Flat tire, but not the tire, crack in steel rims!

[MichaelOverfield]

On a trip and flat.. could not find the puncture with soap bubble.. so took to Les Schwab.. turns out the rim has a hairline crack, and not at a weld. Had to get a new rim, tire is OK.. anyone ever hear of flat tire via cracked steel rim?

 

[B.G. Smith]

Yes........ Is this your truck rim? bg

 

[mwilson]

Yes, have seen it on both steel and aluminum rims over the years. Not real common but it happens.

 

[GAmes]

Two of the wheels that came on our last 5er cracked and developed tiny leaks at the welds, but not at the same time. When Monaco replaced the wheels (all of them) they also included G rated Goodyears. The originals were E rated.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

It was new dexstar made in USA steel rims from e-trailer.

 

[Hoefler]

I have had 3 of those rims crack on my fifth wheel, also one aluminum wheel. I swapped all of them out for 17.5 steels that are good to 6005 pounds per wheel, no more problems.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

So I checked, the wheel had a 2 year warranty by Dexstar, and was less than 2 years since purchase. I contacted Dexstar to just tell them what happened and ask how to do a warranty claim. They very promptly replied and offered to send a new wheel, pay for the one I had to buy while in transit, and take back the defective wheel for analysis. I'm waiting for the new wheel and payment, but it was great to see a company stand by their products and support the customer after the sale. I'm also glad they want the defective wheel back, it tells me the really want to understand how it failed, to presumably make sure this is not a trend.

 

[mwilson]

That's always a good sign when they want the defective product returned. It's when they pay and instruct you to scrap on site which indicates they already know that there is an issue...

Either they have an issue OR one of their suppliers has an issue.....

 

[MichaelOverfield]

That's always a good sign when they want the defective product returned. It's when they pay and instruct you to scrap on site which indicates they already know that there is an issue...

Either they have an issue OR one of their suppliers has an issue.....

Yes, totally agree. As a mechanical engineer who has worked on fixing similar problems that was also my assessment. There appear to be surface defects in the steel near the crack (seen on the inside of the rim), I'd bet it was base metal defects, made a bit worse when formed.. then add some stress.. in fact it would not surprise me if the crack was there all along and pressure was holding due to the powder coating, which now has a hairline crack.

 

[BarryG]

Glad to hear they stepped up the right way.

I just had a wheel/rim issue with my new truck. I noticed I was very slowly losing pressure in my right rear tire. So decide to stop by discount tire and have them find the leak I couldnt find the obvious screw or nail. They take it off put in the tank. Call me over and tell me I need to see this. The air is leaking from the rim about the center of it. There is a gouge in the rim a couple chunks missing a couple long gouges approx 4 inches long. It appears like a rock or something got thrown up there and some how managed to be just the right size and strength to get caught between the outer edge of the rotor and the wheel and as the wheel turned the rock must have gotten stuck a bit and caused the gauging. Wore it enough through the aluminum to create the leak. A day or two before I noticed the slight pressure drop I had been on over 100 miles of washboard gravel and dirt road outside of Escalante, Utah.

New aluminum alloy wheel from Ram $595, refurbished wheel from discount $475, refurbished wheel from Hubcap Haven and price matched by discount tire $289. I will have to admit I am tired of tire issues right now. A week earlier I had a screw in the other rear tire that was so close to the edge it couldn't be fixed and bought 5 new trailer tires and wheels just the day before. I think if I have any more tire/wheel issues my wallet is going to open up and beat me senseless with a giant mallet.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Glad to hear they stepped up the right way.

I just had a wheel/rim issue with my new truck. I noticed I was very slowly losing pressure in my right rear tire. So decide to stop by discount tire and have them find the leak I couldnt find the obvious screw or nail. They take it off put in the tank. Call me over and tell me I need to see this. The air is leaking from the rim about the center of it. There is a gouge in the rim a couple chunks missing a couple long gouges approx 4 inches long. It appears like a rock or something got thrown up there and some how managed to be just the right size and strength to get caught between the outer edge of the rotor and the wheel and as the wheel turned the rock must have gotten stuck a bit and caused the gauging. Wore it enough through the aluminum to create the leak. A day or two before I noticed the slight pressure drop I had been on over 100 miles of washboard gravel and dirt road outside of Escalante, Utah.

New aluminum alloy wheel from Ram $595, refurbished wheel from discount $475, refurbished wheel from Hubcap Haven and price matched by discount tire $289. I will have to admit I am tired of tire issues right now. A week earlier I had a screw in the other rear tire that was so close to the edge it couldn't be fixed and bought 5 new trailer tires and wheels just the day before. I think if I have any more tire/wheel issues my wallet is going to open up and beat me senseless with a giant mallet.

Gravel roads are definitely hard on tires. I had to dig out gravel in my treads.. some looked to be boring a hold through the tire. On another post I discussed my saga with ST trailer tires and one that had ply separation that led to broken spring! That trailer has all new parts now and I think I took a few hits from the mallet over that saga. No more ST tires for me. LT or high load P metrics it will be. I'm running Hankooks now and they are doing well.