Westlake Tire disaster this past weekend...Head's up!!

**goodoz** · 10-19-2020, 03:31 PM

The wife and I set off this past weekend to visit her family...about 800 miles, one way. We made it about 40 miles and had a blow out on the interstate (yes, some damage to the trailer). I changed it out with the spare and immediately drove to a nearby tire shop and had the original replaced so we'd have a spare as we continued. After another 90 miles, bam! We had a second blowout on the other side of the trailer (yes, more damage including the gas line that goes from the three way junction to the stove). We have a 2019 297RSTS and the date code on the factory tires was 4618...not quite two years old. The F250 computer says we're right at about 10K miles on this trailer. The original Westlakes were properly inflated to 80 lbs and had good tread. Upon closer inspection, I was able to see some hairline blemishes on the sidewalls. Folks, if you are able, I would propose ditching the factory Westlakes for something of higher quality. Our trailer now has 4 new GY Endurance on it and I'm awaiting a call back from our dealer to do the repair work...looks like the bottoms of both slides will have to be replaced. I have a six lug rim sitting in my garage and will have the single tire I purchased this weekend mounted to carry as a 2nd spare.

Also noteworthy -- We have three large dogs that are too big to all fit in the back seat of the truck...so my wife was trailing behind me with one of the pooches. We were using two way radios. In neither instance of the two blow outs did I hear or feel the failure...both times my wife notified me via radio. So, if you don't have a spotter, it's probably safe to consider a good TPMS system as a critical piece of safety gear to alert you of this potential disaster.

After looking at the tires after blowout...I now understand the term "b0m-b."

Stay safe out there!! Oz

**Second Chance** · 10-19-2020, 04:19 PM

Please be sure to state which load range your failed tires are/were. There's a lot of confusion out there between the Westlake load range Es and load range Gs. They are a very different tire.

Rob

**goodoz** · 10-19-2020, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Second Chance

Please be sure to state which load range your failed tires are/were. There's a lot of confusion out there between the Westlake load range Es and load range Gs. They are a very different tire.

Rob

Load Range "E"

(so are the new ones)

I looked to upgrade to F but it appeared that I'd need to switch up to 16" rims...Oz

**ckreef** · 10-19-2020, 05:39 PM

What tire did you change out the original to? I would have thought you would have wanted to change all 4 tires at the same time?

**geotex1** · 10-19-2020, 05:54 PM

Brutal! Hopefully your repairs go smoothly. Good choice on the ever-popular GY Endurance upgrade! The E-rated Westlakes have a long documented history of failures. Ever so slowly it seems the tires options are getting better and even seeing better quality coming on the wheels from the factory!

**Redapple63** · 10-19-2020, 07:21 PM

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Sucks out loud! Wishing you safe journey's.

Thanks for the heads up. I have 4 16" Westlakes load range E that I will look at replacing next year. They have about 3k on them now. I will probably got to load range G.

**BWTMLT** · 10-19-2020, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by goodoz

Load Range "E"

(so are the new ones)

I looked to upgrade to F but it appeared that I'd need to switch up to 16" rims...Oz

We purchase Goodyear Endurance tires Friday that replaced our Westlake E tires. The Westlake had a born on date of 52/16 and had about 2500 miles on them (still looked good), but the peace of mind was well worth the expense.

**goodoz** · 10-19-2020, 09:56 PM

Originally Posted by ckreef

What tire did you change out the original to? I would have thought you would have wanted to change all 4 tires at the same time?

So, for the road repair last Saturday, I purchased the only tire they had in stock (they only had one) just to keep moving...It was a Primewell ST225/75/R15. Today, I had 4 new Goodyear Endurance mounted up and the Primewell will be the new spare with the Westlake (original spare) as the 2nd spare.

**kscaddo** · 10-22-2020, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by Second Chance

Please be sure to state which load range your failed tires are/were. There's a lot of confusion out there between the Westlake load range Es and load range Gs. They are a very different tire.

Rob

^^^^^This! I was going to ask if folks would put their Westlake load range on their tire failure posts, thinking I had "G's". Well I'll be darned, I just double checked and they are "E's". I'll be replacing before any trips next year. Thanks Rob

**Second Chance** · 10-22-2020, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by kscaddo

^^^^^This! I was going to ask if folks would put their Westlake load range on their tire failure posts, thinking I had "G's". Well I'll be darned, I just double checked and they are "E's". I'll be replacing before any trips next year. Thanks Rob

Look at the Goodyear G614s or Sailun S637s. Both are an excellent tire. We ran the Sailun S637s on our Reflection 337 and now have them on the new Solitude. Solid, reliable tire.

Rob