New to the forum

[Harvestmoon]

Recently purchased an Imagine XLS 22MLE and looking forward to being part of the GD family. It is our second TT. The first was an A-frame, which we loved for the easy towing and seemed luxurious after many years of sleeping on the ground in a tent. As we became empty nesters and started camping more in our increased free time, ultimately decided it was time to get a "grown up" TT. We want to travel with it and didn't want a beast size, so we decided on the 22MLE because it is the most compact TT we could find that checked all of the boxes for us.

Hot topic on pretty much every RV forum nowadays is tires. GD is putting on Goodyears from the factory now to set customers at ease (and adding a line item to the MSRP). Still, any tire can blow out, and the potential damage could really ruin your day. I've thought about putting aluminum plates in the wheel wells to protect the camper interior from being penetrated by tire shrapnel. Tried searching the forums here without finding a good mod thread on the subject. If anyone could direct me to a thread on reinforcing the wheel wells it would be appreciated.

[NB Canada]

Recently purchased an Imagine XLS 22MLE and looking forward to being part of the GD family. It is our second TT. The first was an A-frame, which we loved for the easy towing and seemed luxurious after many years of sleeping on the ground in a tent. As we became empty nesters and started camping more in our increased free time, ultimately decided it was time to get a "grown up" TT. We want to travel with it and didn't want a beast size, so we decided on the 22MLE because it is the most compact TT we could find that checked all of the boxes for us.

Hot topic on pretty much every RV forum nowadays is tires. GD is putting on Goodyears from the factory now to set customers at ease (and adding a line item to the MSRP). Still, any tire can blow out, and the potential damage could really ruin your day. I've thought about putting aluminum plates in the wheel wells to protect the camper interior from being penetrated by tire shrapnel. Tried searching the forums here without finding a good mod thread on the subject. If anyone could direct me to a thread on reinforcing the wheel wells it would be appreciated.

Where did you hear they went to Goodyears to set customers at ease?
I heard it had everything to do with supply chain issues

[Harvestmoon]

Where did you hear they went to Goodyears to set customers at ease?
I heard it had everything to do with supply chain issues

An inference on my part. I stand corrected.

[Tigger1]

@Harvestmoon

First, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new 22mle! We have had ours since Nov 2019 and still really enjoy it.

Although we didn’t have any issues with the Westlakes that came on our trailer, I switched them out at around 1500 miles for GY Endurance. So far so good but I always keep an eye on them. I wish I had the choice back then to go with GY and was willing to pay the difference. It would have saved me from changing them myself. The GY tires were heavier with a stiffer side wall and in my research it was clear to me that is a good thing.

With respect to actually knowing the reason why Grand Design is switching over to GY at the factory, I’m not sure anyone outside of Grand Design would know for sure. They still use Westlake tires so I’m sure they wouldn’t want to hurt their relationship with them. There are other good tires on the market such as Maxxis, Sailun, etc. that Grand Design could use as well.

Enjoy your travels!

[Ynot4me2]

Congrats and welcome to the group and the 22mle gang. We really enjoy ours. Not to big, easy to tow and really open inside with tons of storage. Tires are a touchy subject on here just like any other forums. Really not hard to spark a debate. Just like generator. Lol I decided to keep our Westlakes but I'm always keeping an eye on them. Closely. I think the big issue was with the load E Westlake. However, like @Tigger1 mentioned, they are lighter and have a much slimmer sidewall. I had a chance to see this for myself recently when a friend of mine changed his.
I remember reading a few members adding some aluminum or metal sheeting in their wheel wells, not a 22mle though. If you do a search on here, they should pop up. Not a bad idea if you ask me. It would certainly help.

[Soundsailor]

Welcome to the forum @Harvestmoon, hope you're enjoying the new TT. We have the Goodyears and have been pretty happy with them. I'm expecting that regular inspection and proper inflation before each trip will keep us out of tire hell.

[Capt Bob]

Welcome aboard.
The cult/gang continues to grow. We still run the Westlakes but are looking to change them out at the end of this year. They have worked well.