WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T USE GOODSAM

I took delivery of my new 5th wheel in July 2013. After a few shake down trips, I holed up for the winter and then set off to be a full timer in April, 2014. It came with Tow Max tires. I had read all the stories so my plan was to change them out when I stopped traveling in November, 2014. Not. I was in the middle of Wyoming when the tires were exactly one year old, in July 2014, when the first one 'blew'. Luckily it didn't really blow, just started leaking down. But there was a large rip on the inner sidewall. That was enough for me. I put on 4 new Maxxis tires and have been a happy camper since.

And just FYI - I run between 55 - 60 and keep an eye on the air pressure.

I think if you are running Tow Max tires (or any of the other no-name tires) on a heavy trailer, and you blow even ONE tire for no apparent reason, that's a message from God - just go ahead and change them all out right now.

jepalmer wrote:
I check tire pressure and lug nuts every morning we travel, and tire temperature every time we stop during the day, so the "maintain" comment is uninformed. Also, the trailer (and tires) were new in October 2014. (Open Range 349RLS)

1. First time out with trailer, we had a slow leak due to bad rim. Tire change #1, (11/14).
2. In Montana, the truck tire went soft (bad valve) on I-80 and GS was called. Call #2. (6/15)
3. Outside of Tampa, a tire blew while we were on I-75 between Jersey barriers..... Call #3. (9/15)
4. Outside of Charlotte, a tire on same side of trailer blew on I-77. It took GS 3 hours to respond on a week day 10 miles outside of the largest population center between Atlanta and Washington. Call #4. (10/15)

Sounds like a lot to me as well. I live in the area you are talking about as far as Charlotte. I actually live 35 north of center city Charlotte or what we call Uptown Charlotte. I-77 is less than a 1/4 mile from my house. As I work in Uptown Charlotte and travel it daily during rush hour, I can assure you that there is a lot of traffic going on. For it to take them 3 hours to get someone to you, well it could of, depending on the day, time and what else was going on. Since GS probably pays very little for service calls, i'm sure the service trucks will take other calls as priority. Did a DOT safety truck come by? I would say so in the 3 hours. They will assist you as well.

I think many of you are missing the point.

A road side assistance program is basically insurance. All types of insurance lose money on certain types of claims. But that is more than made up for with those that have had the insurance for many years, or those that are newcomers paying into the system that have had zero claims.

They claim to have half a million customers in RSA plans. at an average of $89 per plan per year that totals $44,500,000 + per year. ( yes thats 44 MILLION.)

And there are those of you that believe that for 4 tire changes that cost perhaps a total of $800 this customer should be cancelled??

Give me a break. The numbers speak for themselves. Even if GSE RSA is clearing only 20% in profit (a highly unlikely event) That is still almost $9 MILLION in profit.

Some of your ideas of fairness and good business practices stretch credulity to the breaking point.

Roadside assistance is like any other insurance/warranty/service contract, the value of the customer to the insurer is the directly related of the number of claims received. The more claims you file, the less valuable you are as a customer.

Agree I was also pointing out hte first three tire stores didn't help me much, thank goodness the forth knew trailers and pointed it out and I switched out all 4 tires for the correct combination of weight, use and speed.

One thing I am very thankful for is that none of the blow-outs hurt anything, just the tire. No rim or body damage.

Sounds like a classic tale of a heavy trailer and barely adequate chinabombs. I've been down that road with a 35' Rockwood. The first blow out sucks, the second one is the universe's way of telling you to get to the tire store to figure our what size LT truck tires you need. The OP really needs to see the carnage, and repair estimate, when one of these POS ST rated tires carves a semi-circle through the rig. I have seen rigs that looked like they parked on a landmine, by the time somebody flags them off the highway. It's a sight to see, and avoidable.

Interesting story that may or may not apply to your blowouts. On our third trip across the states (AZ to Seattle, AZ to Great Lakes, AZ to FL) in the first year of owning our TT. On our trip to FL we had a blow out within 50 miles of home. Asked Discount to check the other tires, they said they were fine we went on a few hundred miles out bam again. Replaced and asked to check the others, looks good, then again, then a fourth, BTW I had a spare so I changed them out and took to a tire store to replace the blown tire. On the fourth one I was on a state road in a farming community and took the tire to get replaced, I asked him why am I blowing these tires? He asked how fast are you going? I answered about 75-80. He looked at me and said there is your problem, there is not a TT tire made to go over 65. I did upgrade to load range "E" LT tire. I still slowed down a little 70-75 and have had no more blowouts. FYI TT scale weight when traveling was 11786. So the TT weight, speed and load range "D" TT tires was causing the issue. I went to Michelin LT load range "E". Really changed how it handles also very nice.

So the moral is two fold, check your tires and see if they are TT Tires and their load range, second how fast you tow. I don't need your answer just something to think about.

We have AAA RV but have never used them yet, save that for an emergency.

jepalmer wrote:
I check tire pressure and lug nuts every morning we travel, and tire temperature every time we stop during the day, so the "maintain" comment is uninformed. Also, the trailer (and tires) were new in October 2014. (Open Range 349RLS)

1. First time out with trailer, we had a slow leak due to bad rim. Tire change #1, (11/14).
2. In Montana, the truck tire went soft (bad valve) on I-80 and GS was called. Call #2. (6/15)
3. Outside of Tampa, a tire blew while we were on I-75 between Jersey barriers..... Call #3. (9/15)
4. Outside of Charlotte, a tire on same side of trailer blew on I-77. It took GS 3 hours to respond on a week day 10 miles outside of the largest population center between Atlanta and Washington. Call #4. (10/15)

#1 - slow leak and you wasted their time? Air up and travel to closest exit to repair or replace
#2 - tire went soft and you wasted their time? Air up and travel to closest exit to repair or replace

2 calls that should not have been made , just going off the info provided...

maddczech wrote:

bob34787 wrote:
I really do not like anything associated with CW but 4 tires in a year, I would have cancelled your contract.

We don't know the whole story. Why condemn the guy ? It's like calling you an idiot for letting your rev rust... Ease up bob.
Btw, what are the limits with GS for this ? Can GS quick response team chime in on this please ?

1st I did not let it rust, CW sold it to me that way, I am the idiot who had to deal with it. Next if a person makes a generic statement that GSRA replaced 4 tires in one year without details you can expect such responses.

bob34787 wrote:
I really do not like anything associated with CW but 4 tires in a year, I would have cancelled your contract.

We don't know the whole story. Why condemn the guy ? It's like calling you an idiot for letting your rev rust... Ease up bob.
Btw, what are the limits with GS for this ? Can GS quick response team chime in on this please ?