Time for a Westlake tire update

[JCR GD]

Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of any actual Westlake tire failures?

(I know a lot of folks change them out almost immediately because of the "china bomb" issues but this is for those that have not)

If so... Please give us some info...

Size, running pressure, load, age, reason for failure, etc ??

Thanks

 

[Scott and Jan]

5,700 miles so far, no problems!
Ironically my BF Goodrich Commercial TA truck tire blew out on way to Anchor Down last week. Thanks to Chris & Debbie (mtpocket) I learned of a recall my tires were part of, so hopefully tomorrow I'll find out if they will help pay for all the damage.

 

[Cate&Rob]

Hi JCR,

A fair question.

To be more specific (if I can jump in on your request) . . . has anyone who monitors their tires with a TPMS experienced a Westlake tire failure without warning ? Outside this forum, I have talked with folks (not GD owners) using TPMS and learned that TPMS has found leaking valve stems, cracked rims and tire punctures, all leading to low tire pressure which stresses the tire but is not the tire's fault.

I am very much aware of my RV tires. I am new to this and have read much about the "China Bomb" experience and the ST vs LT debate. I have posted comments on this on several different threads on this forum. I watch my TPMS constantly. We stop every couple of hours (the "crew" in our avatar demands regular ball chasing sessions in trade for quiet travel ). At each stop, I scan my tires across the tread with the IR temp readout discussed elsewhere on this forum.

Tread depth is equal across all four tires. I can't find any of the cracks reported by others. Maybe it's an age thing ? Maybe Westlakes only last 3 years when other brands will last 5 ?? So far . . . from all I can measure . . . there is nothing to fear from Westlake tires.

Rob

Addendum: We have 5000 miles under the wheels, plus delivery mileage, so not far behind Scott and Jan on miles travelled.

 

[roadkingfl]

5,700 miles so far, no problems!
Ironically my BF Goodrich Commercial TA truck tire blew out on way to Anchor Down last week. Thanks to Chris & Debbie (mtpocket) I learned of a recall my tires were part of, so hopefully tomorrow I'll find out if they will help pay for all the damage.

Hope they pay for the damage to your truch and rv...Also hope they reimburse you for the replacement tires...Say hi to Jan.

Sorry no experience with Westlake tires...Have had bad experience with other off brand tires.

 

[WhittleBurner]

We also have about 5000 miles on ours with no problems. Just guessing but I suspect that people that do have problems tend to drive faster than what they are rated for,

 

[TucsonJim]

18,000 miles on our rig now, and no issues with the Westlake tires!

Jim

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

 

[Canyonlight]

Our 303 was a 10/13 build and our Westlakes are "D" load tires (2540 lbs) and while we are only approaching 4000 miles, they are most likely getting close to 2 years old. They are wearing fine with no cracks or any other defects so far. I keep an eye on any of my trailer tires when pulling looking in the mirrors for inflation and checking when stopped.

Dan

 

[JCR GD]

No problem Rob, the more actual first hand info we can get the better. I have only about 2,000 on mine (+ delivery) and they are doing fine. I do have TPMS and check them at every stop. (I would do that regardless of tire brand)

 

[JCR GD]

Just guessing but I suspect that people that do have problems tend to drive faster than what they are rated for,

...and/or possibly overloaded.

 

[JCR GD]

I read through the entire thread mentioned on the other thread. It seems there were 3 peeps with problems mentioned in that thread from late 2013 to early 2014. It would be interesting to find out the specifics of the failures.

(this one) http://www.granddesignowners.com/for...r-G114-upgrade


Another question that comes to mind: How close to the max load of the tires are you running?

 

[Canyonlight]

JCR GD--I have not scaled the RV but with a GVWR of just shy of 12K and delivery pin weight of just shy of 1700, IF we were ever fully loaded, I imagine we would be a few hundred lbs. under tire capacity with the pin weight coming in at over 2K of course, thus less than 10K on the tires.


Dan

 

[webpilot]

We have a little over 20K miles on our Westlakes. I have had one bad when I ran over something turning into a gas station in NY. I have another that needs to be replaced due to an alignment issue, but no cracks, leaks or other signs of trouble with them. I do have a TPMS, tires set pretty close to 80# cold and seldom drive over 65 mph.

Thanks,
George

 

[arhayes]

I've got 8700 miles on Westlakes on my 380th plus whatever miles were put on during delivery, so I estimates about 10,000 miles total. I run max psi which is 123 for mine and do use TPMS. I check pressure before every trip and try to have them as close to max as possible. As I recall from the Westlake presentation at Owners Rally last fall, the estimated mileage life was 15,000, so I plan to replace mine next Spring.


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[JCR GD]

My confidence is building.... keep 'um coming...

I'm running just over 17,000 lbs on my axles (6 tires) fully loaded. 21,000 lbs rated so I feel I'm comfortably under load ratings.

 

[minnow101]

I do think running over 65 and under the max. tire pressure leads to a lot of these issues. ST tires should always be aired up the max. air pressure as listed on the tire sidewalls. We have all seen RV'er running down the interstate at 75 + mph. It is a disaster waiting to happen. It also is possible that the china tires are not as robust as the Bridgestones and BF Goodrich among others so less room for error on low pressure or speeding.

 

[Cate&Rob]

Something to consider is that tire failure is not always immediate. If you find that you have been running a tire at low pressure and air it back up to spec, this does not mean that everything is fine again. Similarly running at high speed without a failure does not mean that a tire will not fail later, at lower speed . . . due to internal damage done at high speed.

Rob

 

[Abqscott]

18,000 miles on our rig now, and no issues with the Westlake tires!

Jim

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

Jim, having looked across many forums I have discovered nobody so far that has tpms having a blow out. I'm sure it has happened but almost exclusively to people that don't have tpms. I have it on my truck and ordered the kit you are using. Those guys at the factory were great. Thanks for the referral.

 

[TucsonJim]

Scott you are most welcome. It sure gives me confidence going down the road.

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[Paul & Deb]

Jim, having looked across many forums I have discovered nobody so far that has tpms having a blow out. I'm sure it has happened but almost exclusively to people that don't have tpms. I have it on my truck and ordered the kit you are using. Those guys at the factory were great. Thanks for the referral.

Unfortunately my closest friend has had TMPS for a few years and multiple tire blowouts before he finally switched to LT tires. He has a Montana and I think it came with Tow King or Tow Master or something like that. He is the friend I have mentioned before here or maybe on FB that had 2 tires go and caused thousands in damage to the trailer.

I also have TMPS and have had numerous "false alarms" where the system told me I had a tire fail only to pull over and find the tire was fine. At least I can justify that as a "better safe than sorry" scenario.

 

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Poppy,

"Multiple tire blowouts" indicates that all these tires were previously pushed beyond their design limits. high speed ?, low pressure ?, overloaded ? . . . The actual failure (blowout) can occur many miles after the internal tire damage was done.

TPMS false alarms is disconcerting. I don't know which system you have, but I have come to really trust my TireMinder system. I had a few problems getting it set up (which turned out to be a bad signal booster) but the tech support from TireMinder was fantastic. If you don't have a system you can trust, it could cause you to ignore the one real warning in amongst the false alarms.