Lonnie and other MOC members - Montana Owners Club

Mac · 06-21-2010, 03:47 PM

I just wanted to thank Lonnie who we all know is the "tire expert" on MOC. We had just parked in Las Cruces on Saturday afternoon and my wife noticed we had lost some tread on our Mission tires. I sent an email to Lonnie because I knew he was from NM but I didn't realize how far away he was. Nevertheless, he answered my email, and gave me the name, address and phone number of a local dealer in Las Cruces that he thought could help me. We went there the first thing this morning and ordered the BFG, Commercial T/A's that Lonnie recommended and they installed them this afternoon. Now granted, we lost a whole day but it could have been so much worse.

This isn't a topic to bash Mission tires, I've had them since 2006 but it is a topic to thank Lonnie and all the other members that are there for us WHENEVER we need them. I know that MIMF helped me once before and I know many others have stepped up for all of us. Of course Glenn was always there for us as well.

Thanks to Lonnie, and thanks to all the members and the MOC for giving us this wonderful forum!

mac

sailer · 06-21-2010, 04:10 PM

I would rather ride on BFG LT than any china tire ;;;sailer

Mac · 06-21-2010, 04:20 PM

WOW! I was just saying thanks to a MOC member, didn't mean to start some kind of firefight!

mac

bigmurf · 06-21-2010, 04:34 PM

BFG, Commercial T/A's for me too.

garyka · 06-21-2010, 05:06 PM

You were given good advise by the right person.

sreigle · 06-21-2010, 05:26 PM

Mac, I think you made a good choice. We put the Commercial T/A tires on our 3295RK. No problems but we only put 9k on them before trading the rig. This Montana has the Goodyear G614 tires, also an LT tire. No problems so far.

Funny how we keep having problems with ST tires on our Montanas and keep hearing about many problems with them but I'm just not hearing about problems with the LTs nor having problems with them.

Mac, I agree with you about Lonnie being very helpful, too. He sure helped me out when we were buying new tires back in April. Thanks, Lonnie.

Mac · 06-21-2010, 05:30 PM

Steve,

I'm going to show your post to my wife. I told her it would probably be cheaper to buy a new Montana instead of new tires and there was just no talking to her! Now I have proof!

I'll let you and everyone else know how well these tires do for me.

mac

exav8tr · 06-21-2010, 08:03 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Mac, I think you made a good choice. We put the Commercial T/A tires on our 3295RK. No problems but we only put 9k on them before trading the rig. This Montana has the Goodyear G614 tires, also an LT tire. No problems so far.

Funny how we keep having problems with ST tires on our Montanas and keep hearing about many problems with them but I'm just not hearing about problems with the LTs nor having problems with them.

Mac, I agree with you about Lonnie being very helpful, too. He sure helped me out when we were buying new tires back in April. Thanks, Lonnie.

The Goodyear G614RST is a Trailer Tire only and not to be confused with a truck tire with an LT rating. LT on a trailer tire refers to the load rating only. (see previous post about tires or visit the Goodyear.com website)

indy roadrunner · 06-22-2010, 12:22 PM

MAC, the Lonnie guy in NM has my vote. He guided me to BFG T/A LT's for my unit and in 6 years that will be my replacement tire.
Those Chinese ST's are long gone and I do not worry about them BFG's back there. One thing I will do when making sharp turns usually when jackknifing into a site is to pull up about 12 inches and let the sideward pressure unload. I believe this will help me further down the road to help prevent sidewall failure.

sreigle · 06-22-2010, 12:38 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by exav8tr

The Goodyear G614RST is a Trailer Tire only and not to be confused with a truck tire with an LT rating. LT on a trailer tire refers to the load rating only. (see previous post about tires or visit the Goodyear.com website)

I just looked at the sidewall of one of our tires and see nothing at all about it being for trailer use only.

On the Goodyear site it does say "DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO HANDLE THE DEMANDS OF TRAILER APPLICATIONS." It also says, "This tire is suitable for 5th Wheel and Travel Trailer," but I would think if it were trailer ONLY it would say so on the sidewall (for liability reasons) and maybe on the website.

