Aluninum rims and tires

This note was placed in tires tires tires about three week ago and I am still mad about the situation. We all thought we purchased a quality producd from Heartland and we find out that the tires blow and the rims explode. Does anyone know if the safety bureau is all interested in the problems we are having? It seems to me that the problem is a road safety hazard. Should we all write to the safey bureau and find out if they are interested in our problem before somebody really gets hurt? I would like to forward my story gain. I had just returned from a trip to Maine. The aluminum rims on my 3600RL have been on the rig for a year that I know of. During my trip I stopped at a rest area and noticed that I had a tire going soft, I check my tires at every rest area I pulled into because I had a Tire blow on another trip and caused 1,200.00 dollars damage to a car following me I do not know the cause of this failure. To get back to the rim problem this time I changed the tire in the rest area and put the spare on. When I got to my destination I discovered I had a pin size hole in the Rim. I could not find a rim with the weight rating required, so the dealer I bought my rig from sent me a spare tire and rim through ups.. If I had not discoverd the soft tire I would have had a second tire liberation. There seems to be a problem with the tires and rims. Only speaking from experience. After 5 week I am still waiting for a replacement Rim. Thanks for letting me vent maybe we should organize and not allow these problems to exist.:mad:
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
I just ordered Michelin XPS ribs for ours and It only has about 2000 miles on it. The tires with most RVs are pure unadulterated junk! Way too many horror stories on RV.net to ignore this fact. Have done over $3500 dollars in damage on my pickup with treads flying off. I don't need this happening to the Bighorn. Now the pin holes in the wheels is something that I don't know about.
 
How do they get away with it without some kind of safety personnel getting into the act. This stuff is dangerious to equipment and personnel.
 

Scott

Well-known member
OK, before you get too far off on the wrong path, and start accusing Heartland of being dis-interested in the well-being of our owners, understand that these aluminum rims are widely considered the best choice on the market. They are not only on the vast majority of our coaches, but on 95% of all luxury fifth wheels in this industry and I can tell you that in three years, we have had maybe two coaches with aluminum rims that formed pin-hole leaks. Out of 6,000 coaches, that represents three one-hundredths of a single percent.
On the early steel rims on the Landmark, we had about a dozen or so rims that developed pin hole leaks at the welds and these were replaced by the rim manufacturer at no charge - who most often replaced them with aluminum rims becasue the chances of aluminum rims, which are spun in one piece, developing leaks are very rare.
Does that mean it never happens? No, not if your rim did had a slow lead.
That being said, I think some of the comments in this thread are the result of frustration, not based on a factual understanding of all Heartland fifth wheels. I mean to jump to the conclusion that we have a bunch of faulty rims out there is just not true.
Now, if you want to double check with our service department on when they received the order for a new rim from your dealer (that's if this didn't go directly through the rim mfg., which people do some times) you can call Customer Service at 574.262.8030.

ST
 

fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
fireflipper

Bighorn3600
I wanted to let you know that I am one of the first ones that Scot id refering to. I had steel rims that were bad, the manufacturer replaced with aluminum rims. I had one of those develop a pin hole leak. Again the manufacturer replaced all the rims with a different brand. So far it has been a year and around 7000 miles, no problems. As Scott stated some go direstly to the rim manufacturer. Call Heartland to get the number, it will be faster.
 

Wild Wind

Active Member
Recalls & safety Issues

On page 12, of the Sept.,2006 issue of Higways, Good Same Club, the is a recall notice for a Motorhome. I have looked at "National Highway Safety Administrations site. They only handle issues regarding safety problems relating to higway travel, not wet carpet, showers leaking, tanks falling out and not draining, Ac's not working, bad pillowst, unsafe electrical wiring ,etc,etc.
These, tire, wheel & axle proplems are very unsafe, and some one is going to get killed.

It is very important to go to www.safercar.gov., down load the reporting form describing your incident, accident, or probem that you have had in the pass, or are having fill out the form and send it in to kept a record or our problems. It does not matter if Heartland has fixed it, or says they are doing to fix it, The Auto Safety Department, needs to know that your unit was sent out the factory to you that way.
 
Thank you Scott for your reply. I am in no way or have I ever accused Heartland of not being interested in the safety of their customers, the wheel and tire problems that I have experienced first hand were not stories or figments of my imagination. Some one could have been hurt in my first incident, that is when the tire liberated from the rim. If it's once or a hundred does not matter if someone is hurt. I am not privy to all the incidents, and I'm sure a number go unreported so maybe we both don't know the true statistics. I am sure the pictures or letters I have seen on this site are not made up. With that all said an done I will move on.

The dealer as far as I am concerned is an extention of your company so when I have a problem and am told that Heartland does not return calls or respond to the dealer or help with the problems of the customer I have to assume there is a problem. (only passing on wht is told to me) This is a trailer less then a yr old I feel as though the problems should be settled between the company and dealer. Not give me a number to call. If I am wrong please correct me because this is the excuse I receive for every problem. What scares me most is everytime I go to my dealer I see less and less Heartland products. I hope this is not a indication that my dealer is throwing the towel in.

Wild Wind thank you for the info I will follow up on it concerning my cases.
 

