Possible compensation for tire failure

[drschaaf]

Okay group here’s the deal.
I have a 2019 Montana High Country 305RL that I’ve only had for 8 months and probably put maybe 7000 miles on so far. Had to replace my first OEM tire two months ago when it picked up a construction spike. Obviously nobody’s fault it just happens. Had to borrow tools to mount the spare since Keystone doesn’t even supply a lug wrench (at least that I could find). So then went out and bought my own torque wrench and breaker bar for future events.

Just had to replace my second OEM tire when we had a blowout on a Los Angeles expressway at 5PM on Labor Day. Great fun replacing that on the side of the road with the help of CA highway patrol with traffic whizzing by.

After that bit of fun and reading this forum I’ve become convinced to go out and get new Sailuns ST235/80R16 rather than wait for the next “boom”.
Tried to get them while on this trip, but wasn't in any place long enough to get them delivered and could find absolutely nobody who actually stocks them.

So anyway after all that onto my questions. The America Tires guy I bought the new replacement from said he couldn’t see anything obviously wrong with the blown tire. He didn’t necessarily seem like a tire expert, but any opinion on whether Keystone or the tire manufacturer would prorate me on that tire failing on so few miles? And question two, any thoughts about likelihood of Keystone covering the undercarriage damage caused by the blowout? It wasn’t terrible, but there was damage.

Thanks in advance.

[DQDick]

Keystone will refer you to the tire manufacturer. Goodyear used to be very responsive, but now days they are putting a tire on the HC's manufactured by Tredit tire and I've not heard of any success yet, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. We usually only hear the negatives and there haven't been any of those posted either.

[DanandBrenda]

My insurance company is going after the tire manufacture for damage from blowout. The adjuster told me to keep the damaged tire when I put a new one on. It did over $6000.00 damage to the side of my fifth wheel.

[scattershot]

I had a blowout a few years ago with a Carlyle tire, and they paid for the damage. Your situation may be different, though. Contact the manufacturer and see what happens. Keep the old tire, and if they want to see it take good pictures before you send it in. DOT is interested in this sort of thing, too. Good luck!

[PSFORD99]

My insurance company is going after the tire manufacture for damage from blowout. The adjuster told me to keep the damaged tire when I put a new one on. It did over $6000.00 damage to the side of my fifth wheel.

I have never read where too many tire manufacturers pay for damage, Goodyear is one. What brand of tire did 6K worth of damage

[CalandLinda]

Okay group here’s the deal.
I have a 2019 Montana High Country 305RL that I’ve only had for 8 months and probably put maybe 7000 miles on so far. Had to replace my first OEM tire two months ago when it picked up a construction spike. Obviously nobody’s fault it just happens. Had to borrow tools to mount the spare since Keystone doesn’t even supply a lug wrench (at least that I could find). So then went out and bought my own torque wrench and breaker bar for future events.

Did the tire go flat before you replaced it? How long did the trailer sit before the flat was changed? There is no coverage for that sort of damage unless you had purchased road hazard insurance.

Just had to replace my second OEM tire when we had a blowout on a Los Angeles expressway at 5PM on Labor Day. Great fun replacing that on the side of the road with the help of CA highway patrol with traffic whizzing by.

If the "blowout" was the tire next to the damaged tire it was predictable because of excess loading caused by having to support the load the puncture failure caused.

After that bit of fun and reading this forum I’ve become convinced to go out and get new Sailuns ST235/80R16 rather than wait for the next “boom”.
Tried to get them while on this trip, but wasn't in any place long enough to get them delivered and could find absolutely nobody who actually stocks them.

So anyway after all that onto my questions. The America Tires guy I bought the new replacement from said he couldn’t see anything obviously wrong with the blown tire. He didn’t necessarily seem like a tire expert, but any opinion on whether Keystone or the tire manufacturer would prorate me on that tire failing on so few miles? And question two, any thoughts about likelihood of Keystone covering the undercarriage damage caused by the blowout? It wasn’t terrible, but there was damage.

IMO the tire manufacturer has no responsibility to provide trailer damage repairs from a failed tire unless it can be proved the tire was defective. Some times manufacturers of newly designed tires will foot the bill for damages but they will want the damaged tire or what's left of it for their inhouse forensic examination.

Thanks in advance.

Overloaded tires degrade weather they are in motion or just setting. The degree of degrading lessons their ability to carry the load and eventually they will fail. When a tire takes on much more than it's able to carry such as having to support the load of another tire next to it when it fails, the sudden overloading is sort of recorded in the tire structure and is easily detected during a forensic exam. Such damage will weaken the tire carcass to the point it is no longer capable of carrying the load on it and degrading increases. The increase may cause a failure right away or days and weeks later.

