If you are going to really drive a lot, running bias ply tires is like wearing cowboy boots to run a marathon...
Both of these statements have an element of truth to them, but as the reasonably educated man you seem to be, you must realize that in the real world, relying on people to make a sensible decision will very often lead to a less than ideal outcome (although not necessarily entirely unexpected). When the consequences of this could harm other innocent people, the implementation of some form of legislation is probably a wise move.
A ten year old radial let go on a friend's '47 Chevy convertible. Tread separated on a hot August afternoon after about a 100 mile run. Cost a little over $2500 to fix the left rear fender and trim. Here in the South it's a good idea to replace tires at 6/7 years.
Mark, I know this might be a loaded question, but would you consider using bias tires on your trailer? As you probably know, we are in the finishing stages of our 20’ car trailer and I’ve gone back and forth over bias vs radial. Unfortunately, no major brand name tire company makes bias tires anymore (not counting Coker). Deestone makes a 7.50-16 with a load range that would work for us.
I run Hankooks from Tire Rack. I have about 13k on them and the car is always garaged unless I'm driving it. They still look like new. On my OT rides I get 35k out of them at least. I have had Yokahama tires with over 60k on them. Hot rod radials, YMMV truly applies. But I'd still appreciate the ride over a bias ply. Back in the day (circa 1975) if I was doing 70 with bias ply tires, it was living on the edge.
On the Airstream forum they talked about NOT running trailer tires on Airstream trailers. Seems that trailer tires do not have to conform to all the same rules that tires that carry people do. They recommend the use of LT tires or light truck tires in the same size as the trailer tires. Safer and last longer, also cost more.
I have heard that, I am going to run truck tires next time. I will throw these away at 4 years old..... I wish there was a bias ply tire to fit my trailer..... 235 85 16
I've noticed that nowhere in this thread has anyone mentioned the effects of ozone on rubber. Just read an article by an attorney in south Florida suggesting that in the event of a crash resulting from a blown tire, the person involved should scoop up some tire fragments and pass them on to a "skilled tire defect attorney". I wasn't aware that there was such a thing, but it seems that there are people who make a living from studying deteriorating rubber for profit.
I’m of the mindset that it’s the chemicals used to make the rubber are different now than what they were years ago. Now I can’t say for sure if that difference is caused by EPA regulations banning some chemicals or the way they are used or if it’s the tire makers themselves substituting different things or methods to increase their profits per tire. It sure seems like the older tires would get hard and crack, but they usually gave warning before they blew. I sold a trailer last year that had mobile home axles under it, and used those odd 14.5” tires. I gathered up as many used ones as I could find, and ran that trailer over 15 years, even though most of them didn’t have date codes, I know some of them had to be 40 years old or older! Sure, I blew out a few, but I wore out more than I blew. They in many cases were rock hard and cracked like an egg shell, but never blew out. In contrast, I’ve had tires 3-4 years old that looked new blow the sidewall out. Something is different, but I’m not smart enough to know what.
I may be wrong but I think most tires come from our major source for all,China. All regulations are bypassed and recycled garbage is used to make most products both edible and non edible.
I just had a trailer tire let loose on me coming home from Toronto. No cracking or dry rot, just blew the tread off. Changing a tire on the side of Route 80, in 20 degree weather, at 2 am is exactly how I wanted that trip to go. I lost 2 tires on my 56 Olds last year, but the tires were over 15 years old, and I had over 30K miles on them before the tread separated. They were old Cokers but drove decent. I had Cokers on my 57 Ford as well and even new they felt like ovals, but never deflated or separated. The Diamondbacks are a substantial improvement over the Cokers, and on part with the BF Goodrich Silvertowns. I just put the Auburn pie crust radials on my Olds and in the 50 or so miles I've driven it, make the road feel like glass. Very impressive. On my O/T daily, I drive a hoopty just to erase miles on a long commute. I use whatever tires are cheap from online suppliers, usually Westlake or General or something like that. I get damn near 100K miles out of a set just by keeping the car aligned and rotating them every so often.
During the construction of my 56 F100, I had new Mastercraft radials on the Americans. About 6 months old. No miles, inside always. One day working on the front clip off the truck, a very loud pop. The left front tire blew at the mounting bead. Properly mounted, balanced, and close to correct air pressure I assume, because the right front tire was still correct. Date code was just over a year old. I’m friends with the tire shop owner and they did all the mounting and balancing work, so they replaced it, but that shows the quality of todays’ products. Got about 500 miles on the truck now, and so far no other problems.
