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Old 07-25-2012, 03:41 PM   #81
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We just bought a 2010 Wildcat 25RL fifth wheel (our very first camper) and have had two trailer tires blow out in two days! The tires looked good, and passed inspection by the dealer... They were dated 2009. Each incident occurred within two hours of getting on the road. A third tire is also showing a dangerous bulge, as pointed out by a concerned stranger who flagged us down 5 minutes after getting on the road after the second blowout!

We are not sure what's going on with these tires, and are currently parked at a Michelin dealer buying four new ten ply trailer tires. We are extremely concerned for the safety of our family pulling this thing - two babies on board. Mama wants to leave the thing on the side of the highway if it happens again!!!

We have noticed that our rims are 16" versus the specs listed online which are 15" ... Could this be part of our problem?
Thanks in advance for your input!
Priscilla
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Old 07-25-2012, 03:57 PM   #82
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Priscillawest View Post
We just bought a 2010 Wildcat 25RL fifth wheel (our very first camper) and have had two trailer tires blow out in two days! The tires looked good, and passed inspection by the dealer... They were dated 2009. Each incident occurred within two hours of getting on the road. A third tire is also showing a dangerous bulge, as pointed out by a concerned stranger who flagged us down 5 minutes after getting on the road after the second blowout!

We are not sure what's going on with these tires, and are currently parked at a Michelin dealer buying four new ten ply trailer tires. We are extremely concerned for the safety of our family pulling this thing - two babies on board. Mama wants to leave the thing on the side of the highway if it happens again!!!

We have noticed that our rims are 16" versus the specs listed online which are 15" ... Could this be part of our problem?
Thanks in advance for your input!
Priscilla
Don't think rim size has any thing to do with it. Just junk tires. The Michelin 10plys should do the trick. I would seriously consider a TST TMS system tho'. Tell mama to relax and try to forget the 2 blowouts and enjoy her family and camping. Life is too short to worry! Besides that, it doesn't solve any problems.
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Old 07-25-2012, 06:38 PM   #83
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Yeah, actually the 16" tires/rims are better. They have a higher load rating. But as dunnnc pointed out, the tires are just junk. Plain and simple.
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Old 07-25-2012, 07:20 PM   #84
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Originally Posted by tirewarrantygirl
Cracking can be accelerated by too much exposure to heat, vehicle exhaust, ozone and sunlight,
A buddy of mine had tire covers on his tires from the day he bought the trailer and they still looked new, for one reason or another he got under the trailer and saw the all the tires had developed cracks on the inside and this was after traveling with them for 6 hours... One very luck family if you ask me. I have these on my trailer and check them very closely every chance I can.
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Old 07-25-2012, 07:45 PM   #85
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I would seriously consider a TST TMS system tho'.
I agree. After getting rid of the crap tires and going with Maxxis, I am also using the STS 507. Another added level of security. Highly recommended.
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Old 07-25-2012, 08:30 PM   #86
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Express tires

I have a new Rockwood 8289 5th wheel that came with express tires. I have just got back from a trip of 7547 miles. I did not loose any pressure and I measured it daily. I also had a thermo gun for heat. I was in 107 degree temps and my tires never got over 135 degrees. I traveled from Virginia to Oregon and back, we went over mts. and bad roads and just nasty highways. I had no problems at all, and they still look like new. Maybe I was lucky, or I just made sure I paid attention after reading all these complaints. I traveled at 60 to 65 miles per hour. Sorry to hear about everyone's complaints and feel for you , but it is not the tires FR installs. Also my tires are from lions head filled with nitro. maybe that helped but I can say the tires are not the problem. These are 14" C rated at 50 lbs. cold pressure. my trailer weight is about 8200 dry weight with 4000 lbs Al-Ko axles.
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Old 07-25-2012, 08:52 PM   #87
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Originally Posted by gljurczyk View Post
I have a new Rockwood 8289 5th wheel that came with express tires. I have just got back from a trip of 7547 miles. I did not loose any pressure and I measured it daily. I also had a thermo gun for heat. I was in 107 degree temps and my tires never got over 135 degrees. I traveled from Virginia to Oregon and back, we went over mts. and bad roads and just nasty highways. I had no problems at all, and they still look like new. Maybe I was lucky, or I just made sure I paid attention after reading all these complaints. I traveled at 60 to 65 miles per hour. Sorry to hear about everyone's complaints and feel for you , but it is not the tires FR installs. Also my tires are from lions head filled with nitro. maybe that helped but I can say the tires are not the problem. These are 14" C rated at 50 lbs. cold pressure. my trailer weight is about 8200 dry weight with 4000 lbs Al-Ko axles.
Yes, you were lucky. So far. I was lucky for 2 years. I always checked mine, before every trip. I never exceeded 65mph (maybe down a hill or two, but you know what I mean). To make a long story (already told too many times), short, I did everything right. Pressure, speed, etc. The tires looked a little discolored, but otherwise they looked fine. After each blowout (I had a triple), I checked the remaining tires. They were good. So no matter what anyone says, it was the tires. They had a 2009 date on them, and the trailer was only 2 years old. Less than 3,000 miles.

