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Old 03-16-2014, 07:11 PM   #11
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

I had my front passenger side tire delaminate on my F-350 at highway speed on the way to Mammoth. We kept air pressure and I could steer to a stop but it did a job on my sheet metal. I pay a lot more attention now.

I pull lots of horse trailers and I'm always looking at the age of tires and tire rot - tiny cracks where the tread meets the sidewall - especially after the tire is 5 years old. You really don't want a flat with a load of horses....Tread depth on low-miles-driven-per-year vehicles like trailers and my fuel-sucking F-350 diesel (or an SMB) is irrelevant.

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Old 03-16-2014, 07:26 PM   #12
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

I've also found that Americas tire/Discount Tire won't do anything with 10 year old tires except replace them. No rotations, or mounting the tires on another rim.


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Old 03-17-2014, 10:08 AM   #13
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

Do the BFG 285/75/16 D rated tires require a 7 1/2 in rim? If so, why does SMB install them on the stock Ford rims? Mine came from SMB with D rated BFG AT's, which I since upgraded to E series, on the same 7 inch rims.

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Old 03-17-2014, 10:23 AM   #14
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

Quote:
Originally Posted by flyfisher
Do the BFG 285/75/16 D rated tires require a 7 1/2 in rim? If so, why does SMB install them on the stock Ford rims? Mine came from SMB with D rated BFG AT's, which I since upgraded to E series, on the same 7 inch rims.

Tom
Do they still supply this rim/tire combination? My van is from 2004, and I received a few years later a personal call from Alan Feld of Sportsmobile West warning me after they learned this combo wasn't recommended. So I would imagine they no longer put BFG 285/75R16 tires on 7" rims.

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Old 03-17-2014, 10:27 AM   #15
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

Quote:
Originally Posted by flyfisher
I since upgraded to E series, on the same 7 inch rims.
The E-rated tires still require 7.5" rims. See the BFGoodrich Tires site -- scroll down to tire # "49291".

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Old 03-17-2014, 10:43 AM   #16
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

Geoff, really happy to hear all worked out OK besides some relatively minor damage to your van. Sounds like it had the potential to be so much worse.

One way to help avoid the old, spare tire problem is to make the tire part of your rotation. I rotate all five tires each time so they all get equal wear. Then when it is time to replace the tires, all five are replaced at the same time.
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Old 03-17-2014, 02:16 PM   #17
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

Glad you're OK. And BTW, good catch on the exhaust pipe. I might have missed that and added to the consequences.

I really had to convince myself to chuck my last set of K/Os, at six years. Even with good tread. Now I'm glad I did.

I also keep wondering about airing down on washboard. I used to do it, but I've become reticent because it seems to beat the tires more. More flexing, more heat, more failure. I've used a thermometer to check tires offroad, and they didn't seem to be overheating, but I'm probably prone to speeding up faster and faster on your typical long rutty road, so it may get worse more often than I realize. Generally this sort of thing is down to too much heat.
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Old 03-17-2014, 04:13 PM   #18
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

Quote:
Originally Posted by rob_gendreau
[...]I also keep wondering about airing down on washboard. I used to do it, but I've become reticent because it seems to beat the tires more. More flexing, more heat, more failure. I've used a thermometer to check tires offroad, and they didn't seem to be overheating, but I'm probably prone to speeding up faster and faster on your typical long rutty road, so it may get worse more often than I realize.[...]
Yeah, I debate the same thing. Driving for hours at 40 MPH while aired down to 35 PSI can't be great for my tires, but still I can't imagine *not* airing down. I'd shake the van to bits! I could imagine something major cracking and end up with a mess worse than tires.



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Old 03-17-2014, 05:00 PM   #19
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

Sorry to hear this happened. I've always been told on an RV, trailer, etc just replace the tires at 5 years regardless of mileage. Maybe extreme for some but I'm hoping that always coincides with about 50k for me, so they probably won't last that long anyway.
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Old 03-17-2014, 05:02 PM   #20
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Re: My First Tire Delamination

"shake the van to bits" is right. I don't know what it is. The wheelbase compared to other vehicles that create the washboard, or what, but holy crap these vans can RATTLE!!!!!! It seems like it would come apart if it went for too long.
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