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Old 04-08-2010, 04:41 PM   #1
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Voma tires

Here is the situation. I brought the new 2010 V-Cross home from the dealer in November. The trip was 60 miles or so. It sat until now on a gravel driveway with the tire covers on. When I took the covers off to check things, I saw the sidewalls of the tires were heavily weather-checked. The date codes read about midway through 2008, so it isn't age. They are nitrogen filled, so haven't lost any pressure. According to the manual, the 'Trail Express' tires are made by Voma, but a search on this company yields next to nothing. Anyone else having trouble with this make? Or does anyone know anything about the company? The dealer is having them send new ones under warranty, but if the originals went that fast, I am a bit leery about leaving them on at all.
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Old 04-08-2010, 07:39 PM   #2
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Most likely Chinese tires. You may want to save yourself some trouble and purchase name brand tires, thats what we did on our old camper and if the tires on my new rockwood are from china I will replace them before we travel.
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Old 04-08-2010, 09:21 PM   #3
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Nitrogen in tires will not prevent them from leaking. The only way to know they are the correct pressure is with a pressure gauge. Check them yourself. Never take anybody else's word for it. Written by an old mechanic. Bu the way, how do you know they are filled with nitrogen? Did you see the what the hose was connected to when they filled them? A lot of garages charge for nitrogen fill, and don't even have the equipment, or don't use it.
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Old 04-08-2010, 10:13 PM   #4
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It might be a good idea to check back with your dealer. Give them a call, take some photos if you don't want to drive to them.
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Old 04-09-2010, 05:43 AM   #5
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Name: Voma Tire Corp.
Phone: (901) 672-0816
Address: 5815 E Shelby Dr

Memphis, TN 38141-6804
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Old 04-09-2010, 06:26 AM   #6
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Don't worry. Apparently a lot of the rubber industry had a bad run about that time. Not sure what was going on but I've heard of almost every mfg has had to replace tires made through several years. I've personally had Goodyears, Michelin's & Tracker boat trailer tires replaced for the same reason. The new one's are holding up so far. It most likely was a ship of bad bulk that several mfgs used out of.
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Old 04-13-2010, 07:42 PM   #7
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Thanks all for your input. Windrider, nitrogen is a larger molecule than air so the seepage is less. I have always checked my own pressures, as a life-long backyard mechanic and 39 year trucker. As to proof they are nitrogen filled, that I don't know for certain except that the manufacturer claims it is so. I guess I'll have to wait and see what the replacements are like.
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Old 04-13-2010, 08:59 PM   #8
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So much BS about nitrogen benefits. Reminds me of the snake oil salesman of the past.
Just another way to fleece more money out of people. Just saw Ford dealer charging 25$ for nitro fill. A waste of money. Just send me the 25$
If you fill tires with helium you will cut fuel consumption by 25% and reduce weight of trailer as well.............................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................
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Old 04-13-2010, 09:21 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dezolen View Post
So much BS about nitrogen benefits. Reminds me of the snake oil salesman of the past.
Just another way to fleece more money out of people. Just saw Ford dealer charging 25$ for nitro fill. A waste of money. Just send me the 25$
If you fill tires with helium you will cut fuel consumption by 25% and reduce weight of trailer as well..
I'm with you here dezolen. The sales hype makes it look good but by doing a little research you find the actual science behind it really doesn't support it's use for most purposes. My Mother in law had it put in her tires and handed me a brochure about how great it is because it's used in the space shuttle and in race cars. Well I don't plan on going into space anytime soon or run the Daytona with any of my vehicles.

Of curious note though, we purchased our tires for our Liberty from Costco, they have free tire rotation. When we took our rig in to have them rotated for the first time the sticker they put in our window said "tires filled with Nitrogen to 34psi".
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Old 04-13-2010, 10:10 PM   #10
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Nitrogen is bigger molecules, and less prone to normal leakage than just air. It may also be drier, especially if the regular air service hose doesn't have a filter or water separator on it. I was trying to make a point that DON"T ASSUME tires will never leak. 20 years in the service station business and an ASE Master Tech, I have seen everything cause tires to leak. The only way to know they are the correct pressure is to put a gauge on them. Don't look, don't assume. MEASURE, then you'll know you didn't pick a nail up somewhere. And even nitrogen will leak out of a nail hole.
Hope I didn't offend anyone.
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Old 04-14-2010, 12:46 AM   #11
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Here is my guess about your tires, Trail Express appears to be a trade name. Voma is or was an importer of auto parts and accessories and they did import at least one container of tires from China in 2008. There are several complaints about the tires on forums for recreational vehicles. Voma was/is a very small company with sales in 2009 of less than a $1,000,000.

I suggest you use caution with your tires. Get an opinion on the tires if you know someone you can trust, or if you can afford it, switch to a known brand. Tires are one of the important parts of a trailer. I would talk to your dealer as well. He knows the tires are El Cheap o's and maybe he will be a good merchant. But keep in mind he put a customer into those tires to begin with. Not a friendly thing to do.

As far as the gas filed tires. They help a little. Do not go out of your way to use the gas.

