Per CapriRacers question..
From a previous post:
Blowouts:
Nanco: 8 out of 9
Titan 4 out of 8, 3 more had tread separations
Carlisle: 1 blew, 2 more separated, out of 4.
Deko: Not sure of the count, but bad.
Speed: None of these trailers are pulled at high speed, we maintain legal limts - generally 65 mph or less. The Nancos all blew on their first or second long trip, on all 55 mph roads.
The value of our equipment is too high to race around with!!
Weight: Yes, we have often weighed them... in Iowa the weigh stations leave the scales on even when they are "closed" and the huge digital displays are designed so that truckers, etc can read them through the windows.
Trailer Placards: Yes they have them, it would take a while clean them up to be legible...
Tire GVWR, yes we take this seriously. Unfortunately, this seems to be a poor guide, a few examples
Twinrig, single axle trailer,4000 lbs, 50 psi Titans that had enough rating ( blown and gone, then higher pressure Titans installed under some sort of warranty exact value unknown) Blew (as "pow") one every year, then one blew and the other was badly separated. We were on the road and had no choices, replaced with Kelly Explorer car tires (35 psi tires blown to 45 lbs to keep them sort of round, probably only rated for 1700 lbs each), this trailer never had another problem even though it is in constant use.
Small tandem axle trailer, mostly hauled costumes and sound, never ever heavy. Two Titans blew on one trip, and the others were coming apart, had to buy Cooper car tires on the road. No problems ever since.
Nanco's: Perhaps the worst tire ever made, I blew ( as in exploded) 3 on one 600 mile trip on a tandem trailer on 55 mph roads. We had taken off the "car tires" that came with this trailer - lowly Generals- because they were 15 years old and badly cracked, but had never failed!!!
Carlisle: I am told that this is where all the Goodyear tire equipment went to, when Goodyear got out of bias ply trailer tires, no idea if thats true. They have mostly just separated and got lumps, although at least two have blown.
At least we got a couple years of service before they blew.
Frustration: No, we do not have much anymore. One of our pickup boats ran a set of "car tires" forever, then we put Titan trailer tires on it, they both failed within 2 years, we replaced them with used Michelins and all is well.
Towed Vehicles to shows:
Triple Rig 5,000 lb Tandem
Twin Rig 4,500 now, Single axle, Marathons
2 Single rigs, 3700 lbs, car tires
Equipment Trailer, 6,000 lbs, Marathons
Sound Trailer - Cooper Car tires
Costume trailer used car tires
portable jump: 15 year old Mohawk car tires.
2 Dock trailers: Marathons or Coopers
Pickup boats: Goodyear and Michelin car tires
Side Notes: As the lead driver, I have not missed a show in 15 years. Therefore, many of the blowouts have occured behind my vehicle, since I have usually towed with a minivan (until recently a 120 hp 3.1 litre V6 APV, towing 5,000 lbs), rest assured that speeds have not been high!! This is a remarkably stable tow vehicle, none of the blowouts have been scary, indeed on the tandem axles the bang was the only clue.
Except for the last two Titans failing this summer, we had no tire failures with the Marathons, or the "car tires".
Road Debris: The tow vehicle has never had a tire failure in 250 k miles of towing and driving, so I doubt that the trailers are getting much of that. When analyzed (yes, I went to Goodyears school on this topic when I was a crewmember on a formula racer) all the blowouts have looked like tire failures and not road hazards.
Deko? brand: only had a couple, they failed, not behind me, details a little fuzzy, but we do not want any more!
Does anybody "look over the shoulder" of these lesser known manufacturers that seem to provide so many trailer tires??
Titan took over a unionized plant in Des moines, dumped the experienced employees for cheap labor.....
Hard to tell with all the tension involved in such a move, but many reports of ignoring quality issues have surfaced....
and that has been from the new employees.
NHTSA and DOT both ask if personal injury resulted, and have little interest if you survived the event!!
OK, one more blowout story: A Titan on our twin rig began to cause a vibration that grew rapidly - about 2 miles, start to finish. I pulled immediately into an interstate rest stop and watched the "apple" in the sidewall grow into a grapefruit, then a football.... never made it to basketball..
I had the jack and spare out by then, but you can bet I kept my distance until... BOOM occured.
