If you have any suspect tires, they may be old (or from a manufacturer that has a bad reputation) the signs of failure to be aware of are these:

Cracks in the sidewalls. This is a sure sign that the rubber is old and dried out. It's pliancy is about gone, leaking of water to the cords has occurred, and it is about to rip apart because the cords have rotted.

A major wear factor to look for though is rounding up of the normally FLAT surface of the tread of the tires when under normal pressure.

If you look all the way around a tire at the treaded surface - under normal circumstances you will find it is more or less flat across the top or sides of it.

When tread seperation occurs - bubbles have formed due to air leakage from the inner sealed portion of the tire, into the region where core "PLIES" of other materials have been cast into the tire for structural reasons.

When this happens, bubbles can appear around the circumference of the tire.. They are places where the tread is no longer flat - even though the next section is nearly so.

It can be seen as a "BUBBLE" in the tire tread, and is a sure sign it is about to let go completely. It has ripped loose from the molded structure. Where the tire tread looked FLAT a few inches ago - it now has a more rounded shape to it.

It is about to blow.

When this happens, it slings hard chunks of rubber at high rotational speeds in all directions around it, and causes a lot of damage to the trailer

Inspect your tires constantly. it will save you going through a lot of hell.

And if you don't trust the manufacturer - DON'T TRUST THEM!

That all by itself can save you a lot of grief.

I wish dearly that I had pictures of the many trailers I have seen that had entire sides torn up by bad tires..... And a trailer tire is not the same as a car tire. It is a whole different animal, because of how they are built.

(see the other links here)

 

Tread separation and belt breakage happens on car and truck tires too.

 

If you have the Goodyear 614 load range G tires just plan on replacing them after 3 to 4 years, they may look fine but the tread will separate and come flying off without warning. When I lost one of mine in April I had just stopped maybe 50 mile before and everything looked fine. But I was lucky and it did very little damage but I did replace all 4 tires to the tune of $1170.00, the trailer was 4 years 2 months old. Also the tire still has 110psi in it so it wasn't run low. What I did see in the tire in front of the one I lost was that the tread had small tears in the first rib right where the other one came apart so that may be a warning sigh. You can look but GY is the only one that makes a 16" G tire and a E will not work because of the weight on the axles, in my case 12600 lbs. on two axles. It was nice that GY made a G tire so the RV manufactures could go from 3 to 2 axles but the tire is junk. Some owners are even going to 17.5 rims and H tires to get away from the G tire.

Denny

 

You can also vary the pressure if you are running with a light load. Many people I've talked to typically run ten pounds under-pressure to relieve stress on the tires and make the trailer ride more smothly.

I'm actually undecided on this idea - because tire flexion under lowered pressure may cause premature wear. It also reduces rolling efficiency, and therefore uses more fuel to pull the load.

 

Very good points on trailer tire inspection. I think most people wrongly equate trailer tire wear with motor vehicle tire wear. They are different animals, trailer tires generally need to be replaced long before it appears the tread is even close to being worn down. They will still look good until closely and carefully inspected.

I believe it's important to keep trailer tires covered or at least in a shady area. A covered or enclosed garage would be ideal, wish I had the room and funds for that!

I also believe in replacing trailer tires after no more than 5 years of service, even if they've been well cared for. It's relatively cheap insurance if you've ever seen what a tire coming apart at highway speeds does to a trailer, as mentioned in Greywolf's OP. I've seen several trailers on their side over the past few years. That will ruin your vacation!

 

For whatever reason, the last few trailer tires that I've seen fail were Carlisle tires..........coincidence, perhaps?

 

I began watching them when I heard NANKANG tires had a high failure rate. I then discovered they were wrongly marked as to date of manufacture. Some tires will last longer than others, but one that is wrongfully marked to begin with is untrustworthy from the git go, and you should be aware of it.

JMCFC (Just More Crap From China)

Tires are an area where a few dollars more will save everything you have invested.

 

This is a subject I wish someone would address. There has to be some method of determining the optimum pressure/tire size/tire load to maximize tire life, ride, carrying capacity.

