I recently saw a picture on an RV blog of a failed tire on a dolly. This is my reply as to the probable cause:
Sorry to hear about your tire failure.
I do see that you were using a TPMS. That is a good sign, but I suspect that the reason for the tire failure was simply tire age and long-term exposure to the heat of the sun.
The evidence I see for that conclusion is the significant amount of bare steel. This suggests a breakdown of the rubber/steel bond. This takes a long time at an elevated temperature. I’ll bet you do not cover the tires on the dolly whenever you park it, so the tire is exposed to the full heat of the sun.
Need for annual “real inspection” of tires
I have several posts on tire age and the need for an annual “real inspection” that is more than just looking at the tires. I just finished a detailed post on RVtravel.com about what I consider a detailed and meaningful tire inspection. Your dolly tires probably “died” from old age. You can read the post HERE. Be sure to follow the links to gain knowledge on how you can do a better job of “Tire Inspection”.
As a Tire Design and Forensic Engineer with 50 years of experience, I can tell you that the evidence I see in your pictures indicates a failure of adhesion between the steel belts and the rubber in the belt area. I have been able to duplicate this condition a couple times in the laboratory.
If you read the “material list” information on the tire sidewall, I am confident that you will not see any material listed as a layer or “ply” between the steel belts and the tread.
Regarding the effect of the sun’s heat on tires, there are a number of posts on this topic on my blog www.RVTireSafety.net.
I hope that the posts on tire life on these two blogs provide a better understanding of tire life.
Roger Marble
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If you have tire questions, check out Roger’s posts on RVtravel.com. There are hundreds of posts covering everything to do with tires.
If you still have a question for Roger after searching the above posts, send your inquiries to him using the form below.
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