Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

[Bry21317]

Yesterday as I was coming home with the Fam from the Lake, my trailer tire exploded. The boat is a 19 foot bayliner and my Tow Vehicle is a 2003 Suburban 4x4 with Tow Package. We were going about 55 mph up a hilly road, when it blew out. It did not make me sway at all, the Suburban never flinched, towing the trailer on the rim, till I got it stopped.

The tire is all torn to hell. There was nothing that I hit, and the tire was in very new shape, as less than 1 year old. I just wore all of the Rubber nipples off of the tire about 4 weeks ago. It has been on the trailer, but never had any wear, barely. I would say it might have 500 miles on the tire. So the treat was brand new.

The metal came through the tire and it is all torn up. I checked the pressure on this tire as I keep them a little low, before I left for the lake and it was at 34psi, I just looked today and on the tire it states max PSI is 50.

Could it have blown from being the low? I usually keep them a little low, for the shock absorption. I just want to know what could have caused the blowout, as I don't want it to happen again.

Bryan

 

[xtraham]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

low pressure will cause excessive heat and could cause tire damage, my bet is that something punctured the side wall

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Or you had hit the sidewall on something and din't realize it.

Was it the right hand side tire by chance?

What weight is your trailer/boat and what is the tire rated for? If you are close to the upper limit of the tire, you should have it inflated to 50 PSI

 

[JB]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Overload and underinflation cause most trailer blowouts.

At 34psi you were very underinflated. You need to run those tires at 50psi, assuming they have an adequate load rating for the load.

 

[QC]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

I'm 100% with JB. Those 50 PSI rated tires definitely do not like 34 . . .

I have a friend with a tandem axle trailer that kept blowing them, just shredded them like you describe. Finally I got sick of helping him and asked what pressure he was running them at . . . 35. He hasn't blown one since that conversation

 

[Bry21317]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

In hear ya guys, the tires were rated at like 1760lbs at 50psi. i will make sure to pump them up.

I think my boat/trailer is like 2000lbs, not to sure how much it weighs. But thats what I would guess.

I have always run them like this, but never blown but one tire and that was when I first got the boat. That was an old tire and it was over inflated. That was about 7 years ago. So I have run them at a lower pressure since that episode without any problems. I guess this tire did not like that. I did notice that there was alot of tire on the road, as it was like pancaking out, compared to what the pare was doing. So I will make sure to pump them all up to the max.

Thanks Guys. I will try to take a pic as the tire looks crazy, how it exploded.

Bryan

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Agree with the 34 PSI. The maximum load capacity for the tire is at 50 PSI. 34 PSI is 32% under inflation. If the load rating of the tire is 1500# at 50 PSI for example, the tire is only capable of roughly 1000# at 34 PSI. If a puncture wasn't the problem, underinflation was.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Ayuh,............

Trailer Tires Like to be At the Maximun Pressure...........

I'd rather find them 5lbs. High,...... than 10lbs. Low...........

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

If you are at 2000# total and have 2 1750# tires, I don't believe you were underinflated at 35 PSI.

What size and load rating is your tire?

You either had a defective tire or you hit something that cut or weakened the tire.

On my Ford F-150 I have factory tires that have a max psi of 50 PSI that the manual says to put 35 in also. That is because the actual load on the tire is not at the maximum rating of the tire.

Sometimes tires just fail. Last year with a brand new car with less than 2K miles, my front tire did the same thing as your tire did.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

If it says max 50 psi then 50 psi is the best pressure to have in them otherwise you run the risk of overheating them and we all know the consequences !

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

If you have 1760# tires, I suspect the boat is heavier than 2000#. Of course this may no longer be a matched pair (boat and trailer) so the boat may indeed be a lightweight on a heavier duty trailer. That however can also add to problems due to under inflation. Heavy duty trailers with low inflation pressures will cause the tires to be more active than the springs. This constant flexing of the sidewalls builds heat quickly and blow out occurs.

 

[Bry21317]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Silvertip,
The tires were and have been riding very low on the Sidewalls, and excessively taking the shock. Maybe this is what caused it for sure. I will make sure from now on to pump the tires up to the MAX psi.

The trailer is the Escort Trailer that came with the boat, but the tires are ones that I replaced last year with the best ones I could get for the size. They are 14x195x75 and true trailer tires not radial car tires.

Now that you say this, it does seem that it probably just exploded due to the pressure of the boat/trailer pushing the side walls out to much due to underinflation.

 

[Bry21317]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Here is a link to the pic that I took looking down at the tire. My camera Ran out of room on the memory, so I didn't get to take any more of the sides. I will try to get some more, now that I cleared off the memory card, all the wifes pics of course.

http://www.karaoke-computers.com/bryan/blown_tire.jpg

You can see the metal sticking out but not the tears down the sides. I wll get some better pics.

Bryan

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

I looked up his boat on NADA and it weighs 1655#. It is probably a little over 2000# with trailer and gas but not by much.

That being said the only disadvantage of running your tires at 50 PSI is that the tires will wear more in the center. Since most people never wear the tread out on trailer tires that is not usually a problem.

I still don't think underinflation was the cause of this tire failure if it truly was at 35 PSI.

I would be very interested in a pictures of your tires at 35 PSI and at 50 PSI. Were you running radial or bias ply tires?

 

[BF]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

"Now that you say this, it does seem that it probably just exploded due to the pressure of the boat/trailer pushing the side walls out to much due to underinflation."

I think what actually happens is that the underinflation allows distortion so the tire is out of round (big flat spot at the contact area). The flexing of the tread in front of the contact area causes overheating and catastrophic separation. So, I doubt it was a sidewall failure.

DItto that running at the high end of the pressure is better. If the trailer rides too harsh, a spring shop can probably help.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Look at the tread of the tire very carefully. I think you will see some tread cupping going on which leads one to expect overloading, bent spindle or axle, or an out of alignment problem. The cupping is most noticeable in the upper left of the area where the cord material is sticking through the tread. To have a cords exit through the tread is also unusual unless you ran over something.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

I noticed that cupping too. Problem with trailers is that there are no shock absorbers so an out of balance tire can get cupped easily.

That tire looks like it hit something.

 

[Bry21317]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

I didn't see anything in the road, it was a main highway and my buddy went the same way about 3 cars in front of me with his boat/trailer.

The tires were Bias Ply, not the radials.

Now, we did notice the hub had some play in them, when we jacked it up to put the spare on. So I will be replacing the hubs before taking it anywhere else. I always keep my bearings greased up really good, the bearings are not to old either, and have bearing buddy's on them.

I think the cupping you are referring to is more less where there is now a bulge, I didn't get to take a good picture of it as the camera got full after one picture. I will take more pictures tonight of the tire and sidewall. I will then take a picture of the trailer on the Spare tire, which is at 50psi I believe. The other tire is at 34 psi Also, so I will see if I can get a picture of that one also, but it is sitting on the grass, so it may not show as good as its not on the Drive way as the Right side is.

Thanks for all the input.

Bryan

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

Don't need to replace the hubs. Just check the bearings and readjust the spindle nut properly. Plenty of information on how to do that on the web and here. Just do a search for it. Back to the tire. Looking at it yet one more time, it seems the tread has separated as well.

 

[mcaproni]

Re: Tire Blew- What could have caused it?

I read on the goodyear site that TS tires should not be run over a speed of 65 mph. If ran between 66 and 70 mph tires should be over inflated by 10 psi. as long as it is not over wheel pressure rating.