Negative: Trail America Tire Blowout

[tstillman]

Hi guys,

I need some help or advice from anyone who has dealt with JCA Corp. They are the importers of the Trail America tires used by Forest River and were mounted on my 2012 Wildcat Sterling fifth wheel trailer.

On July 29, 2015 we were south bound on interstate 5 about 25 miles from home. We were traveling at about 6o-65 mph amongst many Semi-trucks when the rear most passenger side tire let go. It was an obvious tread separation. After changing to the spare we made it home safely.

We sustained some obvious damage to the sidewall of the trailer and am unsure of any other damage.

I have sent an emails to the JCA Corp's email address and contact person to attempt to initiate a claim for the damage only to have the email kicked back as invalid.

I'd add photos of damage tire and trailer but don't know how. Any help would be much appreciated.

PS I called the Forest River manufacturing site in Oregon, only to have to leave a voice message with the service department and have had no reply.

[67cudafb]

You need to contact your insurance company to get it repaired. Forest River is going to point at tire company. Tire company is going to say your tires were under inflated or you hit a curb or something else. Replace all the tires before another blowout. The tires are time bombs!

[tstillman]

Already have a claim in process, also have an appointment to replace all the tires this coming Friday. I wouldn't trust the old tires for the freeway drive to the dealer to begin repairs.


A friend said to contact the original tire company to attempt reimbursement to avoid a ding on my insurance. In doing my research there are plenty of complaints of this tire brand have failing badly. So from that I wouldn't accept new replacements from them but I would allow them to pay for my choice of replacement tire and repair bill.


My afore mentioned friend had a similar experience with much greater damage than I and the tire company stepped up and made it right. Check in hand with in two weeks of incident.
I can only hope the JCA Corp will do the same.

[Ninemmsig]

Good luck, I'm hoping my Goodyear Marathons that I picked up or place the Westlakes on the new trailer hold up...almost 2000 miles on them and so far so good. Currently camping near Silvrwood in north Idaho.

[tstillman]

I've learned that "all" trailer tires sold in the US are now made in china. Two brands Good Year and Carlisle are the best currently available. My friends tires were Carlisle, he replaced the with Marathon (by Goodyear). Now two years later he has a tread separation on one tire that now needs replacement.

Check for any deformations daily while traveling. That's how he found his latest issue.

Good luck and happy travels.

[gfarmcafe]

Originally Posted by tstillman

I've learned that "all" trailer tires sold in the US are now made in china. Two brands Good Year and Carlisle are the best currently available. My friends tires were Carlisle, he replaced the with Marathon (by Goodyear). Now two years later he has a tread separation on one tire that now needs replacement.

Check for any deformations daily while traveling. That's how he found his latest issue.

Good luck and happy travels.

Also check air pressures daily when traveling. We carry a small compressor for this and it's been invaluable. We also have them checked periodically by a local tire center. I can sleep nights!

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by Ninemmsig

Good luck, I'm hoping my Goodyear Marathons that I picked up or place the Westlakes on the new trailer hold up...almost 2000 miles on them and so far so good. Currently camping near Silvrwood in north Idaho.

So far I'm good with my Westlakes granted their trailer tires but rather common brand around here, a Mustang my son picked has had Westlakes on it for several years held air fine & yesterday went to help my other son get tires for his Fit & darn if WestLakes were one of the choices that our tire dealer had available.

[14 CC 38CK]

I still say everyone needs to contact there congressmen and push just how bad these tires are and what a safety issue it is and that the NTSB needs to get involved in this . I check my tires every time I go to pull out and I have Goodyears that came on my 2014 CC 38ck and they say made in the U.S. Right on the side of them so maybe that is why they are a better tire to have . We have had a few in our camping club have blow outs all on China Bombs also . Be safe out there everyone !!!!

[TGR]

I have the factory upgrade Maxxis tires on Wildcat 5th wheel. With a little over 10,000 miles, I've had no problems.


I usually hear good reviews on both Marathon and Maxxis tires and think they deserve consideration.

[kjpapa]

IMHO I believe that no matter what brand of tires you have (and some are better than others) the most important thing is to examine the tires for proper air pressure and condition every time you are going to roll. Also check the temperature of the tires after traveling for an hour or two. One tire hotter than the others can predict a problem developing. Travel trailers and fifth wheels as they are designed today load tires too close to the maximum design loads in many cases and trailer service is just really hard on tires in general.

[Jackfacente]

Maxxis tires have performed outstanding for me. Had many many blow outs with other brands even with 80 lbs air and 60 mph max speed. Can not emphasize the importance of max air pressure for tire rating and max speed of 60. It's just the way it is in the fiver world!

[tstillman]

I've got to check on the Maxxis. Sounds like a good product. My tires were D rated, 80 psi too. I would get up to 65 on occasion just do I didn't get run over though.