At any rate, I have 4 new Maxxis going on on Saturday. You can continue to feel lucky like I did, or you can keep reading these stories until it becomes your story.
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Old 07-25-2012, 08:58 PM   #88
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Originally Posted by gljurczyk View Post
I have a new Rockwood 8289 5th wheel that came with express tires. I have just got back from a trip of 7547 miles. I did not loose any pressure and I measured it daily. I also had a thermo gun for heat. I was in 107 degree temps and my tires never got over 135 degrees. I traveled from Virginia to Oregon and back, we went over mts. and bad roads and just nasty highways. I had no problems at all, and they still look like new. Maybe I was lucky, or I just made sure I paid attention after reading all these complaints. I traveled at 60 to 65 miles per hour. Sorry to hear about everyone's complaints and feel for you , but it is not the tires FR installs. Also my tires are from lions head filled with nitro. maybe that helped but I can say the tires are not the problem. These are 14" C rated at 50 lbs. cold pressure. my trailer weight is about 8200 dry weight with 4000 lbs Al-Ko axles.
Count yourself VERY lucky, Express tires are notorious for defects. The nitrogen has nothing to do with anything other than not increasing pressure as much as normal air.
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Old 07-25-2012, 09:35 PM   #89
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but it is not the tires FR installs. Also my tires are from lions head filled with nitro.
These are the tires FR has on their trailers. Lionshead is the company that mounts the tires to the rims. FR contracted them.

You are lucky. I can tell you that I upgraded to the 15" from 14" and on our last trip in 85 degree weather, the temps. were around 95 and pressure went from 65 psi to no more than 71.

I wish you luck and safe travels. But I will never have Trail Express tires on anything again.

There are a lot of threads on Nitro fill. If I remember right, someone pointed out that air is 78% nitro.........

I have our trailer at a storage lot and check on it every week. Tires are still holding at 65 psi and it has been about a month since our last trip.
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Old 07-25-2012, 11:58 PM   #90
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I have been following this thread with great interest. We have a 2010 Toyhauler that we purchased in Oct.2011, it has Duro Tires on it. The tires on it are date coded 3409. We have put less than 500 miles on these tires.
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Old 07-26-2012, 07:31 AM   #91
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I'm just glad everyone is alright and that there wasn't more damage.
We as mentioned before had TE juck on ours nad got them replaced under warrnaty. Now have KUMHO 857 LTs on them and a TST 507 monitoring system.
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Old 07-26-2012, 09:18 AM   #92
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There is not a tire out there that does not have complaints.

What puzzles me is those of you that complain about the Trail Express warranty and service from Lionshead.

My tires were cracked, I made one phone call to my dealer and he gave me the number for Lionshead. I made a call to Lionshead and the following day I had four new tires delivered to my door free of any charge.

Not only that they are sending me a check for $60 goodwill.

I had Goodyear Marthons and one blew and two had broken belts and all they would do was give me partial credit for the two with broken belts. Said there wasn't enough left of the other to identify.

Any tires can fail. Buy a TPMS and check the condition of your tires frequently. You can often find a broken belt before they blow by running your hands over the treads.

And remember if you do contact warranty service, "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar".
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Old 07-26-2012, 10:01 AM   #93
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I have read many different articles and had experience with trailer tires. My 2cs is that no matter what manufacture you have there are gonna be problems. In my opinion, 2 years is the most you can get out of a set of tires. I recommend to anyone to use a tire shop close to your house and just know that every two years you need new tires. This is much less expensive than blowing a tire and messing up or wrecking your rig. This also cuts down on being in the shop.
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Old 07-26-2012, 04:56 PM   #94
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Trail Express update.

The dealer replaced all 5 tires with the same type Trail Express tires they took off. This is what were sent to them by the tire suppliers. Can already see they will hold up about as long as they originals. The side walls already have the same deformed look including the sidewall as the originals. Looking to have the state DOT look into these tires. Will most likely replace them on my own dime. Will remember this when it comes time for the next Forest River Trailer.

I tow a company trailer approx 8000 miles per year and even though I have had a blow out it was on tires that were 3 or more years old and overloaded by the other drivers towing the trailer.

To tirewarrantygirl due you work for the tire supplier? I have worked at Goodyear, Michelin and Cooper tire dealers over the years and at Auto dealers and repair shops over the years and have not seen tires fail like with this type of cracking and become deformed like this at such a low mileage.

If heat, vehicle exhaust, sunlight, generators and electric motors have that major of a effect on tires. We would see emergency vehicles (firetrucks, ambulance) crashing every day due to tires failing do to cracking and blowouts. I see these type of vehicles running at emergency calls every day. And trust me they generate more heat on the tires then any travel trailer would see in there lifetime. Large diameter exhaust systems dumping hot exhaust right in front of the rear tires, Generators running for 110 and 220 volt lighting and electric motors running for rescue tools and fans, etc.

These type of vehicles in most cases go for several 3 to 8 years with the OEM tires. Also look at Police vehicles that due the same. In any case they see more than 1000 to 3000 miles before the tires need to be replaced.

I feel that these tire are just poor quality and should not be on the road. Ford had issues with Firestone tires years ago and this could be Forest Rivers Firestone's.
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Old 07-26-2012, 06:42 PM   #95
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Originally Posted by rgmiller32 View Post
Ford had issues with Firestone tires years ago and this could be Forest Rivers Firestone's.
To be fair to Firestone, part of the "issues" were created when Ford dropped the recommended inflation pressure to accommodate customer's perceptions of "rough ride". Dropped it to 26psi if I recall correctly.

Granted, Firestone agreed to allow that to be the recommendation.

By the way, Ford later upped their recommendation to 30psi.

Even though other manufacturers didn't have the same failure rate at the lower recommended pressure like did Firestone, Firestones didn't have the same problem at 30psi.

Read more about it here:
Firestone and Ford tire controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Old 07-31-2012, 10:54 AM   #96
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Tire Replacement and Monitors

Replaced "Chinese Maypops" (Trail Express) with Maxxis load range E, installed TST 507 monitors and balanced. Towed 500 miles and trailer pulled easy and monitors worked great. It is interesting to watch changes in tire pressure and temperature, both up and down, depending on ambient air temp, which tires are in the sun and driving through a rain shower.

Please don't call the distracted driver police, I promise to do better next trip. I'm just a kid with a new toy.
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