It nearly wasn't a safe trip Pete- ANOTHER cautionary trailer tale...
We drove this time for a change as we were delivering some furniture and 50 shoeboxes of lead farm animals- left to Tamzin's Aunt by a nutty old rellie who died recently.
We borrowed a hefty trailer (4-wheel 10'x4' bed galv jobbie) and loaded up the stuff. I hadn't realised just how much there was and by this time we were committed to making the eurotunnel the next morning, pulling this lot behind our 1.6 Zafira
All, surprisingly, went well. The trailer despite the size & weight, towed nicely and the car managed 60-70 all the way, nearly 800 miles in 19 hrs.
THE NEXT DAY, HOWEVER...
We drove out to a local zoo and the car developed a vibration. I stopped in the next turnoff (unbelievably in a tyre fitters!) and checked things over. Running my hand around a rear tyre revealed a bulge over 1/2 the width and 1/4 the circumference of the tyre
130 euro's later (for 2 BFG's) we were back on track.
We were SOOO lucky!
The tyre could have blown at 70 with a very heavy trailer- not a pretty picture!
If we survived that we could have been stranded for hours in the dark, missed the tunnel, god knows what!!!
A combination of old (though legal) tyres, too much weight & poor planning leading to speeds that helped the tyres overheat.
A LESSON LEARNT !
No-one will believe you...