[CalandLinda]

My insurance company is going after the tire manufacture for damage from blowout. The adjuster told me to keep the damaged tire when I put a new one on. It did over $6000.00 damage to the side of my fifth wheel.

Just a thought. Do you have a current weight slip from certified scales? It's the only thing that will support your claim if they say you were overloaded.

Conditions such as overloading and under inflation are failure causes easily detected during in-depth tire forensic exams.

A tell tail hint...."Fatigue failures are most typically caused by the over-deflection of the tire as a result of under-inflation and/or overloading. Over-deflection will produce evidence on the tire such as darkening of the inside wall of the tire, wrinkling of the inside wall of the tire, and heavy abrasions on both the inside and the outside wall of the tire."

[drschaaf]

Someone knocked on my window when we were checking into a campground for the night and said they could hear air coming out of a tire. By the time we got onto a site and setup the tire was flat. It had a large spike in it and was deemed unrepairable. I changed it out without driving on it. I expect no compensation for this flat tire event.

The blowout tire was on the other side of the trailer, so unrelated. I don’t think we run overloaded as we don’t carry freshwater and dump our waste tanks often and don’t really have a lot of cargo other than usual camping stuff and things to maintain the trailer and there are only two of us.
(Do not have any actual weight measure from a scale,
just saying how we normally run loaded).

We do live in Tucson, but trailer is under covered storage and the tires that are exposed to sun I keep covered with tire covers.

Thanks for the ideas though.

[1retired06]

Common knowledge, check OEM tires carefully when you pull off the lot. Unless you got recognized quality G load tires, ie Sailun,G614, get rid of the OEMs.

[mlh]

Sorry about your tire problem.
If you have the standard ST China Bombs on your camper get them off and replace them with Sailum or G614 tires. It’s far better to replace them before they take the side off of your camper than replace them after. If you have the OEM junk on your camper you are flirting with trouble. We call them China Bombs for a reason.
Lynwood

[drschaaf]

Thanks mlh and 1retired06.

I had hoped to get a year or two out of the original tires, but forget that now.
The blowout happened when my wife was driving and she handled it great.
It ripped up the bottom of the trailer a little removing some insulation and totally
blew the fender skirt off. Even bent a frame support a little so who needs that kind of grief. Will be back home tomorrow and then I can set about getting the
Sailuns and I was going to add a TPMS anyway so will do that now as well.

At least I can move the brand new tire to be my new spare. Was getting real good at torquing lugnuts :)

[rohrmann]

After having five failed Goodyear Marathons over the course of the first year we had our rig, fortunately never experienced any damage to the rig, I got five new G614's, as Sailuns were just coming out but were hard to come by. Yes, even replaced the spare as I didn't want a Marathon anywhere near the rig. We have never been sorry we made the change to quality tires.

[CalandLinda]

Thanks mlh and 1retired06.

I had hoped to get a year or two out of the original tires, but forget that now.
The blowout happened when my wife was driving and she handled it great.
It ripped up the bottom of the trailer a little removing some insulation and totally
blew the fender skirt off. Even bent a frame support a little so who needs that kind of grief. Will be back home tomorrow and then I can set about getting the
Sailuns and I was going to add a TPMS anyway so will do that now as well.

At least I can move the brand new tire to be my new spare. Was getting real good at torquing lugnuts :)

I doubt that the OEM tires caused your problems. I suspect other circumstances such as under inflation or just plane old bad luck. According to the specs on your trailer it was delivered with LRF tires having 750# of load capacity reserves when inflated to the recommended 95 PSI.

[mlh]

Thanks mlh and 1retired06.

I had hoped to get a year or two out of the original tires, but forget that now.
The blowout happened when my wife was driving and she handled it great.
It ripped up the bottom of the trailer a little removing some insulation and totally
blew the fender skirt off. Even bent a frame support a little so who needs that kind of grief. Will be back home tomorrow and then I can set about getting the
Sailuns and I was going to add a TPMS anyway so will do that now as well.

At least I can move the brand new tire to be my new spare. Was getting real good at torquing lugnuts :)


Good deal. You will be getting rusty at torquing lug nuts, but that a good thing.
Lynwood

[DanandBrenda]

My insurance company is going after the tire manufacture for damage from blowout. The adjuster told me to keep the damaged tire when I put a new one on. It did over $6000.00 damage to the side of my fifth wheel.

Update on blow out damage reimbursement. My insurance was able to get reimbursed for the damage to my fifth wheel and get my deductible back. Im very happy and have 5 new tires now plus a tire pressure monitor.