Blow out with damage

[boudie]

Hey everyone,

I recently had a tire blow out my (33 foot) 2014 Coachmen 320bhds Freedom Express TT- rear axle passenger side.

It was bad enough that it damaged the flooring above and ripped down some wires and cut some rubber hose. My kitchen slide is located above the wheels (fridge and stove) and u can see right thru the floor.

I am wondering if anyone else has had this happen??

How long did repairs take??

And what tires should I be out buying right now??

Thanks in advance.

[BamaBob]

Search the forums for "China Bombs" you will be up all night reading the zillion posts out there!


Short Answer:

• Buy Goodyear Marathon or Maxxis trailer tires - they are both good (I am a Goodyear man though )
• Go up one load rating from your stock tires (e.g., LR C to D)
• Have Metal Valve stems installed
• Have the tires spin balanced at 65MPH (Max speed of any trailer tire)
• Buy a set of TST 507 tire pressure monitors: 507 Starter System Kit -

and you should be good to go!

[Pauls Toy Hauler]

Sorry to hear. This is something I hope to not experience but I know this is an all to common occurrence in the rv'ing community.


Our sale person that sold us our 5th wheel told us of her 5th wheel that had a blow out and caused damage similar to what you described and she said that the trailer had been in the shop something like 9-10 weeks and still needed some minor details to finish. That is the 'why' I don't want to experience that. Hope you have better luck and a faster fix.

[jgroff]

that's terrible. hope it gets repaired quickly. what size tires do you have on the trailer?

[The_Rhino]

One of the (many) reasons we decided to buy used vs. new is that we knew we would need to replace the poor quality "China Bombs" on a new TT same as if we bought used. Our new Maxxis tires only cost $600 (retail) so I figure the TT manufacturers risk my family's safety & everyone else on the road to save a mere $300 per unit sold, if that...

With buying used we could get the seller to reduce the price to factor in the cost of replacement tires. With buying new, you have to add the cost of better tires into the mix or take a BIG chance that your factory-installed China Bombs won't cause $3000+ in damage and burn-away months of peak camping season.

That said, even good tires can fail so we also installed a set of TST 507 tire pressure monitors. IMO the better tires run flat longer before they self-destruct giving you time to react to the TPM & pull-over safely without damage...

[Jim34RL]

Originally Posted by boudie

Hey everyone,

I recently had a tire blow out my (33 foot) 2014 Coachmen 320bhds Freedom Express TT- rear axle passenger side.

It was bad enough that it damaged the flooring above and ripped down some wires and cut some rubber hose. My kitchen slide is located above the wheels (fridge and stove) and u can see right thru the floor.

I am wondering if anyone else has had this happen??

How long did repairs take??

And what tires should I be out buying right now??

Thanks in advance.

I had a tire failure on my 2010 318 SAB Cougar in 2011 pulling out west. The tire that failed was only two months old; as I had to replace the original tire that was on this trailer. The failure was a catastrophic failure happen just 10 min's after we pulled out on to I 80 at 8:00 in the morning. I had just check the tires for proper air pressure and the wheels for the correct tightening torque for the lug nuts. TPMS would not have caught this it just exploded.

When the tire exploded this took out the sheet metal, plastic wheel covering and along with some underside damage to the trailer. Insurance paid for all of this but the deductible on my trailer. This is a common occurrence with ST tires that are made in China.

I replaced my tires with Michelin XPS Ribs which are an all position tire and the size I used was LT 245/75R/16E tire. These are meant for trailers and can be used on most trailers with 6,000 LB axles. I never had a tire failure after that and one thing I notice was these tires never lost air pressure. They would sit in the storage lot on boards covered during winter and they would still be at 80 PSI as the same pressure as I put the trailer away with when I took the trailer out in the spring. Even after four years they still would hold their tire air pressure.

My current ST tires on my new trailer loss about two to three pounds of air pressure a week. They will be replaced with LT rated tires next spring.

[aceinspp]

I did the same thing as HSVBamaBob by replacing all tires with the Good Year tires. Was lucky when I had my two blow outs as no damage. Later RJD

[Docgeo]

Keep The Tire!
These blowouts happen all the time but it could be caused by a defective tire. I had a similar incident and took the tire to Goodyear. They determined that it was caused by a manufacturing defect.
They paid my insurance deductible and replaced all 4 tires with same Date Code.
My repairs took a Day and the bill was $649+$250 deductible.

