Blowout!

[bwana50]

Last week, while on the way to the lake, the right tire on my 1995 single-axle trailer blew out. I mean really blew out. I looked at the DOT date code - on the back of the tire, that's why I hadn't checked before - and it reads 374. If I'm reading that right, it means the tires were 16 years old! I suppose it's possible to have 16-year-old tires; the 1996 SN only had 340 hours when I bought it in 2008. Seems pretty implausible, though. Perhaps ST tires didn't change to four-digit codes in 2000 and the tires were made in 2004? Either way, I'm satisfied with their longevity. Tires were Goodyear Marathons, so I ordered two more from treadepot.com. They arrived today, and are made in the US, FWIW.

[shag]

My personal opinion is that Goodyear Marathons are the best trailer tires made. Based on my experiences.

[gride300]

the originals from my 06 ram-lin are still kickin. i'm actually getting new ones right now, but they are a great tire.

[Nautique211]

We also recently blew out a tire towing our 211, thank goodness for tandem trailers so we could limp along to nearest tire shop. The tire completely was shredded, which the tire guy says is typical on Multi-ply tires. The tire that blew out was a Goodyear Marathon. The tire guy also mentioned to check for unusual bumps in the tread area as a potential warning sign for failure - Although the tire may have also been punctured from hitting hit debris on the road.

I hadn't previously carried a spare, but now I do. We were fortunate to find a place in route that had the tire size we needed. Not too many places in northern MN stocking 20575R14's.

[AirTool]

.........I looked at the DOT date code - on the back of the tire, that's why I hadn't checked before - and it reads 374. If I'm reading that right, it means the tires were 16 years old!

Is there a triangle after the date code?

[bwana50]

Is there a triangle after the date code?

Nope, no triangle that I can see.

[AirTool]

Nope, no triangle that I can see.

Wikipedia reports DOT required a small triangle after to designate the '90s decade.

I suspect they are 2004 tires but wouldn't bet my paycheck on it.