BF Goodrich Tread Separation on F350

FlyerChief

Active Member
Just thought I would share my recent experience.....

While traveling on I-10 near Palm Springs (not towing), with a semi on the right and a car passing me on the left, I experienced a large 'boom' that lifted the left rear of my F350 off the ground, turned me almost sideways, and then came back down. I got it straightened out - looked in the mirror - was very thankful for professional truck drivers (they had backed off and given me room) - and made my way to the shoulder. Expecting that I had experienced a blowout of the left rear, I was surprised to get out of the truck and find what was left of the tire was the carcass (without any tread left on it) and it was still full of air! There was also considerable damage to the truck (actual repair costs of $8,500). Note that the tires are less than 2 years old with less than 15,000 miles on them. They are regularly rotated and pressure-checked. In fact, it was at the dealer that same morning for oil change, rotate, etc. I'm thinking that I'm pretty lucky I didn't hit someone, they didn't hit me, and/or I didn't roll over.

Learned a couple of things that might be useful for others:

- At least on the F350, if you have the 20" wheel option, that does NOT include the spare. The spare is an 18" wheel. According to a number of sources, including Ford, the difference in circumference is sufficient that the 18" wheel is only supposed to on briefly and for not very many miles, to avoid overheating the gears in the differential. In theory, if it's going to be on there for long, you're supposed to put the spare on the front and move one of the 20" wheels on the front to the rear. There seems to be some disagreement, but it is also reported that a 20" spare won't fit in the spare tire slot, so don't even think of that as an option.

-I immediately reported to my insurance company, then thought better of it and also called BF Goodrich. So far, my experience with BFG has been nothing but a runaround. It was difficult to talk to a live person. Then they wanted me to take the tire to a local dealer for inspection. The dealer told them that it was not underinflated and there was no obvious evidence of road hazard damage. Then they wanted me to ship them the tire and they would let me know in 60 days if they will accept any responsibility. Still waiting.

- My insurance company (Hartford/AARP) has been nothing but terrific. Since I didn't want to wait around for 60 days, they were very willing to repair the truck (they wouldn't replace the tire) and I had to pay my deductible. But my claim was handled by their subrogation department and they will go after BFG and get them to both reimburse Hartford AND reimburse me for my out of pocket costs. It's much easier having them fight my battle than for me to go through the frustration.

- I also went to the NHTSA website and reported the tire defect. This wasn't their first report of a problem with BFG tires.

- If something like this happens, take LOTS of pictures: of the tire, of the damage, etc.

After researching on the web, this is apparently not a rare event for BFG tires. Sudden tread separation without any warning is frequently reported on various websites. Still waiting to see if BFG will own up to any responsibility, but I'm not holding my breath.

Be careful out there. Even the 'good' brands can have problems. By the way, my tires were BFG Rugged Terrain T/A.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Thanks for the info. We recently replaced our BFG tires with Michelins on our F350. Another reason to have a dually.
 

CarterKraft

Well-known member
Just remembered this forum...

Last August on a RV trip back from Schlitterbahn the same thing happened to the 17k mile BFG All Terrains on the left rear of my Excursion, about $4600 in damage. Did the whole claim deal with Michelin who denied my claim due "to the tire was underinflated". They even included a industry manual on the possible reasons why the tire was "underinflated". This was a complete lie in that I never had the tires underinflated. I was tired of dealing with them after 4 months and just let my insurance co. fight them.

Fast forward to the last week in June, where the same thing happens to the right rear, now with 21k miles on the tires. Another $4k in damage I would guess.
This time the tire was not deflated and after talking to a claims rep at Michelin he stated that the previous claim was not denied due to be underinflated but because the tire was ran flat and damaged the evidence!

This made me furious as that is not at all what the form letter or industry manual stated.
I agreed to send them the 2nd damaged tire for inspection (against the advice of a attorney) under the agreement that I will get the tire back if the claim is not granted.

So I am getting the repair estimates this week to repair the body damage to the right side and will be sending this off again...

