It's a Shame!

rbowen1063 wrote:
It's a shame RV manufactures (Keystone, specifically) resort to putting marginal tires, on their "luxury" fifth wheels. I realize it's a cost factor, but they are shooting themselves in the foot as far as I'm concern and ignoring any safety factor. Why not include an upgraded tire as an option? This is a serious problem!! If anyone is considering buy a new 5er, insist the dealer upgrade the tires to "F" or "G" rated. It will save you a lot of grief and expense in the future.

Careful what you ask for - our manufacturer decided to make G rated tires standard, but they are Chinese Westlake tires :o. Rather than pay the manufacturer $180 for G rated Westlake tires in MSRP, I would rather have paid the $80 for the E rated bombs and just buy a quality tire on my own after delivery.

We have the same tire on ours, about the same age, only our fifth wheel is about 2,700 pounds lighter, loaded and ready to roll. We have 10,000 miles on them and no problems but we will replace them before we make our first trip next spring just to be on the safe side.
I agree the manufacturers could and should make better tires an option. However, many buyers out there will not be knowledgable enough, or don't want to spring for another couple hundred bucks (about 1% on a $25,000 purchase) to order better tires. I imagine that the manufacturers have computed the warranty rate for repairs due to tire failures and have determined they can still save X dollars going with the cheaper tires. Until consumers as a whole demand better tires, as a standard item, we are not likely to see this change.

rbowen1063 wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
Were your new tires not rated to carry the weight of the 5er??? Seems that would be a law suit waiting to happen.
Remember. they don't carry the full load of the 5er. The pin weight is carried by the truck

The tires that failed were the Powerking Towmax "E" rated (that came with the "new" 5er), 80 psi tires. If you do the math, the Gross of the 5er is 15500#, minus the 20% pin weight, leaving 12400# to be support by 4 tires (3100# per tire). The max load marked on the Towmax is 3520# (single). You would think this would be OK? But, with 3 blowouts, I have my doubts? The tire were made 38th week 2012 and had about 4000 miles. I think the Towmax is an inferior tire for that weight.

I am just curious but you quoted the "Gross of the 5er is 15500#". Was that a scale weight or a brochure weight?

I agree, it is a shame but unfortunately most all RV manufacturers follow the China Bomb route. They aren't hiding anything and depend on the tire companies to warranty the tires.
I knew this when I purchased my current fiver new and had the dealer provide and install LT tires of my choice as part of the deal.

Almost all RV manufactures seem to use cheap tires. Makes no difference whether low end RV or high end. I took 2 trips with my new 5'er and then replaced the Chinese ST tires with LT's.

That said, I had a tread separation on my TV with Michelin MS2's that were only 3 years, 30,000 miles old so it can happen even on highly rated tires. Caused $2000 damage to my TV.

Terryallan wrote:
Were your new tires not rated to carry the weight of the 5er??? Seems that would be a law suit waiting to happen.
Remember. they don't carry the full load of the 5er. The pin weight is carried by the truck

The tires that failed were the Powerking Towmax "E" rated (that came with the "new" 5er), 80 psi tires. If you do the math, the Gross of the 5er is 15500#, minus the 20% pin weight, leaving 12400# to be support by 4 tires (3100# per tire). The max load marked on the Towmax is 3520# (single). You would think this would be OK? But, with 3 blowouts, I have my doubts? The tire were made 38th week 2012 and had about 4000 miles. I think the Towmax is an inferior tire for that weight.

Its the same with cars, tire bids go to the lowest bidder. Tire manufacturers make different quality tires with the same name, some are high quality some are very low quality. If you want higher quality tires then its up to you to negotiate that with the dealer and pay for it.

Were your new tires not rated to carry the weight of the 5er??? Seems that would be a law suit waiting to happen.
Remember. they don't carry the full load of the 5er. The pin weight is carried by the truck