myredracer wrote:
When a TT gets delivered from a plant in Indiana to the West Coast, the tires get over 2,000 miles on them. Then the dealer sells the TT as a new unit. Given all the problems with ST tires that owners post all over the place, is it right to sell the tires as essentially being new?
It means that they have a substantial head start on the road to failure. And there's the question of how well the tires were treated during delivery. Over 65 mph most of the way? Hitting lots of potholes and bumps? Tire pressure set right? I'm sure the drivers aren't taking a leisurely scenic drive to the coast. It just doesn't seem right. Our TT has a 2 year warranty but there is no separate warranty for the tires and don't know what is specifically covered on them. Haven't seen this discussed anywhere before.
Perhaps this is one factor contributing to premature tire failure?
Not only do I agree with what you are saying today, here is a part of a post I made 6 years ago…
snip
what I did find
a overwhelming majority of the blow-out problems were on OEM tires.
many with very low miles on them, most were undersized to the point of barely being legal.
while at one of the mfg lots, I saw trailers coming off the line and being moved around with tires almost completely flat, then moved to the delivery lot and left that way.
I saw transporters hook-up to trailer after trailer check out and go, I didn't see one check or inflate a single tire.
at the dealer I saw transporters dropping off trailers with visually low tires where they were parked with no attention being paid to the tires. as I walked around the lot looking at trailers and checking PSI I found more than half had less than half of the max PSI in the tires and many others 15 to 20 PSI below.
the only time I saw pressure being checked was upon being prepped for delivery. some trailers sat for many months with very low tires never being moved.
I am convinced that a very high percentage of the tires on new trailers were abused to the point of being ruined before we ever take possession of them
couple that with the abuse we put them through, never weighing the trailers (most have never been weighed), over loaded and under inflated it is a recipe for disaster.
to date it has been literally impossible to get anyone to admit to their own liability, and is why I am very skeptical to claims on this issue, by my fellow RVers
add to the mix, tires made in china have had declining quality and a higher build rate, and the problem becomes unimaginable.
but when the blow-outs continue beyond OEM tires, it is time to look at the user or the use to try to determine what is going on.
in the end there is no conclusion. there is blame at the mfg level, transporter level, dealers letting them sit around half flat, poor and declining quality of the tires themselves(all tires not just trailer tires) and the way we treat and abuse them.
the failure of anyone to own up to their responsibility leaves us blaming the easy mark, the tire brands with the biggest market share.
sorry for running on here, but it is very refreshing to read a story that isn't assessing blame and accepting a share of the blame, and most of all being honest about it without a personal agenda.
MY HAT IS OFF TO YOU SIR.
there is one problem though, I have to adjust that 100% to something like 99.8266666%, that now don't admit to having a hand in our problems.
snip
It seems to be just as true today but I haven’t been running around dealer lots checking the tires PSI in a long time…
The problem is we can’t begin to build a good maintenance program on a base of crap…
