Experienced Explodees of China Bombs

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by frank4711

Hey Mike good point but ... in our RV world it is always bigger is better... 3/4 ton when 1/2 ton is good ... 1 ton when 3/4 is fine ... don't exceed 60% of your max tow "safety margin" ... this thinking is a big part of the RV world ... I think if it fits it fits and some people have 17,000 miles on there Castle Rocks and still going are they just lucky?? thanks Frank

I kind of like to think that when it comes to reliability of things mechanical and such, you can influence your luck greatly by using common sense.

I am approaching the 17,000 miles on my OE Castle Rock's and they look like they might go another 10-15k if I take care of them.

How do I take care of them? Regular air "double checks" (I have a TPMS I check up on with a real gauge regularly), pre-trip jack up and check for separations, foreign objects possibly puncturing, and a quick wheel bearing check, keep load within limits by leaving unnecessary stuff home, and keep my speed within the limits the tire was designed for.

As for "Bigger is Better", I guess that's up to the individual. I bough a truck capable of towing 9300# and only tow a 6300# trailer. Why would I need a 3/4 ton? My current truck has been towing trailers in this weight range since 2004 and has only gone to the Dealer for scheduled maintenance, no break-downs.

Like I said, sometimes you make or influence your own luck. Or is it a case of others just ignoring maintenance and mfr's instructions and just having bad luck because of their own actions. One example of the last statement, next trip just take note of the number of vehicles towing travel trailers that pass you in the left lane going close to 80 mph (if you are going close to 70, a passing vehicle is usually going 10 mph faster). Aside from the reduced towing speed limits that exist in most states, these people are ignoring the usual max speed for an ST trailer tire.

[Oaklevel]

As I have mentioned numerous times I have 5 trailers with China made tires 3 are duel axle (16 China Tires) no blowouts no flats ever........................

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by rsdata

Because of dynamic loading when TT in actual use...

No they don't have to... but that is why this forum exists... to provide some additional information to make safer choices.

Dynamic loading is all factored in when designing tire and testing. Ditto for axles.

[Hurrel]

One thing that I have found: Air gauges differ dramatically sometimes. A person may check the air regularly and get good readings but in fact may not even be close to the real pressure. Buy good gauges and double check against another gauge(s).

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by bedubya

In 2+ years, I never had a problem with Castle Rocks. I changed them out because tread was down to 5/32" and we will soon be doing a big loop from Des Moines to Yellowstone. They were ST205/75R14 LRC. Bumped up to GY Endurance, same size but LRD. I figured it was worth the peace of mind. But we were never overloaded. Max weight on the two axles was never exceeded 6,000 lbs.

The tire's sidewalls on a multiaxle trailer really take a beating.

Do you run 65 psi? (LR-D inflation) or 50 psi? (LR-C inflation) You will not get LR-D load capacity or performance or reduced Interply Shear if you only run LR-C inflation.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Retired1stTimer

we traveled to Gatlinburg,Tn this last week from central florida to the smoky mountains for a nice getaway, the DW and our 12 year old grandson. the trip up was great. the trip back yesterday was well, lets just say, not fun. traveling back on I-75, (475 bypass around Macon, Ga. going to Valdosta, we had the unthinkable happen to us too. Castlerock ChinaBoom, st205/75/14, max cold air 65lbs, rated to 75mph, but I always try to keep under 65. our dual axle 171rbxl, the rear tire on drivers side passed away suddenly. potholes galore the whole stretch of road, but actually blew on a portion a smooth section. odd that the front tire didn't blow, and the rear did. we actually saw several rigs on the road side with flats, thinking ...Please Lord don't let that happen to us, but it did. the tires were only 1 year and 4 months old from when we bought at dealership in feb, 2018. I know, I know, why didn't I buy better rubbers? our budget wouldn't allow at the time. the blowout was in the middle of the tread and the only damage to anything else was that it took out part of the handle to the blackwater drain valve handle. we were able to safely move over to the emergency lane and call for road side assistance which we have with AAA. out of commission for a little more than 2 hours but safely made it home. had 2 spares, just in case. a question though, do the tires routinely go up in pressure as much as 10lbs while driving extendedly? I checked the pressure of the other 3 tires and they were all at 74lbs. and no I don't have TPMS on the tires. I routinely check them every time we stop for fuel. I am going for new tires all the way around this week. thanks in advance for replies and advice, still learning the ropes...…..

Depending on your actual individual tire loading it is not unusual for psi to increase 10% to 20%. Some folks with heavier loading and at higher speeds see 25%.


Tire temperature can increase 20 to 50F again depending on your conditions.


Checking psi at fuel stops does not tell you as soon as you start leaking due to cut or puncture. In fact, you will probably not know you are low on air till you have the "Blowout" you don't want.


Look at the cost of TPMS as insurance. $250 vs maybe $1,000 worth of RV damage. TPMS can sometimes even provide enough advance notice that you might be able to stop and change the tire before it fails or even before it is fatally damaged under certain circumstances.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Why should a manufacturer put any tire on that far exceeds the load rating of the axle.

I look at my trailer with two 3500 lb axles. Tires collectively are rated for a total of 7040 lbs. Trailer sticker says Gross Weight Rating) (loaded) is 6206 lbs. With full water tank I have room for 1022 lbs of "cargo". Follow the manufacturer's max load rating and there's a 17% "safety margin. Increasing load range on the tires won't increase safety margin unless you also increase rating of axles.

