LakeN
North Carolina
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Joined: 05/02/2003
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You should be able to determine age of tires by reading tire codes. As said, 5 yrs. old is time to replace. We replaced tires on an '03 TT with Greenball Transmaster from Discount Tire. Virtually no air has leaked in almost 1 yr. and we are happy with the ride. Biggest issue is that it was impossible for us to locate American made tires. Would have gone with a Michelin tire if they had been made in our size. Best of luck.
As said, Maxxis get good reviews on this forum.
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Sportsman2505qss
Winter Springs, Fl USA
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We replace our tires every 3 years no matter how many miles on them. We put Good Year Marathons on ours this time. I know they had on our news about people buying new tires that were really out dated. Look at the codes. The also said that the stems were bad on lots of tires and causing failure. Friends of ours had the wrong stems put on and they had a blowout.
2002 KZ Sportsmen 2505qss bought in 2001 1999F-150
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Ductape
On the Road
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Do you have spring suspension with equalizers or torsion suspension?
Equalizers put the same weight on both axles regardless of inflation, so the low tire would not add load to the adjacent one.
Not true with torsion axles.
Most likely just a plain old bad tire. Missing a big chunk of tread on a tire otherwise properly operated means it was probably not well attached to the carcass from day one.
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Scott_C
NJ
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Oh geez, I just swapped 5 Maxxis tires based on an overwhelming majority of positive reviews here after the Carlisle junk from the factory crazed all over (front and back sidewalls and some between tread) on my not even 1 year-old trailer (the tires were just over 1 year based on DOT code). Carlisles were meticulously maintained to pressure, treated with 303, and covered when not out for play... I didn't even punish them with excessive road heat...
Oh well, Maxxis has a 4 year warranty and I made real good friends with the owner of a brand new tire shop in my neighborhood after having 2 flats on 2 different vehicles in 2 days time at the EXACT SAME wheel position! What are the chances? Should have played the lottery! Anyway, we got to be buddys after teaching his techs how to properly balance lug-centric wheels with big LTs on their Hunter GSP9700 (place has been open 4.5 months and the Hunter adapter rings were still wrapped in their packaging. He was so generous that when I took the Maxxis tires and the HTT to him (he could only get Towmasters or Carlisle STs) he took them off the trailer, dismounted my Carlisle junk, checked the runout of each wheel, installed new solid, high pressure stems, mounted the Maxxis shoes, and checked the runout of each for $8 per tire!
Now I just need FR to pony up the $40 since Carlisle only covers the cost of replacement tires...
2008 Shamrock 21SS
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NHguy
Nashua, NH
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Joined: 04/01/2006
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Ductape wrote:Do you have spring suspension with equalizers or torsion suspension?
Equalizers put the same weight on both axles regardless of inflation, so the low tire would not add load to the adjacent one.
Not true with torsion axles.
Most likely just a plain old bad tire. Missing a big chunk of tread on a tire otherwise properly operated means it was probably not well attached to the carcass from day one.
Disagree...Missing a piece of tread on a years old tire is typically due to impact or load. Defects show up quickly in tires, that's why tire companies are more willing to replace new failures.
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exboater
north carolina
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Joined: 11/19/2006
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I'll throw my two cents in the ring. From what i gathered your trailer is a 2005, so its only three years old. i had similar tire failures on mu trailer starting when it had about 7000 miles on it. Short story, eventually all five tires ( four on ground and spare) failed in practically the same way before 13,000 miles. They were some of brand of chinese tires, what happened is that the tread seperated from the inner core and allowed the air to slowly leak out. I have replaced with better quality, but still chinese. its impossible to find trailer tirees that are not made in china. I have a couple of marathons and a couple of maxxis. there is about 15000 on them and had no tirre failures. Had a valve stem failure last week sitting in storage because the shop that replaced the origional tire failure did not replace the valve stem .
most important keep air pressure up to max and check it often.
