Okay, I am going to answer the initial question of this post.

Why do so many trailer tires go flat and blow out??

I have lived in a tire shop all my life and have seen it all.

This is exactly what happens in 99% of trailer tire failures, unless that tire is made by Carlisle, Firestone, or General.

The trailer tires are way back there, where you can't see them very well, and can't feel them at all.

Going merrily down the road, a trailer tire will pick up a nail, screw, piece of glass, etc., and will commence to lose air-pressure.

Once the air-pressure drops low enough, the tire will start to build up heat, then it will explode BANG, and you will automatically assume that the tire had some kind of inherent defect that caused it to catastrophically fail, when the truth of the matter is that it developed a leak, that left un-attended, caused the tire to go flat, get hot, and go BOOM.

Also, trailers are more susceptible to picking up debris, and running over obstacles, due to them cutting the corners, and getting stuck back in places that we wouldn't dare drive the truck; also, most trailers track wider than the truck, putting the trailer tires more at risk of puncture.

One other popular mis-conception is that ST trailer tires are best for trailers.

I am not going to say all brands of ST are no good; but, most brands of ST trailer tires are manufactured under much looser tolerances, with inferior materials, than LT rated tires.

I can stick on whatever I please, at minimum cost, and I will always use LT tires on my trailers.

 

I have a 1998 Titan flatbed, 29 ft. with tandem duals. It has the original "E" rated tires that came on it 8 years ago. We have hauled numerous 12 to 20 thousand pound loads on it over the years, way to many to count, and have never had a blowout. What gives?? Most of these runs are 400 mile round trips too. It must be because it has duals.

 

Good info Bearkiller

 

If you have 16 inch wheels on a trailer I have the cure for you. A 16 inch tire has a high side wall and bellies under load. In hot weatheer especially, the belly causes heat, all the air in the tire expands and blows the tire. You will in fact have better luck with used tires at less than 50% tread on them then with new tires. But....

A 19.5 225/70 tire is the same rolling diameter as a MIchelen E rated 235/85 16 tire with half the sidewall and half the air capacity. It has stiffer sidewalls and bellies very little. The rating is 3640. The G614 Goodyear is rated for 3750 but will blow regularly. The 19.5 wheels will cure the problem.

I load 24,000 plus pounds on three axles constantly and run 70 mph with the 19.5's and have never had a flat. The G rated 16 tires blew each and every trip. The wheels will have to be built for you. Diamond racing wheels will build them for $175 each.

The other direction that you can go but is more expensive is 17.5 tires which are lowboy tires.

I ran all summer from Florida with the 19.5's at 100 plus temperatures with no problems. That is with a six car trailer on three single axles.

Best money I ever spent was eight 19.5 wheels and a set of used tires.

 

It seems there are vastly more trailer tire failures now than ten years ago and further back, and I heard an explaination which made a lot of sense. Blame the enviromentalists.

Tire manufacurers are now having to formulate tires which will decay faster because desposal problems at landfills. They're starting to put a "use by date" rating on them. In other words, the rubber and vulcanizing isn't what it used to be.

Last summer we had a 6 year old Carlisle, with zero miles on it, mounted as a spare on a Wells Cargo trailer blow up. Tread separated from the carcass just as though it were rolling down the road. It had never been taken off the mount.

 

Tandum Trailer tires get twisted,scuffed, alot of stress on the side walls when turning. That will make them seperate. Turn sharpe and look in your mirror. Wow, look at that tire bend. hope my leaf springs dont rip off the trailer. Listen to them squeel and skid and scuff on the asphalt. So stiffer side wall? Maybe that tears them up inside more while turning. ?? who knows

Then the trailer sits for long periods and that flat spot area detearierates(SP),cracks and seperates.

I bought a 5th wheel last year and pulled the Goodyear tires off. They looked new. I smashed the unmounted tire with my foot around the tread and the tread seperated at the spot where the trailer had been sitting.

I have some tandum trailer axle concrete pumps and we run over crap on the job sites all the time , nails, rebar, you name it . So I buy the cheapest passenger car tires I can find for my pumps. They are not strong side wall trailer rated tires. Everone knows I should be running heavy duty e rated tires at 50+ psi on my heavy concrete pumps , right? These passenger car tires realy flex when the trailer turns sharp, 30 psi, just like a 4 ply light car tire will .

