Tire Issues - Heartland will not accept responsibility

[TheLindsays]

So... we bought our Torque in Sept. 2012... we bought TireMinders.. load light... drive slow... etc.. it came with 225/75/15 D rated tires... Power Touring Trail Express Tires... rated 2500lb per tire .. our unit is GVW 10400/dry 6995/hitch 1260.... tires are not even proper for the trailer if we were fully loaded... which we are not... we had a bubble in Feb that the manufacturer deemed defective and they replaced it but would not replace the rest.. we did a few short trips then last month headed to GA.. had 2 side wall blows 300 miles apart... replaced all the tires with 10 ply E rated.. when I got home I did some research.. it seems that not long after we got ours Heartland now puts 235/80/15 E rated tires on my unit... when the tires blew they were on different axles on different sides... they took out the fenders and the kitchen sink plumbing which we replaced all of it ourselves on the trip... I called heartland today.. spoke to Jaime that when I had the first tire issue months ago was very nice.... not today.. said he shows no recall and can't explain why they changed the tire size and rating on my unit except for sales purposes.... lol... wow... then he goes on to say its not Hearlands problem its a road hazard issue to make a claim on my insurance... I don't drive over 65.. usually 62.. we always check the pressure and use tire minders.. cover the tires when not in use... and evenly load the trailer... I explained they deemed the first tire from the same lot as defective he told me to call the tire company... not Hearlands issue and the fact they changed the tire size and rating on my unit mid-year has no bearing... I said well.. I guess I will not be supporting Heartland products any longer thanks for you help... as I was hanging up he said thank you and have a nice day.... !!.. I will be calling the tire company next... pretty sure they are going to put it back on Heartland for not having proper tires on the unit... really... really upset and disappointed right now!

 

[danemayer]

Re: Bad Heartland Customer Service!

Power Touring Trail Express Tires... rated 2500lb per tire .. our unit is GVW 10400/dry 6995/hitch 1260.... tires are not even proper for the trailer if we were fully loaded.

Hi TheLindsays,

Sorry about your tire problems.

I can't speak to why Heartland might have decided to use Load Range D and then change to Load Range E tires. But with a GVWR of 10,400, the tires won't be carrying more than about 9,600 pounds because at least 1000 pounds of the GVWR rests on the hitch.

I know that's of no comfort to you - you still have to deal with the damage and inconvenience. I hope the tire company will stand by their tires.

 

[lindaw]

Re: Bad Heartland Customer Service!

So... we bought our Torque in Sept. 2013... we bought TireMinders.. load light... drive slow... etc.. it came with 225/75/15 D rated tires... Power Touring Trail Express Tires... rated 2500lb per tire .. our unit is GVW 10400/dry 6995/hitch 1260.... tires are not even proper for the trailer if we were fully loaded... which we are not... we had a bubble in Feb that the manufacturer deemed defective and they replaced it but would not replace the rest.. we did a few short trips then last month headed to GA.. had 2 side wall blows 300 miles apart... replaced all the tires with 10 ply E rated.. when I got home I did some research.. it seems that not long after we got ours Heartland now puts 235/80/15 E rated tires on my unit... when the tires blew they were on different axles on different sides... they took out the fenders and the kitchen sink plumbing which we replaced all of it ourselves on the trip... I called heartland today.. spoke to Jaime that when I had the first tire issue months ago was very nice.... not today.. said he shows no recall and can't explain why they changed the tire size and rating on my unit except for sales purposes.... lol... wow... then he goes on to say its not Hearlands problem its a road hazard issue to make a claim on my insurance... I don't drive over 65.. usually 62.. we always check the pressure and use tire minders.. cover the tires when not in use... and evenly load the trailer... I explained they deemed the first tire from the same lot as defective he told me to call the tire company... not Hearlands issue and the fact they changed the tire size and rating on my unit mid-year has no bearing... I said well.. I guess I will not be supporting Heartland products any longer thanks for you help... as I was hanging up he said thank you and have a nice day.... !!.. I will be calling the tire company next... pretty sure they are going to put it back on Heartland for not having proper tires on the unit... really... really upset and disappointed right now!

We did not have a problem with our tires but the valve stems went bad in less than a year and I called tredit tire and they were very helpful and emailed me a claim form right away. I hope they can help you as well, I would hate to lose a heartlander.
Linda West

 

[TheLindsays]

Re: Bad Heartland Customer Service!

