Tire failures and a trip to the scales (CAT)

[spock123]

Originally Posted by northstar1960

you have aftermarket sensors on your truck ? i had a car once with the tps what a pain . i always check my tires don't need a sensor to remind me . the bad part was when i put the snow tire and rims on no sensor and the dash light became an annoyance . Seems the sensors make since for a TT , TH , 5'er but also seems by the time it tells you you have a flat it's to late

Oh yes. On GM Silverado 2500 the sensors come standard but not on the 3500, can't even get them as a option. So I installed TST 507 TPMS for the truck and fifth wheel. I check the tires about once a month but mostly I rely on the sensors. They are never more that one or two pounds off, the 507 work great for me. 75,000 miles so far and no problems.


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[Tireman9]

Pictures from both k4lp and Blackhat6mike are of belt separations.
TPMS cannot provide advance warning of these structural failures.

What did your tire dealer say when presented with these failures?
The condition of belt separation is not the result of running low inflation. It is the result of the design and manufacturing process of the tires not using the latest knowledge in tire engineering. Material science has improved significantly over the past 15 years so the knowledge and information is out there. If however an RV MFG wants the lowest cost tires then using the more expensive 1st class materials and manufacturing process is not to be expected as the tire company will most likely use the lowest cost components and construction. In this case the RV manufacturer shares blame for selecting low cost tires of marginal or possibly unsafe constructions if these tires were provided by the RV MFG.

Your tire dealer should give you an adjustment for each tire that failed based on tread depth remaining.

RE NHTSA did you provide full DOT serial in the complaint form? Normally they do not ask for pictures with an initial complaint. You might want to provide your tire dealer with the complaint number from NHTSA. If necessary you can also file a complaint with NHTSA against the dealer for failing to adjust the tires and report the failure to the tire distributor. It is the dealer's responsibility to notify the importer/distributor of tire failures and the responsibility of importer/distributor to provide failure rate info to NHTSA.

Belt separations develop over months of service and are not the result of what happened over one or two trips. If you review my post on How To Inspect tires and watch the video link in that post, you will learn what you can do to improve your odds of discovering the separation before the tire comes apart.

Other than selecting tires that offer 100% warranty for 3 years and always running the Max inflation molded on the tire sidewall there isn't much more you can do than annual "free spin" inspection and hope you discover a separation before the tire comes apart.

[k4lp]

Mine were all TOW MAX as well less than 2 years old. Just junk ! When we let the air out of the other 2 to replace them they also had lumps showing belt failures. Then checking inside the tire it was bulging up in 2 places so they were going to blow soon. My 5th wheel weighed in at #8180 on the tandem axles so as the tire spec's are concerned I had about #5000 lbs of extra load buffer. It is funny I can run 60,000 miles on a set of american made LT tires on a #7500 lb truck and abuse the hell out of them with no problems. You don't have to be a tire engineer to figure that out. The tires on my rigs from now on will all be LT's and the largest that will fit.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by k4lp

Mine were all TOW MAX as well less than 2 years old. Just junk ! When we let the air out of the other 2 to replace them they also had lumps showing belt failures. Then checking inside the tire it was bulging up in 2 places so they were going to blow soon. My 5th wheel weighed in at #8180 on the tandem axles so as the tire spec's are concerned I had about #5000 lbs of extra load buffer. It is funny I can run 60,000 miles on a set of american made LT tires on a #7500 lb truck and abuse the hell out of them with no problems. You don't have to be a tire engineer to figure that out. The tires on my rigs from now on will all be LT's and the largest that will fit.

Two years old... Should have been covered by tire warranty and adjusted & replaced with better tires by the dealer. If dealer refused then complaints to NHTSA, RV MFG and even local BBB are definitely in order.
In correspondence with NHTSA you can ask how NHTSA expects to do its job when it allows tire companies to sweep tire failures under the rug by not adjusting tires. Tire companies are required to report failure rates to NHTSA but one way to get around that requirement is to simply refuse to adjust failed tires.

What was the name & location of the dealer that refused to adjust the tires?

[k4lp]

Everything with them is road hazard and thus no warranty, if you read the warranty it covers everything to get them out of covering the failure. It is much better to take pictures and file with NHTSA then buy good tires. When you can buy 4 ST 235-80-R16 on EBAY for $500.00 and get free shipping you are not getting quality. Again my opinion I am not in the tire business just a consumer who is fed up with somebody feeding me a turd and calling it ice cream.