I sent the following email to Jerry McCarthy on September 21st at approximately 9 am:
"I have a Reflection Travel Trailer that has a continuing tire problem. I have one wheel that will not hold air when under load. I returned to the dealer and they looked it over with no luck, they removed the wheel and tire and sent it to their local tire shop, no problem found. They did replace the valve stem and sent it back to the dealer. I picked up the trailer and drove home, it sat in our driveway for about a month and lost approximately 15 lbs of air. I removed the wheel from the unit and took it to my own local tire shop. They attempted to find a leak by placing the tire in a water tank, and performing the soap bubble test. Again, No problem found. They did change the valve stem core, as an attempt to fix the problem. We picked the wheel up on Thursday, after two days of holding air, replaced the wheel on trailer and took a weekend trip approximately 75 miles away. Once I arrived at the campground we had lost 10 lbs of air.
I spoke to several people at the campground and called my local tire shop this morning. The speculation is the wheel has a hairline crack in it that only shows up under load. Without being able to prove this, I wanted to reach out to you for suggestions. Knowing that I would like to eventually upgrade to 16” wheels and tire, but due to safety concern of the wheel having a catastrophic failure I need to address this issue first."
I received an response at 9:13am stating the following:
"The most likely culprit is a porous aluminum rim. Rare, but it does happen. If you would like, we can ship you a new rim & tire assembly. Just forward the address where you want it sent. A picture of the rim would be helpful as design changes occur frequently. Want to make sure we get a match. Thanks! Jerry "
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Today, September 28th I received a brand new tire and rim via UPS. THANK YOU!! Grand Design, and specifically Jerry McCarthy.
And for those of you that have followed along this far into the email, the Westlake tire that was sent as a replacement has the "speed rating of L, 75mph max speed" imprinted on the tire, My original three other Westlake tires do not have this marking.
"I have a Reflection Travel Trailer that has a continuing tire problem. I have one wheel that will not hold air when under load. I returned to the dealer and they looked it over with no luck, they removed the wheel and tire and sent it to their local tire shop, no problem found. They did replace the valve stem and sent it back to the dealer. I picked up the trailer and drove home, it sat in our driveway for about a month and lost approximately 15 lbs of air. I removed the wheel from the unit and took it to my own local tire shop. They attempted to find a leak by placing the tire in a water tank, and performing the soap bubble test. Again, No problem found. They did change the valve stem core, as an attempt to fix the problem. We picked the wheel up on Thursday, after two days of holding air, replaced the wheel on trailer and took a weekend trip approximately 75 miles away. Once I arrived at the campground we had lost 10 lbs of air.
I spoke to several people at the campground and called my local tire shop this morning. The speculation is the wheel has a hairline crack in it that only shows up under load. Without being able to prove this, I wanted to reach out to you for suggestions. Knowing that I would like to eventually upgrade to 16” wheels and tire, but due to safety concern of the wheel having a catastrophic failure I need to address this issue first."
I received an response at 9:13am stating the following:
"The most likely culprit is a porous aluminum rim. Rare, but it does happen. If you would like, we can ship you a new rim & tire assembly. Just forward the address where you want it sent. A picture of the rim would be helpful as design changes occur frequently. Want to make sure we get a match. Thanks! Jerry "
[/COLOR]
Today, September 28th I received a brand new tire and rim via UPS. THANK YOU!! Grand Design, and specifically Jerry McCarthy.
And for those of you that have followed along this far into the email, the Westlake tire that was sent as a replacement has the "speed rating of L, 75mph max speed" imprinted on the tire, My original three other Westlake tires do not have this marking.