I can't tell you how many tires I notice on vehicles in parking lots with the centers worn almost illegal while the egde ribs look nearly new. There's gotta be a lot of rough riding going on there, as well as unnecessary suspension parts wear. I have to imagine it's the same with trailer tires as well.

There has always seemed to be a pile of mis-information, rumor, and mysticism surrounding tires....almost like with engine oils.

I do know that the maximum pressure listed on the sidewall only relates to the maximum carrying capacity of the tire, although I have had tire guys inflate my tires to the max without asking my preference/practice.

So, is everyone saying it is not common practice to use a similar sized truck (LT) tire on a trailer that will meet the axle load requirements?

 

We use LT tires at times when E rated tires are only needed. Sometimes they are cheaper than a trailer tire and sometimes they aren't, they don't wear any different though. Another thing to watch out for is mixing bias ply and radial tires on the same hub, the bias will wear 10X faster. Had this problem with a tandem dually that had a mash up of bias ply and radial tires.

 

Take a look at this chart from Badyear, it has weight to psi ratings. All the manufactures seem to have about the same chart but you have to know what you weigh.http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rv_inflation.pdf

Denny

 

I was having flats just about every time I pulled heavy loads 4 to 500 miles. I stoped at a large truck and trailer, tractor, tire place. They told me the reason I was having blowouts was because I was not running the correct air psi. So I asked them what presure should I run, they said it is written on the tires.

Said I was flexing the side walls to the point that the metal bans were getting too hot. I started running the amount the tire says, have not had a blowout yet.

That is what I was told by people that do this for a living.

 

I've also been told by different sources to run trailer tires at max psi, no matter the load. Vehicle tires will wear prematurely doing this but trailer tires are, or should be, replaced before the tread is worn down anyway.

 

What concerns me the most about under-inflated trailer tires is when turning a rig in a tight spot. You can see the tires nearly being pulled off of the bead under those conditions.

While I realise that you may rattle your dishes more going down the road at max PSI, the skid vice twist considerations are a bit more important. A tire that slides will not be torn apart internally as much - or so I would think.

Horsing trailers around tight lots has given me a lot to think about, when it comes to sidewalls. MOST of the twisting of sidewalls happens at the beginning or end of a trip, or parking at a campsite. It's almost painful to watch - especially with a triple axle like an Escalade or a big ALFA.

Those are E and G rated tires, but my GOD! They can only withstand so much.

The other thing I noticed was the twisting of the axles themselves, as much as fifteen or more degrees from level.

One favor you can do yourself is to try to pick a spot with a somewhat straight shot to park it in there. In other words - plan your moves.

Some amount of damage must be happenning every time they are twisted that hard. Also, the more frequently it happens, the more wear is taking place. AVOID IT if you can.

If you really want to save yourself some hassle-factor, I would say keep your tires up all the way and avoid loading your rig with tiffany lamps and dishes.

 

Greywolf, that post brings up a question: Are most trailer tire failures from tread separation, steel-belt failure, or are they mostly sidewall related?

Aren't E and G rated tires rated such because of the sidewall plies, not tread belts?

 

What I have seen with my own eyes is categorised in mainly the tread BLOW-OFF group, but there have been one or two that were questionable, because an amount of the sidewall was torn off as well.

I would say the majority of tire failures are from outer tread seperation, and the sidewalls rarely come unglued.

By far, Chinese manufactured tires have failed, and NANKANG is the principle bad actor. Firestone I have heard complaints about, seldom Goodyear, and Dunlop - a Goodyear aqcuisition.

If you get a name-brand tire of good reputation, you are a lot better off than an off-brand you have never heard of.

And of course - look closely at the warrantee.

I will add a caveat to this: IT MUST be a tire designed for trailering, because the sidewalls are designed completely differently. The stresses on them are not the same as can be expected from a common auto or truck tire. If anything - sidewall torsion and stress on a trailertire is far greater on a trailer tire - particularly with tandem or triple axles. They will be twisted, where a truck or car tire won't be.

They will be subjected to forces a normal tire never will be.

An RV is not driven as often, but brother - when they are, WEAR happens.