Will, its kind of interesting , We have never had one of these cheap passenger car tires seperate or Blow out . Sure we get flats because of nails and run the tires to shreds because we dont know the tire is flat.

Ahh,,, who knows?

 

If they are Carlisle tires, they can granade in only one month.

 

Reading that made me think of an experience one of our customers had a few weeks ago.

She is a wealthy, elderly, widow-woman, with a ten-year old Cadillac that looks new.

This lady, with three more little old ladies (some of them are about an ax-handle across), was cruising down the lightly traveled parkway in her car, when "KERBLAM", something in the car goes off like a Howitzer.

Needless to say, there were some wet drawers.

They thought they had been bombed, or ran over a mine.

When they reached their destination, and opened the trunk to get out their purchases, they found the source of all the racket.

The never-used ten-year old spare-tire had finally given it up, all in rags, with sharp steel cords everywhere.

 

old retired guy here and have to agree with bearkiller and haulin in dixie's points. I to have pulled commercial and for myself. We had as many as 5 trailers on the road hauling construction materials/equipment from one job sites to loading yards. We installed metal driveway covers over truck stops/etc. All of the current ST trailer tires have sidewalls shaped like a basketball which have lots of flex ,when loaded, which makes lots of heat/have thinner tread depth/have narrow tread width which makes the sidewall buldge out and are "economical"/only 65 mph rated, per Goodyear Marathon web. We know where that leads to . Better trailer tires will have sidewalls that are flater. That helps with the heat problem and with sidewall damage from construction sites debries/rocks or old stobs out in the pasture/road hazards/etc. If you want better trouble free trailer tire we only go with LT "E" [or bigger] rated tires in 16" for most heavy RV applications and implement/utility trailers. A really good tire dealer showed us how to keep from having so much down time on the side of the road changing flat tires. First he changed us to all LT rated tires and run max sidewall pressure at all times. He was a Goodyear truck tire dealer and did not recommend a ST tire for trailers over 5-6000 lbs. He was located on a interstate by two truck stops and had many commercial/hotshot customers that gave him lots of feed back on what actually works. LT tires will stand the constant side scrubing on sharp turns better that any ST type tire. I don't use ST rated tires on any of my trailers even my 28ft 11500 lb 5er. The last Carlisle I used was on a contractor wheel barrow and it blew/split tread at two years old............JIM

 

Well, Jim, if your'e going to insist on using a Carlisle tire like that, at a speed and load far above its rating, what do you expect!?

 

Thoughts on tire inflation ? Towing under load one would inflate to maximum. But for general use (same as on vehicle) does everyone inflate to maximum all the time ?

 

I am curiuos how heavy you equipment is? It is hard to find a P rated tire with a weight rating enough for many trailers. On lighter trailers I have had the same experience with P rated tires.

 

Im not sure how much my concrete pumps wieght maybe 3600-4000 lb . I should be putting more expensive heavy load tires on but they get to much Nail/rebar damage. They are tandum axle so what the heck. For awhile there seems like I was plugging tires everyday . Every morening I get coffee and plug in the compressor and air up the leaking tires.

 

every trailer that I have ever owned RV/implement/stock/utility/cargo/GN/boat stay at max sidewall pressure. I do regulate the air on my trucks when empty and loaded.
JIM

 

The other thing to consider with trailer tires is that the owner simply cannot be as sensitive to tire defects or balancing issues as you might be with vehicle-mounted tires. You just don't feel or hear the defect or balance issues developing until it is almost too late, due to the dampening effect of the trailer.
A tire which sits for much of the year can develop seperation in the core under the tread and develop a slight high-spot or out-of-round. Trailer tires do this and so do tires from those classic autos which sit for much of the year.
In the end, when you combine the miserable life of a trailer tire (sit for longer than other tires, then worked hard and monitored less) with the cost-sensitive motivations of the manufacturer, it simply adds up to higher-than expected failure rates. Therefore vechile-to-trailer tire life comparisons are probably not good comparisons.