I wonder why it doesn't say "for trailer use only" anywhere?? Could it be that it is ok for light trucks even though that's not its design target? I really have no idea but now am curious.

exav8tr · 06-22-2010, 04:31 PM

Steve, I know heresay doesn't bode well on this forum, however, I spoke to two different Goodyear dealers and they verified they were trailer tires only. I also could not find these tires in the truck section of their website. BUT I did find them in the trailer and RV section. This is all I know on the subject, except they seem to be quality tires and right now they are on my Montana also. BTW, Did you get in on the rebate? I got a check back from Goodyear for $50.00, making them even cheaper than what I originally stated......YEAH!!!!!!

LonnieB · 06-25-2010, 03:04 AM

Thank you Mac, garyka, sreigle, and indy roadrunner. I appreciate your kind words.

The LT235/85R16 Goodyear G614 RST is a tire designed specifically for trailer applications as indicated by the letters RST. I honestly don't know why they have the LT designation in front of the size.

Art-n-Marge · 06-25-2010, 05:45 AM

Maybe it's because Goodyear is quite aware of the negative connotation with an ST in front. Maybe the loophole for the FEDs is that ST for a trailer tire must be present somewhere but it doesn't have to be in the front. Marketing folks can be pretty clever about these things. This is all speculation on my part, but sure seems to match the discussions so far that G614s are a trailer tire and NOT for Light truck applications and the other tire experts I've talked to know this. I have yet to hear of anyone being successful mounting this tire on a truck but my experience is quite limited.

Just curious, has anyone checked the DOT code of their Goodyear G614 and looked up the manufacturing facility location? It would be fun if everyone with the now very popular recommendation of Goodyear G614s would state where their tires were made.

To locate this information, the 2 characters immediately after DOT are the code for where they were made.

Here's the link to look up the code and identify the location: http://www.harriger.com/tire1.htm

For a sample of getting the mfg code, my Goodyear Marathons DOT code is 0H UN 1LHR 3908 (the full code happened to be on the inside of my tires, the outside sidewall only had 8 characters - if you only see 8 after DOT, then look on the other side for the additional information stamped into the sidewall. The 0H means they were made in Shandong, China and the stamped part of the code (3908) means they were made in the 39th week of 2008.

Anyone game? Maybe this should be a new topic just to find out where G614s are made.

bw2 · 06-25-2010, 05:49 AM

Art,

I am game, MJ - Topeka, Kansas, USA

CamillaMichael · 06-25-2010, 08:00 AM

Just when I thought the G614s would be a good trade for my Marathons, could they really be another Chinese product!???

8.1al · 06-25-2010, 11:13 AM

My Wrangler HT's were made in Gadsden, Alabama

adelmoll · 06-26-2010, 03:30 AM

All I know is that our G614 RST say Made in USA right on the tire.

Helen

exav8tr · 06-26-2010, 05:17 AM

My G614s were made in Topeka, KS the 2 week of 2010. These tires are not made in China....

Art-n-Marge · 06-26-2010, 05:44 AM

So far two have posted G614s from Topeka, KS. For those who haven't checked farther than "Made in the USA" consider this...

I worked for a company in California that also had a manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory). At that time, we were allowed to stamp "Made in the USA" even when some of the product was made in P.R. Even then, we had fits with that plant because of their lesser quality for our same products made there even though they used our very same techniques, vendors, guidelines and quality control procedures. For us to diffentiate where the product quality problems were coming from, the serial number contained a code of where it was manufactured so we could monitor this. We also stamped an "Assembled in Puerto Rico" on the box, but not on the product (communications controllers for computers). Our customers knew we were a U.S. company and bought our products because of it, but we did have our share of international manufacturing problems that we did not have to inform the public about. After all, WE represented the product not our manufacturing site.

I don't know if that is true for labelling anymore, but I'd still check to make sure my tires weren't made in Guam, or even Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which might be allowed to say "Made in the USA". I would depend more on the DOT mfg code than "Made in USA" since this is federally regulated.

sreigle · 06-26-2010, 10:34 AM

Art, thanks for that link. Our G614's are also made in Topeka, KS. The date code is 5009, meaning 50th week of 2009. We purchased them in Temecula, CA in April 2010, so apparently Topeka distributes at least that far.

Funny, I've been by that Topeka Goodyear plant on US 24 many, many times in our 25+ years living in Topeka. I did not know they made tires this "small" there. The tires stacked outside are earthmover tires, bigger than my truck, I think. That plant is a major employer in Topeka and has received numerous awards for quality from Goodyear, as I recall. I'm glad to hear our tire purchase went at least partially to support Topeka.

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