Tire shop could not get Westlakes off of rims without damaging wheels!

[popsbell]

I just had all 7 Westlakes removed from my 2016 397TH and installed Goodyear Endurance tires. Had no problems removing the Westlakes. Yhink you need to go to a different shop....

[Bcramer]

I would be suspect of anything recommended by camping world. I had all four Westlakes replaced on my momentum last summer (it was a 2017) and the tire shop had absolutely no issues.

[Jmick35]

I made the same move last week. My 2019 Reflection 303RLS was manufactured in July of 2018. I put about 6500 miles on it with no issues on the Westlakes. I check the pressure every time before towing, and check tire and hub temperatures each stop during the trip. I put Sailun S637 STs 16" on my rig last week. The shop had no problems. The manufacture dates on the Westlakes that were removed were all in the 1st Quarter of 2018. Did you happen to check the date on the sidewall? It is 4 digits, the first two are the week and the second two are the year of manufacture.

[Fsalmy]

I just had a similar experience today with removal of the Westlakes from our 2019 312BH. These were the load range E 235/80R16, though. Very reputable shop that has 4, maybe 5 locations here in SW Virginia. In fact, I was referred to this shop by a Goodyear-owned store just down the road from them. The Goodyear folks said those guys do campers, RVs and commercial vehicles all the time and are your best bet. After about 3 hours of sitting in the waiting room, I walked out to see what was going on. Only two tires had been installed. When I asked what as the issue, they said they were having a very difficult time getting the Westlakes off. The tires have less than 1000 miles on them including delivery from GD to the dealer. Manufacture date was week 17, 2018. In the end and 4 hours later, new GY Endurance installed and rims undamaged.

[cookinwitdiesel]

My tires were all 2018 manufacture dates I believe. Can go out and check tomorrow.

It seems the Westlakes are just stiff tires to remove and doing so with aluminum rims takes someone who knows what they are doing. Ultimately I ended up at a shop that does heavy duty commercial equipment work AND knew how to work with the aluminum rims so I am now good to go. All in all, I ended up paying $100 to install 3 tires (since NTB did 2 for free before throwing in the towel) and I got a $130 rim for free due to the first shop that damaged a rim. So I got all tires mounted, got a spare rim for a 2nd spare wheel setup, and ended up $30 in the green?

[Dhuggs]

Just had my Westlakes swapped for Sailuns with no problem.
Sounds to me like they owe you a rim and they need to go back to school!!

[SolarPoweredRV]

With the first shop being primarily a "Commercial" tire shop, they were probably used to working with Steel Rims and not Aluminum. In your photo, it looks like they used a metal pry bar to start the bead removal and damaged the rim.

This was a very good posting to read, it gives me information that there can be a problem and allows me to pre-empt an issue I had no idea could be an issue.

[hopestehling]

Discount Tire, here in Texas, replaced my Westlakes with Good Year tires with no problems.

[Dhuggs]

Had mine swapped out in Maine at the Sullivan tire commercial center and no problems. Took less than an hour.

[cookinwitdiesel]

The shop that damaged the one rim IS buying me a replacement rim. I will keep the mangled one as a spare spare (already got a 6th tire to put on it).