BIG Damage from Trailer Tire

[Brett Maverick]

We had a Goodyear Wrangler HT throw it's tread through the floor on our 5th wheel a week ago. It also took out all the water lines, broke a gas line, the hot water heater, the fiberglass fender, and made a heck of a mess.

Not mention, it wrecked the trip.



I've read on these post's that Goodyear will make good on their product if I demand it?



If anyone has knowledge of this process that might help me out, please let me in on it. I'll start calling them on Monday morning.



I'd like for Goodyear to replace the tires on my trailer now.

They have less than 5K on them, are only 4 years old, and are the stock tires that came from the factory.



Has anyone used the new Goodyear G647RSA tire?

It has quite a rating, and seems WAY superior to the crappy Wranglers. Goodyear also recommends it for trailers.



The tire that I lost showed NO signs of having a problem, had 100% tread left on it, and it was a cool morning (Not heat related).



If you have Wranglers on a big 5th wheel, change them out. This Wrangler will wind up costing thousands.



Brett

 

[J D Moore]

We had a similar problem in 2000. One ruptured drivers side tire "took out" the wiring to the slide out, a water line to the kitchen, some siding and a brake caliper (that was discovered 3-months later) when the brakes were serviced following an extended trip.

Goodyear reimbursed for all the damage as well as four new RV tires. The new ones were the Marathon "S" and considered an improvement over the original tires.

My memory is that I called them then completed a form and faxed it to them. They reimbursed me $1500+ at the time then an additional $480 when the brake damage was discovered; then didn't even blink when presented with the claims, probably from prior experience. I continued to have problems with tire ruptures (I was within the axle/tire weight ratings) and finally got a new Arctic Fox (with load range E tires & 16" rims) last year. No problems in the last six months (knock on wood).

Here are the numbers that I called & faxed in 2000. 1 800 322 4682 or 1 888 307 1920 fax.

Good luck!

Jim

 

[kbarlow]

Originally posted by Brett Maverick

Has anyone used the new Goodyear G647RSA tire?

It has quite a rating, and seems WAY superior to the crappy Wranglers. Goodyear also recommends it for trailers.

Brett

Goodyear also has this one http://www.goodyear.com/rv/products/product_g614rst.html

I think it only is in 16in though.



Ken

 

[KBalzuweit]

Just had a 16in blow out on a new 5th wheel I was towing. Not fun at all. Did a job on that new $75,000 trailer!!

 

[slo-ryde]

One bit of advice: Inflate your trailer tires to the maximum listed on the sidewall.



Trailer tires are often sized to just barely support the weight of the trailer. Check the GVWR (subtract hitch or pin weight) of your trailer and compare it to the maximum weight rating of your tires. I think you'll find the rating on the tires doesn't give a lot of wiggle room. When I took delivery of my trailer the tire pressure was set 10 pounds below the maximum for the tire for a smoother ride. I pulled over after 100 miles or so and couldn't leave my hand on the tires, they were way too hot! Since setting them at the maximum they run much cooler.



Keep in mind the maximum weight rating for a tire is achieved when tire pressure is set to maximum also. Fuel economy improves too!

 

[pwr2tow]

slo-ryde is absolutly right, keep those trailer tires at maximum air pressure.

 

[RustyJC]

We had a $2500 failure of a Goodyear Marathon on our previous 30' 5ver. Goodyear replaced the tires and paid for the damage to the RV.



Our current 36' 5ver came with the LT235/85R-16E Goodyear Marathon HT's. There have been enough failures of these tires reported among RVers here, on iRV2.com and other forums that I replaced the Goodyears with all-steel radial construction Michelin XPS Ribs. These tires are recommended by Michelin for commercial trailer service, and I've never heard of a failure of an XPS Rib among those who have failed other brands of tires and switched to the Michelins.



The XPS Ribs aren't cheap, but neither was my 5th wheel! I just consider them good insurance at 70MPH on the Interstate in the summers.



Rusty

 

[willyslover]

has anyone thought or tried to install a welded diamond plate aluminum wheel well inside stock location to protect the area ?

sounds like a cheep insurance devise

 

[RustyJC]

Originally posted by willyslover

has anyone thought or tried to install a welded diamond plate aluminum wheel well inside stock location to protect the area ?

sounds like a cheep insurance devise

It's probably do-able, but our triple slide 36' has slideouts on both sides that include the wheel wells - that makes it much more complex.



The damage our previous 30' 5ver suffered was not in the wheel well area. The tread separation threw the "gator" up probably 3' to 4' behind the passenger (curb) side wheel well and folded up the sheet metal between the wheel well and the rear cap, bent the slideout driveshaft, etc. Many of the 5vers I've seen that suffered tread separations were damaged similarly.



Rusty