Thanks to Discount Tire being a first class organization I have 4 new tires from another brand.
 

Doublegranch

Mountain Region Director-Retired
Just remembered this forum...

Last August on a RV trip back from Schlitterbahn the same thing happened to the 17k mile BFG All Terrains on the left rear of my Excursion, about $4600 in damage. Did the whole claim deal with Michelin who denied my claim due "to the tire was underinflated".]

[I am confused why did you make a claim with Michelin on a BFG tire? I am not aware these companies are related to each other?]
 

CarterKraft

Well-known member
Just remembered this forum...

Last August on a RV trip back from Schlitterbahn the same thing happened to the 17k mile BFG All Terrains on the left rear of my Excursion, about $4600 in damage. Did the whole claim deal with Michelin who denied my claim due "to the tire was underinflated".]



[I am confused why did you make a claim with Michelin on a BFG tire? I am not aware these companies are related to each other?]


I have found this to be a common question.

BF Goodrich is a Michelin company and claims are handled through Michelins claims department.
 

wingfoot

Well-known member
Reading all of this adds support to my buying Goodyear tires...I have had two failures on Goodyear's and Goodyear stepped up immediately. I sent pictures of the damage and the failed tire ($3,500 in one case) and within a couple of weeks I had a new tire and a check for the trailer repairs. All in all the entire process took less than thirty days. You can read other post here about Goodyear's response on consumer tire problems.
Having had some tire related experience in my working years and dealing with all the major tire manufacturers and by far Michelin was the most difficult to work with. Their dealers have nothing good to say about Michelin as a company.

Good luck...
 

GMCaddic

Active Member
Just thought I would share my recent experience.....

While traveling on I-10 near Palm Springs (not towing), with a semi on the right and a car passing me on the left, I experienced a large 'boom' that lifted the left rear of my F350 off the ground, turned me almost sideways, and then came back down. I got it straightened out - looked in the mirror - was very thankful for professional truck drivers (they had backed off and given me room) - and made my way to the shoulder. Expecting that I had experienced a blowout of the left rear, I was surprised to get out of the truck and find what was left of the tire was the carcass (without any tread left on it) and it was still full of air! There was also considerable damage to the truck (actual repair costs of $8,500). Note that the tires are less than 2 years old with less than 15,000 miles on them. They are regularly rotated and pressure-checked. In fact, it was at the dealer that same morning for oil change, rotate, etc. I'm thinking that I'm pretty lucky I didn't hit someone, they didn't hit me, and/or I didn't roll over.

Learned a couple of things that might be useful for others:

- At least on the F350, if you have the 20" wheel option, that does NOT include the spare. The spare is an 18" wheel. According to a number of sources, including Ford, the difference in circumference is sufficient that the 18" wheel is only supposed to on briefly and for not very many miles, to avoid overheating the gears in the differential. In theory, if it's going to be on there for long, you're supposed to put the spare on the front and move one of the 20" wheels on the front to the rear. There seems to be some disagreement, but it is also reported that a 20" spare won't fit in the spare tire slot, so don't even think of that as an option.

-I immediately reported to my insurance company, then thought better of it and also called BF Goodrich. So far, my experience with BFG has been nothing but a runaround. It was difficult to talk to a live person. Then they wanted me to take the tire to a local dealer for inspection. The dealer told them that it was not underinflated and there was no obvious evidence of road hazard damage. Then they wanted me to ship them the tire and they would let me know in 60 days if they will accept any responsibility. Still waiting.

- My insurance company (Hartford/AARP) has been nothing but terrific. Since I didn't want to wait around for 60 days, they were very willing to repair the truck (they wouldn't replace the tire) and I had to pay my deductible. But my claim was handled by their subrogation department and they will go after BFG and get them to both reimburse Hartford AND reimburse me for my out of pocket costs. It's much easier having them fight my battle than for me to go through the frustration.

- I also went to the NHTSA website and reported the tire defect. This wasn't their first report of a problem with BFG tires.

- If something like this happens, take LOTS of pictures: of the tire, of the damage, etc.

