Another Tire Problem

[deerrahn]

On Sunday we were returning from our weekend outing when were flagged down by a motorist. He said we had a tire going flat. We pulled off the road and sure enough on the passenger side, front tire of our good Goodyear Marathon tire, we had a nice bubble on the inside of it. We thanked the guy all over the place. It could have been disasterous. We got into a mall parking lot, and guess what? We had let our Good Sam Emergency Road Service expire. Woe is me.
I changed it myself. Monday morning I corrected this error.

What I found on the tire was that it was really worn on the inside of the tread, almost twice what the outside shows. This is not normal. Allignment at Lazy Days in Tampa is $280.00. Does anyone know who to contact at Keystone or wherever to talk to them about this? I don't know how the other tires are wearing. Guess I will have to wait until we get them off to see

I have tried to find out about the G614. $400.00 a piece is a bit much. Some never heard of it. Anyone have any ideas?

[bncinwv]

Sam's Club price for the Goodyear G614's is $236.00 + tax, mounting, etc. I assume that is a nationwide price. Keystone has nothing to do with the tires, warranty is through the supplier which I assume is either Tredit or Tireco.
Bingo

[CmdrDewey]

The G14 is way overkill for your rig. I would suggest the Bridgestone Duravis LT tire at about $175. If the tire was worn on one side I would check out the possibility of a bad or bent axle or spindle before paying for new tires.

[Illini Trekker]

I'm Dave on this look at the reason the tire wore no the inside. My next tire will also be Bridgestone Duravis R250.

http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tires...productID=1121

[CORattler]

That's a good price! Do you have to remove the tires yourself and bring them in or will they do the removal?

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

Sam's Club price for the Goodyear G614's is $236.00 + tax, mounting, etc. I assume that is a nationwide price. Keystone has nothing to do with the tires, warranty is through the supplier which I assume is either Tredit or Tireco.
Bingo

[washley1]

When I replaced my Carlisles with G614's last year I used Lazy Days name and contacted Tredit in Plant City. Got 4 tires and new rims together for about $1400. Needed rims to take the 110 PSI. Tire costs alone were only about $250 each. Shop around!

[Art-n-Marge]

I'm guessing you mean that you had a problem with your Goodyear Marathon (not Mission). My heart leaped that you could have double the tire trouble than you deserved.... If it was a Goodyear Marathon maybe you can try getting a good deal for the Goodyear G614s. I'd stay from any dealer that doesn't know about G614s. They don't have enough trailer experience as far as I'm concerned especially for big rigs like Montys.

Keep us posted if Keystone or Lippert will warranty the axle with your "young rig". Even if the axles were misaligned, I would think that a bulge should not be caused by an alignment problem, but a defective tire that might be aggravated by a misalignment.

Illini Trekker. Have you confirmed the Bridgestone Load Range E provides a suitable weight rating? I find that one manufacturers Load Range E tire will differ by some pretty big number. For example, Marathons I have Load Range E is 3420 and another tire manufacturer's LR E is 3042. That's a big difference. For my rig's weight of only 13,300# (2,800 per wheel) the lesser rating would work but if I weighed closer to my GTWR or 14,040, then I'd be more concerned as the per wheel weight approached 3,000# and I'd have no margin for these tires. Just something to think about. I know Lonnie the tire guy has recommended a Duravis but don't remember which one.

That is a good point about your rims - they might be able to support the G614s if all that is needed is a label change (sometimes the wheels will support the higher psi, they just need a new sticker). Don't forget the steel valve stems.

Please keep us posted.

[bncinwv]

Jay,
I would think that it would be up to the local Sam's Club as to whether they have the resources to remove the tires from the rig.. We are getting ours through our dealer at Sam's Club, so I am sure they will be taking the rims to the Club to get the tires changed.
Washley1,
I believe the alloy rims that have come on the Montana's since 2007 are certified for 110 psi and 3750 pounds loading. This can be confirmed by an email to Tredit (the supplier of the rims). I think the steel rims are also certified for 110 psi. I am basing this statement on an e-mail that I received from Tredit.
Bingo

[kylec2]

It is possible you could have experienced tread seperation on the tire causing it to wear unevenly. We saw this on one of our former trailer tires and I thought at first it was an alignment issue. Before you spend the money for an axle alignment I would get an opinion for an experienced tire dealer that you trust. Replacing you tires with truck tires is a good decision in the long run.

[nunya]

Well I joined the Mission failure club! I actually found the tread starting to separate between the ribs on a pre trip check yesterday. Rig has been setting in same spot for 4 months while we were hosting at state park. Very small holes starting to show between the ribs. The ONLY tires I could find in NW Colorado were Freestar tires, so I got 2 of them put on, now to decide on what is next. Have a short 350 mile trip to make today to Moab, we will be checking tires often! I do have 14K on the Missions, so not too bad!

