Had a tire on the TT come apart after about an hour on the road. Unfortunately it came apart and beat a hole in the floor of the camper. ☹️
Got the spare on and back on the road. All 5 tires are (were) in good shape, plenty of tread, properly inflated, and bearings run nice and cool. so I’m kind of at a lose as to what led to the failure.
I noticed yesterday that on the failed rim, the valve stem was missing. Is it possible that the valve failed leading to the tire failure? How likely a possibility is that?

the tires are at about 50% tread remaining, do not show signs of dry rot, but are over 5 years old. Think I should just replace them all?
thanks
steve

 

Yes they can but more than likely the tire beat it off when it failed. The valve stems I've had failed lost air but they were just split but still there.

Denny

 

Chinese tires? Buy some American tires. Goodyear edurance is made in the USA and will probably have your size.

If you have 16" rims then you could also go to a LT tire.

 

I agree, probably just a flat tire... stinks, and who knows, the blow out could have ejected the tire valve.... I also agree that I would get new tires, Goodyear Endurance seems to be liked around here and an RV forum I frequent. Make sure they balance the tires. Sorry about the damage. I keep a IR gun and check all tires and rims every stop, hoping I would detect something going bad? tpms on the trailer would be ideal, and I'm considering it just to avoid damage as you. Good luck.

 

I've seen valve stems fail by leaking slowly but rarely. It's also possible you got low pressure stems by mistake. If you've worn down 50% of tread on trailer tires then I'd say you've got some miles on them.

Maybe a good time to get new tires and make sure you get the proper rated valve stems.

I switched from 15inch trailer wheels to 16 inch so I could get 16 inch LT tires. That greatly opened up the options for tires.

 

The age of the tires dictates replacement. The rule of thumb on trailer tires is at five years they are toast, without regard to the number of miles. You might be able to get more time out of the tires if they are covered, well maintained and don't see harsh roads. But, that's not most situations.

 

I think I posted this elsewhere on the forum but I figure it couldn't hurt to share the story again - I learned a very valuable lesson and fortunately no one was injured in the process.

We bought our bumper pull toy hauler used and the tires were in good shape, so I didn't think much of it. I would always check tire pressures and inspect tires before leaving and we logged a few thousand miles without issue. On our way back home from one of our more recent trips I noticed an increase in trailer sway. I attributed it to some added cross wind and slightly different load distribution in the trailer. Next thing you know I had a catastrophic blow out on the left side. Managed to get over to the shoulder and found both tires flat! One was ripped to shreds and bent a frame support like it was cardboard. Long story short, managed to get it home and bought new, higher end tires.

What I learned (and this may not apply to you with a travel trailer vs. toy hauler) is: our tires were rated and inflated up to 80 psi and the tires came with low pressure valve stems rated to 40 psi. What I suspect happened was the first valve stem blew off causing a flat and also the sway I attributed to wind. Then, over the course of a handful of miles, riding on one overloaded tire it eventually overheated and then blew out.

Moral of the story - there's high pressure and low pressure valve stems - make sure you have the right ones.

I learned that this is generally what low pressure stems will look like, with the rubber much higher and closer to the stem cap: https://www.zoro.com/slime-tire-valv...xoCr7AQAvD_BwE

Whereas higher pressure valve stems have more exposed metal like this: https://www.zoro.com/milton-tubeless...RoC4F8QAvD_BwE

 

Prometheus, interesting info on the valve stems. Reps sent for bringing that up.

I have the Ford trailer tire sensors that came with my 2017 F-350. I think they are rated to 110 PSI, but since my tires are E rated I inflate to 80 PSI. I'm pretty sure the sensors in the trailer tires saved my bacon once already. The PSI in one tire was a good 10 higher than the other three tires. I took that as a red flag and replaced the tire when I got to the next town. I suppose, if I had been really on the ball I would have pulled over and swapped to the spare. But I didn't think of that at the time. While the trailer didn't come with any spare at all, I now carry two spares.

 

The tires that come with most TT are really just designed to get it to the dealer. I ran my China Bombs for about 1000 miles and upgraded from D range to E range Maxxis. They lasted for 4000 miles and I found cuts on two inner sidewalls. I have new Endurance tires on the camper but I have not pulled it yet.
I put the China Bombs on my car hauler, last year they were 3 years old and I blew 3 tires on a 700 mile round trip run to MD. The car hauler will get Endurance too when I decide to take it on a trip again. Right now it has mismatch of 4 tires on it.