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Monday, June 5, 2017

"Only" drove 750 miles with companion dual tire low on air

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie View Post
What should I do? I had checked tire pressure the day before and only drove about 750 miles when the right rear inside duel blew resulting in damage to the MH and the tow. Only the side wall blew and the tire stayed on the rim. This is the first time in over 25 years of RVing that I have ever had tire trouble. I only had about 14,000 miles on these tires that are less than 2 years old. I bought the best tires they recommended. I will not say the brand but it begins with M.
I had pressure set at 120 psi and they were filled when the tires were cold and had not been driven for over a month, Should I be concerned about the other tires?


Should you be concerned? It depends. Why did the tire fail? If the failure was a sidewall flex failure (sometimes called a "zipper") from running low then there was most likely an active leak, i.e. puncture or leaking valve core would be on the top of my list. In this case the other tires are no more likely to fail next week than they were last week with one exception to be covered in a moment.

If you take the failed tire to a heavy truck tire dealer for the brand involved they should be able to confirm the mode of failure.

Since you were not running a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system), all we know is that probably sometime between checking the tire pressure and 750 miles later (2 days?) one tire had lost most/all of its air. We also know that the outer dual was run with possibly 100% overload so it probably sustained internal structural damage that shortened its life (months or years). Since we do not know how many miles at what % overload, it is impossible to predict -- so the suggested best practice is to replace the companion dual.

One thing we can do is to use this as a learning experience. With a TPMS a driver would get early warning and many times can stop before a tire is damaged and, by extension, avoid damage to the RV and even not damage the mate in a set of duals. A single warning in the life of a TPMS (years) could save much more than the cost of the system.

Now as to the other possible reason for a tire to lose air. It is possible for a piece of grit to get into the valve core and allow air to leak. I suggest you review the posts on "Valves" (list to the left) and you can see an actual example of a leaking tire and the grit that caused it. So, as I have pointed out in the past, the very act of checking air pressure can sometimes result in a leak and potentially a failed tire.

##RVT797

9 comments:

  1. TPMS should be a requirement not an option on any RV type.
    You invest 10's of thousands of dollars in your RV even more and can't afford $500.00 on a TPMS?? for shame.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would like to comment on a TPMS system that you refer to in the above article. I bought one a few years back. Every time I stopped for fuel, I had from 1-3 tire monitors go off for low pressure. This became very annoying. Once I had a blowout and the tire was completely destroyed. An hour later, the TPMS still showed full pressure in this tire. I called the manufacture of this TPMS and was sent a new receiver and 3 new tire pressure monitors, which did nothing to solve my problem. As this system was only a month old, I requested and received a return of my money. Happy watching my tires in the mirrors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't know what the problem was with your unit. If they were "going off" at fuel stop clearly something was obviously wrong and the problem should have been fixed.

      Delete
  3. Ditto on valves. I will read all your posts on that as I have lost pressure after topping up an RV tire and probably had a grit issue as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I mounted a camera under the trailer so I can check the tires as I travel down the road, seeing is believing...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Replies
    1. Oops! Thanks, 2oldman. Fixed it. --Diane at RVtravel.com

      Delete
  6. We have an Itaska Spirit 29B (Class C) that has started throwing wheel covers at 60 MPH late in the day of long drives. Is there anything you can think of we can do to better lock them to the wheel. Tires are nominally at 80lbs cold and the problem does not seem to be closely related to road condition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like an issue of proper fit of the covers to the wheels along with flexing of the wheels. Maybe a different wheel cover design or manufacturer would solve the problem.

      Delete

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