FastEagle wrote:
I’m just going to run this by the readers here. It’s my perception of the overall tire failure problem on RV trailers.......FastEagle
I would have described that differently.
The tire manufacturers sell tires to both vehicle manufacturers and to wholesalers/distributors. In the case of vehicle manufacturers, there are 2 situations. Sales directly to the vehicle manufacturer or sales through a wholesaler/distributor.
In the case of sales directly to the vehicle manufacturer, there are usually specs that have to be met. Those specs can range from very loos and easy to meet, to very stringent and difficult to meet. In either case, we call these types of tires “OE tires” as their characteristics are NOT decided upon by the tire manufacturer.
In the case of sales to vehicle manufacturers through wholesalers/distributors, there are no special specifications and the performance characteristics are decided by the tire manufacturer. The same hols true for sales to the general public through tire dealers – who get their tires from wholesalers/distributors.
But no matter what path the tire takes, the tires have to meet the government regulations.
Vehicle manufacturers also have to comply with government regulations – and some of those regulations include tires.
- And here’s where I think the problem lies –
When it comes to enforcement of the government regulations, there are so many different tire manufacturers and vehicle manufacturers that the regulators are overwhelmed. So they go after the low hanging fruit – large numbers. The TREAD act of 2000 mandates that tire manufacturers (and vehicle manufacturers) have to report on their warranty returns every quarter. NHTSA can take that data and calculate return rates. Needless to say, NHTSA will want to concentrate on tires that have larger return rates.
Almost without exception, vehicle manufacturers EXCLUDE tires in their warranty. That means if there is a problem with a tire, vehicle dealers do not notify the vehicle manufacturer unless the vehicle manufacturer provides a way to do that. Car and light truck dealers are given a pathway to do that, but I suspect, trailer and motorhome manufacturers do not.
That means the RV manufacturers are clueless regarding the performance of the tires delivered on their products.
So there are 3 problems the way I see it: a) Vehicle manufacturers who don’t do a good job of designing their RV’s. b) Tire manufacturers who don’t do a good job of designing their tires. c) vehicle owners who don’t do a good job of maintaining their vehicles and tires.
There’s a lot of evidence that says that there is no single source causing the problems regarding ST tires.
