Tire Bubble

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Well it finally happened. I found a bubble on the Rt. Front tire. I have Karriers with about 11K on them just shy of 2 years old. I was lucky enough to find it before it blew. I'll be putting on the spare this afternoon and we leave tomorrow for home. It's only a 200 mile trip so I'm hoping all goes well. I will say we hit some pretty crappy roads on the way north this year. I have 4 Goodyears waiting at $225 each from our local dealer in Rapids.
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
You got alot more miles out of those Karriers then we did our Goldways. I don't think we had 3 or 4,000 miles on them. Put the Goodyear G614's on and haven't had another issue!!

We did the same thing though, caught the bubbles before we had a blowout...I guess we all get lucky once in awhile! LOL
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
The G614 Goodyears have been installed and they look great. I asked for them to be balanced but when I returned to pick up the coach I was told they used a dry powder system in the tire that they have been using on commercial tires that they have had great luck with. I don't remember what it's called but it maintains the balance of the tire forever. The date codes on the new tires range from 2507 t0 4107 and they are made in USA. That alone was the best news I had all day. Out the door price $1033.00
 

Delaine and Lindy

Well-known member
Ray you will like the Goodyear G614's. We have had them on our last two 5th wheels. They wear really well and the price you paid was a good price. Now you don't have to worry about those China Bombs. We have them on our Landmark and feel very safe with them and of course I run the Pressure Pro system. Good Luck... GBY................
 

L'l John

Well-known member
Ray,
I also have the 3400RL which has the E-rated tire same brand as your tires that you replaced. Also had a knot come up on the sidewall. I am getting them replaced soon.
Since the Goodyear tires that you bought are G-rated, do you plan to fully inflate them to the G-rating or will you use a lower pressure to equal the E-rating that your 5th wheel trailer requires?
Thanks, John
 

Forrest Fetherolf

Senior Member
John,

When you switch from E-rated to G rated tires, verify your psi capacity of your existing wheels is 110 psi, most E-rated wheels are 80 psi. Goodyear website suggests tires should be inflated as per their tire loading chart. Some owners will say to inflate to the maximum tire pressure as indicated on the sidewall, I disagree, running higher psi will only create a harsher ride. A good example is when the TV is unhooked from the RV, the first thing we do is lower the tire pressure and deflate the air bags for a smoother ride.

Forrest
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Hi Ray,
While at THE RALLY in Perry, Ga I attended a tire seminar where a Goodyear Service Manager was the MC. He talked generally about tires and we all got a booklet put out by Goodyear which details much information about tires. One thing he stressed was to not exceed the inflation rating of your wheel. In other words if you have a E rated wheel (80 lbs) and you put a G rated tire on it (110 lbs) and inflate to the 110 lbs you exceed the rating of the wheel and run the risk of blowing the tire off the wheel because the wheel cannot hold that PSI. The other thing he stressed was to get your rig weighed and then follow the inflation chart for the PSI according to the weight on that wheel i.e. if you are at max for the psi rating of the tire then you will need to do the max inflation thing. You do not need to max inflate if you are under the weight carrying capacity of the tire, inflate according to the chart. But in any regards the inflation should match on the axle, so if the left is at 85 psi the right needs to be at 85 psi. We were also advised to consult the tire dealer if there are any questions. The booklet is available at the Goodyear dealer. Also when weighing your rig he recommends weighing the tires individually because you may have too much weight on one side or one wheel and not the other. Hope this helps and does not confuse.

As a side note, on our Landmark we have tire problems with the China bombs but also found both axles were bent and the axels were not mounted on the frame straight. We found out one side was 1/2 inch off center and the other 1/4 inch off center. We now have the Mor/ryde IS system and the problem has been solved and the rig tows better and tires wear more evenly.
 

ziggy

Retired Oregon HOC
You got alot more miles out of those Karriers then we did our Goldways. I don't think we had 3 or 4,000 miles on them. Put the Goodyear G614's on and haven't had another issue!!

We did the same thing though, caught the bubbles before we had a blowout...I guess we all get lucky once in awhile! LOL

We fell victim to the Goldway tires yesterday. Its just good we spotted the bubble in the side wall before it blew. I figure we had less than 5000 miles on them (all highway miles and about half just from the drive to deliver it to us). :mad: We are out of our one year Heartland warranty by about 6 weeks, so I don't know that it would do any good to contact them about the tires, especially since its the tire company at fault. I searched for the makers of Goldways online, but I couldn't find out who to contact with a problem. Naturally it is a Chinese company, but they must have a main US distributer. Also found out that the Goldways don't have steel side walls. Not a big surprise they bubble when they aren't reinforced in the sidewalls.

Mark went out today and bought Goodyear G614's from our tire dealer. They took the three unbubbled Goldways in trade even though they said that Goldways are s*** tires. That was their word, not ours..... They had the GY in stock and we do a lot of business with them, so they took the trade even though they can't really do much with the "old" tires. We kept the bubbled one in case I do call and Heartland wants to look at it.

Kristy
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Jim (jmgratz), I had discovered quite a while ago that the alloy wheels that were an option on Bighorns were rated for "G" tires. I was glad to see this and posted a thread at the time for other BH owners to check. Our dealer reccommended starting at 100 psi and keep an eye our for abnormal tread wear. At 14,000 lbs GVW we are well under the tires capacity so I'm not concerned there. I'm more concerned now about the springs and mounting brackets. They look good now but there have been a few issues with suspensions. Worst thing is we can plan for all of the possible things to go wrong and then "bam" something out of the ordinary goes whacko. We can't win em all, just play our best.
 

snuffy

Well-known member
Sometimes I wonder if the "less than perfect" Lippert frames could be the cause of some of the tire problems. Misaligned axles with all that weight they carry would cause even good tires to have problems.
While looking at 3 new Landmarks, I noticed that all three had Goodyear tires on them.
 

Delaine and Lindy

Well-known member
I looked at 3 or 4 new (2009) Landmarks at the dealership last week and all had Goodyear 614's which is good for the new owners. I had them on our other 5th wheel and never had a problem. They were kept at 110 lbs and always ran cool. I was very happy to see them on our Landmark. GBY....
 
J

Jim_1899

Guest
I just replaced two tires this week that were worn. The were both the rear tires on each side and the inside tread was worn down and I could feel the steel belts. The tire shop did not think I need the two front tires but did find that I needed to get the ball bearings repacked since it was loose on the drivers side rear tire.

I glad that I checked and replaced them before having a blow out. Next year I will replace the other two just to be safe. My Bighorn is a 2006 but we have pulled it a lot of places. We are going on a 2,000 mile trip in July so I am getting everything up to date.

I check my air pressure all the time and have slowed down on the speed when pulling it. The back tires may have hit a lot of curves, I am sure they get a lot of stress with all the weight and heat.
 

Forrest Fetherolf

Senior Member
I would recommend rotating RV tires at least every 5000 miles. Under normal conditions, the right side tires, and more so the right rear tire, are under the most stress due to crowned roads shifting weight to the right side and the scrubbing effect of the right rear tire. Rotation will prolong the life of the tires.
Conditions such as "Jim 1899" describes in the prior post is a good indication the rear axle does not have the proper camber causing the rear axle tires to have excessive wear.

Forrest
 
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