RV Tire Safety: Videos – (Updated) Modern radial tire assembly – worldwide

(UPDATED with all new videos 6/12/20)

Here is a very good 5-minute animated video from the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association on how modern radial tires are “built.” The video says “passenger tire,” but the process is essentially identical for any radial tire such as passenger, LT or ST type. Heavy truck or Class-A RV tires are similar but will probably have three- or four-belt ply and of course thicker and stronger components.

THIS 5-minute video shows actual tires being made and offers a bit more detail.

Here is a more detailed 48-minute video from Pirelli that focuses on high-performance tires – but the steps, as you can see, are very similar.

A video from 1934 shows that even then the various steps were similar, just not as well-controlled and managed with a lot more manual labor. Tires in this video are bias, not radial.

Finally, a modern truck tire (Class-A RV size) video from Bridgestone might the most relevant for RV owners to watch.

There isn’t a tire plant worker in the world (China, Europe or the U.S.) that would not recognize what the equipment is doing in any of these videos. Yes, the machines are painted different colors and the robotic handling of the tires is done with different equipment, but the end result is almost identical.

This uniformity in the process is why I have so much difficulty in accepting the idea that because a tire is built in one country means it is automatically more likely to fail than if it were made in another country.