General tire questions and why they blow out so violently

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Another thing that often happens to trailer tires.  Curb hopping and it is easy to do and not even know you did it.  It results in broken belts on radial tires then several hundred miles later the tread separates and boom goes the tire.

When I am in Yuma there is a popular fuel station that has a bad entrance.  While fueling I have seen numerous travel and 5th wheel trailers hop the 6 inch vertical curb.
 
Yes, I wondered why. How is one to know about ST tires being rated at only 65 mph. The dealer who sold me the trailer didn't mention it. It isn't stamped on the sidewall. Even look at the tire specs on the Internet and I haven't found one that mentions speed rating.  Thankfully there are good folks here willing to share their knowledge and experience with those new to this past time.
 
Tejas Dave said:
Yes, I wondered why. How is one to know about ST tires being rated at only 65 mph. The dealer who sold me the trailer didn't mention it. It isn't stamped on the sidewall. Even look at the tire specs on the Internet and I haven't found one that mentions speed rating.  Thankfully there are good folks here willing to share their knowledge and experience with those new to this past time.
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It isn't....and in my humble opinion, it should be....the same way a temp spare is stamped MAX 50 MPH.  Doing this might prevent at least a handful of failures from new owners who haven't learned either here or the hard way.  And as for the sales people, I doubt most of them even know....

Again, I can't definitively say that towing at 55 mph is the sole reason I've never had a trailer tire failure, but it couldn't have hurt.  My other reason for towing at this speed is that if something does go wrong, there's a better likelihood of being able to gather it up than if I was barreling down the highway at 70.  Yes, people behind me get miffed from time to time on 2 laners, but that's their problem, not mine.  I move to the right when a passing lane comes up, and I will slow even further when they go to pass me to help them get around quicker.  So it takes me another hour to get there....big deal.  I'm not spending an hour changing a blown tire either. 
 
How is one to know about ST tires being rated at only 65 mph. The dealer who sold me the trailer didn't mention it. It isn't stamped on the sidewall. Even look at the tire specs on the Internet and I haven't found one that mentions speed rating.
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Agree, and it borders on gross negligence, IMO. Even the feds don't seem to care - it's just a trailer, right? Hardly anyone gets killed when a tire fails.

But most of the driving public ignores their tires until they fail in some way. And then they sue the tire and vehicle manufacturers for not making them bullet-proof.
 
I'm not spending an hour changing a blown tire either. 
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... and not investing money into repair the damage from the blown tire nor replacing tire(s).

There is so much talk about "China Bomb" and "ST tires" being so terrible. There is absolutely nothing wrong with ST tires as long as you use them within designed limitations. That means understanding the speed rating and staying BELOW that rating and understand your weight rating and stay BELOW that weight. Beyond that checking tire pressures and looking for tire damage you good to go. As for inflating to max pressure it depends on the trailer and the load. Like my utility trailer has Load Range C's good to 50 PSI but I run only 35-40 PSI because other than that it would eat the centers out of the tire premature. Trailer only weighs 1,800 pounds empty. So the max pressure doesn't always hold true. But like my RV the weight vs. capacity of the tires is so close to its rating it best to run the stated 65 PSI for Load Range D's. But still no failures.
 
Tejas Dave said:
Getting some Firestone Transforce HT 10 ply LT's put on tomorrow.  They were only $117 each at the local Firestone store.  Hope these offer extra reliability over the ST rated trailer tires.
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If your ST tires are 16" and the LT tires are 16" the LT tires cannot provide the load capacity of the ST tires. All you are doing is changing from a tire designed specifically for trailers to a tire designed specifically for light trucks (and giving up a lot of extra load capacity). Both tires are basically polyester corded tires.

FastEagle
 
I want to clarify to the form users that the Firestone HT Transforce LT 225/75/15 that I was to have put on my trailer turned out to only be six ply load range C.  Unfortunately, we discovered this after the tires were put on. Apparently LT tires in this size and load range D or higher are hard to come by. So looks like I'll be going back to the ST. They're going to put on some Hercules tires. I hope these are decent enough.
 
