RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble Most of us only deal with ice in our drinks or as used to get our beer cold, but some folks may find themselves wanting(?) or needing to drive in areas where roads get snow and ice covered, and even in areas where the use of chains is required. If we…
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Why do trailer tires fail more often than tow vehicle tires?
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble Here is a question posted on a travel trailer forum: “Why so many trailer tire failures and so few, if any, tow vehicle tire failures?” This post could be considered Part 2 of my post of last week, How do you figure an ST-type tire’s maximum safe speed? The primary reason,…
Read MoreHow do you figure an ST-type tire’s maximum safe speed?
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble Originally posted on an online forum: “The 65 mph is not really correct. It depends on load and air pressure. They can go to 80 mph.” As I have pointed out previously: The load formula that populates the Load/Inflation table, used by the tire industry for ST-type tires, is based on the assumption…
Read MoreRVer concerned about “too much” tire pressure increase
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble I was reading an RV forum thread on TPMS usage recently and one comment jumped out at me: “I have a serious concern with the G-rated tires on my 5th wheel trailer. When I run the cold max pressure at 110 psi, I get TPMS readings up to 134 psi rolling…
Read MorePros(?) and cons of dual tire air balance systems
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble I read a thread on an RV forum about connecting two tires in dual position, with hoses to “balance” the inflation pressure. There were some claims made about performance improvements, but IMO the conditions necessary to deliver those improvements are pretty extreme and improvements are tenuous. The information on the function…
Read MoreOK to support just one dual tire on leveling block?
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble Question: “I have some questions about leveling with ramps, specifically on vehicles with rear duallies. The obvious temptation is to use only one ramp – and the obvious response is that this is a 2x overload condition and should be avoided. However, since tires and wheels are clearly designed with safety…
Read MoreIs using state scales for “four corner weights” wise?
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble I was following a forum thread on using closed state scales to learn your “four corner weights.” This is possible in Washington, Oregon, and some other states. Some commenters felt the practice was not wise as the area around the platform scale might not be perfectly flat. I posted my thoughts…
Read MoreAre you smarter than your RV tire salesperson? You may need to be
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble With the Michelin LTX tire, you may need to be smarter than your RV tire salesperson. As an RV owner, I believe that in most cases it is important for us to know as much as possible about our tires. Sometimes this means knowing more about our tires than the average…
Read MoreIs it worth it to inflate tires with nitrogen?
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble Regarding nitrogen (N2) passing through (permeating) tire rubber more slowly than oxygen (O2) due to molecular size, are nitrogen molecules really larger than oxygen molecules? According to the Get Nitrogen Institute in their paper on N2 effusion, “The correct answer, with respect to ‘permeation,’ is yes.” So I imagine your question is: Why…
Read MoreWhen to replace tires? Can you drive on one “dual”?
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble I was reading a magazine aimed at motorhome owners and there was an item about a man that suffered an RV tire failure. It was one of his rear duals. The RV owner reported that he decided to drive to the nearest tire store, where it was suggested that he replace…
Read MoreDid your RV company/dealer follow federal law regarding tires?
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble I’ve been reading a number of posts recently on recalls, violations of federal safety standards in the RV industry and on tire and fire extinguisher recalls. If you have been a reader of my blog, you know that I am a strong proponent of filing complaints on failures of safety-related systems and…
Read MoreDifferences between towable, motorhome and car tires
RV Tire Safety with RV tire expert Roger Marble This is a summary of a discussion I had on an RV Forum on tire pressure that started with a question and some comments. Question: “I’ll give my take on maybe why we have travel trailer owners, motorhome owners that never had a TT, TT owners that moved up to a…
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