Blowout in the desert!

[dieselburner]

Just got back from a trip through the southwest. It was uneventful until I was returning Sunday morning. I had just passed over the stateline into CA on I15 and had went through the agricultural inspection station near Needles. About 5 miles up the road my right rear tire had a tread separation. It wiped out the whole right rear quarter panel. We were towing a 13,000 pound fifth wheel and it was damaged from the flying rubber as well and it now has some cracked fiberglass. It was 7AM but it was already 102 degrees. Luckily, the tire continued to hold air even though it shed all of the tread down to the steel cords. The truck tracked straight and I easily slowed it down and got it off of the road. The tires are BFG 285/75 16 AT. Anyone have any suggestions of speed rated tires that are also rated to handle the load of a heavy fifth wheel? By the way, the insurance adjuster told me that this is exactly the same kind of separation that the firestone's are having and that he has been involved in three adjustments with tread separation and in all three, there were serious injuries. He also told me that BFG is a good tire.

 

[PUMPERDUDE]

Try talking with customer service. I just had my TT repaired from two blowouts on one trip. Goodyear footed the bill thanks to a silent recall. Now I have to bring the remaining tires for adjustments/replacement. Its worth a try.

 

[Extreme1]

A less agressive tread pattern would help somewhat.



Heavy Load + High Speed = Dead Tire



Edit:

Sounds like a good excuse to pick up a set of Ricksons!

 

[dieselburner]

Update:

The truck is in the shop and ETA for getting it back is 2 weeks. I also had fiberglass damage to the fifth wheel and will get that repaired once I get the truck back. The tire company and I came to an agreement and they have replaced all five tires on my truck (including the spare) at no cost to me to cover the deductable. And then some.



Edit - Rickson's were the first thing that I thought of after the incident. Tried to convince the wife on the Rickson's on the drive home after the blowout. Not quite convinced her yet but I'm wearing her down...

Steve

 

[BillGotthelf]

Over 20,000 miles the 4 BFG's on my 5th wheel blew out the same way-tread coming off and tire blowing. I've had other brands and did not have the problem. I always check pressure before the camper and truck move. I now have firestones on trailer and truck all the same tread and size 215-85-16 and have had no problems in 15,000 miles. Keep pressure at highest pressure for the tire rating with fifth wheel attached in rear tires.

 

[dieselburner]

I did have the tires inflated to the max on the sidewalls plus 10 psi since I was doing all highway driving at the rated load. I had michelins on my motorhome that started having blowouts but these were the 19. 5 inch tires on Budd rims. I had both front tires let go on sequential trips and I replaced all of them. That will scare the bejesus out of you. Sounds like a cannon going off and all of the sudden your in a hard turn.

 

[Matt42]

Desert Separation

Please forgive me for being blunt and less than diplomatic in my opinions, which follow. My experience with BFGs in the southwest is that they are cr**p. This experience dates back to 1981 when I was a fleet manager in Riverside, CA, and it continues through today in Arizona. I've found through bitter and expensive experience that the BFGs just don't seem to do the job. When still in California, I found that the BFGs would not reliably hold air (they seeped), and would lose tread long before the tread wore out. The Firestones, at the same time, were worse. By contract, we were limited to U. S. Brands, and only the Goodyears had a prayer of lasting as long as the tread, due to the heat. On my own vehicles, I ran Michelin, and NEVER had a failure. Strangely, we could buy Goodyears made in France, but not Michelins made in the USA.

That has changed. The Goodyear Wrangler ATs that came with my Ram were (IMO) junk. The best of them lasted 15K miles. The worst lasted 75 miles (not a typo).

What it seems to come down to is manufacturing design. In hot climates, radial tires made in clamshell molds are in my opinion, dangerous. Those made in segmented matrix molds have a decent chance of holding up. But all bets are off if the tires are run underinflated. Remember that 80 PSI at 100F is not the same as 80 PSI at 70F. The pressure and load ratings on the tire sidewalls are at 70F. So 80 PSI at 70F is closer to 90 PSI at 100F. A fully loaded tire at 80 PSI at 100F is underinflated. That's why the Tire Industry Safety Council says to never bleed pressure off of tires that are hot.



That's my experience. OK. Flame away.

 

[RBrunson]

Nitrogen gas

Here is a tip for mataining a constant tire pressure. If you have access to nitrogen gas, fill your tires with it. Won't hurt your tires and your pressure will remain the same in all temp. and loads. Several years ago I ran nitrogen for two years with no problems.