RV Tire Safety
with RV tire expert Roger Marble
Here is a very good 10-minute video from a number of different companies on how modern radials tires are “built,” how some of the material is processed, tires are cured, handled in the warehouse and even how some retreads are made.
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.
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, it is automatically more likely to fail than when it is made in another country.
Read more from Roger Marble on his blog at RVtiresafety.net.
##RVT904
Great Video Roger!
I don’t like to assume anything, but I am guessing that whatever country or manufacturer there is around the World, they all make Various tires in BATCHES. Correct? Allowing the manufacturer to better track the tires, for quality control purposes. Seems I read someplace, that they all Do Sample Tests on various batches, ie. spin tests to ensure quality and integrity of their products! Is that true or not?
Once again, this is great information.
Thanks,
Jeff
Yes Jeff, As far as I can tell all tire companies make tires in batches. Now we need to be careful with the meaning of the word “batch”. A group of tires with similar components. Highway tires are tracked by DOT serial date code which is changed every Sunday per DOT regulations. This is how tires are identified for recalls. Some tires are in “continuous” production (think of the hundreds of thousands of tires used on new cars) but plants keep track of individual components as they are used and each weeks production would be considered a “batch” but smaller sub groups can be tracked by a producing plant. I once discovered a production mistake was made in 149 tires. We knew the volume because we identified the error and know the amount of material with the mistake and how much material was consumed in each tire. BUT we recalled 3 full weeks production, some 8,000 tires, to ensure that we captured 100% of the possible “mistake tires”. Week of the error, Week before and week after.
Thanks for the Reply Roger. I know there is allot of technology in the production of today’s tires. Take Care.
Hi Roger:
Can you explain briefly what the number of Belts have on a tire and what exactly is the PLY Rating. 2 different things I imagine??
For instance, I have Sailun 17.5 inch tires, H Rated, 16 Ply.
Appreciate your response.
Thanks,
Jeff
You can read the material list on a tire sidewall. It might say something like Sidewall two ply Polyester, Tread two ply Polyester + two ply Steel. “Ply” is the same as a layer but just the number doesn’t tell you anything about the strength of the material Load Range uses a letter system to help identify the level of inflation. C=50 psi (6 ply rating) , D=65 (8 ply rating) etc. You can find the Load Range letter and the inflation in psi in the specifications on the tire company web site. You can also read the inflation number of your tire sidewall Note the word ‘rating” which is based on the material strength used in tires in the 50’s. People got confused with tires having 6 actual ply but an 8 ply or 10 ply “rating”, that’s why Load Range was introduced.
Thanks Roger:
Tire Lingo can be very confusing.
I watched your comments on RV Show USA the other night, and very good information given out.
Thanks.