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Old 04-14-2010, 07:14 AM   #12
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Air is 78% nitrogen already.

78% Nitrogen; 21% Oxygen and 1% other gasses. Oxygen is not that much "smaller" than Nitrogen. The "Other gasses" include a LOT of small stuff like Argon, helium and Hydrogen, but even if all that leaked out through the rubber it would change the pressure but only a psi or two. If you have a leaker it will be either tire age, the rim seal, or the stem seal.

My vote is for regular Air.
Space shuttle tires? Wonder if the reason has to do with the Oxygen and fires...
Coefficient of expansion...?
Hmmm.
Need to look that one up.
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Old 04-15-2010, 06:55 PM   #13
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Again guys, thanks for all the input. Hopefully, if the company is that small, maybe the new ones they are sending won't be the same brand. Windrider, if I ask for advice, and get offended, it's bad on me, not on the person kind enough to respond. Cheers!
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Old 04-16-2010, 07:44 AM   #14
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Windrider's comment about "dryness" and uniformity of composition makes a lot of sense for critical applications. Perhaps where a variance of 1 or 2 PSI might cause issues. How a tire that differs by a PSI or 2 might cause that much of an issue on a passenger car or trailer is beyond me.
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Old 04-28-2010, 08:54 PM   #15
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tire problems

We also have a weather checking? problem on our 5 mo. old v-lite and our dealer has been excellant about replacing them. Unfortunately they are unable to even get more trail express from the suppliers so we will go with whatever they get and see how they work out. That's what tire warranty is all about. Maybe it is better that they can't get the trail express from the responses on here. Whatever.....life goes on one day at a time and we will handle it daily. Good luck with yours. Old Guys
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Old 04-28-2010, 09:50 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by herk7769 View Post
Air is 78% nitrogen already.

78% Nitrogen; 21% Oxygen and 1% other gasses. Oxygen is not that much "smaller" than Nitrogen. The "Other gasses" include a LOT of small stuff like Argon, helium and Hydrogen, but even if all that leaked out through the rubber it would change the pressure but only a psi or two. If you have a leaker it will be either tire age, the rim seal, or the stem seal.

My vote is for regular Air.
Space shuttle tires? Wonder if the reason has to do with the Oxygen and fires...
Coefficient of expansion...?
Hmmm.
Need to look that one up.
I gotta agree, nitrogen is a waste (if you have to pay for it). There is an added benefit that nitrogen is not flammable and will not add oxygen to a fire on an airplane, drag car etc. from the tires.

From consumer reports;

October 4, 2007

Tires - Nitrogen air loss study

Filling tires with nitrogen rather than air is becoming a common practice in the replacement tire market. This service offers tire dealers another avenue for making money while also promoting safety. The claimed safety benefits often include the potential for reducing air loss compared to an air-filled tire. Maintaining proper inflation can help prevent tire overheating; promote optimum tread life; and reduce rubber aging and wheel corrosion. The use of nitrogen in large truck fleets and the commercial tire industry are well documented and support these claims.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has seen reduced aging of tires filled with nitrogen. Though the data does support that passenger car tires could benefit by all the claims made for nitrogen, tire manufacturers say that they already design tires to perform well with air inflation. And while nitrogen will do no harm, manufacturers say that they don't see the need to use nitrogen, which generally adds $5 or more per tire charge.

Consumer Reports wanted to find out if nitrogen is worth the price, so we purchased a Nitrogen Inflation System and checked out how well the inflation held up over a one year period. We evaluated pairs of 31 tire models of H- and V-speed rated, all-season tires used in our tread wear test from 2006. We filled one tire per model with air and the other with nitrogen. The test was quite simple: fill and set the inflation pressure at room temperature to 30 psi (pounds per square inch); set the tire outdoors for one year; and then recheck the inflation pressure at room temperature after a one year period.

The tires were filled and deflated three times with nitrogen to purge the air out of the tire cavity. (DOES COSTCO AND SUCH DO THIS?) We also used an oxygen analyzer to be sure we had 95-percent nitrogen purity in the tire--the claimed purity limit of our nitrogen system, which generates nitrogen gas from ambient air.

The test started on September 20, 2006 and the final measurements were taken on September 20, 2007. The results show nitrogen does reduce pressure loss over time, but the reduction is only a 1.3 psi difference from air-filled tires. The average loss of air-filled tires was just 3.5 psi from the initial 30 pressure setting. Nitrogen-filled tires lost an average of 2.2 psi from the initial 30 psi setting. More important, all tires lost air pressure regardless of the inflation medium, so consumers should check their tires' air pressure routinely. No evaluation was done to assess the aging claim.

Bottom line: Overall, consumers can use nitrogen and might enjoy the slight improvement in air retention provided, but it's not a substitute for regular inflation checks.

author--Gene Petersen
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Old 09-17-2013, 07:56 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by milzat View Post
Name: Voma Tire Corp.
Phone: (901) 672-0816
Address: 5815 E Shelby Dr

Memphis, TN 38141-6804
I believe that might be the importer.

If someone posts the DOT serial I can tell you the plant that made the tires. This information has been previously posted on my blog.
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