seen many or even any tires "delaminate" from external surface cracks.
"Delamination" of "Detachment" of the belts is a function of internal stresses not external weather check.
Can you provide pictures and evidence that support your theory?

^^X2^^

While we use weather checking as a way to gauge if a tire is too old, cracking by itself doesn't make the tire unsafe. Like Roger, I've never seen a connection between weather checking and belt separations.

[Tireman9]

Gee imagine that two actual tire Design Engineers from different tire companies, both with failed tire inspection experience agreeing that surface cracks are not the root cause for belt separations. Might we just be correct?

[21Airstream]

You might be onto something...

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by 21Airstream

You might be onto something...

Naaw can't be. You know that Engineers and other "Scientists" use facts and actual data to arrive at their opinions. "Gut Feel" is always much more reliable. Isn't it?

[PB_NB]

I am not sure if it has been mentioned already about TPMS. I was thinking about adding a bluetooth or wireless TPMS system to the trailer. There appear to be a few options out there.

Has anyone tried a TPMS system and had success monitoring trailer tire pressure?

Also, the affects on single axle loads on tires compared to double axle loads? I am curious to know if there are any differences on the sidewall stresses with either setup.

[OTRA15]

Plenty of posts on that FYI: https://www.google.com/search?q=TPMS...=airforums.com

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by PapaPepper

We travel in a 2013 20FB. In 2014 the original tires and wheels were upgraded to Michelin LTX M/S2 Tire Size, LT225/75R16 DOT B3JH 009X 4813. This swap was done at AS in Ohio while other warranty work was being completed.

Yesterday, after pre-underway checks were complete (specifically air pressure of tires), we were on the road. 70 mph on freeway. Clear road no debris or tire impact recognized.

Loud explosion, wife reports whole tread of tire shooting off trailer, second loud explosion seconds later results in remaining tire shredding. After replacement of tire and inspection of catastrophic failure tire - no tread was found on tire. Tire shredded badly. Damage is shown in photos - summary - wheel well ripped out, gas lines torn, looks like floor jumped 3-5" inside the coach (see gas line sealant displacement). Broken plastic pieces near the water pump, significant panel damage, etc.

Problem #1 - why does a properly inflated tire, not too old, without impact, have a catastrophic failure? https://www.michelinman.com/commercialLightTrucks.html
Reveals that while these tires are not included in the "Recall" similar dates and plant manufactured produced some unsafe tires close to the time these tires were made. Are there any tires one would recommend as replacements? I drive all roads from pristine freeways to off road to get to camp locations.

Problem #2 - now that I have significant damage to my coach - are there pitfalls to avoid while getting these items repaired?

Insurance is calling this a collision but they are willing to pay for the repairs. They are sending their appraiser to see it. I'm in contact with the Airstream NW repair shop and getting scheduled for repairs (significant delay due to Global Pandemic).

Are there problems I can't see? Things to make sure they check? Notice significant damage to jacking plate (bent) - does this mean frame damage? I'm still a little bit mental about the event and how to move forward.

Once I got the spare on it towed home 100 mile just fine. During the explosions the trailer towed well - thank you Equil-i-xer 4-point hitch.

Thank you all.

Wondering what your tire placard shows for tire size, type, inflation, Load Range and GAWR. A switch from ST type to LT type would almost always require an increase in size or LR or Both.

[John57]

Make sure to have all metal valves stems installed when replacing tire and using TPS.This will save a lot of head ache down road.

[jadatis]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

About all you can do by hitting tires with a "bat" is estimate the tire pressure with a +/- 25 psi accuracy. In other words you will learn when the tire was already flat.

But if there are cavaties beneath the treath, the sound will be different, so you hear a more sqassy sound. Then you detect future treath-seperation before you can see bulbs on the outside.
And I think a hammer is better then a bat, because smaller surface hitting the treath. Or my poor English is playing up here, and hammer and bat are the same.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by PB_NB

I am not sure if it has been mentioned already about TPMS. I was thinking about adding a bluetooth or wireless TPMS system to the trailer. There appear to be a few options out there.

Has anyone tried a TPMS system and had success monitoring trailer tire pressure?

Also, the affects on single axle loads on tires compared to double axle loads? I am curious to know if there are any differences on the sidewall stresses with either setup.

I have been running TPMS since 2009. Most aftermarket TPMS are wireless. You can learn more by reading my RVTireSafety tire blog where I did a year long direct comparison of internal vs external TPMS from two different suppliers. So far this is the only direct comparison study I know of. While my test was done on a Class-C RV I see no reason for the results to be different for pressure monitoring if the sensors are put on a trailer.



RE sidewall stress. My data suggests that multi-axle trailers place more shear force in the belts than single axle trailer BUT there are many other differences such as trailer weight and tire load that make any direct comparison impossible. You can Google Interply Shear Tires and learn about these belt stresses.