After researching on the web, this is apparently not a rare event for BFG tires. Sudden tread separation without any warning is frequently reported on various websites. Still waiting to see if BFG will own up to any responsibility, but I'm not holding my breath.

Be careful out there. Even the 'good' brands can have problems. By the way, my tires were BFG Rugged Terrain T/A.

x2 on the Rugged Terrains granted I bought my truck with them on . I had a similar experience with mine but not as bad as yours. We were out in the desert camping. At the end of are trip headed back
to the main road ,( we were on a dirt road ) towing are 5er we got on the main road headed back home the truck was making a weird sound and vibrating when I stepped on the gas. let off it was fine.
I thought i bedder pull over and check it out . My tms never came on I got out looked at the tires on the truck and the drivers side rear had half the tread gone , tire was still inflated.

Well we were lucky. ( So do not buy BFG Rugged Terrains ) I now have the new BFG's KO2's read up on them and they are the cream puff so far.
 

CarterKraft

Well-known member
They tried to talk me in to K02's to replace these KO's but I could stomach the thought of it that this time.
They look like great tires and the Michelin claims rep even told me about the dropping it out of an airplane marketing video.

I told him I didn't need it to survive a airplane drop just to drive down the road without spontaneously combusting would be enough for me.
 

Jv75353

Well-known member
I don't know if this recall would apply to any of your tire failures, but the following release was made by Michelin today 8/31/2015. It would at least be something to check into and possibly get replacement tires paid for by Michelin. To bad "Towmax" doesn't react like this, lol.

"Michelin is recalling around 104,000 BF Goodrich tires used for light trucks and recreational vehicles because the sidewalls can rupture under severe use conditions.
The tire maker says no injuries or deaths have been tied to the problem.
Michelin North America Inc. says the recall involves several types of commercial and rugged terrain tiresmade in 2014 and 2015 and sold in the United States.
The tires are used on commercial trucks; full-size, heavy-duty vans; small RVs; and some one-ton pickup trucks.
The tire maker will send letters starting next week to affected customers, explaining the issue and telling them how the tires can be replaced at no charge."
 

CarterKraft

Well-known member
Michelin sent me a letter a couple weekends ago and we reached a settlement on this second tire blowout. I no longer have the Michelins on my truck so the recall probably won't matter much.

I am SOL on the first tire though.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
....To bad "Towmax" doesn't react like this, lol.
...
"Michelin is recalling around 104,000 BF Goodrich tires used for light trucks and recreational vehicles because the sidewalls can rupture under severe use conditions.
"

Recalls typically happen because NHTSA finds a manufacturing defect and orders the manufacturer to recall the affected product.

Since that hasn't happened with Towmax, it seems obvious that NHTSA has never found a manufacturing defect on a Towmax tire.

Maybe no one has made their failed Towmax tires available for NHTSA inspection. That's too bad.
 

maddog

Huhmina ! Huhmina!
Had cracks developing in my bf goodrich rugged terrains,,,they didn't fall into the recall dates,,,they did have 40,000 miles on them thou....michelin(bf goodrich) stepped up and credited me 200$ off new tires,,,got 4 new all terrain ko2...very pleased with their customer service...
 

GMCaddic

Active Member
Had cracks developing in my bf goodrich rugged terrains,,,they didn't fall into the recall dates,,,they did have 40,000 miles on them thou....michelin(bf goodrich) stepped up and credited me 200$ off new tires,,,got 4 new all terrain ko2...very pleased with their customer service...

Did you go through Michelin direct or through a tire dealer ship ? Mine did not meet the recall dates also but I still have about 40% tread left. One of my tires pealed the tread. I still have the other three tires
I was going to use as spares but after hearing about all the bs with the rugged terrains that is not going to happen . Thanks
 

maddog

Huhmina ! Huhmina!
first call michelin 877-788-8899 ,,u start a claim with customer service....then go to any michelin/bf goodrich dealer and give them the info...they will call michelin with ure claim number,,and get reimbursed...u will get money directly off ure tires...
 
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