[JeffLynn]

Yes.. the junk Goodyear Marathon tires with under 6k on them blew and my insurance paid 5K and it took three weeks happend again the next rip so I move to Michelin XPS RIB LT235/85r16.. steel valve stems and nitro filled. I even replaced my spair. Now these cost a bit ($1400) but I know I will not be blowing any more tires. Stay away from "made for trailer" & "made in China" stamped on them. maybe a good utility tire but not a 5th wheel if your really traveling. Just my words take them for what you want.

[Harkerr]

After massive damage from an oem Cooper that threw a tread I changed to Michilin LTs. I change at 7 years regardless of tread. On my second set. No problems. They do not lose air pressure.

[VaJim]

We had a blow out that tore up some trim, bought all new Hercules tires, went from "C"
rated to "E" and now run them at 80lbs. They need metal valve stems.
You should always replace tires on your new rv when you buy it and resell them because they are crap and I believe underrated !

[elind]

It's my understanding that 99% of the ST tires are made in China. So all the ST's are "China Bombs" that are put on our RV's? Maxxis and Goodyear Marathon are China made so why are they not China bombs?

[banda]

Maxxis are made in Thailand and Marathons do have their share of problems.

[Bianchina3]

Does this also apply to Travel Trailers or is it just a 5th wheel thing?

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by Bianchina3

Does this also apply to Travel Trailers or is it just a 5th wheel thing?

ALL RVs with the exception of top of the line (e.g., Cardinal's come with Goodyears and you can even upgrade them to a higher load rating)

Rather than start a discussion here, I encourage everyone to search the threads on the LT Tire discussion - LT Tires are NOT a good Idea for RV's especially multi-axel RVs

Just say'n

[D_B Travelers]

Originally Posted by HSVBamaBob

Search the forums for "China Bombs" you will be up all night reading the zillion posts out there!


Short Answer:

• Buy Goodyear Marathon or Maxxis trailer tires - they are both good (I am a Goodyear man though )
• Go up one load rating from your stock tires (e.g., LR C to D)
• Have Metal Valve stems installed
• Have the tires spin balanced at 65MPH (Max speed of any trailer tire)
• Buy a set of TST 507 tire pressure monitors: 507 Starter System Kit -

and you should be good to go!

Just returned yesterday from 5,600 mile trip with our 35' Rockwood Windjammer into the west and northwest then back home to Texas. Replaced the one year old original C-rated OEM (junk) tires with D-rated Goodyear Marathons, and purchased the TST-507 tire monitoring kit. We saw three rigs on the side of the road with blown tires and damage during this past trip but with the upgraded tires and the monitor that will alert us when pressure is low, we were very comfortable.
Really recommend upgrading tires and the monitoring unit. Not cheap, but less money and headache than blown tires and the damage they cause.

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by HSVBamaBob

LT Tires are NOT a good Idea for RV's especially multi-axel RVs

Source?

At least one high end manufacturer would disagree with you.

DRV Advantages - Mobile Suites - DRV

There may be pros and cons to LT's on trailer, but many people have successfully switched to LT's.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by KMP44

Source?

At least one high end manufacturer would disagree with you.

DRV Advantages - Mobile Suites - DRV

There may be pros and cons to LT's on trailer, but many people have successfully switched to LT's.

Agree, years ago my dad pulled a 24' Coachmen from Trenton, MO to Daytona, Fl to Clearwater then to Los Angeles to Seattle to Nova Scotia and back to Trenton on the tires he took off his 76 Ford LTD. No problems. The tires were still on the trailer when he quit camping in 88 and sold the trailer.

[Tonkatoy77]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Agree, years ago my dad pulled a 24' Coachmen from Trenton, MO to Daytona, Fl to Clearwater then to Los Angeles to Seattle to Nova Scotia and back to Trenton on the tires he took off his 76 Ford LTD. No problems. The tires were still on the trailer when he quit camping in 88 and sold the trailer.

My last trailer came OEM with Goodyear Wrangler LT's. I sold the trailer to my parents, and they just replaced the tires last week. Only because they are going on a long road trip. The tires are 13 years old. Not one issue. My dad kept the tires to put on his utility trailer. Not sure what the downside would be. I also would like a link to tell me the negatives.


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[67cudafb]

This is just one side of our Silverback. We had two blowouts on the same trip one on each side. Over $6500 in damage. Our insurance covered the bulk of damage. Took about 5 weeks to get it repaired.