Trail America 2nd Blowout

[talley]

Returning from trip to Florida last July experienced a blowout with the original Trail America tires on the 2006 Bighorn 3655. I estimate the tires had about 6K miles on them. Jetstar Trailer Tire & Wheel replaced all five "G" rated tires and repaired left side damage. The tires Jetstar sent were labeled on the invoice as "King Trail America". I had read and weighed the comments on the Forum about experiences with "Chinese Bombs" and rationale that all brands experience failures and that these tires meet the specs for "G" rated tires, etc. This being my first RV and wanting to be as safe and resonsible as possible... I installed a Pressure Pro System to monitor the tires, and accepted the tires.

I felt pretty good about my precautions and the new tires when undertaking our two month trip to California from Texas Gulf Coast. I estimate that the Trail America tires had about 4K miles when one blewout a couple of weeks ago on the return trip, just east of El Paso.

The Pressure Pro System worked fine, no problems with tire pressures during the trip and no overweight issue.

Two sets of Trail America with two blowouts in the range of 4K to 6K miles is proof enough to me. I now have G614s on order and will hopefully get these experiences behind me. I have seen recent comments that the Goodyear tires are somewhat heavier than the Trail America. I believe that the sidewalls on the Trail America tires have weakened and caused failure. I don't know if all blowouts exibit the same characteristic, but both of mine have a sidewall split (almost like a knife cut) and peeling of thread from the casing (like rethreads peeling).

If the Goodyears perform, they will be well worth the cost... considering RV damage, side-of-road experience and safety.

Hope someone is keeping score on these tires!!

 

[cmart]

More china bombs

You know, I'm not sure that all these tire problems are because of the tires, I'm beginning to think maybe axle alignment or frame out of plumb.

 

[talley]

Cmart is right, there is a cause (or causes), but what common factor(s) is involved?? What has generally been attributed to the failures is the origin of the tires. But, whatever the reason is I have had two blowouts at about the same number of miles on the same brand of tires. Granted the tires hae been on the same coach. Tires have been on different sides of the coach and on different axle. Door side was front tire, off-door side was rear tire. I will find time to do some measurements but, meantime... it's Goodyears!!

 

[SmokeyBare]

Tires out of alignment take very little time to show their wear. Just like a auto tire... alignment wear can show up by wearing the inside edge of the tread or the outside of the tread. Some alignment wear shows quickly a feathered edge on the tread as the tire is scraped along as it rotates down the road.

When my Karier LoadStar had it's failure... the tread was in very good condition... no one side worn more than the other... the Failed tread just separated from body of the tire... leaving exposed the belts of steel exposed. The tire tread then wrapped around the axle... The tire was still inflated fully... had the brake controller not flashed a electrical short warning... I'd have soon distroyed the steel belt and lost pressure on the tire.

When we level our RV's... we often drive onto wood or plastic blocks... One thought that might begin to cause damage to the tire... is if the tire is half on... half off the block used to level the RV. This would cause the total weight that tire is supporting to be pressing down on the sharp edge of the leveling block. I have increased the wood blocks I use now to a 2X10... which coveres the whole tread. I am also extra careful to place the tire completely on the leveling block...

I have had an alignment issue on (SOB) our old Fifth Wheel RV. The tread wore off the outside of the tire tread... left rear axle... in only a few hundred miles of driving... I finally was able to get the alignment readjusted which involved bending the axles with hydraulic rams... and using their alignment equipment.