Tow or blow

[Ray LeTourneau]

If the opportunity exists and by that I mean if traffic and or weather conditions permit, slow down enough to get a look at the condition of many of our nations roads. After my G614 failures on the way back from Hilton Head this spring, I still feel strongly that our tire failure was due to damage from a pot hole.
I've seen some deep and wide holes that have pretty defined edges. These seem to be mainly located at areas where the road crosses over a culvert or stream and there is a transition from road to bridge.
Imagine your 14,000 to 16,000 lb. trailer impacting these holes at highway speeds. That has to have a devastating effect on the tire. My situation was losing the entire tread on the first tire then about 12 miles later a blowout on the second tire on the same side of the trailer. Looking at the blown tire in the picture you can almost see a defined "cut" of the steel core.
The offshore tires are certainly of lower quality the tires made in the USA but our roads certainly don't help. That along with running them at near their capacity I feel we have to expect things to go wrong.
Something else we see a lot of on our roads are many tire treads from 18 wheelers. What were the causes of those failures? Hard to say...

 

[wdk450]

Ray:
Adding to my previous post on causes, I will agree with you about road conditions. On my 6 - 400 mile days home from the National Rally on I-80, about 95% of the roadway was acceptable, but there were "out of the blue" major jarring bumps with no warning every few hours. I don't know if that is why my 1 wheel cracked on the rear axle, but I suspect that is so.

 

[whp4262]

I was reading this post and started thinking about how many tire blow outs I've had over the last 12 years and I can only think of three. One was on my box truck when I blew out an outside dual, 1 on my flat bed trailer and one on our class A MH. However, I have changed several over that same time period including one yesterday north of Waco, TX. on our Cyclone 3914. I decided years ago that I like the idea of picking the place to change a tire rather then letting the tire pick it for me. So I inspect the tires every time I stop for gas or at a rest area to stretch my legs etc. I look at the tire for overall condition and pay particular attention to the tread area for any deformation. Yesterday when we stopped at a rest area I noticed one tire on the 3914 that had a spot in the tread area that was a little higher then the rest and the tread pattern was slightly deformed, an indication of cord separation, so I changed the tire. So would the tire have lasted the remaining 80 miles to our house? Maybe but I wasn't willing to bet the side of my trailer and wheel well on it.

 

[Jim_Mary_Lou]

I just got back from DC and lost 3 Towmax tires on that trip. 2 with deformed side walls and 1 major blowout. 4000 miles on the tires and 9 since I purchased my 3800 new. I inspected the tires every stop for signs of trouble and always kept 80 pounds in each tire. I had a Tireminder system installed. Powerking will not pay for the damage to the RV and sent me $100 for one tire. I believe Heartland should have the responsibility for the tires and the damage they caused because they must have known these tires were defective.

 

[pegmikef]

"Something else we see a lot of on our roads are many tire treads from 18 wheelers. What were the causes of those failures? Hard to say..."

My son is a trucker and is currently hauling crude oil locally and had another blowout last week. He said their group (14 rigs) had eleven blowouts last week and one of the problems is that they use retreads on the trailers and in this heat, the tread just separates. He said he is glad he has 8 wheels.

 

[Birchwood]

You only hear from owners that had problems but remember there are thousands that are happily still RVing with the Towmax.I would never travel 65 mph towing an RV.Many RV problems are self inflicted by their owners.

 

[scottyb]

You only hear from owners that had problems but remember there are thousands that are happily still RVing with the Towmax.I would never travel 65 mph towing an RV.Many RV problems are self inflicted by their owners.

I didn't have problems, because I never hit the road before changing mine. After reading all the post at the time (1 year ago), and after the tech for my PDI saying "Get rid of them as soon as possible", he then showed me an almost new Big Horn in for repairs with the side blown out. It was a no brainer to me. I drive 65 max, and feel quiet comfortable with my 99 MPH Michellin's.

Six brand new tires, $2K. Peace of mind, priceless.

T