Yes, I am hoping the tire company will make it right.. they replaced the first one.... from what I was reading on tire guides online etc.. is that you should allow 20% or that your tires should be rated for 20% more than what your max load would be... so for me it just seemed to be too narrow of a margin... along with what I read about the difference between the 8 ply and 10 ply as far as strength in the side walls and durability.. I think its just too much trailer for those tires.. when I goggled the tires I found forum postings of people with all different brands of trailers that had these tires on them from factory with issues all under 3k miles..they were all lighter weight trailers than mine by almost 2k... we bought the first release of the Torque.. I truly think they upgraded the size and grade after rethinking the #'s but don't want to take responsibility.. plus the tires are crap... well.... keep your fingers crossed..

 

[lindaw]

Re: Bad Heartland Customer Service!

We did not have a problem with our tires but the valve stems went bad in less than a year and I called tredit tire and they were very helpful and emailed me a claim form right away. I hope they can help you as well, I would hate to lose a heartlander.
Linda West

I believe if I remember correctly you were in williston last march And you are carrying a golf cart so I would assume you would need at least E or F rated tires and 10 ply are good, we had a toy hauler, road warrior and had lots of tire problems but they were towmax.
Linda West

 

[TheLindsays]

Re: Bad Heartland Customer Service!

Yes Linda... that was us .... I would tend to agree on the rating from what I have found in research.

 

[jbeletti]

Hi Julie,

I remember you and George from the FL rally and have enjoyed our emails back and forth this evening. I'm sorry for the trouble you have had with your tires. After looking over what you've stated in this thread and in our emails, I've decided to change the title of your thread to "Tire Issues - Heartland will not accept responsibility". As I believe you will find that the tire rating were matched with the specs of your RV, I don't feel Heartland gave you bad customer service by not being able to explain why they now spec a higher load range tire. Please continue to follow-up with Tredit Tire and Wheel, our tire and wheel supplier and follow their lead with filing claims with the tire manufacture's warranty department to see compensation for tire replacements and damage repair costs.

Jim

 

[TheLindsays]

Thanks Jim for getting back to me so quickly... I will follow-up with the tire company for sure... otherwise... can chalk it up to a learning experience..

 

[Bob&Patty]

Sorry about your tire issue. But you must understand that HL does warranty tires. Just as the tires on any vehicle you buy. Tires are warrentied by the tire manufacturer. Follow up with Tredit and the should make it right.

 

[DingoDave]

Hello Lindsays,

I bought my Torque 261 Sept. 2012 also. After the initial "RV problems" new water pump, leaking sinks & plumbing (which I basically fixed after taking it to the dealer twice). I have had issues with my brakes not working (it seems to be the trailer cord, wire is to stiff & doesn't flex so it loses contact with the truck connector) I'm installing a new EZ- connector & wire harness now on the trailer & truck. My TIRES lose air slowly & I just don't trust them, I have heard of to many blow outs & horror stories with these tires(same as yours) I want to replace them B4 they go south & do something like you had happen(which I'm sorry you had to endure that) I have heard it is good to replace them with truck tires. E-rated & 10 ply is that what you did?

 

[TheLindsays]

I will have to look at the brand tomorrow but we went with E rated 10 ply for trailer's... we were going to go to truck tires but this happened to us in GA on a Saturday late.. so I was calling places Saturday and Sunday and got several Truck Tire service places .. they explained to me that trailer tires are best due to the side wall construction is better for a towed vehicle... if you google it .. will explain better than I am... we will be at the Fl rally tomorrow so I will look and send you the brand info so you can check it out... we haven't had one issue since... I have been busy and have not finished with the tire company but the tires are still in my yard... lol.. someday.. you are lucky to have gotten that much time out of them... it seems all rv companies put cheap tires.. not just heartland.. so next one we buy the first thing that will happen is we will change the tires... lesson learned... 2 blow outs in one day.. one trip ... was not fun!

 

[jbeletti]

...so next one we buy the first thing that will happen is we will change the tires... lesson learned... 2 blow outs in one day.. one trip ... was not fun!

When buying your next RV, check with the manufacturers rep for the brand, to see if there are tire options. Options maybe the dealer is not aware of or is not pushing. Usually less expensive to get them up front when you can, versus replacement.

Have fun in FL. I'll miss you this year as we're in Germany.

 

[cookie]

... it seems all rv companies put cheap tires.. not just heartland..

I don't know about all, but when we were at a dealer open house a week ago I made it a point to check tires on 2 other manufacturer brands.
Towmax!

Peace
Dave

 

[boatto5er]

DRV puts Goodyear G114's standard on some models, but you pay for them!