Premature Tire Wear on 2014 Wildwood X-Lite

roberttlh · 10-15-2014, 10:25 PM

I am investigating whether Forest River should be held responsible for selling travel trailers with cheap tires that wear out within a few months of delivery. Kindly provide your experience with this premature tire wear issue. All four of my tires, that were always properly inflated, have worn out on the inside tread and the dealer response is "que sera, sera."

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goduc · 10-17-2014, 11:26 AM

If they're wearing out on the inside that means that the axles are over loaded or they may be installed upside down. Look under the TT at the axles and see if they crown up. You don't have a tire problem since all are wearing out the same. It's also possible that FR put underrated axles on the TT. Look at the sticker on the axles and see what it says. Have you actually weighed the TT?

GOTTOYS · 10-17-2014, 12:06 PM

Doesn't matter if they're cheap or expensive tires. Wearing on the inside edge is an indication of misalignment not a tire condition. Either the trailer is overloaded forcing the camber to be out of spec or something is bent. Take it to a heavy duty truck alignment shop and have it checked out. They can fix it easily. An RV dealer won't be much help, they don't have the right equipment or expertise.

Wa11y757 · 10-17-2014, 06:05 PM

Mine are doing the same thing with only 300 miles on the tires. Takeing it to the dealer for warranty work tommorow. We will see what happens.

roberttlh · 10-22-2014, 01:03 PM

took mine to dealer and he said it was tire issue not axles. Of course no one will accept responsibility. I just put new Maxxis radials; if those begin to wear prematurely then it is lawsuit time; kept old tires as evidence. Dealer should have advised me that cheap, bias ply tires would not last 6 months and I would have paid for upgrade. Really cannot trust anyone any longer. My advise to future purchasers is to upgrade tires at time of purchase or go to another dealer or manufacturer. This gives me a bad taste about Forest River.

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Brother Les · 10-22-2014, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberttlh

took mine to dealer and he said it was tire issue not axles. Of course no one will accept responsibility. I just put new Maxxis radials; if those begin to wear prematurely then it is lawsuit time; kept old tires as evidence. Dealer should have advised me that cheap, bias ply tires would not last 6 months and I would have paid for upgrade. Really cannot trust anyone any longer. My advise to future purchasers is to upgrade tires at time of purchase or go to another dealer or manufacturer. This gives me a bad taste about Forest River.

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The Dealer lied to you. There should be no tread wear at all if properly aired up, and everything is in alignment. After many years of usage the tread should look fine (20,000 miles and more) , But.... the side walls will crack and degrade and ROT away, because of TIME. Upgrading tires does nothing to save your tires if alignments are out. (imo) Have a Pro look it over (alignments) and have Dealer/warranty fix it. (and then have a Pro look it over again to make sure the stDealer fixed it)

TURBS · 10-22-2014, 01:57 PM

Agreed NOT A TIRE PROBLEM.

Turbs

KMP44 · 10-22-2014, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberttlh

I am investigating whether Forest River should be held responsible for selling travel trailers with cheap tires that wear out within a few months of delivery. Kindly provide your experience with this premature tire wear issue. All four of my tires, that were always properly inflated, have worn out on the inside tread and the dealer response is "que sera, sera."

Maybe you should get a new dealer.

FR warranty does include the tires. First year (at least on ours) was through a mystery company called Lionshead. Read nothing good about them online, but never personally dealt with them. We also bought the second year FR warranty and had 2 issues during the second year. One tire failed (tread completely separated from the sidewall) and the valve stems cracked on all four of the others. Both times, I made a call to the dealer and they said to bring it in so they could take a look. In both cases they dealt with FR and the issues were covered under warranty.

If you have an uneven wear pattern on all four tires, it doesn't sound like the tires are the root cause, but a competent service department would take the time to diagnose the issue and submit it as a warranty claim if the tt is under warranty.

goduc · 10-22-2014, 02:00 PM

The dealer's just copping out. When I had tire issues I too took it to the dealer and they said the axles were fine and to take it to the local Goodyear tire dealer thinking it was the tires at fault. The tire guy said that ties don't wear out on the outside (which mine were doing) by themselves. They said take it to an axle alignment place, which happened to be in town. They looked at it and said both axles were out of alignment. They bent both back into alignment for $195.00 total.

IMO the dealers just have a bunch of goofball workers and management that really know little about alignment. Guessing they just pulled a string from the front to each axle thinking that was good enough. Axle tech guy said the Lippert axles were soft and put extra camber in.

Both the tire guy and the alignment shop said we'd be lucky to get Lippert to confess that the axles were bent.

If I were you I would go to a tire shop and ask them why your tires are wearing like they are. Then take it to an alignment shop. They will be able to tell if the axles are in dead bent. Then take that info to Lippert and the dealer. Mine was out of warranty so I really had no recourse.

roberttlh · 10-22-2014, 02:06 PM

Not happy because I made a detour to show Dealer's Service Rep the tire wear -- 4 hours out of my way - and when I arrived and he saw all 4 tires going bald on inside tread, he quickly said it was a tire problem or overloading or low tire pressures. Trailer has never been overloaded in 6 months and i always maintain tire pressure at 50 pounds per specs on trailer. If my new tires show the same wear pattern, I intend to take the dealer to task; that is why I kept the old tires. I am lucky to have myself as a trial lawyer with consumer class actionbexperience. I still believe rhe Chinese bias-ply tires are crap and the nitrogen-filled tires to be a gimic of the first order. Otherwise, we really like the Wildwood-X.

