Bruce's Hypothesis of RV Tire Blowout

[Tireman9]

Suggest you review my new post on 'Why Tires Fail"

The Hypothesis is interesting and sounds reasonable but is not supported by the facts and evidence found when failed tires are thoroughly and closely inspected. This means chemical analysis and microscopic (even electron microscope) inspection.

[tentcamper]

Bruce, I like your thought process and very interesting idea. But I think of steel leaf and coil springs being loaded for almos all its life, sitting sometime for years without movement and they dont seem to have these issues.

I realize the metallurgy of spring steels are different, but I would think metallurgy has developed special steels for tire belt wires. We also don't see these type of issues with auto tires with steel belts, which there are many autos that sit around for long periods of not being used.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by tentcamper

Bruce, I like your thought process and very interesting idea. But I think of steel leaf and coil springs being loaded for almos all its life, sitting sometime for years without movement and they dont seem to have these issues.

I realize the metallurgy of spring steels are different, but I would think metallurgy has developed special steels for tire belt wires. We also don't see these type of issues with auto tires with steel belts, which there are many autos that sit around for long periods of not being used.

You are correct. The steels used in tires is not "mild steel" but is "High Strength" steel. Even the steel used in the bead area (near the wheel) is special and specific for that location in tires and is not the same as the High Strength steel used in tire belts.

[BrucePerens]

Lots of people have opinions on why tires fail, and point to scientific research, although they are rarely the people who performed the research. Generally this research comes from manufacturers of automotive tires and is not specific to trailers.

Failure in trailer tires is rampant and does not happen in the same pattern as automotive tires, even for automobiles that are periodically stored. Steel alloys are almost magical in their performance, but all are subject to some degree of work hardening. Failure due to work hardening is generally seen during blowout because low-pressure operation prior to blowout causes an over-spec amount of flexion in the steel cords, which then break due to work hardening at the point of maximum repetitive flexion. This is why a blown out tubeless tire often neatly separates the tread from the sidewalls. Work hardening short of blowout is also the cause of zipper failure, which has been known to kill people when tires burst.

I don't believe that we can confidently say why our tires are failing. I've put forth a theory, more research is necessary.