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Old 09-26-2016, 02:57 PM   #1
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Tire Safety

How far would you pull your single axel travel trailer with a tire that look like this?
I just removed this tire from a friends travel trailer. He knew his tire had bulge on it and continue to drive another 50 miles on the freeway. The guy is nuts!
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Old 09-26-2016, 02:59 PM   #2
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Old 09-26-2016, 03:22 PM   #3
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How far would you pull your single axel travel trailer with a tire that look like this?
I just removed this tire from a friends travel trailer. He knew his tire had bulge on it and continue to drive another 50 miles on the freeway. The guy is nuts!
Hi: markvt... Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly!!!
A small patch and he can use it for a spare. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
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Old 09-26-2016, 03:26 PM   #4
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Was camping next to another Escape owner earlier this year and I noticed his tires on both the trailer & vehicle looked low. He said he would check them when he got home, which was approx. 1500 miles! I pumped up the vehicle's tires from 25# to 36 and the trailer from 38# to 50. Being lackadaisical about tire safety isn't good.
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Old 09-26-2016, 04:01 PM   #5
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I would limp to the nearest safe place to change tires. Fortunately, I've never had a tire do that.

I think one factor in the horrible record of trailer tire reliability is probably that people think anything on the trailer is not very important (compared to the same thing on the tow vehicle), because it's "just the trailer". Hey people - it attached to you!
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Old 09-26-2016, 04:04 PM   #6
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I'm definitely with Brian on this one. You are sharing the road with OTHERS. Be safe and sane. Or maybe you're just richer than I am. Have you seen what happens to fiberglass during a blow out? Why would you NOT spend a little bit of time to keep a whole lot of money in your pocket?
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Old 09-26-2016, 04:34 PM   #7
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Hi: markvt... Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly!!!
A small patch and he can use it for a spare. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
Hi Alf,
Who says miracles still don't happen! When I took this tire off the trailer and looked at it I told my friend that he should also buy a second tire for the other side. He told me that the other tire was fine. The tires on his trailer are about eight years old.
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Old 09-26-2016, 04:47 PM   #8
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Hi Alf,
Who says miracles still don't help! When I took this tire off the trailer and looked at it I told my friend that he should also buy a second tire for the other side. He told me that the other tire was fine. The tires on his trailer are about eight years old.
Hi: markvt... I suppose because the spare's never been used it's ok too!!! Alf
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Old 09-26-2016, 05:27 PM   #9
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Tires

Hi Alf
I check all my tires every time I get ready to go out and on the road pretty often too. I'd rather have a four year old spare with 3/32 tread as a spare than one 10 years old with no miles on it. Dry rot is not your friend. I take a little friendly ribbing when I put my wheel pants on the trailer when I'm parked for afew days. Any help in prolonging tire life is good with me.
OnI also park on wood in the off season rather than concrete. That's what my Dad told me to do with my boat trailer over 50 years ago and I always have.
I've only had one trailer flat in well over 100,000 miles towing and it happened
Because I picked up a Sheetrock screw.
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Old 09-26-2016, 05:29 PM   #10
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Hi Alf,
Who says miracles still don't happen! When I took this tire off the trailer and looked at it I told my friend that he should also buy a second tire for the other side. He told me that the other tire was fine. The tires on his trailer are about eight years old.
How about 32? A rally member at Tadnapam was so proud that she still had the original tires on her 1984 Uhaul! One blew on the way and the rubber was so dry it totally disintegrated, leaving only the core fibers! 😱
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Old 09-26-2016, 05:56 PM   #11
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When I took this tire off the trailer and looked at it I told my friend that he should also buy a second tire for the other side. He told me that the other tire was fine. The tires on his trailer are about eight years old.
I don't have a problem with tires that are eight years old, but of course I wouldn't trust the other tire of a pair in which one blistered like that. If tires really miraculously disintegrated at some age (currently promoted by retailers as six years), specialty car owners would have to buy a lot more tires!

The tires which are currently on my car, which I bought from a friend who had previously used them on his car (before it was wrecked) are now about eight years old. I have no concerns with them, although I'll need to replace them - due to tread wear - next year.

