Tire story on our last trip

[RoadRunnerTR21]

3 weeks ago we decided to head out for the first time this year. For various reasons we have not been able to go. Covid lock down, dog not doing well and then passing away, weather, etc. It was always something. So we headed to Lake Buchanan in central Texas for a few days. We decided on staying at a different place than our usual RV spot which is on a golf course. It was called Big Chief RV Resort. Overall we liked the place though internet was a bit sketchy. On the third day our dance card was open so we decided to head to Fredericksburg, TX for a visit. As I'm driving the truck I noticed a bad vibration. I stopped in a bank parking lot in Llano but didn't see anything out of the norm. The lugs were tight and nothing seemed loose. Rather than pressing on, we went back to a tire shop I knew about in Kingsland. The old boy took the truck and came back in less than 5 minutes. He looked at both front tires and then told me I had belt separation in both tires. Looking at it more closely I could see how both tires had a odd shape. If you went real slow without touching the steering wheel, the steering wheel would rock rather dramatically left and right. The guy was honest and said he didn't have any tires my size but recommended to do to Discount Tire in Marble Falls. BTW he did not charge me anything. So off we go to Discount Tire. I only had 19,000 miles on these OEM Nexen tires but now I have lost confidence in them. Discount Tire set me up with 6 Michelin Defender tires. They also gave a $350 credit on the OEM tires. Expensive? Yes but I was happy to have some better tires on the truck. We decided to head back to the Montana because we had enough fun for one day.



The next morning we buttoned up and headed home per schedule. Truck tire readout was good. Fired up the TST monitor for the trailer and those tires were good. Off we go! We were down the road less than 30 minutes when my wife noticed the front passenger trailer tire was loosing air pressure. So she started looking for a tire shop on her phone when I passed Earls Lube and Tire in Bertram. Less than a mile later the TST alarm went off and I pulled into a church parking lot and said we are going back to Earls. While we were waiting for Earl to finish up working on a stock trailer spare, we noticed the top of a hex head bolt squarely centered in the center tread of trailer tire. Earl had a heck of a time extracting the bolt. It was a 3" lag bolt about as big around as your little finger. Needless to say that tire was toast. So Earl put on the spare, gave it some air and $25 later we were heading home. We only lost one hour. My wife said it was a record trip. 3 tire shops and 7 tires in less than 24 hours. All in all it could have been much worse.


I ordered the replacement Sailun from Simple Tire. It arrived yesterday via Fed Ex. This morning I went to a local tire shop and they put it on the rim and did a spin balance for $15. Brought it home, raised the passenger side up using the hydraulic jacks, took the spare off, put the new tire on, torqued the lugs, re-leveled the trailer, put the spare back underneath the trailer. The job was pretty easy and was done in under a hour. It helps having the right tools and working in a garage.