[billhoover]

quote:Originally posted by CmdrDewey

The G14 is way overkill for your rig. I would suggest the Bridgestone Duravis LT tire at about $175. If the tire was worn on one side I would check out the possibility of a bad or bent axle or spindle before paying for new tires.

I have the Bridgestone Duravis 500s...$180 each, balanced and mounted. The Duravis 250 is a lower model and less expensive.

[deerrahn]

Thanks Art for the editing. They are Goodyear Marathons and I changed it. Our 2980 weighs in about 450 lbs more than the 38ft Montana's. I checked at Sam's Club here in Pinellas Park and the individual there (didn't impress me) said he never heard of it as they don't carry it. Guess I will try another Sam's Club and see if they have them. Walmart does not carry them either. I have an appointment 12 November for an allignment at Lazy Days (Tampa). I should not be having this problem with an 17 month old trailer with less than 8000 mi. Thanks for all the info. Have a Good Day.

[bncinwv]

The 614's are a special order item at Sam's Club. They do not keep them in stock.
Bingo

[Tom S.]

quote:Originally posted by billhoover

I have the Bridgestone Duravis 500s...$180 each, balanced and mounted. The Duravis 250 is a lower model and less expensive.

I don't know if I'm warm and fuzzy about that. We have a 3500RL. Total trailer weight loaded is 13,775. The pin weight is 2,525, so the weight supported by the tires is 11,250. Divide by four gives me 2,812.5 per tire - but that's not what they actually are. My axle weights run from 2,725 to 2,900 pounds. 'E' rated truck tires are rated at 3,080 which would leave only 180 pounds under the maximum. The 3,080 maximum is also at maximum inflation, so if I start out on a cool morning, the tire could easily be only 75 psi, and thus overloaded or close to it.

I'm going to have to think about this for a while...

[7.3Ford]

I just order five BF Goodrich Commercial T/A (LT235/85R16E1 120R B) tires. I couldn't find any reported failures on the Internet. They were $142.00 each ($172 with tax, mounting, balancing, etc).

[Illini Trekker]

billhoover if price is any indicator of a tire as a comparison onlinetire.com as Duravis 500 are $163.26 and $191.53.

[8e3k0]

We are running Delta LT235/85R E rated tires on our 3400RL that we installed immediately after we purchased our unit new. Run these at max pressure of 80 to 82 psi cold and have had no problems at all. Overall load on tires may be near the max tire rating but LTs always have a safety factor. If we were to move to a higher rated tire I would go 17 inch wheel with a G rating only in a LT tire. I will not run an ST tire on our Monty as I have had some bad experiences with tread seperations, sidewall bulges, and even tread bulging on other trailers we haul with.

[bullroc3]

If the tires are wearing on the inside, it may mean bent axles. On our way to the fall rally, we noticed that the top of the tires on our friend's Big Sky as viewed from the back were tipped inward. On one of our last stops, he checked the tires and the steel cords were sticking through on the inside of the passenger front tire. We changed the tire and made it to Goshen where he had the axles checked. They were bent.

[Art-n-Marge]

Hey Tom S.,

I have run into articles and posts that when comparing LTs and STs that the weight ratings for LT are accurate in that when they are rated at the maximum on the stamped side it should be the maximum allowed. But for an ST there should be some factor of 10% or more margin that must be allowed. I tried to find these once again but of course I couldn't and don't remember the source to determine.

This tells me that if an LT is rated for 3100 the tire will support 3100 lbs, but if an ST is rated for 3460 lbs, minus 10% that it will actually support 3114 lbs and are therefore equivalent. On the other hand I've also read that larger than needed LTs should be used on a trailer to provide some margin for LT's. So much information, so much confusion, but we do the best we can, eh?

When you think about it and from what we've read, ST's are supposed to be able to withstand UV wear better than LTs and also has stronger sidewalls since trailers tend to sit still a lot more (note many ST failures are the tread not the sidewall). However, LTs have their overall strength even when driving and turning and do better on trailers during turns because of it. I don't know about sitting still. But if we change out the trailer tires every 5 years or so, this is probably moot.

We need Lonnie's take about right now. The only ST he recommends is Maxxis and he uses LT's on his rig.

Bullroc - Were you there when the axles were aligned and what they did to correct it? I understand that it can be quite a shock for some to see when this is being done. I believe they put chains on either end while they push the center back up somehow. I expect they stop when the measurements are correct. That's gotta be interesting to witness.

[Jdrobone]

What some call overkill others might consider insurance. Paid $260.00 each installed at Goodyear in Colonial Heights, VA for my 614's - equates to something less than $300.00 more overall against the other selections for peace of mind. To each his own.
Jerry
ps forgot the $10.00 each rebate - $250.00 each