Blew a tire today.

[chris]

Driving down I-40, I blew the rear drivers side tire. I used the jacks to lift it up and change it. Looked like a sidewall blowout. There was a defect on it earlier that my service team thought was RTV. May or may not have been. Ripped the underbelly and the insulation a bit, broke the fender and the fender mount. The under slide is also ripped. Duct tape has fixed it so far. I'm at about 6700 miles. We have another 3600 miles on this trip.
Ct..

[mtpocket]

Where you running the China tires?

[chris]

Yes, I am. 6700 miles on them.

[mtpocket]

Thats very sad. A tire that cant go more than 7000 miles without doing 1,000's in damage. It's a well known issue and a safety issue yet continues to be ignored industry wide. Hopefully one day soon someone in the industry feels the pain financially. Appears just doing the right thing and supplying a safe, well made product in the RV industry doesn't happen anymore. Hope it gets all fixed up good as new.

[Gsport]

How fast were you going Chris? I hate hearing about all these tire failures on the different forums. Makes me think about changing tires on mine. I've got about 7,000 miles or so on mine now.
Good luck

[thompsons 369rl]

Driving down I-40, I blew the rear drivers side tire. I used the jacks to lift it up and change it. Looked like a sidewall blowout. There was a defect on it earlier that my service team thought was RTV. May or may not have been. Ripped the underbelly and the insulation a bit, broke the fender and the fender mount. The under slide is also ripped. Duct tape has fixed it so far. I'm at about 6700 miles. We have another 3600 miles on this trip.
Ct..

Chris, just a few questions:

1. RTV??
2. How fast were you traveling?
3. What were the conditions (temp, road, etc.)?
4. Were you monitoring via a TPMS and if so, did it give any warning prior to the failure?

[Lidreaux]

I am also interested because we have faulty tires on our unit and would not have noticed but we had a flat on the day we purchased and then saw someone else on this forum had issues with faulty tires, too. We discovered our VIN #'s are only 2 numbers apart, so ours are definitely faulty tires from factory. Getting ready to call them now. We just bought our unit a week ago and looking into a TPMS but want to make sure we get the best one we can get. Check your valve stems on your tires.

[Justaguy]

I was on I-40 3 weeks ago...in Ark and TN....worse roadway I have ever been on. If that wont take out a set of tires I don't know what will. Where on I-40 were you? I hate driving that Interstate.

[ACDW-Ottawa]

I hope everyone was all right. The trailer can always be repaired.

How did your rig handle when the tire blew and how easy were you able to safely stop on the side of the road? I have never had a flat yet and wonder what its like. Obviously I will never know until I have one but it would be nice to have an idea to be better prepared if and when it happens to me. Any suggestions what to do when a tire blows?

[mtpocket]

I had a tire blow on a previous 5th wheel. If it wasn't for the loud bang and looking in the side mirror seeing plastic, sheet metal and rubber flying through the air I wouldn't have known it happened. We were in the left lane passing a truck so it took awhile to get to the shoulder. It drove no differently on three tires compared to four. The only suggestion I have for when it blows is get your wallet out and a fresh pair of underwear because it is an exciting moment. It is going to be expensive. Tires are cheap in relation to the damage they do.

As far as the safely stop question the tire was on the drivers side. There was hardly any shoulder and the right side tires were deep in the weeds to get some room on the left side. There wasn't an exit in sight. I would say 75 percent of the trucks moved over as they passed and 5 percent of the cars. A tractor trailer going by within a foot of you at 70 keeps you awake. Might want to save that fresh underwear until the job is done! Not a cop in sight to divert traffic wide. Did see one hiding trying to generate revenue a mile or so up the road when we got going again. Called AAA to change the tire. That took 20 minutes to locate us because they couldnt let me email them my position. There were no towns or signs close by. Another 20 to get a tire guy there and change the tire and cut sheet metal out of the way so it didn't cut a new tire. Then countless calls to tire dealers trying to find a suitable tire and one that wasn't made in China. Found a tire an hour down the road and spent another 40 minutes there.