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goduc · 10-22-2014, 02:08 PM

Did they even look underneath at the axles and check the camber on the axle?

roberttlh · 10-22-2014, 02:16 PM

Of couse not, and this was after he told me 4 hours earlier that it was an axle alignment problem. I live 7 hours from the dealer so it was a major burden to detour to dealer location only to be told to take it up with the Chinese tire manufacturer. I am glad I bought the Maxxis radials because they are not junk. But do not intend to pay $400 when they wear out in 6 months without a battle with dealer and Forest River.

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Brother Les · 10-22-2014, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberttlh

Not happy because I made a detour to show Dealer's Service Rep the tire wear -- 4 hours out of my way - and when I arrived and he saw all 4 tires going bald on inside tread, he quickly said it was a tire problem or overloading or low tire pressures. Trailer has never been overloaded in 6 months and i always maintain tire pressure at 50 pounds per specs on trailer. If my new tires show the same wear pattern, I intend to take the dealer to task; that is why I kept the old tires. I am lucky to have myself as a trial lawyer with consumer class actionbexperience. I still believe rhe Chinese bias-ply tires are crap and the nitrogen-filled tires to be a gimic of the first order. Otherwise, we really like the Wildwood-X.

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Everyone will all agree that the original tires are 'crap'..... 'but'..... crap or not, they will not all wear the way they are unless there is an alignment problem. You should not pull your unit with your new tires until you get your alignment problem fixed. Call the Deal owner and tell him you want the unit alignment fixed and you want an adjustment on the tires that you just bought. You were lied to by the 'Service Rep' and you need to go higher.... 1) Dealer owner.... 2) Court ?.....

roberttlh · 10-22-2014, 02:20 PM

I agree but it is a 200 mile drive one way from Key West to Dealer and no Forest River dealers in between. I enjoy a good battle.

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Brother Les · 10-22-2014, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberttlh

Of couse not, and this was after he told me 4 hours earlier that it was an axle alignment problem. I live 7 hours from the dealer so it was a major burden to detour to dealer location only to be told to take it up with the Chinese tire manufacturer. I am glad I bought the Maxxis radials because they are not junk. But do not intend to pay $400 when they wear out in 6 months without a battle with dealer and Forest River.

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This was an issue (not tire issue) that I had when I needed something fixed on my unit. Spend the better part of two days taking it to a Dealer to far away for warranty work, or take it to a local Dealer that I have worked with all my life and trust. It was all around cheaper to take it 10 minutes away and pick it up later. If there is some type of alignment shop that can fix it, that may be an option. Talk to the Dealer first and put him on notice that you had talked to the 'Service Rep' and that he lied to you and that you want to be reimbursed.

goduc · 10-22-2014, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother Les

Everyone will all agree that the original tires are 'crap'..... 'but'..... crap or not, they will not all wear the way they are unless there is an alignment problem. You should not pull your unit with your new tires until you get your alignment problem fixed. Call the Deal owner and tell him you want the unit alignment fixed and you want an adjustment on the tires that you just bought. You were lied to by the 'Service Rep' and you need to go higher.... 1) Dealer owner.... 2) Court ?.....

Good advice. You're definitely getting the run around. It's not right that you should have to fix it yourself but for the sake of not wearing out perfectly good tires I agree that you should try and find a place that does trailer alignment work. Then take the bill to the dealer and see if you can get reimbursed. Doubt you will but you never know. By going to the alignment place and having them physically show you why the tires are wearing then you have recourse. Right now you are just getting hung out to dry.

It really sounds like you just have undersized axles or the camber is not right. It's not all that common to find undersized axles on some TT's. But more than likely the axle are weak.

This is why I hate LIppert products. But Lippert has themselves so ingrained in the RV market that virtually no trailer is without some product that Lippert is part of. I read RVBusiness daily and at least once a month or maybe two months there's an article about Lippert acquiring another company that makes products for RV's It's just a shame.

Brother Les · 10-22-2014, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberttlh

I agree but it is a 200 mile drive one way from Key West to Dealer and no Forest River dealers in between. I enjoy a good battle.

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1) too far away to get problem fixed.

2) 'winning' battles are fine. But all is 'fair' in war.... ie. the SOB sDealer may fix or gloss over the alignment issue, but what other things on your unit will he mess with..... when dealing with a sDealer, in the end you will lose more than the one or two battles that you win.

I would suggest getting a third party involved and get the sDealer to pay for it. I would not trust the sDealer to fix the alignment problem

goduc · 10-22-2014, 02:34 PM

FWIW have you called Lippert or FR? FR may just shift the blame to Lippert.

KMP44 · 10-22-2014, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberttlh

I agree but it is a 200 mile drive one way from Key West to Dealer and no Forest River dealers in between. I enjoy a good battle.

If all you're looking for is "a good battle" have it. If the dealer never even submitted a request for warranty work to FR, I don't know how they would be liable for anything, and as soon as you say one word about legal action, they (like almost all companies today) will likely shut down any/all communications on the subject which does nothing to help get the issue fixed.

If you want to get your trailer fixed and go back to camping, I would take the advice already offered and find a local shop that does commercial trailer service. These types of places usually specialize in trailer alignment work. Get them to take some measurements and then bypass the dealer and contact the FR warranty rep directly with the results and ask them to cover the cost of the repair.

TURBS · 10-22-2014, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMP44

If all you're looking for is "a good battle" have it. If the dealer never even submitted a request for warranty work to FR, I don't know how they would be liable for anything, and as soon as you say one word about legal action, they (like almost all companies today) will likely shut down and/all communications on the subject which does nothing to help get the issue fixed.

If you want to get your trailer fixed and go back to camping, I would take the advice already offered and find a local shop that does commercial trailer service. These types of places usually specialize in trailer alignment work. Get them to take some measurements and then bypass the dealer and contact the FR warranty rep directly with the results and ask them to cover the cost of the repair.

I agree.

Turbs

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