QS 10.0 (2010) - Flat on the highway, new tires all around: a caution!

[jddj]

Hi all,

I got a flat on the highway in the middle of no place on the way to Florida from Atlanta. I was probably doing about 80, and while I felt the tire blow, the trailer was well behaved, and I pulled the truck and trailer over on the on-ramp to the next exit.

The tire had completely disintegrated from flapping on the highway, and I was mad at myself for packing my axle jack inside the camper. Such a bad idea. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a H.E.R.O. truck shows up, and the guy pulls out his floor jack and changes to the spare for me. Awesome result!

I had a look at the remaining road tire, and given its age and condition, I fretted about it for the rest of my trip. And now I was down a spare. I had to pick up a tire-on-wheel to have another spare available, and that cost me over $160 at a Bass Pro. I could've probably spent less, but would've had to spend a bunch of my trip staying put and awaiting shipping, dealing with repair, etc.

If you're looking for a tire-on-wheel that's just like mine, you're looking for a 5.3x12 tire on a wheel with a 3.19-inch center hole, and a 5-lug pattern. Note that if you measure distance between lug hole centers and it matches your existing wheel, and you have 5, the spread from the center has to match too (ask your Geometry teacher). If you match that measurement, and have a center hole that matches yours, the wheel should fit.

I had a look at the tire codes on the spare (now on the trailer) and the other original road tire. These are called "DOT Codes", and an online look-up can tell you how old your tires are (I bought my trailer used). Ugh: 2009. It's way past time for all the tires to be replaced.

Here, however is where I make a mistake: I ordered a fairly cheap set of tires from Amazon, that matched my 5.3x12 wheel spec...but after looking at a bunch of tires and buying cheap, these came "Load Range B" instead of the spec "Load Range C". In a double-mistake, I didn't discover this 'til the tires were mounted. Ouch. These tires will carry less weight than the prior set.

I might get this fixed again when I have a spare $150 to drop on nothing I particularly want to buy, but for the time being, Load Range B will just work if they're properly inflated, and I don't add a bunch of stuff in the trailer (I've had it weighed on a CAT scale).

Lesson learned: 5.3x12 AND check the load range.

While we're at it, when looking for someplace to get your tires mounted, make sure and check that their machine will handle a 12-inch aluminum wheel. Don't just assume any tire store can do them. There was a day before aluminum wheels were popular that not all tire stores could mount on them. And it's no guarantee that their machines can handle a wheel of this size.

Hope this helps someone. Would've helped me!