24V Tires blowing out

[SummerObsession]

I think you are fine Brent!
The Missouri road will kill your tires before your boat will!!

Actually, I think the Arizona heat can be blamed for a lot of these failures. Still, it's a good idea to keep a close eye on tire wear, sidewall conditions and of course pressures.

[johnbandrews]

Thanks, everyone, for your input. I also checked the goodyear site and I think I received some bad information ... my 205/75/14's are rated at 1760 lbs so they should work fine. I'm going to get my boat to a public scale sometime in the next month and get an accurate weight. I'll report back on what I find out.

[walkers2rad]

Have your tires filled with N2, here is why..

One thing that nobody has mentioned that is gaining popularity for good reason is filling your tires with nitrogen instead of compressed air. Most people dont know this but there are many advantages to filling your tires with N2, especially trailer tires. The biggest advantage is that Nitrogen is inert and very dry.
All compressed air contains moisture and oxygen which causes some major problems with your tires internally, especially over a long period of time. The moisture is the worst, consider if you were to put a few ounces of water inside a tire, which can easily happen when installers lube up the beads with soap and water along with the moisture in the air. You heat the tire to well over the boiling point of water probably every time you go down the highway. This moisture boils off as steam and creats pressure inside your tire that could easily exceed the maximum inflation. It is like a pressure cooker with no relief other than the tire eventually coming apart and the more moisture, more heat the higher the pressure. This really works the tires over time and contributes to them eventually coming apart. This moisture also works to corrode your rims which makes corrosive gasses and acids. Oxygen is also known to be an element that breaks down synthetic and rubber compounds very effectivly. You also have the advantage in that N2 is a larger molecule that has a harder time migrating out of your tires so they will hold pressure longer. The pressures will also be more stable from hot to cold.

It takes special equipment costing a few thousand dollars to fill your tires with nitrogen, more and more tire chains are doing it these days. To get this done I would start with the biggest tire store you can find and ask them. I also know that most Costco tire centers are offering it as an option.
They may do it for you for minimal cost or free if you ask real nice and bring in you wheels and tires allready deflated.
Ray

[talltigeguy]

The saga continues

This evening I get ready to go. I'm taking a large group of kids from our local church with about 4-5 other boats. As you tige owners all know, everyone is ooohing and aaaahing about who gets to go in the best boat (mine). I am excited too because I like to share the boat.

I pull out of the church parking lot and I hear SCREEEEECCHHH! My right rear tire is locked up tight. I start to go again, and it unlocks. That was wierd...until it happens again. Now it won't unstick. By now I'm on a busy street with no place to pull over, so I've got one lane blocked off while I try to figure out what to do with my gazillion dollar machine with a busted trailer.

I climb under and here's what I find:

[talltigeguy]

You see that there are supposed to be 2 bolts holding the calipers of the brakes on, but the bottom one is MISSING!

If I back the boat up it disengages the brakes and then I can go forward until the brakes are needed again. This gets me off the busy street. Everyone else goes to the lake and starts having a good time. I climb under the boat (at least today was less than 100 degrees!) and take one of the bolts off of the other side and go to auto zone to find a replacement. Auto Zone has no bolts. I go to Home depot and find an exact match. Surprisingly, the caliper moves easily into place and I thread the bolt in and I'm good to go. While I'm under there, I check all of the others and they are tight. I make it to the lake for 1 hour of good tubing.

This all happened on the exact tire I had blown most recently. I suspect that when it went flat the vibration started that bolt to loosen.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

[BrentRR]

Sorry to hear about your situation, but it sure highlights the need to be prepared with tools and some mechanical skill!

Good job figuring out what was happening and then fixing it.

Also, you are right about sharing the boat, it is fun to see others enjoying it.

