another Westlake/Grand Design failure

**hammmitc** · 07-16-2018, 06:01 PM

Lucky me, not only did I have one Westlake tire fail - tread came off like a retread but the tire remained inflated on the way to my destination. I had another one fail the exact same way on the return trip home.

Both tires, tread came off and remained inflated.

Both destroyed crap underneath and along the side of a one year old camper (350M)

Luckily I was able to find a tire dealer at our destination to order me a new tire or I would have been stuck along the side of the road on the way home.

So, I spent hours in the 95 degree heat changing tires during my vacation.

What amazes me is GD had gone to a higher rated tire for the exact same camper I have now and never told anyone or did a recall.

Why would I ever buy a camper from them again or recommend them to anyone??

Guess its time to lawyer up and call NHTSA to see what they can do to help.

**Canyonlight** · 07-16-2018, 07:13 PM

It is interesting the greater % of tire failures are posted by Toy Hauler owners. I have no facts to support this or as to why but with the lower % of toy hauler owners relative to other RVs, they post a much higher % of failures. There very seldom are pictures posted either of the damage of which you would think they would have to show to GDRV, LCI/Lionshead (tire marketer/distributor), or their insurance company.

In any event, RV manufacturers have rolling changes (with no communications) going on all the time. Heck even our 303 had "D rate tires in 2014 and later builds changed to "E" rated. Both tires were/are well within specs for capacities and I would suspect the same for your Momentum.

Relative to time to "lawyer up", for tire damage.......one can understand the frustration but seriously ? What communications have you had with GDRV and/or LCI Lionshead tire regarding your tire issues/damage ? Please share this and if unsure whom to contact, we will be pleased to offer help.

Dan

**Cate&Rob** · 07-16-2018, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by hammmitc

Guess its time to lawyer up and call NHTSA to see what they can do to help.

hammmitc - Perhaps you can keep us updated on your lawyer/NHTSA investigation. Info to date is that Westlake sells so many trailer tires that their failure rate is far below anything that NHTSA would be interested in.

Rob

**TucsonJim** · 07-16-2018, 08:39 PM

By any chance do you have measured weights at individual tire locations as you are currently loaded? If you follow through with your threat of a lawsuit, I'm sure that will become very important information.

Jim

**alanhenson** · 07-16-2018, 08:46 PM

Two tires on one trip. How far did you do
Go? How hot was it? What was the terrain like? How many miles did the tires have on them?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

**hammmitc** · 07-17-2018, 02:32 AM

The toy hauler was empty in the back, all of the tanks were empty and I don't know how to post pictures to a URL or I would add them. The reason I am frustrated is you spend all of this money for a new camper that tears itself up with only a couple thousand miles on it. I can't get an appointment until September and I have to cancel two other vacations I had planned this summer.

**hammmitc** · 07-17-2018, 02:33 AM

total trip was 1200 miles, did three hundred miles each day, temps were in the 90's, all interstate highways. About 5k on the tires, I also check pressures before leaving on every trip.

**hammmitc** · 07-17-2018, 02:39 AM

Jim - toy hauler was empty, tanks were empty, I was no where near capacity on this trailer, if I could post pictures of the tires you would understand. The tires were not made properly, I don't make tries for living and can tell that, the tread came apart the exact same way on both tires and the tread I was able to save you can see the seam where it was attached to the tire.

**huntr70** · 07-17-2018, 04:28 AM

Originally Posted by hammmitc

Lucky me, not only did I have one Westlake tire fail - tread came off like a retread but the tire remained inflated on the way to my destination. I had another one fail the exact same way on the return trip home.

Both tires, tread came off and remained inflated.

Both destroyed crap underneath and along the side of a one year old camper (350M)

Luckily I was able to find a tire dealer at our destination to order me a new tire or I would have been stuck along the side of the road on the way home.

So, I spent hours in the 95 degree heat changing tires during my vacation.

What amazes me is GD had gone to a higher rated tire for the exact same camper I have now and never told anyone or did a recall.

Why would I ever buy a camper from them again or recommend them to anyone??

Guess its time to lawyer up and call NHTSA to see what they can do to help.

Because many people were paying for the G range upgrade from the factory, so they went entirely to G range Westlake on all Solitude and Momentum models.

More like Ford using Michelin then switching to Bridgestone as OEM tires.

No other reason...

**kevinpo** · 07-17-2018, 05:29 AM

I can't get an appointment until September and I have to cancel two other vacations I had planned this summer.

That is totally unacceptable! I have seen many people on this forum get service much sooner by using an authorized service center (read not dealer). Someone here can post the phone contact at GD to get this authorized.
Hope you can get this resolved in short order.

Regards,
Kevin