(not so) Good Sam’s Road Service….I had an interesting experience with Good Sam’s the other day. I went out to start getting my Class A ready for our trip to warmer weather and found that one of my back tires was flat. (my last trip in August). I called Sam’s for a roadside repair, which I have done before, but, it was not to be this time. The dispatcher told me that the only service that they have to offer me was to change to my spare or a complete tire replacement. They “no longer” offer tire repair service on any RV’s. (My tires are only 4 years old and I would replace the tire if the repairman determined it was unsafe.) So, I asked the dispatcher what that would cost me, she called me back 30 minutes later with a quote: My tire size is 245/70 19.5, the price was $524.95 for the tire and $241.03 mounting, service, and taxes, $765.95 total. Also, I had to pay Good Sam’s, they would pay the service company. (Can you read big markup.) I passed.I pulled my jacks and compressor out the lot, removed the tire and took it to a local truck tire dealer to have it checked. He could find nothing wrong with the tire but a very slow leak in the valve stem. They replaced the stem and rechecked the tire, three hours later it was back on the RV and ready to go. By the way, the dealer charged me nothing, $0, not ta. His price on the tires for my RV, $225 to $350 depending on the brand. Guess where my next tires will come from….I have had Good Sam’s for years and have used them a few times with good luck, but I don’t think I’ll be renewing this summer or recommending the service.

Any roadside service should be viewed as "emergency only" and they are priced that way.

Sitting in your driveway one has lots more options availableSitting on the side of the roadway with fast moving vehicles zooming by paying top dollar for tire/labor is 'safer' and all though cost is inflated it only becomes an issue AFTERWARDS.Wonder what your local truck tire dealer would have charged for 'mobile--on site' service....IF they even would have responded :H

Next time - try re-inflating the tire - if it holds drive to the nearest tire outlet and have them check out the tire. Just a thought.

I'm sorry, my card says "roadside assistance" not "emergency only". I was by the road and needed assistance. By the way, I did try to inflate it.

For emergency and/or roadside replacement I am not sure GS was out of line. GS prices are not a secret. And your first and second posts are complaints about our host.

Tire repair (not) | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

Good_Sam_Care_T
Explorer II
Dec 26, 2017
To All,

Thank you all for your time and interest in this thread. At this time this thread will be closed. Have a great week and travel safe always.

Thank you,

Mark
alarmingfriend
Explorer
Dec 24, 2017
AFChief_and_Pilot wrote:
Any roadside service should be viewed as "emergency only" and they are priced that way.

I use Progressive insurance on my Rig and when I had a blow out in AZ they sent out a flatbed and towed it to a tire shop. Roadside assistance is included in my policy and throwing money out is not something i enjoy. Check with your insurance company, you may already have Roadside assistance included. Great story and moral, simple things end up being very expensive if you don't follow through.
Safe Holiday.
KeninAZ
Explorer
Dec 24, 2017
In my case the only time I have had a flat was 3 times in 4 months and it was not the duals, it was the left front tire.
And the bead busted every time without being moved.
The first time was in front of our home and we were just ready to leave. The next two times I found it flat in the storage yard.
The shop that finally fixed it found that it had a very slow leaking valve and the guy that came out and fixed it the first time told me he replaced it.
The last time the shop took it all apart, cleaned the bead surface and put sealer on it after replacing the damaged slow leaking valve.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Dec 24, 2017
tkinrade wrote:
Interesting comments.

In reply to Zach (GS) I appreciate the clarification of the service, hard to know the reason for the flat while it's sitting on the RV, but next time I'll call for a valve stem replacement I guess.

Sidecar. I guess the bead was broken as I have a 200lb garage compressor. I agree that it's time for better valve stems. I also carry a spare and on the road, I would use it. At any rate, I learned a lot about GSRS with this experience.

When inflating a tire, it's not the head the compressor delivers (head pressure PSI) but rather the CFM delivery, cubic feet per minute, that inflates the tire and it take quite a bit of CFM to inflate a large tire without falling asleep holding the air chuck.

My compressor delivers 22.5 CFM at 175 psi btw. Never seen any shop compressor set at 200 psi. 175 is the maximum working pressure for any air tool made and even that is overkill, Air powered tools all work on CFM not PSI anyway.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Dec 24, 2017
ThePowells wrote:
No way, no how that a dual tire would break the bead if it went flat while sitting still and the RV didn't move. I have seen many dual tires run flat and not break the bead if the mate was still inflated.

On second thought, if it was recently mounted and still had wet tire slide it might. Maybe.

Thank you.....
ThePowells
Explorer
Dec 24, 2017
No way, no how that a dual tire would break the bead if it went flat while sitting still and the RV didn't move. I have seen many dual tires run flat and not break the bead if the mate was still inflated.

On second thought, if it was recently mounted and still had wet tire slide it might. Maybe.
KeninAZ
Explorer
Dec 23, 2017
ksg5000 wrote:
Next time - try re-inflating the tire - if it holds drive to the nearest tire outlet and have them check out the tire. Just a thought.

At least in my experience, almost without fail, when the tire goes flat the bead will bust and short of jacking the rig up and putting an old fashioned "belt" around the tire you will not get the bead to seal again.
tkinrade
Explorer
Dec 22, 2017
Interesting comments.

In reply to Zach (GS) I appreciate the clarification of the service, hard to know the reason for the flat while it's sitting on the RV, but next time I'll call for a valve stem replacement I guess.

Sidecar. I guess the bead was broken as I have a 200lb garage compressor. I agree that it's time for better valve stems. I also carry a spare and on the road, I would use it. At any rate, I learned a lot about GSRS with this experience.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Dec 22, 2017
SidecarFlip wrote:
tkinrade wrote:
I'm sorry, my card says "roadside assistance" not "emergency only". I was by the road and needed assistance. By the way, I did try to inflate it.

If it was flat but the bead wasn't broken, I'd say you need a better compressor...

Maybe it's time to buy real valve stems. Metal bolt on stems don't leak...ever. Rubber ones eventually fail.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Dec 22, 2017
tkinrade wrote:
I'm sorry, my card says "roadside assistance" not "emergency only". I was by the road and needed assistance. By the way, I did try to inflate it.

If it was flat but the bead wasn't broken, I'd say you need a better compressor...

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Tire repair (not)

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