[whitlock87]

Thanks
This gives me something to add to me winterizing checklist

[Morry Jones]

Nitrogen Filled Tires

Well now I must addresses walkers2rad (Ray) comments about Nitrogen. While he is correct about Nitrogen being dry it is not necessary to run Nitrogen in your tires in fact it does nothing but produce revenue for the business offering it. Nitrogen is used in aircraft, racing tires and some Large earthmover tires. Nitrogen is used in these tires because of possible external or internal fires i.e. (spontaneous combustion). When you combine compressed air and fire you can have a blow torch effect, so to minimize this some have elected to air up with Nitrogen. Another point brought up is moisture in tires. Yes you should keep water out of your tires. Most places that supply air have water separators or filters, if they don’t have the correct equipment then air up your tires somewhere else. Nitrogen does not cool your tires. Nitrogen isn’t contained in your tires any better then regular air. Remember Nitrogen comprises 78% of air already so what needs to be done (if done correctly) every tire would need to be purged at least once to get the highest percentage possible of Nitrogen. It’s recommended 94% purity minimum for non combustion. Also mentioned “N2 is a larger molecule that has a harder time migrating out of your tires so they will hold pressure longer”. Well the atomic weight for Oxygen is 15.9994; the atomic weight of Nitrogen is 14.0067. Molecule’s travel at high rates of speed so my assumption is the Nitrogen molecule would permeate through the tire faster since it would be more active. Anyway I could go on but that’s a summery of my opinion on Nitrogen.

[walkers2rad]

Morry,
Thanks for bringing up your points tactfully. I realize that my post may have been a little heavy, and I dont like to go around starting wars. I just wanted to inform people and let them make their own decisions. Most boat owners are somewhat anal about things regarding their boat and this is a subject is not widely known. You brought up a point that I did not think about, and I work with high pressure gas for a living, however nothing to do with tires. You contradict a few things that I have only heard so I have some research to do and I will post my findings. Maybe it was part of a sales pitch with no science to back it up.

With that I digress and everyone should know that putting n2 in your tires of course may not be necessary, but there is a high level of concern about tires in this thread and it should be open to discussion. I did not intend to imply that N2 would cool your tires, however I do stand by the fact that N2 is much drier, which is a good thing. All compressed air contains some moisture which to a point in itself usually does not create a problem. But with problem trailer tires in question you may want to give them the best chance you can. Of course this cannot fix poorly designed, built or maintained tires.

Like I said I work with gas for a living, but I have about 20 tires that are all filled with compressed air, but I was considering changing that at least on my boat trailer because that carries the most weight, and I can get all of any kind of gas I could want. I wonder if Argon might be an interesting choice, I know that is heavier than N2.
Ray

[raythompson]

Originally posted by walkers2rad
All compressed air contains some moisture which to a point in itself usually does not create a problem.

The amount of moisture in the air in tires is not a factor in tire pressure. You get more expansion from the heating of the air than you do from the moisture. At 50 PSI in a tire the boiling point of water is consideraby raised and will not vaporize within a tire. Tires do not get above 300 degrees without failing.

Nitrogen is a marketing gimmick for passenger or trailer use. Nitrogen can also contain moisture just as regular air can contain moisture. The stuff is used in heavy equipment because of the size of the tires and possibility of puncture and fire. Plane tires because of the amount of nitrogen that is used in the tires and the pressure.

Save your money and get your own air compressor.

[SummerObsession]

ttt for Morry Jones.

[Morry Jones]

Trailer Tire followup

Thanks to this forum I got a call from Carlisle Tires. I am in the middle of geting some resolve from the two tires blowing on our way to Shasta in July. Come to find out that Goodyear made these tires and have as of today given me a claim number and asked that I submit all bills relating to this problem. Carlisle even though they had nothing to do with the manufacture of the tires are sending me a check for half of what I paid for the new tires. I will keep you all up to date on where I end up. Thanks tigeowners.com !!!!!

[talltigeguy]

Thanks to this forum and some comments made on wakeworld (started by someone else), I contacted Extreme and they acknowledged the bad valve stems on some trailers and will pay to replace the valve stems and the tires that I lost. I think they are great to stand behind their product.

Of note, when I changed the valve stems, another one was beginning to go bad.

[TeamAllen]

That's great the companies are stepping up and standing behind their products. I think that is interesting with all the Goodyear vs. Carlisle talk, that they are made by the same company. Go figure? I just hope everyone is aware of the problem and nobody has anymore tire damage.

[SummerObsession]

Just to clarify, they are OWNED by the same company, not necessarily MADE by the same company.
There is a reason they still use the Carlisle name, I'm sure product liability and marketing are two.