Blowouts, load capacity, tires information

booster

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There have been several different discussions on this forum lately about increasing load capacity, tires and wheels, lifts and such, and as always good to see, IMO.

By coincidence, there is currently and 5" lift Roadtrek 210V for sale on one of the Facebook Chevy Roadtrek forums. It is the now getting more common lifted, aggressive tires, huge brushgaurd front bumper with tow hooks appearance. As with many others, it is not really setup for any actual offroad use as the looks would indicate as it is a two wheel drive, and probably, but not confirmed, non locking drive.

It is shown with a motorcycle or Ebike hanging on the rear.

It is of interest because it lists it as missing one of the side storage covers due to a recent blowout of a tire.

Since it is a 210, which does not have much load carrying capacity, and has the bumper, bike, heavy tires, that probably run hot because of the style it is likely that weight or tire heat had some part in the tire failure. The wheels look to be aftermarket and with the lift would be unknown offset. If it is a Dana 60s semifloating rear axle it could be contributing to tire heat as they run quite hot at the hubs, especially with higher offset wheels or spacers to match the front.

210s seem to get more rear blowouts than other Chevy B vans and also appear to be the ones that most often go over on rear axle loads. The Chevies tend to put 2-300# more weight on the left rear than the right so even if the axle weight is at 6040 max the left rear could be over. Other models don't usually get that high unless they have a big heavy box or motorcycle hanging on the rear.

As always, I would encourage everyone to visit the scales and make sure you are within weight limits to reduce tire potential problems.

Larger tires can increase the safety margin for the tires which can significantly reduce risk, but won't give you more legal load capacity as that is determined by the door sticker and is based on the whole van including suspension, brakes, frame stenght, etc.
 
I've attached the scale reading of our 2010 210P in our typical full travel mode, meaning full fuel tank, 2 occupants, full interior water tank, spare mounted on standard rear bumper location, tools, spares in rear compartment, empty exterior water tank, clothes, etc, taken while on a trip.

I've redone front suspension, airbags on the rear. Suspension works better as far as not crashing over bumps, better comfort and control. As Booster has noted before, nothing to do with load carry ability.

As you can see, we're very close to rear axle load limit. I have a heat temp gun that's easy to use at stops, just as a quick check of hub/tire temps. If one size spikes it's telling me something. I also keep an eye especially on rear tire pressures. As heat goes up, pressure increases - I run 80 psi on the rears and allow for about 5 psi heat increase.

Anyway, the best I can do in this situation is to run good quality 10 ply spec size rear tires and replace them every few years. Obviously we can never anticipate a rear tire blowout, this is just my way of doing what I can to minimize that. Hitting something on the road is another story, my driving is spent trying to dodge potholes and debris......
 

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I can also tell you to check where the tire is made. The Chinese tire does not work with the load rating on the tire.
Ram Van comes with Nexen tires, which can not hold up to the load of a class B Van. This is more true if you do any mountain driving, as braking puts more load on the front tires. The tire has both blowout and tread separation problems. USA tires only cost a little more and are much safer! So check more than just the load rating. See where it is made!
 
I can also tell you to check where the tire is made. The Chinese tire does not work with the load rating on the tire.
Ram Van comes with Nexen tires, which can not hold up to the load of a class B Van. This is more true if you do any mountain driving, as braking puts more load on the front tires. The tire has both blowout and tread separation problems. USA tires only cost a little more and are much safer! So check more than just the load rating. See where it is made!
The getting of USA built tires is getting very mixed up now as many of the major, respected manufactures make in the USA and Mexico for the same tires and it can be a luck of the draw what you get.

What is very interesting to me is about 5 years ago I bought tires for my 5000# Buick Roadmaster wagon at Discount tire. Reviews in the size and load capacity for what I needed strongly favored a high end Continental touring tire. Size was 235/65/17. When delivered I put them on and quickly noticed that one had an unusually large amount of balancing weights on it when the others didn't. I looked closer and found 3 tires made in Mexico and one in the USA, and the bad one was the USA one. I took it back to Discount tire and they got a matching date Mexican made one and they have been very good tires in every way.

Totally agree on the Chinese tires.
 
I have to conur with Booster. We had two blowouts, left rear Michelins, and then went to 265 tires and steel wheels with the proper offset. Since then, the only tire problems have been going soft due to external TPMS cracking the rubber valve stems. Have steel valve stems now.
 
I have a 2011 Chevy Roadtrek 210 Versatile and I put 10 ply nobbier tires on it for light off road and run 80 lbs in the back and 60 in the front. My main complaint is going downhill over 45mph on about a 6 percent grade when it's warm, because I almost always get the Chevy shimmy from the fixed front suspension, which is scary AF sometimes. I talked to Savage RV in Denver about lifting mine, I would probably opt for only 3 inches but I'd also like to add independent suspension and 4x4 at the same time.
 
teslasmuse: My guess is you have unevenly glazed front rotors, along with possibly some looseness in your steering linkage (tie rods, idler arm, pitman arm). Shimmy rears its ugly head when the rotors get hot. Many attribute Chevy shimmy to warped rotors, which I do not think is the problem in most instances. See the post below for my Chevy 210 shimmy experience and fix. Search the forum for more discussion, primarily by booster.