[samcunningham]

I invested in a remote sensor pressure and temperature system that i , now, would not do without. it gives me piece of mind to see the temp and press rise. I watch for abnormal reading. This is how I noticed the "sunny side" of the rig would have higher temp and pressure. I set my pressure for the rec'd pressure from the tire sidewall. In my case 110 psi. On trips I have seen it rise to 125 psi ...don't recall the temp but of course it went up also. I removed my China tires and went to Goodyear before embarking on a 6000 mile trip from Fl to NM and back. Very happy with them. I have a friend that changes every 4 years regardless of tire wear.

[tstillman]

Just today I went onto the Good year tire site by way of Tire Rack. Thought I'd check out the Marathon tires that so many have been raving about. Obviously they're a very good tire for our trailering purposes.

Having said many folks here have said they got rid of their "China Junk" tires and bought Good Year tires. As I said originally, check out the source of origin in the advertrisement. You guessed it, made in "China."

All this proves there are some good products available from China that many people like and use with confidence. Regardless of the tire or company it's our responsibility to do proper maintenance on what ever tire we have. We need to know the manufacturers recomendations for proper use and follow those guidelines.


This brings me back to my original question when I started this thread: Has any of our members actuallly dealt with a dealer or the importer of Trail America tires? I'd still like to follow-up my incident by contacting this company. For all I know they'd be greatful to learn of my problem and my desire to cooperate with them to make right what has sadly gone wrong.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions they are all appreciated. I wasn't however trying to create a brand war over tires.

[BeachLady]

Good Day,
We had 2 tires "un-ravel" on 2 different trips. We paid for the first repair. Talked with the techs at the dealership, we were led to believe the first issue was a fluke. The second time was much worse, this time we spoke with a couple managers at the dealership and tried to explain their liability... in NY everyone could and would be sued esp. if someone is injured. They pleaded ignorance to the issues with the tires even after we suggested they google China Bombs! Their comment was there will always be someone unhappy with a product. Due to the amount of damage we had to submit it to insurance. We NOW run Carlisles. We no longer do business with this dealership. We will not run any tire on any of our vehicles that are not made in the USA.
So... when you buy a rig make sure to get rid of the "bombs" before you sign the paperwork.

[magpi26]

Someone posted here a few months ago that "Trail America" per se does not exist. They said it was an import name that actually functions under some another corporation, but I do not recall that they stated the name of that company.

[samcunningham]

tstillman inquired about my monitoring system. It is Tire Pressure Monitoring System. I purchased at a Camping World display in Daytona in Oct 2013. Mine is a 4 sensor system on my Heartland Big Horn, 3455RL The company is: Truck System Technologies, Inc 4250 Keith Bridge Road, Cumming, Ga 30041

They have provide excellent customer service on some minor problems I had.

Thanks for all you help folks , sharing is what it is all about.

Have a Great Week.....I am headed to Fort Wilderness in Disney World next Sunday....a whole 50 miles away. ...and yes I will be using my monitors for this short trip.

[Tom48]

With the new tires be sure you are at the highest load range, which in the USA, in a 15 or 16 inch wheel means normally LOAD RANGE E. Most load range D I have seen are 60 psi or 65 max rated and when we went from the C's that came on the trailer rated for 50 psi, to the E range, we went up to 75 psi not quite the 80 rated max, but my compressor has a hard time getting above 76 or 77 psi. It pressures up to 110, but does not kick back on until below 70. At every stop, first thing I do is walk the truck and trailer with a laser temp check on 8 hubs and 8 tires Pressure check before we roll out EVERY TIME. Sunny side is always a few degrees warmer, but similar down all four tires on a side and the drive wheels on the truck get the warmest. I watch for inconsistent changes. So far so good, but of course our only blow out was in the DARK. Fun on I-10.

[jackdn0610]

My 2014 Cardinal 3450RL came from the factory equipped with Goodyear Marathon tires. Last year one of them suffered from a nail through the sidewall and had to be replaced. Just yesterday I left on a 3 month trip to the east coast. All tires were properly inflated. I made it as far as Winnemucca NV (about 250 miles) and one of the tires on the passenger side had tread separation, which did quite a bit of damage to the side of the trailer, including some of the underneath wiring. After putting on the spare my wife and I decided that the trip was over and we turned around to come home. We drove about 120 miles and the second tire on the passenger side exploded. After waiting for 4 hours for a replacement tire to be found we were back on the road and finally made it home without any further problems. I had maintained a steady speed of no more than 62 MPH. Needless to say I'm going to be looking into purchasing 4 new LT tires.

[Filterman]

Well, I replaced ours this spring with Goodyear Marathons after a lot of research. Been a busy travel summer with us on a three month trip north as far as the Arctic Ocean via the Dalton Highway. These tires have 11000KM on them (1200KM of that on gravel ) and not so much as a flat. Check pressure minimum once a week and have a proper 2 gallon compressor on board for producing air. So far so good.