Scott

Well-known member
Bighorn3600 -
Regarding the dealer situation, I agree with you. The dealer is an extension of Heartland. And the way the system is set up supports the concept that Heartland and the Dealer should resolved EVERY issue for the customer - but the fact is, a lot of the time, our customers either CHOOSE to contact us directly or PREFER being able to work with the factory directly if for nothing else, to double check what they are hearing from the dealer, or to stay in tune with anything that is going to be done to their coach during a given repair.
Believe it or not, not every RV dealer is as interested in service after the sale as Heartland is as a company. With so many coaches on the road, we would be out of business if we left customer service up to the dealers. Yes, we work with them, but we don't rely solely on them to service our customers. That's why we make our customer serivice personnel available to retail customers.
If you thought my original post was a little defensive - it was, because what I was reading was a lot of inuendo about mass problems (i.e. "how can they get away with this?" and "Should we all write to the safey bureau and find out if they are interested in our problem before somebody really gets hurt?") and a company that didn't care. That is not supported by facts. Again, the aluminum rims, while not perfect, have a really good track record in the entire RV industry, not just with Heartland - so any talk of major issues, and recalls and such just needed to have some light shed on it.

I know you can't read emotion into or from written text - but understand, I want your coach to be repaired as quickly as possible and want you to be back out there enjoying the RV lifestyle - that's why I provided you with our phone numbers and such - because I just don't trust that the majority of the RV dealers are going to care one way or the other. I want our customers to feel empowered - not at the mercy of some one who may or may not really care whether or not you get serviced or not.
That's really one of the main reasons why I am involved with this forum in the first place. And while there are a handful of people who we will never be able to satisfy because they did experience a problem with their coach, I feel really good about the customer service department we have here at Heartland and the fact that we have been able to help the vast majority of our customers get resolution to any problems then encounter and get them back out on the road. NO - I know we are not perfect - far from it - but we do work hard at improving all the time and providing our customers with some satisfaction.

IF - you are not happy with the information you are getting from either one of our dealers, or one of my employees - feel free to contact me directly and I will make sure to move the needle for you.

ST
 
Scott Thank you again and trust me there is some fustration and fear when I am on a trip as to. What next? I will be in contact with my dealer soon and see how the situation is going. They have my rig now while I wait for the new rim that was ordered (At least 2 months now) and a recliner chair that fell apart that was supposed to have been ordered 3 months ago. I am still waitin for it also. If you are interested the dealer is Hi Way campers Plainfield Ct.
 

Princess Kathleen

Well-known member
We should know about being in the repair shop.....57 days....out of 180 days of ownership. everytime we have been in the shop....the crew has be so helpful....Heartland has bent over backwards to get us back on the road in a timely manner....BRAVO to Heartland...

PK and Vance
 
Princess Kathleen, You don't see anything wrong with your rig being in the shop 57 days out of 180? At that rate you will be using your rig only on a half time bases. That statistic dos not set well with me when I want to full time.
 
bighorn3600 said:
Princess Kathleen, You don't see anything wrong with your rig being in the shop 57 days out of 180? At that rate you will be using your rig only on a half time bases. That statistic does not set well with me when I want to full time.

Where any of your problems safety related?
 

Princess Kathleen

Well-known member
We had the left rear tire blow because of the suspension....and that was the beginning of the repairs......after Lippert came and made the Luv Shak road worthy we traveled from Shreveport LA to Elkhart IN and they began to repair axles, outriggers, wheels, slide outs, electrical problems, and other stuff. Heartland stands behind their product....everytime something went wrong....they were there to fix it....I jokingly told Lance that since I was a retired school teacher....I had to go around to the different centers and give them assignments to do.....I have faith in this company and YES I would buy another Heartland.....just because of the people that work at Heartland.....and their product....
When a new teacher steps into the classroom for the first time....they are not as good as the teacher that has been teaching for at least 7 years.....I am sure that Henry Ford had many a problem when he got started building in automobile.....so with all the b..... that some people do....remember we learned our skill and made mistakes....and any way no one or no product is perfect....

PK
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
bighorn3600 said:
Were any of your problems safety related?

Ours has been out camping a total of maybe 14 days. In the shop close to 60 days in three trips (its still there). That doesn't take in to account the week or so I spent straighten out stuff at home. Haven't been too upset because we use our Truck Camper most of the summer. Safety related? Ah... how about propane gas getting into the bedroom because of a loose fitting on the regulator. You wouldn't even wanted to be close to me when I discovered that! Going to have a detector put in the bed room after that little incident! I think the propane tank compartments should be completely sealed from the rest of the coach. They are in our Snowriver Truck camper except for a 3 inch hole venting down and to the outside of the camper and louvers in the door.
Considering all our problems I think I have stayed pretty calm. None
 
It sounds like I am not the only one with problems on our rigs that are safety issues. I logged onto the NTSB web site and I am going to report my concerns (Just mine). It woud be adventageous for all owners with safety problems not broken chairs, or awnings that are defective but real life threating problems Tires blowing, rims seperating and leaking, Propane leaks etc. that I read on this site. Scott in his answer gave me the impression that there were no real problems because of the statistics he quoted on one subject. If the complants are listed With the NTSB the statistcs will be there for all to see.
 
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