Tire failures

ct0218

Well-known member
Scott-I have read several posts on this forum and others concerning tire failures. Most manufacturers seem to be going with Chinese, Korean and other foreign unknown tires. I have Trail America on my Mt. Rushmore and I am concerned about the quality of the tire and the damage that they do when they disintegrate. Do you have any idea of how many failures there have been on Heartland products, what kind of % failed thus far? I don't like the thought of having to buy a quality replacement set of tires 4 months after taking delivery of my coach, but a blowout is not something I want to have happen. I realize failures will happen with all brands and can be caused by poor workmanship, poor roads, objects on the roadway, overloading, and improper inflation. I'll take care of the last two, but the first one has me concerned. Thanks
 

Scott

Well-known member
Tires

I am going to tell you that just about every tire manufacturer - no matter where it is manufactured - offers to have any of their tires that have experienced a blow out x-rayed to determine whether or not the tire has failed because of poor structure, or from external factors. If the tire is determined to be of inferior quality so that it had a sidewall failure or something along those lines, the tire company will pay for the damage caused by it's failure.
That being said, I have known of only a couple of instances in the last ten years or so when a retail customer has taken this step to determine what happened to the tire and neither of them were found to be tire failure, but other extenuating circumstances, such as road debris; under or over inflation; rubbing against the frame or other part of the suspension; and even overloading.
As I have stated before. All tires sold here in the U.S. must meet with the National Highway and Transportation Safety Association approval - which is based on load ratings, tread thickness, etc. These tires are tested and rated by NHTSA, so whether they are made in the U.S., China, or Indonesia, the rubber must be of a specific thickness, and strength to be approved.
Are there better tires than the ones we and other RV manufacturers put on as standard? Yes. Just as there are better TVs or heavier axles and brakes. But we (Heartland as well as the RV industry as a whole) are NOT playing around with safey by putting inferior tires on the coaches. We only put NHTSA approved and rated tires on our coaches.

I have people who have thousands and thousands of miles on their Hearltand installed tires - and then I have seen people who had a blow out for some reason. I say with confidence that "Cheap tires from China..." is not the reason.

ST
 
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