Data on Westlake Tires - From Grand Design

[cookinwitdiesel]

For me, piece of mind was priceless. I used the WestLake G's from the dealer to my house. Immediately following that, I had Sailuns put on (6x, 4 mains and 2 spares). I have 5 WestLakes in my garage I need to sell, only about 500 miles on them (Indiana to my door).

I truly do believe the G614s are good tires, but at literally more than 2x the cost, the Sailuns have a more than good enough reputation to work for me. TPMS is installed as well now - because it is always a good idea.

[Halifax Jack]

Hi,
Two comments. First, many of us use 20% of vehicle weight as a planning number for pin weight, so with a GVW of 10180, your pin weight seems to be right in line. As of my last weighing, mine is actually 22%. Second, and I'm not trying to nit pick, but you say "it would be very easy to overload my rig." It seems like you already are... Hope I didn't miss some nuance in your post.
-Al

I guess what I was trying to say is that my concern is that a RV in general is heavier than the registered weight and that they are very easy to overload. Our rig had little to no water several empty shelves little can food or other packaged heavy food and few toys etc. Yet we are over GVRW. when out shopping I always looked at GVRW and then checked tires and axel rating I thought I was buying a sub 10K unit and discovered this not to be the case. This combined with under inflation and excessive speeds can lead to premature tire failure.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Here’s what I experienced. I bought my first fifth wheel this April. A very lightly used 2017 350M. I had done my research before purchasing which is what lead me to the Grand Design brand. I was aware of the problems people were reporting with the Westlake tires and considered replacing them right out of the gate. I purchased a TPMS system prior to taking delivery. The system requires the wheels to have metal valve stems and these wheels had rubber stems. So my first trip after picking the rig up was a stop at the nearest tire shop to get them swapped out. The tires were 235x80x15s (e rated ) the build date of the tires was 25th week of 2016 (less than three years old) . The tires had less than 2k miles on them. I asked the service tech at the tire shop what his opinion of the tires were, his answer was they look to be in great condition. After a three day stay in Florida,I have the TPMS sensors installed and I’m on my way home to Michigan. About halfway to Savanna, I go to pull into a rest stop, I look in my mirror to check traffic and I see my driver side fender flapping in the wind !. When I get out at the rest stop, you guessed it, one of my tires has come apart and tore the crap out of the side of my rig. I replaced all the tires in Savanna with g rated Sailun tires. The damage to the rig was $2,600.00

Sounds like the TPMS was useless?




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[Backforty]

Sounds like the TPMS was useless?




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As it turned out your right. The tire never over heated or over pressurized, it just plain came apart !. Never lost air.

[Old dawg]

You stated had e rated 15" Westlakes
You say that you had a TPMS installed with metal stems prior to the trip
As some one else mentioned, it appears to have not worked.

You also state that you replaced those tires with Sailun g rated tires.
Sailun does not make a g rated 15" tire?!
To do so you must have replaced your wheels as well!
They only make a 235/80/16" or 235/85/16" g tire.

You cannot compare e to g or 15" to 16".
Sailun is a good tire. I have many, on several trailers. I have also run Westlakes g rated tires, and while I prefer Sailun, have had no issues with Westlakes g tires.
No body makes a good st e rated tire in 15 or 16" in my opinion.
If one chooses to run e tires, they would be better to run LT tires.


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[DaveMatthewsBand]

...
No body makes a good st e rated tire in 15 or 16" in my opinion.
If one chooses to run e tires, they would be better to run LT tires.

I run Goodyear Endurance 15” load range E trailer tires, which most people consider to be far superior to Westlakes.

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[Backforty]

You stated had e rated 15" Westlakes
You say that you had a TPMS installed with metal stems prior to the trip
As some one else mentioned, it appears to have not worked.

You also state that you replaced those tires with Sailun g rated tires.
Sailun does not make a g rated 15" tire?!
To do so you must have replaced your wheels as well!
They only make a 235/80/16" or 235/85/16" g tire.

You cannot compare e to g or 15" to 16".
Sailun is a good tire. I have many, on several trailers. I have also run Westlakes g rated tires, and while I prefer Sailun, have had no issues with Westlakes g tires.
No body makes a good st e rated tire in 15 or 16" in my opinion.
If one chooses to run e tires, they would be better to run LT tires.


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You are correct, I misspoke, my original tires were 235x80x16s Westlake [ e rated were OEM in 2017 ]. GD changed to G rated in 2018, according to spec. sheet on the 18.
I replaced the original tires with G rated Sailun 235x85x16s. The TPMS system was working fine. The tire didn’t fail due to conditions that the system was monitoring.
The trailer was nearly empty due to the fact it was new to me and not yet loaded with many supplies.
My only reason for telling my story is to point out that the 350 M should have probably come with g rated tires from the start and that a tire that should not have failed did. The results for me was a big unnecessary expense.

[Malco1]

Yea that was Paul Harvey’s show on the radio. Used to listen to it when I was a kid.



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I remember putting plenty of Casite Motor Honey in my car.

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Our new GD Momentum 398M is about a month old now.
I'll be switching to the American Made Good Years G's 14 ply Steel at the 6 month mark from past experiences.

$1800. They should come standard IMHO.
Cheaper than replacing the damaged sheet metal and trim and paint and dealing with indifferent body/paint shop attitude drama when the tread separates from the China bomb.
Nothing like sitting on that frying pan hot desert asphalt changing a tire on your RV because the AAA service is 5 hours away. Two tires puking at the same time is really an experience.
I've seen that elephant.

Good brakes and good tires are the most essential on your RV. I don't skimp on either. Brakes serviced every year.

[minnow101]

I’ve have had good experiences with Maxxis 15” E rated tires. Been using them over 10 years(not the same set of tires) on 2 different fifth wheels.