Westlake Tread Separation

**Brewhedd** · 02-23-2020, 11:59 AM

Sorry to hear of your troubles, luckily you have insurance. Replaced mine with Cooper radials (same on last TT) very quickly after purchase. Just not worth the risk. Seems like some last and some don't, typical China manufacturing with lack of process control.

**Roll With The Changes** · 02-23-2020, 06:10 PM

Many of us feel your pain...

When it happened to me it took out a 15ft trim panel and some floor damage. I did the repairs myself but parts were $700 and five weeks.

I put Hartland G rated on it right away and I'm happy with them so far. I put Maxxis G rated on my last rig and they were good too.

**offtohavasu** · 02-24-2020, 09:18 AM

Something I learned not too long ago. We had a very reputable tire on a trailer we had and we experienced tread separation on one of the tires. The warranty covered it, but I asked, "WTH. This is why we went with a better/more expensive tire." The tire guy said it happens with all tires and it the cause of the problem is very simple. You might run over/scuff/tap, whatever something that will pierce the tread, but not enough to cause a leak. With the expansion and contraction of the tire do to increased and decreased temperature pressure, at some point that nick spreads around the tire and thus causing your tread separation. After he explained it, it's easy to see how very real the scenario is, especially if you boondock. One small, sharp rock could trigger the process.

**Guzinta** · 02-24-2020, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by offtohavasu

Something I learned not too long ago. We had a very reputable tire on a trailer we had and we experienced tread separation on one of the tires. The warranty covered it, but I asked, "WTH. This is why we went with a better/more expensive tire." The tire guy said it happens with all tires and it the cause of the problem is very simple. You might run over/scuff/tap, whatever something that will pierce the tread, but not enough to cause a leak. With the expansion and contraction of the tire do to increased and decreased temperature pressure, at some point that nick spreads around the tire and thus causing your tread separation. After he explained it, it's easy to see how very real the scenario is, especially if you boondock. One small, sharp rock could trigger the process.

Very good point. Another phenomena is when the rig is maneuvered through sharp turns (90 degrees or close to) on dry pavement. This maneuver raises holy heck on the tread and side walls and can eventually lead to tread seperation. Coming from a trucking career, I've seen drivers spin their rigs around with the cowboy mindset. I've seen some of the same drivers along the highway with blown tire... hmmm

**SAMtheNuke** · 02-29-2020, 02:45 PM

On my previous fifthwheel, I suffered multiple tire issues when travelling to Yellowstone. Replaced all 4 tires and got the axles aligned.

**tomato** · 02-29-2020, 03:01 PM

I would be sure to save the bad/separated tire...A friend of mine had Goodyear Wranglers with the Kevilar sidewalls on his new F250. Had a front tire tread separate during a cross country trip and it really tore up his truck. Goodyear had him send in the tire, and they confirmed it was a bad tire. Goodyear covered all repairs to his truck.

Also, I just picked up my 2020 GMC at the beginning of the month, and, long story short, it had a bad Michelin in the front (caught before it failed due to being impossible to balance).

**ramcneal** · 02-29-2020, 05:07 PM

With all of the Westlake failures I wonder how many times during delivery from the factory to the west coast (around 2,000 miles I suspect) these Westlakes have come apart.

**Leons_Bad_Side** · 02-29-2020, 05:31 PM

I just put new Hercules 12 ply’s on mine. Last trip had tire come apart and caused over $5,000 in damage. Not fun plus AAA would not help, said they had no one with a jack big enough for me so they let me sit on the side of the highway. Luckily I had a bottle jack that barely got the axle high enough to put the good spare on. Kind of wonder why I pay for their service when they won’t help!

**ChasHall** · 02-29-2020, 05:46 PM

Sorry to hear of your problem. Our 2019 337 came with Westlake E tires. We've got about 10K miles on them since new (really in the first year). I've read about the failures and believe part of the issue is these tires, on our GD, are close to their weight limit and would bet that the folks delivering them have caused the early damage. Most of us are taking care of our tires, but, the delivery folks don't. I'll be replacing mine in the next month with G rated. Those won't be near their weight limit and should run cooler. Safe travels!

**Roll With The Changes** · 02-29-2020, 07:22 PM

Westlake horror stories... Ugh!

You would think that every RV manufacturer out there would be trolling these forums and thinking, "Hmmm. Our customers aren't happy with the tires we chose. What should we do?"

But we still keep buying...
(I did. I'm part of the problem too &#128533