My First Blowout

[trailbiker]

We just got back from weekend on Cape Cod. On the way out the curbside tire blew out. It happened on I495 about 5 miles from the Bourne Bridge. I am really glad it did not happen on the bridge. The tire was a Kumho 857 205R14C.
Load range D. Our trailer was not heavily loaded and tire pressure was 60 psi when we left. We traveling at about 65mph. The tires were purchased June of 2012, we only have about 12,000 miles on them. I did not get any warning before the blowout and have no idea what caused it.

We are have Good Sam Roadside assistance. After waiting for them for about an hour for Good Sam to get back to us we called them and were told they were still unable to find anyone to give us assistance. Fortunately i had a jack ,breaker bar and spare. Changing a tire on busy interstate is not something i enjoyed. I am going to add some Safety triangles to place on the highway in case i ever have another breakdown.

The date code showed the tires to less than 6months old when it got them. They were purchased June 2012. I wanted to buy Maxxis 15 tires, but there was no local dealer, I went contacted Maxis and was told the could not guarantee the tires they shipped would be less than a year old.

I would like to advise on wether to just replace the tire or go with new 15" tires.
Does anyone use a 14" tire for a spare after switching to 15" tires?

[ShrimpBurrito]

I was in your exact same situation several years ago. First had load range C Marathons that blew, so I switched to the same load range D Kumhos you have. After about 4 years, I had at least one blowout with them as well, which I attributed to age as the aggravating factor in combination with high ambient temperature and being too close to that tire's weight capacity. The Kumhos seem to run fine for 3-4 years, after which they are done.

As a result, I went to a 15" Carlise tire, load rating E, choosing that tire because that was the only thing available at the shop I had to visit after my blowout on a late Saturday afternoon in nowhere's ville Colorado. After 4-5 years of trouble free service with those tires running at 65 psi, I preemptively swapped them out for new tires, this time choosing the Maxxis 8008's, again, load range E. Have had them now about 2 years, again running 65 psi, and continue to have trouble free service.

Last blowout was the Kumho.

My conclusion after all of this is that tires rated for load range D, and certainly load range C, has a weight capacity that is too close to the weight of the trailer, thus leaving little safety margin. Granted, the extra capacity of a load range E tire only comes into play when they are inflated to their max pressure of 80 psi, the additional plies of this heavier rated tire seem to be enough to ward off the blowout gods. I ran them for a day or two at 80 psi after first getting them, but it shook the trailer to death, and so after some experimenting, I ended up leveling off at 65 psi.

So for me, a 15" load range E tire inflated to 65 psi has been the magic formula, and we travel on some really crappy roads in ambient air temps ranging from 30 to 110 degrees.

I think using a 14" spare would be fine. You're only talking about the spare side being 1/2" lower, so you probably wouldn't even notice. Compare that to the several inches of difference often seen with a doughnut in smaller vehicles. But I would still swap it out for a 15". Why? Imagine you hit a nail, or otherwise have some tire failure, and you're in BFE Nebraska on Sunday afternoon. You still want to drive another 6 hours. Are you going to want to risk stranding yourself on the road, or sustain significant damage to your TM, given that your 14" tires have a demonstrated propensity to fail? It's a judgment call obviously, but I consider the $200 to buy a new 15" wheel and tire cheap insurance.

Dave

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by trailbiker

We just got back from weekend on Cape Cod. On the way out the curbside tire blew out. It happened on I495 about 5 miles from the Bourne Bridge. I am really glad it did not happen on the bridge. The tire was a Kumho 857 205R14C.
Load range D. Our trailer was not heavily loaded and tire pressure was 60 psi when we left. We traveling at about 65mph. The tires were purchased June of 2012, we only have about 12,000 miles on them. I did not get any warning before the blowout and have no idea what caused it.

We are have Good Sam Roadside assistance. After waiting for them for about an hour for Good Sam to get back to us we called them and were told they were still unable to find anyone to give us assistance. Fortunately i had a jack ,breaker bar and spare. Changing a tire on busy interstate is not something i enjoyed. I am going to add some Safety triangles to place on the highway in case i ever have another breakdown.

The date code showed the tires to less than 6months old when it got them. They were purchased June 2012. I wanted to buy Maxxis 15 tires, but there was no local dealer, I went contacted Maxis and was told the could not guarantee the tires they shipped would be less than a year old.

I would like to advise on wether to just replace the tire or go with new 15" tires.
Does anyone use a 14" tire for a spare after switching to 15" tires?

