Quote:
Originally Posted by allan5oh
I've blown two of these tires in 2 months now. I have not overloaded them, kept the tire pressure at 120(according to mfg specs) and I don't hit anything. They always blow out the tread, not the sidewall. Like a damn cannon.
One was a recap (rear axle, outside tire, passenger side) the other was a virgin (rear axle, drivers side, inside tire).
The only thing I can think of is the previous owner abused the tires. The pressures were low (90 psi or so) when I first got the trailer. This particular size needs to be 110 psi to be legal for US weights, and 120 psi to be legal for Canadian weights. But a low pressure situation usually leads to a sidewall blowout.
Alan, I wouldn't trust trailer makers with the pressure number for the tires. Mine are 17.5 and the sign on the side of the trailer says, Air Pressure: 125 (!) PSI for the rating of ... 5,675 lbs per tire in a dual setup. Now, I still remember the high school math, so I multiplied 5,675 by 8 and it's 45,400 lbs per 2 axles! I never have that much. I think I did a stricktly Canadian load once in 3 years and that was like 39,000 on the trailer axle. With US we carry 34,000 lbs / 8 = 4,250 lbs only. And that's maximum.
If 125 corresponds to 5675 lbs then x should correspond to 4,250.
X= 4250 x 125 / 5675 or 93 (!) PSI.
I asked the Trailers Canada about this and they said, "Use 115 PSI for light loads and 125 for heavy loads." Then I found the "Dr. Tire" on the Bridgestone site (my tires are Bridgestone) and I emailed them my question about the recommended tire pressure for the maximum of 34,000 lbs on the trailer tandems.
Guess what Bridgestone said? "As long as you maintain 110 PSI consistently, you should be fine with your types of loads. But 110 is the minimum." When I asked them about 115 they said it was okay too because that gave me 5 PSI reserve... So, I"m running 115 PSI on these 17.5" tires while the Wilson insisted I use 125.
What I"m trying to say is I think your tires blew because you had too much pressure in the first place and then they heated up to something like 140 psi at the highway speed and ... BOOM!