ST tires cooked on arrival?

[DHCamper]

I was driving down the freeway yesterday when I was passed by a Dodge DW towing a new 5th wheel. I sped up and paced him at over 85 mph. The trailer had a dealer plate on it. I slowed back down to the speed limit and watched as he disappeared over the horizon. The air temperature was 87 degrees. I was just wondering if the new owners of trailers that have had premature ST tire failures might have had this guy as delivery driver. Has anyone else witnessed delivery drivers driving like that?

[kellertx5er]

B.O. Plenty wrote:
Every new vehicle I have ever purchased, and it's been quite a few, has had quality name brand tires on it not the cheapest unknown Chinese piece of junk they could buy like the RV's use. I was happy to get rid of the "new" tires on my last new RV and gladly left them behind for some farmer to put on his manure spreader...

B.O.

That is your choice and I do not question it. I do question your saying that we all should do the same just because a hired delivery driver mistreats our trailers/tires which we reasonably expect to be delivered in near-100% new condition. It does not matter if the tires are Goodyear, Michelin, ST, LT etc. they should NOT be abused by the mfg, hauler or dealer prior to acceptance by the customer.

ALL tires have limitations, regardless of the label. If you discovered that the 'name brand' tires on your car/truck had been abused before you got them, would you excuse it just because they are 'name brand' tires? Why would you defend such a practice?

[RustyJC]

gitane59 wrote:
AS I have said before the same cheapest pieces of junk tires regardless of where it is made is installed on tow behinds, park modles and fifthwheels as OEM unless an optional tire upgrade is offered.

Not universally. The standard tire on our 5th wheel is the all steel construction Goodyear G114 215/75R-17.5 load range H rated 4805 lbs @ 120 PSIG. The standard tire on our previous Mobile Suites that was 3000 lbs lighter was the Goodyear G614 LT235/85R-16G rated 3750 lbs @ 110 PSIG - that was in 2004, and generally speaking, that was the tire of choice on all of the full-time 5th wheels until the 17.5" Michelin XTA and Goodyear G114 tires came along.

Some manufacturers do try to utilize the best components available in their 5th wheels, although what's "best" will always be a point of debate....

Rusty

[DHCamper]

gitane59 wrote:
AS I have said before the same cheapest pieces of junk tires regardless of where it is made is installed on tow behinds, park modles and fifthwheels as OEM unless an optional tire upgrade is offered.
All park models are only every towed once or twice during the trailer useful lifetime and most TT tow behinds are only towed a few short trips per year.
If you are purchasing a fifthwheel for many 10's of thousands of dollars and plan to tow it thousand of miles every year why would you not insists on the replacement of the display and delivery tires for brand name quality rubber before you take it off the dealers lot.

A few years ago I was walking through a trailer park and happened to glance over at brand new TT with a huge sidewall bulge in a Towmaster tire and then not long later out on the same walk I went by a newer park model and could not help but notice the identical tire right down the the same size on the park model.
It was then and there I realized the OEM's only install the very minimal SPEC'd display and delivery tires and could not care less what happens with the tires once the unit leaves the factory.
And if I was the bean counter in that factory I would make the same decision as the vast majority of trailers never are towed enough miles to ever have a tire failure that make the owner suspicious enough to investigate further.
When a newbie make his first post on here asking about blowouts of 2 or 3 year old ST's that just "POP" for no apparent (SIC) reason that's when we can start to educate the newbie about tire nuances.

My intention in posting this topic was to raise awareness to warn folks that if you buy an new trailer and think you can baby the ST tires for a year or two, it may be too late. It is painful to think you have to fork over more money for replacement tires on top of the money spent for a new rv. It is up to the owner to determine whether they want to play tire roulette or not. What I witness is more than likely not a unique circumstance, and could be one more factor to take in consideration when making a tire swap decision. If the tire reliability is already in question, how they were treated during transport really raises the risk factor.

[gitane59]

AS I have said before the same cheapest pieces of junk tires regardless of where it is made is installed on tow behinds, park modles and fifthwheels as OEM unless an optional tire upgrade is offered.
All park models are only every towed once or twice during the trailer useful lifetime and most TT tow behinds are only towed a few short trips per year.
If you are purchasing a fifthwheel for many 10's of thousands of dollars and plan to tow it thousand of miles every year why would you not insists on the replacement of the display and delivery tires for brand name quality rubber before you take it off the dealers lot.