Well we had the same situation last Labor Day weekend when coming back from Port Aransas TX....blow out....curb side...I-37 half way between Corpus Christi and San Antonio... running load range "E" Commodore ( actually I call them comode door tires) tires @ 72 psi....and yes, it's NO fun changing a blowout on the side of an interstate....and we too had the Gooo-ed Scam Roach Slime De-sistance with the exact same results I might add ( one day about 6 months ago they called me up to renew my membership and I laughed and said..."why should I do that...the ONLY time I needed your help, you couldn't find anyone for me and left me hangin out to dry on the road side in 110° weather!!!...so why in blazes would I want a service that ISN'T??!!!...and pay over $80 for the un-privilage!!!")

So here is what happened and what I found out about tires AND rims. Even though my E tires were rated at 80 psi, the rims were only good for 65 psi. When you start rolling down the road, your tires heat up and that increases the pressure in the tire. So if you start out at 65psi, after a while it will balloon to 70-75 psi in no time. Add to that the ambient road temp and that accelerates even more. So if you go to a higher load range, you will have to have rims that can take the extra pressure as well.
That being said, after this blowout I bought all new rims rated at 100psi and new Maxxis E range 15" tires (rated to 80psi). I went out to California and back with no problems what so ever. Cold, I ran 63 psi in them and with my Eez Z tire monitor they would soon reach 72 psi and stay there. With that pressure I could drive 75 MPH all day with a tow weight of 5000 lbs..
As of now, I have gone to 16" Maxxis wheels and tires (E rated or maybe slighly higher) and just the other day sold my old 15" tires and wheels that only had 5500 miles on them. I will always buy Maxxis. They seem to be trouble free and trouble IS the last thing I ever want.....even on the forum!

Tom

[tentcamper]

I was wondering about good sams. We opted for AAA, great experience with the auto's, never used for the camper. We have the AAA in the DW;s name so if she ever has issues when driving her auto, she will get help. Also, since it covers any auto she is in, on long trips she always with me. When I have a flat, I'm changing it not waiting for someone to come.

We're running GY Marathon's 14 inch C's, with build dates from 2012. No issues. I have well over 15k miles on them including several 3+K mile trips. Our past camper had marathon's with no issues. But there did seem to be issues with them somewhere between 2008 and 2011.

We did get a TPMS to alert us if the tire starts to go flat.

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by tentcamper

was wondering about good sam. We opted for AAA, great experience with the auto's, never used for the camper. We have the AAA in the DW;s name so if she ever has issues when driving her auto, she will get help. 'When I have a flat, I'm changing, not waiting for someone to come.

We're running GY Marathon's 14 inch C's, with build dates from 2012. No issues. I have well over 15k miles on them including 3K mile trips. Our pass camper had marathon's no issues. Bur there did seem to be issues with them somewhere between 2008 and 2011.

We did get a TPMS to alert us if the tire starts to go flat.

good move on the Tire Pressure Monitoring System....does in give you the temp of the tire as well....most do which is important too...
Tom

[Craigrrr]

Knock on wood, everytime we had a blowout on the Class A we had a great experience from roadside service, even when the blowout bent the exhaust the tech straightened it out and changed the tires and we were on our way, We even had to be towed on a rollback or flatbed I guess that is what they are called Twice. at least 75-100 miles while we were in Witch Wells Arizona.

Just for the towing it was well worth the 67 bucks per year

[tentcamper]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

good move on the Tire Pressure Monitoring System....does in give you the temp of the tire as well....most do which is important too...
Tom

Yep it does give the temp and there is a high temp alert. I like the different inflation and deflation alerts.

I figure a large number of the destroyed tires are from the tire developing a leak and going flat and then rolling down the road for 1/2 plus miles before you figure out you have a flat.

Now on travel mornings I check the camper's tire pressure with the TPMS.

[gonzo628]

Originally Posted by tentcamper

Yep it does give the temp and there is a high temp alert. I like the different inflation and deflation alerts.

I figure a large number of the destroyed tires are from the tire developing a leak and going flat and then rolling down the road for 1/2 plus miles before you figure out you have a flat.

Now on travel mornings I check the camper's tire pressure with the TPMS.

What tire monitor do you use?

[mcollect]

Originally Posted by gonzo628

What tire monitor do you use?

Yes I'd also like to know, as I am a belt and suspenders sort of a guy

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by Craigrrr

Knock on wood, everytime we had a blowout on the Class A we had a great experience from roadside service, even when the blowout bent the exhaust the tech straightened it out and changed the tires and we were on our way, We even had to be towed on a rollback or flatbed I guess that is what they are called Twice. at least 75-100 miles while we were in Witch Wells Arizona.

Just for the towing it was well worth the 67 bucks per year

You must have been one of the lucky ones...or maybe it was that you are closer to Colorado...(which is where the Scam lives)..
Tom