From a previous post:
Blowouts:
Nanco: 8 out of 9
Titan 4 out of 8, 3 more had tread separations
Carlisle: 1 blew, 2 more separated, out of 4.
Deko: Not sure of the count, but bad.
Speed: None of these trailers are pulled at high speed, we maintain legal limts - generally 65 mph or less. The Nancos all blew on their first or second long trip, on all 55 mph roads.
The value of our equipment is too high to race around with!!
Weight: Yes, we have often weighed them... in Iowa the weigh stations leave the scales on even when they are "closed" and the huge digital displays are designed so that truckers, etc can read them through the windows.
Trailer Placards: Yes they have them, it would take a while clean them up to be legible...
Tire GVWR, yes we take this seriously. Unfortunately, this seems to be a poor guide, a few examples
Twinrig, single axle trailer,4000 lbs, 50 psi Titans that had enough rating ( blown and gone, then higher pressure Titans installed under some sort of warranty exact value unknown) Blew (as "pow") one every year, then one blew and the other was badly separated. We were on the road and had no choices, replaced with Kelly Explorer car tires (35 psi tires blown to 45 lbs to keep them sort of round, probably only rated for 1700 lbs each), this trailer never had another problem even though it is in constant use.
Small tandem axle trailer, mostly hauled costumes and sound, never ever heavy. Two Titans blew on one trip, and the others were coming apart, had to buy Cooper car tires on the road. No problems ever since.
Nanco's: Perhaps the worst tire ever made, I blew ( as in exploded) 3 on one 600 mile trip on a tandem trailer on 55 mph roads. We had taken off the "car tires" that came with this trailer - lowly Generals- because they were 15 years old and badly cracked, but had never failed!!!
Carlisle: I am told that this is where all the Goodyear tire equipment went to, when Goodyear got out of bias ply trailer tires, no idea if thats true. They have mostly just separated and got lumps, although at least two have blown.
At least we got a couple years of service before they blew.
Frustration: No, we do not have much anymore. One of our pickup boats ran a set of "car tires" forever, then we put Titan trailer tires on it, they both failed within 2 years, we replaced them with used Michelins and all is well.
Towed Vehicles to shows:
Triple Rig 5,000 lb Tandem
Twin Rig 4,500 now, Single axle, Marathons
2 Single rigs, 3700 lbs, car tires
Equipment Trailer, 6,000 lbs, Marathons
Sound Trailer - Cooper Car tires
Costume trailer used car tires
portable jump: 15 year old Mohawk car tires.
2 Dock trailers: Marathons or Coopers
Pickup boats: Goodyear and Michelin car tires
Side Notes: As the lead driver, I have not missed a show in 15 years. Therefore, many of the blowouts have occured behind my vehicle, since I have usually towed with a minivan (until recently a 120 hp 3.1 litre V6 APV, towing 5,000 lbs), rest assured that speeds have not been high!! This is a remarkably stable tow vehicle, none of the blowouts have been scary, indeed on the tandem axles the bang was the only clue.
Except for the last two Titans failing this summer, we had no tire failures with the Marathons, or the "car tires".
Road Debris: The tow vehicle has never had a tire failure in 250 k miles of towing and driving, so I doubt that the trailers are getting much of that. When analyzed (yes, I went to Goodyears school on this topic when I was a crewmember on a formula racer) all the blowouts have looked like tire failures and not road hazards.
Deko? brand: only had a couple, they failed, not behind me, details a little fuzzy, but we do not want any more!
Does anybody "look over the shoulder" of these lesser known manufacturers that seem to provide so many trailer tires??
Titan took over a unionized plant in Des moines, dumped the experienced employees for cheap labor.....
Hard to tell with all the tension involved in such a move, but many reports of ignoring quality issues have surfaced....
and that has been from the new employees.
NHTSA and DOT both ask if personal injury resulted, and have little interest if you survived the event!!
OK, one more blowout story: A Titan on our twin rig began to cause a vibration that grew rapidly - about 2 miles, start to finish. I pulled immediately into an interstate rest stop and watched the "apple" in the sidewall grow into a grapefruit, then a football.... never made it to basketball..
I had the jack and spare out by then, but you can bet I kept my distance until... BOOM occured.