A few years ago I was walking through a trailer park and happened to glance over at brand new TT with a huge sidewall bulge in a Towmaster tire and then not long later out on the same walk I went by a newer park model and could not help but notice the identical tire right down the the same size on the park model.
It was then and there I realized the OEM's only install the very minimal SPEC'd display and delivery tires and could not care less what happens with the tires once the unit leaves the factory.
And if I was the bean counter in that factory I would make the same decision as the vast majority of trailers never are towed enough miles to ever have a tire failure that make the owner suspicious enough to investigate further.
When a newbie make his first post on here asking about blowouts of 2 or 3 year old ST's that just "POP" for no apparent (SIC) reason that's when we can start to educate the newbie about tire nuances.

[B_O__Plenty]

Every new vehicle I have ever purchased, and it's been quite a few, has had quality name brand tires on it not the cheapest unknown Chinese piece of junk they could buy like the RV's use. I was happy to get rid of the "new" tires on my last new RV and gladly left them behind for some farmer to put on his manure spreader...

B.O.

[Me_Again]

kellertx5er wrote:

B.O. Plenty wrote:
They're junk tires to start with. Some of them have been known to blow out even when mounted as a spare. I don't think going that fast should cause that. If he was going 85 and you clocked him at that...you were breaking the law too. Just consider them display and delivery tires and trash them when you buy a new trailer and put some real tires on it. I've never seen anyone going that fast or what appeared to be that fast when delivering a trailer. I see them almost everyday headed west on I-94.

B.O.

Would you be willing to do that with the tires on your BRAND NEW tow vehicle? That kind of "bend over and take it" attitude is what gets we consumers less product for the money. You may not consider ST 'real' tires but that does not justify subjecting them to abuse prior to delivery to the customer who PAID for them.

So you are saying only the boat trailers that carried a pile of other boat trailers to a dealers site will have tire issues. What about all the utility and horse trailers that are delivered on slantback trailers. Or replacement tires that never go over 65 MPH.

This problem with cheap ST tires is not limited to RV trailers and/or OEM tires. Chris

[gmw_photos]

kellertx5er wrote:

B.O. Plenty wrote:
They're junk tires to start with. Some of them have been known to blow out even when mounted as a spare. I don't think going that fast should cause that. If he was going 85 and you clocked him at that...you were breaking the law too. Just consider them display and delivery tires and trash them when you buy a new trailer and put some real tires on it. I've never seen anyone going that fast or what appeared to be that fast when delivering a trailer. I see them almost everyday headed west on I-94.

B.O.

Would you be willing to do that with the tires on your BRAND NEW tow vehicle? That kind of "bend over and take it" attitude is what gets we consumers less product for the money. You may not consider ST 'real' tires but that does not justify subjecting them to abuse prior to delivery to the customer who PAID for them.

Cars are shipped on trucks or trains to the dealer. We could conceivably get travel trailers shipped that way, but the shipping cost would be higher. Probably the added shipping cost would end up the same or more than just buying a new set of quality tires for the trailer after we get it.

Am I happy with the current state of RV quality ? Well, not really, but what I "am" happy with is relatively speaking, they are pretty cheap to buy all things considered. I'll take that tradeoff.

All total, after I bought my new trailer, I spent less that $700 additional dollars, and maybe six hours of my labor to make it what it is now. Most of that was the cost of the new LT tires.

[kellertx5er]

B.O. Plenty wrote:
They're junk tires to start with. Some of them have been known to blow out even when mounted as a spare. I don't think going that fast should cause that. If he was going 85 and you clocked him at that...you were breaking the law too. Just consider them display and delivery tires and trash them when you buy a new trailer and put some real tires on it. I've never seen anyone going that fast or what appeared to be that fast when delivering a trailer. I see them almost everyday headed west on I-94.

B.O.

