Westlake tire fail

**ISULarry** · 11-05-2017, 06:56 PM

So I went down to grab my camper from our seasonal campground and take it to the dealer to have them take care of our punch list only to find one of the tires on my 2 month old camper completely flat. I've looked all over the tire and can't find anything in it. Earlier, when we had sunlight we found what looks like a split in between the treads. It's too dark at the moment to find it but when I do I'll try the soap and water trick to see if it's leaking there.

At any rate I guess I'm going to be buying new tires for my new camper so I can trust them. Pretty crappy that I have to do that with a new $50k rig but I can't put it on the road long in good conscience without replacing them. I have a Reflection 367 BHS. I know the brands that folks have been happy with, but can someone explain what load rating I should be looking for? I would rather buy too much tire than too little.

Thank you in advance!
Larry

**Cate&Rob** · 11-05-2017, 07:19 PM

Larry - it would be good to learn the root cause of the flat. Could be a bad valve stem or a rim leak . . . might not be the Westlake tire. You don't mention the year of your Reflection, but LionsHead does have a warranty on the tires they supply to GDRV.

The tire spec that you want to match is on the label on the left front of your trailer. My advice (others will see this differently) is not to over strengthen the tires. This will drive more force into the suspension, frame, body and contents. Pick the tire brand that you think is best, in the size on the label.

Rob

**livinthelife** · 11-05-2017, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by ISULarry

So I went down to grab my camper from our seasonal campground and take it to the dealer to have them take care of our punch list only to find one of the tires on my 2 month old camper completely flat. I've looked all over the tire and can't find anything in it. Earlier, when we had sunlight we found what looks like a split in between the treads. It's too dark at the moment to find it but when I do I'll try the soap and water trick to see if it's leaking there.

At any rate I guess I'm going to be buying new tires for my new camper so I can trust them. Pretty crappy that I have to do that with a new $50k rig but I can't put it on the road long in good conscience without replacing them. I have a Reflection 367 BHS. I know the brands that folks have been happy with, but can someone explain what load rating I should be looking for? I would rather buy too much tire than too little.

Thank you in advance!
Larry

We had a flat tire on our rig fairly early in our ownership. I think it was about 2 months. Went to the storage unit and, when we raised the landing gear to hitch up, flat tire. Used our tire pump to fill it up (we were actually taking the unit to the dealer for some work they found when we did the PDI). After driving about 5 miles we pulled over in a shopping center and checked the tire, and all seemed well with it.

We had the service people check the tire while we had it in for service. They replaced the one tire. No issues with any of the other tires and we take the rig out about once a month, including a 3 week trip to Yellowstone this summer.

**Dave27** · 11-06-2017, 04:59 PM

We had one tire obviously low when we picked it up the camper at the dealership. Based on advice from this forum, I checked the pressure on all the tires before we drove away. I was disappointed they didn't notice it. They filled it up after I pointed it out, and said "keep an eye on it." It kept losing air, so I took it off and went to Discount tire. It was a bad valve stem, they replaced it and haven't had a problem since.
Dave

**bailer6334** · 11-06-2017, 05:43 PM

I changed my tires out at approx. 9,000 miles. One appeared to have a bulge on the inside. Many may disagree, but when I change out my ST's next time I'm moving up to a LT as I have done in the past without any more tire problems. While I have a TT now and most have 5er's this is the route I would take.

**Cate&Rob** · 11-06-2017, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by bailer6334

I changed my tires out at approx. 9,000 miles. One appeared to have a bulge on the inside. Many may disagree, but when I change out my ST's next time I'm moving up to a LT as I have done in the past without any more tire problems. While I have a TT now and most have 5er's this is the route I would take.

Every tire manufacturer advises that ST tires are the best choice for trailer applications for a number of tire design reasons. If you choose to go to LT tires, keep an eye on the load range. This is often less for an LT tire than for the same size ST and you may run into GVWR limitations that are reduced from the numbers shown on the trailer tire label. Moving to LT tires is not necessarily moving "up".

Rob

**BabyBober** · 11-06-2017, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by Cate&Rob

Every tire manufacturer advises that ST tires are the best choice for trailer applications for a number of tire design reasons. If you choose to go to LT tires, keep an eye on the load range. This is often less for an LT tire than for the same size ST and you may run into GVWR limitations that are reduced from the numbers shown on the trailer tire label. Moving to LT tires is not necessarily moving "up".

Rob

X2. LT and ST tires have different side wall makeups. Have you seen what you trailer tires look like when you make a sharp turn? Have you seen the roll in them? LT tires are not made to handle that . So even if they do have the wight rating their sidewalls aren't designed to flex the way ST's are.

Jim

**ISULarry** · 11-06-2017, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by Cate&Rob

Larry - it would be good to learn the root cause of the flat. Could be a bad valve stem or a rim leak . . . might not be the Westlake tire. You don't mention the year of your Reflection, but LionsHead does have a warranty on the tires they supply to GDRV.

The tire spec that you want to match is on the label on the left front of your trailer. My advice (others will see this differently) is not to over strengthen the tires. This will drive more force into the suspension, frame, body and contents. Pick the tire brand that you think is best, in the size on the label.

Rob

Rob,

I took the tire to my local Goodyear shop and they said that the leak was caused by a bad bead due to aluminum corrosion. They polished it and put a metal valve stem in and according to them Bob's your uncle. That said I did some inspection in better light and found the picture I've attached below. Soapy water doesn't show any leak so maybe time will tell. It will be sitting in my garage until mid December when the dealer has my punch list taken care of. I'll keep an eye on it but I am interested in everyone's thoughts.

Thank you
Larry

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**bertschb** · 11-06-2017, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by ISULarry

I know the brands that folks have been happy with, but can someone explain what load rating I should be looking for? I would rather buy too much tire than too little.

My GVWR is 1,000lbs less than yours and I replaced my Westlake tires when new with G rated tires. I agree with you - I'd rather buy too much tire than too little. My G rated tires make my towing less stressful and were worth every penny.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do. You will get LOTS of opinions here. Tires are almost as much of a hot topic as "which tow vehicle do I need"?

**Cate&Rob** · 11-06-2017, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by ISULarry

Rob,

I took the tire to my local Goodyear shop and they said that the leak was caused by a bad bead due to aluminum corrosion. They polished it and put a metal valve stem in and according to them Bob's your uncle. That said I did some inspection in better light and found the picture I've attached below. Soapy water doesn't show any leak so maybe time will tell. It will be sitting in my garage until mid December when the dealer has my punch list taken care of. I'll keep an eye on it but I am interested in everyone's thoughts.

Thank you
Larry

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the update . . . another piece of good tire information to add to the collection. I would agree that you should certainly keep an eye on the small cut that you found. My initial thought is that this is from a road hazard, but I am reminded of a tire failure that Gary (Whittleburner) experienced that was in a groove and initially looked like road damage but turned out to be an internal separation.

I would suggest that you send that picture (with build date and mileage info) to Lionshead and ask them for a specific response on whether this is something that you should be worried about. Hopefully they will answer in a timely manner but if not, don't hesitate to escalate this to GDRV. They expect Lionshead to be taking care of their customers and would want to know if this is not happening.

Rob