Edit note: My car's tires are Michelin car tires, not no-name trailer tires. Michelin makes tires for just about everything with wheels... but not Special Trailer type tires.
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Old 09-26-2016, 06:04 PM   #12
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Tire age is not the only factor. Google "China bomb tire" for an example.
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Old 09-27-2016, 09:24 AM   #13
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I'm definitely with Brian on this one. You are sharing the road with OTHERS. Be safe and sane. Or maybe you're just richer than I am. Have you seen what happens to fiberglass during a blow out? Why would you NOT spend a little bit of time to keep a whole lot of money in your pocket?
Donna,
No I've never seen what happens to fiberglass during a blowout. But I have a vivid imagination. Could you say a bit more about that please?

I'm guessing that single axle fiberglass trailers risk more damage to fiberglass than double axle.

Larry
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Old 09-27-2016, 09:53 AM   #14
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Donna,
No I've never seen what happens to fiberglass during a blowout. But I have a vivid imagination. Could you say a bit more about that please?

I'm guessing that single axle fiberglass trailers risk more damage to fiberglass than double axle.

Larry
Larry, I have seen photos on FGRV, but have no clue where to look for them. There have been chunks of the fibreglass wheel wells taken out. I have seen a stick built that had a blowout myself, and it tore the wheel well skirt off damaging the aluminum siding, and put a hole in the framing of the wheel well.
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Old 09-27-2016, 10:52 AM   #15
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That looks roughly the same as the 2 tires on my single axle Starcraft, caught mine while going through things one spring. Do not buy TOWMAX tires, went thru 2 sets in 6 years. The 1st set looked like saw blades, utter crap.
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Old 09-27-2016, 02:14 PM   #16
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I'm guessing that single axle fiberglass trailers risk more damage to fiberglass than double axle.
Maybe. The bits of tire will keep flogging the trailer as long as the wheel keeps turning, and with a single axle obviously that will continue for the several seconds it takes to stop... but a tandem could do the same thing.

Typically one might expect the tires of a tandem-axle trailer to be smaller than the tires of a single-axle trailer of the same weight, so they might do less damage. In practice, all current Escapes use the same size tire, even though the 19' is nowhere near twice the weight of the 17'.

I suspect that a tandem-axle trailer is likely to be towed further and faster after a single-tire failure than a single-axle trailer, enabling the tandem to do more damage. But would anyone really keep going after a tire failure? Yes - I've seen it on the road.
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Old 09-27-2016, 02:29 PM   #17
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I suspect that a tandem-axle trailer is likely to be towed further and faster after a single-tire failure than a single-axle trailer, enabling the tandem to do more damage. But would anyone really keep going after a tire failure? Yes - I've seen it on the road.
Yup, me too. Earlier this year I saw a tandem axle with massive damage from a blow out. He didn't realize that a tire had blown. With a single axle that's not likely to happen.

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Old 09-27-2016, 02:41 PM   #18
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We had a LARGE fifth wheel pass us on I-40 Friday. I was doing 75 (not towing) and he passed us and must had be going over 85 mph. When he went by I could see his rear axle bouncing about 6" off the ground from a apparent bulge in the tire. I told Cheryl we would see him soon on the side of the road. Well it only took about 2 miles and I could see him dive from the left lane to the side of the road. As we approached there was tire and RV pieces all over the interstate. I wanted to yell at him for being such a dumb a.. but kept my cool and just kept going laughing inside how he was going to spend his evening. Just stupid driving that fast on trailer tires and he had to be able to feel the axle bouncing because the whole camper was shacking. Any normal camper and I would have stopped and asked if he need help. I was just glad he did not take anyone else out when it happened.
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Old 09-27-2016, 02:50 PM   #19
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When I see those idiots coming I slow down to let them get by sooner.

Found this from Trailer Life; seems fairly comprehensive:

Trailer Tires 101
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Old 09-27-2016, 02:56 PM   #20
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Check out the Casita Travel Trailer Forum for photos and a large number of posts about tire damage and tire issues. It doesn't matter how good a tire looks because age is the #1 factor in tire replacement. Tire manufactures recommend replacing a trailer tire after 5 years no matter how many miles it has or how much tread it has. The damage to a fiberglass trailer from a blowout can be severe. I replaced my Casita tires after 5 years and the tire store promptly resold them to some other sucker. It is money well spent considering the price of our trailers.
Jerry

Metal valve stems should be a must also for our trailers.
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