Trail Express tires

mstell2 · 03-04-2012, 08:02 PM

I have been having my camper a little over a year and one of my tires has a pinhole defect in the rubber on the sidewall by the rim. I have read plenty bad about these tires does anyone have anything good to say about them? I'm about to just change all 4 because of all the bad things I read.

EdJunior · 03-04-2012, 08:22 PM

I know I am hexing myself, but I've had mine for 2 years now. I do want to change them, but just can't seem to find the time or gumption to get it done.

mstell2 · 06-28-2012, 10:51 PM

Was about to leave on a trip when I noticed a low tire, checked it out and another hole in sidewall of tire. These trail express are trash, been putting off getting 4 new ones because they are. It even two years old. But now I'm going put 4 new ones and contact forest river about these trashy tires they put on third campers. Going to see if they will do anything, might have a lawyer send them a letter, I heard it is hard to get in touch with the tire manufacturer.

PapaSmurf · 06-29-2012, 05:48 AM

My friend and I have identical Silverback 29RE's, he had knots to come up on his tires, but to date mine have performed as expected. The only difference is mine were Nitro filled at the factory and his were not. I have no idea if the Nitro makes that much difference? Mine stay inflated to 80 psi and we take the same trips, for the most part. I guess mine were made on a good day and his were made on a Monday. I have no other way to explain the difference in tire performance.

camper_Lucy · 06-29-2012, 07:56 AM

papaSmurf, Hopefully yours are good, but what is happening is that the air or Nitro is leaking into the layer between the sidewall belts and the rubber. As you drive and heat up the tire bubbles are showing in the sidewalls, when you stop and the tire cools the bubbles are disappearing. Once you drive far enough of the sidewall rubber gets weak from the process of expanding and contracting you begin to see the spots. It is happening to the tire whether they are filled with Air or Nitro, and if the bubble gets to big it pops, but the tire still holds air and leaks slow until the weigh effects the low tire then it blows the sidewall out. So you can not determine this by checking the pressure as it holds 80 until the sidewall either develops a "pin" hole or pops.

EdJunior · 06-29-2012, 08:58 AM

Papa...I had pretty much the same experience as you. I thought I was doing great. Then my last trip out, three tires blew coming home (posted elsewhere). My trailer is two years old and the tires less than 3,000 miles. They were Nitro filled and all at 80 pounds as well. The date code on my tires were 3409 (34th week of 09). I will have 4 new Maxxis tires on mine after the repairs are done to my Cat. They will be on order very soon. Parts for the Cat are still coming in. I took my chances and I lost. Just sayin'...

PapaSmurf · 06-29-2012, 09:04 AM

The bubbles, knots, bulges, whatever you want to call them are what happened to my friends tires. When we stopped at a rest area for a walk break, he had the bulges on the sidewalls. We made the trip without incident, but he had his tires changed when we returned home.

OK, so here is my question... I have read lots of these threads about bad tires. Why is the NTSB not stepping in and doing something? They almost caused the collapse of Firestone a few years ago, why are they not doing something about these low quality tires now? Do we each have to file some type of incident report (NSTB.GOV) to get something investigated? Does it take an expose' on 20/20 or 60 minutes? How do we get the Government to step-up and stop letting them import these inferior products?

FR28footer · 06-29-2012, 10:19 AM

See my thread with same topic title.
I would not chance a thing and get new tires.
We went with Maxxis and also upgraded from 14" to 15".

I would also call the NHSTA and file a complaint on trail express.

ResQfrog · 06-30-2012, 09:34 AM

Everyone that has this brand of tire has to file a report. They only look into it if they get enough reports of problems. Be ready to get run around when you file. The Trail Express brand does not even show up in there system. Also Forest River and several of the makes made by them do not show up. My paperwork came in and it shows Goodyear and the wrong size. Must correct it and send it back. Also including photos or the tires.

The DOT number did not even cross over to a manufacturer in there system. Makes you wonder if they are even DOT approved.

mstell2 · 07-02-2012, 09:24 AM

Called about the tiers today, they said they can't do anything it's out of warranty. Well I will be making some calls to consumer protection groups and such. These tiers are trash, and it's bull crap that they can't do anything. Forest river needs to put better tiers on their products.

mstell2 · 07-02-2012, 08:00 PM

This is the best, when I talked to a guy at forest river he told me those tires are only good for short trips. Then why the h#ll do they put them on their campers? I can't believe that he said that. Forest river needs to put better tires on their products.

MilCop4523 · 07-03-2012, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mstell2

Was about to leave on a trip when I noticed a low tire, checked it out and another hole in sidewall of tire. These trail express are trash, been putting off getting 4 new ones because they are. It even two years old. But now I'm going put 4 new ones and contact forest river about these trashy tires they put on third campers. Going to see if they will do anything, might have a lawyer send them a letter, I heard it is hard to get in touch with the tire manufacturer.

Yep. I scraped ours worn out at 2000 miles.
Replaced with Kumho 857s. 225 70 R 15s. And they have lots less
Sway.

DougP47 · 07-03-2012, 03:44 PM

I bought my trailer and brought it home about 100 miles. I took the TT to the tire dealer and had them balanced. He said you not leaving with these tires they are bad. The bead broke on all 4 of them. I also had a bad rim on one side. I contacted FR and after 2 month of I will get to it the finely reimbursed me for the tires and one rim.

sail2liv · 07-03-2012, 04:17 PM

I hope I don t have the luck you folks have had.....good habits for tires are listed in the FR OM.....5 pages worth.....I put aerospace 303 on both sides of the tires.....I multiply the weight rating by .8 because ST tires have no reserve capacity like car tires.....I don t exceed that .8 weight limit or 60 mph, with mostly traveling at 55 mph.....if tires don t move the chemicals in them can t do the job they were designed for....1 mph over 65 mph causes rapid deteriation....not covering and protecting your tires does the same...
not using the tire is not good, but ST are the best bet against.....Maxxis tires are better because they post a weight on them that allows a reserve capcity. Other tires don t do this.....after saying that you just have to know the numbers so you can operate within the limits....which very few do...Tire pressure is critical.....I use a TPMS so at least know pressure and temps all the time.....according to FR OM cold tire pressure is a taken when a tire has not been use for three hours.....I can go on and on about people overloading one tire or one axle.....and speeding.....some tires even give there limits in rpm s that means you have to measure the tire to see how far one rpm takes you......and the ones I have checked you better never go over 60 mph or they will blow......my 2 cents is if we all have better habits about doing the right things with tires there will be no problems....look at all the trailers out there no one has a problem with....just a few here on these posts.....so why not blame the Chinese tires......seems to make sense to me.

Good luck travel lite....slow down.....

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