I might suggest that when you buy new tires to put on your ride (which ever ride that may be), that you check the DOT date code to see just how old that tire really is. I've seen and heard of several local and national tire chain stores are selling tires that are nearing 4 years old that have been sitting on some warehouse tire rack someplace. Those tires have no ever been mounted on wheels, so technically they are still considered as being new tires. Just something to be aware of. A lot of the low priced tire brands come from China. Chinese quality control is always questionable, some is good, some is not, could depend on the day it was loaded onto the boat. I believe the quality of the rubber isn't as good as it used to be. Now many tire companies are blending synthetic rubber with natural rubber, and I wouldn't doubt they are playing with the chemical mix of the bonding agents to increase the profit margins. One more thing, the natural rubber comes from the tree sap of Rubber Trees. There is probably a limited number of rubber trees they can get the sap from. After all these years of tapping those trees, can anyone wonder if the amount of rubber produced each year has to be spread a bit thinner? I've noticed that nearly every product with rubber in it has had reduced quality the last few years.
There were approx. 334 million tires sold in the US last year. For blowouts to be what would be considered statistically significant there would need to about 16.5 million a year. I am willing to bet it doesn't come close to that number. There are about 290 million register vehicles in the US and blowouts account for anywhere between about 33,000 to 78,000 accidents per year (depends on where you get the stats) I assume this is based on insurance claims. Even if there were 100 times more blowouts than those that caused accidents (which again is probably unlikely) based on the highest numbers that is still only about 2% of the total number of tires sold. People act like no tire ever had an issue in the past and now they are blowing out left right and center when the truth of the matter is it is probably not much different than it ever was.
I have not checked them, but there seems to be no reason to dispute those figures. The one thing I will add is that the vast majority of tires are worn out and replaced before age becomes a factor...... and tire age is what we are discussing, no? Simple fact is that the older a tire gets, the more likely it will let you down. Sometimes in a real bad way.
People act like no tire ever had an issue in the past and now they are blowing out left right and center when the truth of the matter is it is probably not much different than it ever was. I disagree I have had 5 fairly new tires according to date codes go bad in the last 4 years. includng the one above . hadn't had much trouble since 721's till then
And I have never had one go bad and I drive a ton for work so replace tires often. Both anecdotal scenarios that are meaningless.
Depends how you store them during the off season. https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/tire-storage.aspx How to Store Your Tires The best place to store tires is a clean, cool, dry, sunless area away from strong air currents. Even though the rubber used to make tires is formulated to resist the effects of sunlight, ozone, and water, the life of a tire can be extended if exposure to these elements is minimized during storage. Stack tires flat so that the bottom tire will maintain its shape Wrap each tire with an opaque polyethylene covering to minimize the effects of oxygen and ozone. Most Goodyear retailers have storage bags made specifically for this purpose If tires are being stored outdoors, they should be raised off the storage surface If tires are stored while mounted on rims, they should be inflated to 10 psi If they are put in storage during warm weathe
A friend of mine bought a new light weight 22 foot travel trailer. He immediately before taking delivery had tire pressure monitors installed. Never bothered to look at brand of tires it was brand new. In his second year of ownership he was sitting in a lawn chair heard a pop went to investigate and one of the tires had a blowout while sitting still. He took the tire off went to town and had a new Goodyear tire installed. The Goodyear people told him they thought it was a good idea to replace the other tire on the same axel with the same brand and tire so he went got the other tire and had it replaced with a Goodyear. Later that year on about 200 mile trip he was driving about 65mph and had a blowout on one of the original tires. He got off the interstate put the spare on and continued on. Not 20 miles later the other tire had a blowout. This time with no spare he was forced to call a mobile tire service. He told them to bring two Goodyears the same as he had put on the other axel. Couple hours later tire service arrived changed both tires and he resumed his trip. These defective tires were less than two years old, probably had less than 2,000 miles on them and were manufactured in China. I think he called the US Distributor but they would not do anything about it. When I recently replaced all the tires on our motorhome I was presented with a lot of tire brands some substantially cheaper all made in China. I opted for Bridgestones after doing a lot of research. The last thing I want is a blowout on a 22,000 pound vehicle at 65mph.
you missed my smiley face, i was being sarcastic. i asked about whether it was worth the extra cost to upgrade to bias ply looking radials and my post turned into bad rubber and trailer tire failures. i'll stick with the bias plies
my birthday is june 3rd. i'm registered at socal speed shop and hot heads in case you're looking for gift ideas
It's amazing there isn't pure carnage on every weekly dirt track here in the north east given that short track racing tires are bias ply and Sportsman/modifieds still run front straight axles
If you think about all the different extremes that tires operate in around the world......everything from hot sunny desert climates to extreme arctic conditions, I'd think that tires are pretty reliable and last well. Like any product where kazillions of them are produced there are going to be some failures. Sometimes it's a whole production run that's problematic. Radial tires are safer .....especially at todays speeds...... but they are not infallible. In the long run I would rather trust radial tires than bias ply. Tires are just like humans.......some of them last longer than others.
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