 
I'm aware of the theories, I've done a bunch of research, but 2 tire shops and a Chevy dealer have checked mine out and claim it's all tight and I'm not interested in paying to replace all the parts like other Chevy owners have done only to still have the issue. has something to do specifically with the incline, speed, temperature, and maybe even the distribution of weight, since it's so intermittent.
 
IMO the two tire shops and particularly the Chevy dealers are incorrect.

If you have ceramic pads they very highly likely the cause of the shimmy or judder, whatever you call it.

Brakes pads leave a residue on the rotor called the "transfer" layer and it needs to be uniform to work right. Ceramic pads put on and inadequate layer to do the job. When you have difficult braking situations, the transfer layer heats up unevenly and the transfer layer is what determines the friction. Hotter layer means less friction, cooler more friction. With uneven friction around the rotor you get the shimmy or judder issues. It has happened to lots of us including me and the cure that works essentially 99% of the time is to use high end semi metallic pads and high quality rotors. It has been proven many times by users on this forum. It does not have anything to do with a specific combinations of hills, temps, speed etc but just any combination that gets the brakes hot. As soon as the brakes cool down the issue goes away.
 
well, when I have a bunch of money to replace perfectly good parts, I'll consider trying it
They may be perfectly good parts, but IMO, not for a 10k pound class B. If you choose to live with the issues or only drive and hills that don't cause the judder, that is your choice, but others need to see the data on the problem to make a good decision.
 
I just drove about 5000 miles in 3 months and it happened like 3 times, everyone said the rotors were fine so I take it super easy, averaging 50mph, and I'll change them when necessary. Other forums for Chevy said they replaced the rotors and brake pads and it didn't help, so I'm skeptical about your suggestions.
 
I just drove about 5000 miles in 3 months and it happened like 3 times, everyone said the rotors were fine so I take it super easy, averaging 50mph, and I'll change them when necessary. Other forums for Chevy said they replaced the rotors and brake pads and it didn't help, so I'm skeptical about your suggestions.
The problem is that they most likely replaced the pads with ceramic like the OEM were. They need to be heavy duty semi metallic pads to fix the issue. If you get a chance do a search on here for the topic or let me know and I will dig some up. We were one on the first ones to fix the issues over 10 years ago and have had zero judder since and we do not take it easy all the time.

Hopefully, some others that have done the same are around and chime in.
 
I prefer to take it easy because I get almost twice the gas mileage and feel safer in case I need to avoid someone or stop suddenly, then hopefully my stuff isn't flying all over the place, so it's not an inconvenience. I've put so much money into repairs and solar and upgrades since I bought it in Sept and I need to fix one of the ground effect drawers right now before I think about brake pads, I didn't see a curb and it doesn't stay shut on both sides now when I drive
 

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Not a mechanic, an old guy with some tools. Early on because of poverty and constantly paying for poor work, I learned to do my own repairs. A constant with brakes was they popped off the rotors and put the new ones on, never cleaning the mounting surfaces or insufficiently cleaning the surfaces. Not as common these days is lug nuts not torqued evenly, also need to be re torqued after X miles, many do not do this.
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The problem is that they most likely replaced the pads with ceramic like the OEM were. They need to be heavy duty semi metallic pads to fix the issue. If you get a chance do a search on here for the topic or let me know and I will dig some up. We were one on the first ones to fix the issues over 10 years ago and have had zero judder since and we do not take it easy all the time.

Hopefully, some others that have done the same are around and chime in.
 
Suggestion if the van has continued shudder despite rotor/pad replacement.

Remove the rotors and check the runout at the hub with a dial indicator. No amount of new rotors and pads will fix a hub that has over-spec runout.
 
I just drove about 5000 miles in 3 months and it happened like 3 times, everyone said the rotors were fine so I take it super easy, averaging 50mph, and I'll change them when necessary. Other forums for Chevy said they replaced the rotors and brake pads and it didn't help, so I'm skeptical about your suggestions.
A ton of Chevy RTs have dealt and/or are dealing with brake shudder; some a lot less than others. I am one of the fortunate owners with less. It took me the first couple of years to figure out that I could effectively manage mine by keeping the 2011 6-peed transmission in manual mode (not towing). My guess is that this has reduced my downhill wobble situations by more than 80%. Three times in 5000 miles over three months also places you in the fortunate owner group. C’mon man, being skeptical of others' suggestions on how to deal with the wobble, without providing an alternative suggestion, has no real value.
 

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