Would you be willing to do that with the tires on your BRAND NEW tow vehicle? That kind of "bend over and take it" attitude is what gets we consumers less product for the money. You may not consider ST 'real' tires but that does not justify subjecting them to abuse prior to delivery to the customer who PAID for them.

[wilber1]

DownTheAvenue wrote:

laknox wrote:

DHCamper wrote:
I was driving down the freeway yesterday when I was passed by a Dodge DW towing a new 5th wheel. I sped up and paced him at over 85 mph. The trailer had a dealer plate on it. I slowed back down to the speed limit and watched as he disappeared over the horizon. The air temperature was 87 degrees. I was just wondering if the new owners of trailers that have had premature ST tire failures might have had this guy as delivery driver. Has anyone else witnessed delivery drivers driving like that?

I think I'd've pulled out my phone and shot a minute, or two, of video, and included my speedo, as well as the DL plate, then sent it to the factory. Might try and get a shot of the TV's plate, too.

Lyle

Lets see...driving 85 MPH and then trying to get the phone and shoot a video. Now, that sounds like a safe thing to do!

Good for a $167 fine here, more in some other Provinces. $300 or more in Ontario. That's just the phone part. Speeding's extra.

[laknox]

DownTheAvenue wrote:

laknox wrote:

DHCamper wrote:
I was driving down the freeway yesterday when I was passed by a Dodge DW towing a new 5th wheel. I sped up and paced him at over 85 mph. The trailer had a dealer plate on it. I slowed back down to the speed limit and watched as he disappeared over the horizon. The air temperature was 87 degrees. I was just wondering if the new owners of trailers that have had premature ST tire failures might have had this guy as delivery driver. Has anyone else witnessed delivery drivers driving like that?

I think I'd've pulled out my phone and shot a minute, or two, of video, and included my speedo, as well as the DL plate, then sent it to the factory. Might try and get a shot of the TV's plate, too.

Lyle

Lets see...driving 85 MPH and then trying to get the phone and shoot a video. Now, that sounds like a safe thing to do!

That's The Boss's job. She takes good pics. 🙂

Lyle

[DownTheAvenue]

laknox wrote:

DHCamper wrote:
I was driving down the freeway yesterday when I was passed by a Dodge DW towing a new 5th wheel. I sped up and paced him at over 85 mph. The trailer had a dealer plate on it. I slowed back down to the speed limit and watched as he disappeared over the horizon. The air temperature was 87 degrees. I was just wondering if the new owners of trailers that have had premature ST tire failures might have had this guy as delivery driver. Has anyone else witnessed delivery drivers driving like that?

I think I'd've pulled out my phone and shot a minute, or two, of video, and included my speedo, as well as the DL plate, then sent it to the factory. Might try and get a shot of the TV's plate, too.

Lyle

Lets see...driving 85 MPH and then trying to get the phone and shoot a video. Now, that sounds like a safe thing to do!

[RandACampin]

There must be a whole bunch of those new drivers, without fail I am passed by the majority of transport RVs

[TGPILOT]

As a retired RV transporter I will agree to some of the other haulers statements. Those of us with experience know that driving fast cost more in fuel. Thus, we keep the speed down. Also, most transporters are either their own transport company and either use a dealer tag or a transport plate, or work for a shipping company. I've done both. Thus, taking a pix of the plate will get you no where in most cases.

In ten years of hauling, I can't ever recall having a blowout on a new rig, though I have on my own rigs and I've owned about twenty five over the years.

Third, most of us carry a CDL, you get many tickets doing that your insurance goes up and you chance losing your license. That means, NO work for a long time.

Granted, there are those who do speed or miss-treat a new unit. But mainly they are new guys.

[JIMNLIN]

Lyle wrote:
Crap. The dealer is still only the manufacturer's rep and the hotshot drivers work for the =manufacturers=, not the dealers.

Please don't confuse a actual hotshot driver and his operation vs just a RV transport driver. The two are different...... 🙂
*************************************************

Speed limits on our turnpikes (I-44) here in OK are 75 mph. I'm on it daily mostly non towing. Lots of RV transports run in the 65-70 mph range with a few keeping pace with me at 75 mph.

Most actual hotshot drivers (one ton DRW pulling a heavy GN trailer) are running 75-80 mph range on the same road.