Tire Blowout & Warranty Warning

tspearcy

Buddy Bear's Mom and Dad
Hi to all. Well, we were warned, and it just happened to us. On a Sunday afternoon on Interstate 40 at the beginning of our most recent trip, one of the Kenda Loadstar Karrier tires installed by Heartland on our 2008 Big Horn 3055 completely disintegrated on us. Fortunately, Tom was able to get the rig over to the shoulder safely. We replaced all four tires at our next stop. What we wanted to warn everyone about is what the Kenda folks are asking of us and will ask of everyone else should you try to make a claim under your warranty. I have copied and pasted the contents of the email from Kenda FYI as I'm sure most folks would not immediately think to have all of this information in their files nor think to recover the carcass of the tire along the interstate. Remember, the blown tire was no longer and we got rid of the other three when we purchased four new tires. Fortunately, Tom is the shutterbug of the family and he took numerous pictures of the event.

Here's the info requested from Kenda:

Thank you for calling. As you will note I have already issued you a claim number please include it when ever you send me anything or have a question. I already have your contact information. The first group of items are what I ask for when taking a claim. They include:

Tire Size Ex. ST205/75R15

The DOT number on the tire. It will be the first 7 to 11 digits following the letters DOT. The complete number will only be on one side of the tire. If you have a Loadstar K-550 tire there will only be eight letters and numbers Most other tires will have eleven numbers and letters. The last four in both types will all be numbers and the next to the last one will be a 0 zero.

The load range. This will be found in a cluster of information that includes the tire pressure, Max. pounds of load and other items. It can be listed one of two ways depending on which tire you have. If the information reads Load Range then it will be a letter of the alphabet and if it is a bias tire it will be listed as a number followed by the letters P.R.

The brand of trailer, the model number and the date of purchase. That information will tell me what tire you have. The warranty is probably 2 years from the date of purchase. I will include a link at the bottom of this e-mail that will take you to our web site and the warranty information.

I will also ask for a copy of the bill of sale for the trailer the tires came on.

A copy of the bill of sale for the replacement tire you purchased.

A tread depth measurement if you have owned the trailer for more than a year. Since you do not have the tire a measurement, maybe you can still have the dealer to give you a measurement of one of the other tires on the ground.

Photos of the Tire and the DOT on the tire.

We normally ask for the dot number to be cut out of the old tire and sent to me. Hopefully your photos will provide enough information to confirm this specification this.

Our warranty and other safety information can been found at the following web location.http://www.kendausa.com/specialtytires/specialty_warranty

Hope this doesn't happen to anyone else . . . it wasn't fun

Sandy :(
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
Sandy,
Thanks for the info. I'll be writing that down before we move again. Glad to hear you got the rig stopped safely and nobody was hurt. Hope your claim works out well.
 
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