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SteveRankin
Sequim, WA
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Ductape wrote:Do you have spring suspension with equalizers or torsion suspension?
Equalizers put the same weight on both axles regardless of inflation, so the low tire would not add load to the adjacent one.
Not true with torsion axles.
Most likely just a plain old bad tire. Missing a big chunk of tread on a tire otherwise properly operated means it was probably not well attached to the carcass from day one.
Huh? 
We've got equalizers on the new TT. We were carrying 5100# on the front axle and 3140# on the rear axle. After raising the tongue we're nearly level now but we're still 4340# & 3720#.
Our HR 32FKD was 5500#/4700# with the steel springs and equalizers; 6020#/5060# after we installed MOR/ryde. Yes, the TT did gain weight with the installation of the MOR/ryde suspension with 7,000# axles replacing the OE 5,000# axles and disc brakes; 392# to be exact. The rest of the difference was 2 months worth of accumulated stuff on a 4-month trip.
The HR 29FKS before that was much closer to equal, but still a bit heavy on the front axle at 3900# vs. 3800#. I'd guess that it was very close to perfectly level, which may have contributed to it's tendency to sway more than any other TT we've owned.
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JIMNLIN
out here
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Joined: 09/14/2003
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Casey
probably driving those 10 miles with only 23 lbs of pressure heated that particular tire which 9 times out of 10 can cause bruising which can lead to internal belt seperation or tread delam. You didn't say what the trailers GVWR was but with two 3500 lb axles your unit is certainly not a light weight unit. ST tires perform better if lots of extra capacity is used as the basketball sidewall in the ST has lots of flex for a smooth ride but sure generates heat. I would consider a ST225/75-16 D or LT235/75-15 D USA made tire (or simular size) if your present wheels are 65 psi rated. Several years ago we had many sizes/load ranges of 15" LT tires from our 1500 size vehicles on the market so getting away from ST tires was the smart thing to do. Good luck with your search.......
Jim
"good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" ............ Will Rogers
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Old School.
PA
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Joined: 05/30/2007
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I would agree with LakeN, check the tire codes to determine the age. Anything 5 years or older change.
This may have been posted before but it's a link to an ABC News article on reading tire codes.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897
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Excalibur3000
Montana
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JIMNLIN wrote:Casey
probably driving those 10 miles with only 23 lbs of pressure heated that particular tire which 9 times out of 10 can cause bruising which can lead to internal belt seperation or tread delam. You didn't say what the trailers GVWR was but with two 3500 lb axles your unit is certainly not a light weight unit. ST tires perform better if lots of extra capacity is used as the basketball sidewall in the ST has lots of flex for a smooth ride but sure generates heat. I would consider a ST225/75-16 D or LT235/75-15 D USA made tire (or simular size) if your present wheels are 65 psi rated. Several years ago we had many sizes/load ranges of 15" LT tires from our 1500 size vehicles on the market so getting away from ST tires was the smart thing to do. Good luck with your search.......
Jim
Jim,
The tire that failed was not the 23 lbs one - the failure was its sister tire on the front axle, same size. Current tires are 205/75/15 C's - am looking for same size in D's - seems like there are a few options there for a little extra capacity. I was really thinking about the 225 D route, but I have not convinced myself I have wheel well room. GVWR is either 7,400 or 7,500. I am going to go check the rims (trailer is in storage) this weekend to see what my options are as far as upping to a D class tire with its associated pressure increase. I am leaning toward the heavier tire route as we camp primarily in the mountains.
Luckily this incident was on the interstate with a convenient place to pull over. There are many places we go where that is just not an option - sometimes for a long ways. My sister and her husband last year blew a tire at the bottom end of a long, narrow winding pull - it was a dropoff, guardraill, two very narrow lanes, and a cliff on the other side. They ended up pulling it on the shredded carcass and eventually the rim until they could pullover (4 or 5 miles)as there were simply no other choices. So, taking care of this tire problem has definitely gotten my attention.
Casey
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