In short, I have no need for a LR-D tire if I don't overload my trailer, drive the proper speed, and regular check air pressure(s).

The TT mfr has done their job of meeting load requirements for the trailer by specifying an adequate axle and adequate tires. The rest is up to the customer which is usually where the tire failures begin.

You didn't tell us the GAWR which is the controlling number for the tire rating. RVIA requires (as of Nov 2017) the tire capacity to be at least 110% of GAWR.


Do you meet that?

[MNtraveler]

Originally Posted by ependydad

More questions:

• Actual weight on the tire?
• Tire pressure *at time of blowout*?
• Have you ever curbed the tire? Or hit (bad) potholes?
• How fast were you going? What speed is the tire rated for?
• Date code on the tire?

Yes, blowouts occur.

But more often, a tire is run with low tire pressure and the owner doesn't know it. You can pickup a nail coming out of a parking lot after just having checked tire pressure.

I've also had experience that there was a full 500 lbs. difference between the heaviest loaded tire on my rig's 4 tires vs. the lightest. It meant that 2 tires were overweight. I was never over on each GAWR for the trailer itself.

For a long time, ST tires were only rated to 65 mph. People commonly ran them at that and higher causing damage to accumulate over time.

And on and on.

As for "China Bombs", when you have a majority of the market, you're going to have a majority of the failures.

Exactly! And owners get real snitty when you ask speed, PSI and last time tire pressures were checked before the blowout. That said, I do sympathize with anyone who experiences a blowout. Not a good experience!

[frank4711]

Originally Posted by Hurrel

One thing that I have found: Air gauges differ dramatically sometimes. A person may check the air regularly and get good readings but in fact may not even be close to the real pressure. Buy good gauges and double check against another gauge(s).

Yes ... I have good l have good luck with these https://www.walmart.com/ip/Slime-Dig...gaAo-vEALw_wcB numbers match the truck TPMS

[sunnyinfla]

i bought saloun tires from simple tire and they have been very,very good to me...

[RandK-M]

It's simple math.



If three quarters of the tires on trailers are Chinese manufactured, we should expect three quarters of road failures to be with Chinese tires.



Add to that all the trailers that blow by me like I'm standing still when I'm doing 63 mph or so, bad roads, overloaded or even right at the limit loaded trailers, tires that often spend half a year or more at a time without moving an inch sitting on one spot of the tread, etc, and I'm actually surprised the failure rate isn't far greater than it is. There are a lot of trailers out there from open utility trailers to enclosed box trailers using these tires, not just campers, and they aren't all over the side of the road.


Edited to add: That's not to say there aren't much better tires than OEM, but just because there may be better tires doesn't make the OEM tires "bombs".


Ray

[Jericbarg]

Originally Posted by RandK-M

It's simple math.



If three quarters of the tires on trailers are Chinese manufactured, we should expect three quarters of road failures to be with Chinese tires.



Add to that all the trailers that blow by me like I'm standing still when I'm doing 63 mph or so, bad roads, overloaded or even right at the limit loaded trailers, tires that often spend half a year or more at a time without moving an inch sitting on one spot of the tread, etc, and I'm actually surprised the failure rate isn't far greater than it is. There are a lot of trailers out there from open utility trailers to enclosed box trailers using these tires, not just campers, and they aren't all over the side of the road.


Ray

The most accurate post on this entire forum!


Also, thanks for your service to our country.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

You didn't tell us the GAWR which is the controlling number for the tire rating. RVIA requires (as of Nov 2017) the tire capacity to be at least 110% of GAWR.


Do you meet that?

I've always maintained that the GAWR was the controlling factor in other posts but apparently left it out in this one. The OE tires just met the GAWR of two 3500# axles with 40# to spare. Manufacture stated max GVWR at 6640# but even crammed as full as I could get it it only "scaled at 6350# max (scale weight at tires, not adding tongue weight).

As of yesterday this is all moot as I replaced my old OE tires. Were approaching 20,000 miles and close inspection showed a couple tires in the set were already well over 3 years old. Since I have at least 8,000 miles of travel on my travel schedule for this year (already over 5,000 miles since January) I replaced all 5 tires with Goodyear Endurance.

NOW, I easily meet the new standard of 110% and only need 60 PSI to achieve that. (1950 lbs @60 psi).

FWIW, in the last two years I've traveled a lot of miles on a lot of different highways. For some reason the only trailers I've ever seen on the side of the road with flat or destroyed tires have been old beat up, homemade, utility types, with a mountain of junk on them. With all the reports of "China Bombs" it's strange I haven't seen anyone with a Travel Trailer on the side of the road changing out one of them. In 40 plus years I've only had to change two tires on a trailer and in both cases it was because the tires were old and had been sitting on my pad for extended periods of time before taking long trips.

Sure would like to see some validated statistics on Chines built ST trailer tires used on RV's. The way it is now, the only validated numbers are from the tire Mfr/Distributors when someone actually makes a warranty claim. I'll wager that most just buy new tires so nobody really knows how many are actually failing in the first 2-3 years or if the failures are merely "campfire talk".

I do know that if I'd had any of my OE tires fail I'd be sending some pictures to Lionshead in the next day's mail.