How Old Are Those Tires?

06-16-2006, 07:36 PM

My tires are 14" Titan ST Radial II. After a blow out last Sept. on the tires that came with our used TM, 3 months after we got it, we had both tires replaced. It was difficult to find a supplier of trailer tires so we we're happy to have anything that fit even though they cost more than my car tires. While following the thread on "another blowout", I thought to myself, "at least I don't have Marathons." Then found that Titan has connections with Goodyear and Firestone, so how do I know what I really have? How does anyone know? The folks who sold me the Titans (at Big O) told us about the dating on the tires. That was good info. When we bought our first TT, a Coleman, in 2002 it was brand new. It had 13" Dutro tires. Each one of them disintigrated over the first 2 years. Even the spare. No blow out, just all the tread fell off in fist sized chunks. We were told it was just the way trailer tires are. We mostly blamed Interstate-5 and stopped driving the 400mi trip to LA with the trailer. If we had known about the date of mfg on the tires back then, we probably would have found them to be quite old even though they were "new" in that they had never been used.
So now I vow to check the tires I buy more carefully for mfg dating and replace them every 3 years regardless of usage, and keep tire pressure in check. But I wonder how much this will help.

So here's my question. If you have had a blow out due to a tire malfunction, how old were your tires when they blew? I know many won't know the mfg date but how long were they on your trailer? Were you pushing or exceeding the 5 year reccomended limit? Were they under 3 years old? I'd just like to get an idea. I know there are lots of variables but I don't remember reading anything about "brand new" tires failing (except my own). Does it happen?
Thanks in advance.
Paranoid,
Cheri

**B_and_D** · 06-16-2006, 09:59 PM

Ours must have been over 6 years old when we had our blowout. I think they were the original tires; we bought in 2003, and our TM is a 1997. Those 6+ year old tires looked brand new. Now we have 2 year old tires, and they don't have very many miles on them, either. So now should we buy new tires in 2 years, or?

I wonder if it makes a difference how long you let your trailer tires sit in one position without moving. Our TM will sit for 5 - 6 months at a time in the same spot. Maybe we should move it around more (or go camping more

) . I check the air pressure before we take off on a trip, but it's never down by more than 2 - 4 lbs.

We have a cover over the TM and it protects the tire on the southwest side from the sun (no sun from the east, we're in a valley).

**fcatwo** · 06-16-2006, 11:16 PM

I was just reading about this in the storage suggestion section over at the Goodyear site and they say letting tires sit under load for a long time in one position (like 6mos) is the worst possible thing to do. They say tires will last much longer if they are used regularly. Recommendation was to move the trailer periodically while in storage so the smushed part of the tire is rotated or jack it up so the tires are off the ground. I've also read that the tires should be stored sitting on a piece of wood rather than soil or pavement and covered if exposed to direct sun.

I've violated all of these suggestions fairly regularly over the years -- don't think I missed a one. I've also never had a blowout but I change tires at recommended intervals and keep an eye on them while traveling. that plus a lot of luck has kept us out of trouble so far.

**YWORRYDOG** · 06-17-2006, 08:55 AM

What about rotating the tires with the spare on a yearly bases like I do, or is this considered a no no?

06-20-2006, 08:29 PM

Anybody else know about how old their tires were when they failed?
Cheri

06-21-2006, 08:55 AM

i've already posted a request for info on the tires tires tires section and have not recieved any response!!!!! i'm sure someone has researched this problem....
i'm also confident that we campers are quite diligent about loading,temp,and keeping proper pressure....
soooo...what gives with all these blowouts???

thanks bill s

**commodor47** · 07-29-2006, 08:22 PM

It might be helpful to post a survey of tire failures. The Epinion link had 12 reviews -not enough to reach a valid conclusion. I also noticed all the reviews were for larger TT.

We had a tire failure this past winter in Florence, AZ. But it was not so much a result of tire failure as it was operator error. We were headed to a CG on SR 79 and encountered a large motorcycle rally. Traffic was backed up several miles but finally started to clear. As we passed through the intersection my DW said "turn here". I did something I never do, turned quickly and immediately felt the TV drop off the edge of the road into some loose, large traprock. Needless to say the TM also took a quick drop onto the rock strewn shoulder. As I continued into the campground we both realized it was the wrong one! The CG we were looking for was 100 yards up the road. By this time I was moving slowly towards the CG office (looking for a place to turn around) along side people returning from viewing the rally. They started pointing to the back of the TM shouting "flat tire". The sudden drop off the edge of the roadway turned out to be a three inch depression directly onto the pointed edge of a large piece of trap rock. It literally ripped open the side wall of the tire, exposing the steel belts. I found a tire shop that had a replacement tire. When I gave the manager the tire name he was somewhat hesitant. He was about to suggest a different tire until I gave him the tire size. Apparently there are some Marathon sizes that seem to have had more issues than others. The replacement tire got us back home after traveling over 4000 miles. The date on the tire that failed was 2002 -same as the other tire on the trailer. The new tire is dated 2005. I will be replacing the other tire within the year.