Single Axle Tire Blowout @ 70 mph
Every trailersailor's nightmare right? Well relax! We had two this year. So there we were, driving north on the Florida Turnpike. It's late afternoon, around 5:30 pm. We're late, on our way to dinner with a friend of 10 years whom we've never met; a fellow trailer sailor we know only through the internet. I'm pushing it, about 70 mph, and I notice a rumble from astern. "Damn, I got a bearing going", I think to myself. "Oh well, I'll get to my friends house, we'll eat dinner, head to a motel, and change the bearing in the parking lot in the morning." 15 minutes later, with no additional warning... BANG! I look in the starboard side view mirror and rubber is flying everywhere. There's a weird metallic sound from astern. I put my signal on, take my foot off the gas, and at about 20 mph, pull off gradually onto the shoulder. The tire sidewall is blown out laterally across the tire in about 3 places. The tread is in one long strip laying on the highway, about 300 yards back. The license plate is hanging and the tailight is smashed. There are rubber smears up the sides of the hull. The aft half of the fender is folded underneath almost doubled on itself. The rim is scratched around the edge, but no major dings or dents. The second occurence, a couple months later, was very similar (but at about 60 mph) and with absolutely no warning whatsoever. Before this experience, my expectation was that with a blowout like this, the vehicle would suddenly veer to that side, and you'd have to radically counter steer, hopefully maintaining control. In reality, a trailer that tracks just fine on tires, will track just fine on the bare rim. While it's certainly an undesirable experience, it didn't make me think that I should go out a buy another axle. Another brand of tires maybe, but not another axle. Tires were 4 years old with about 6000 miles on them, 15" special trailer radials. Tire pressure at 2:00 pm before leaving the Marina was 50 psi cold, (sidewall rating), with no prior problem maintaining pressure. At about, 4:00 pm, I had tested bearing and sidewall temperature with my hand, and didn't notice any difference from any other gas stop. My conclusion? The tires had a defect that caused the tread to suddenly seperate from the steel belts, despite being properly inflated, well within load rating, at moderate/high speed, on a relatively warm day.