Tejas Dave said:
Yes, I wondered why. How is one to know about ST tires being rated at only 65 mph. The dealer who sold me the trailer didn't mention it. It isn't stamped on the sidewall. Even look at the tire specs on the Internet and I haven't found one that mentions speed rating.  Thankfully there are good folks here willing to share their knowledge and experience with those new to this past time.
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Your trailer?s owner?s manual should have provide you with the speed restriction of the ST tires. ST tires are not required to have service descriptions which provide a letter for speed restrictions.

This first reference is probably the best source of information about ST tires found on the internet. Carlisle has been building ST tires since their conception. Information in this reference is also used by numerous retailers such as The Tire Rack and Discount Tires.

http://www.carlisletransportationproducts.com/cms_files/original/Trailer_Tires__Tips_Best_Practices.pdf

One of the popular ST replacement tires is Maxxis. Here is a reference from them which lists the speed restriction for their ST tires.

http://www.maxxis.com/trailer/trailer-tire-loadinflation-chart

Most people just cannot accept the fact that ST tires are not mileage tires. They are age out tires. Everyone is pushing their luck after the four year usage mark.

FastEagle
 
I want to say I am new to all of this and until I read on here I had NO idea that the tires on my trailer were rated to only 65mph.  The first trip out I went between 65 and 70.  Now I know not to go above 65 and will keep it to 62-63 max.  As stated above my dealer did NOT tell me anything about max speeds.  I would have motored down the highway at 75 in NE and never thought twice about it until I joined this site.  I really figured they were no different than other tires.  I respect pretty much everyone's opinion on here and I have learned so much.  I will continue to read and learn.  THANK YOU to everyone who has helped and answered questions for us that are new.
 
::)

62-63 max.
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Keep it even lower. (Personal suggestion) More like 55-60 MPH is best. It kind of like I said before it like running your tachometer right up to redline and not expecting the engine to throw part every where or wear out prematurely. But if you give a good margin of room from redline (speed) you'll enjoy many trouble free miles with your RV or trailer tires.
 
Ok thanks guys.  Max will be at 60 and I'll set the cruise at 58.  5mph really won't get me there that much faster.
 
Just for fun...

150 mile trip.

150 miles / 55 MPH = 2.72 Hours x 60 = 2 Hours 43 minutes.

150 miles / 60 MPH = 2.5 Hours x 60 = 2 hours 30 minutes.

150 miles / 65 MPH = 2.3 Hours x 60 = 2 hours 18 minutes.

Still don't understand why people must hold speed limits of the roads and over run the limits of the tires? Sure isn't going to change the time to get to your destination much... But sure save you the cost of th blown tire, the damage to the RV, the hour lost change a tire on the side of a highway.
 
Iam pretty sure when and if a tire manufacturer puts a speed rating or a mph limit on certain tire they have allowed for a 10 or 15% override(error) on the side of the operator. BUT I certainly don't believe any one pulling a boat ,travel trailer or 5er etc should be driving at 70MPH. 60 is plenty quick
 
I too suspect the tire makers de-rate slightly.. But .. SUSPECT means not confirmed.

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On trailers, some of the smaller trailers have small wheels, These spin very fast, that generates HEAT, plus many folks tend to overload the trailer a bit (I know I Did) and thus the tires are running hot and heavy.. The violence of the blow out is the result of those two facts.

On motor homes such as I'm not driving just now ( :) ) The wheels are much larger, But some ididot designer tends to run electrical cables, plumbing and such INSIDE the wheel well so if the tire "Flaps" it tears the @#$@!#4 OUT OF STUFF THAT REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUT INSIDE THE RAILS WHERE IT'S PROTECTED FROM THIS KIND OF THING.
 
What the tire manufacturer is telling us with a speed restriction - especially us trailer owners - is the tire will support its maximum load at a given psi at the manufacturers speed restriction. For instance, the ST225/75R15E will support 2830# at 65 psi at 65 MPH.

The major problem with that is our trailer axles do not live in a perfect world and are more often than not overloaded somewhere. It may be a single wheel position, an entire axle or all axle positions.

FastEagle 
 
55MPH seems a little dangerous to me on a typical Interstate highway.
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You're too logical!  California and some other states require trucks and ALL vehicles towing (including us motorhomers with toads) to have a maximum speed of 55 mph.

ArdraF
 
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