Westlake tire fail

[ISULarry]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the update . . . another piece of good tire information to add to the collection. I would agree that you should certainly keep an eye on the small cut that you found. My initial thought is that this is fron a road hazard, but I am reminded of a tire failure that Gary (Whittleburner) experienced that was in a groove and initially looked like road damage but turned out to be an internal separation.

I would suggest that you send that picture (with build date and mileage info) to Lionshead and ask them for a specific response on whether this is something that you should be worried about. Hopefully they will answer in a timely manner but if not, don't hesitate to escalate this to GDRV. They expect Lionshead to be taking care of their customers and would want to know if this is not happening.

Rob

Will do, I'll ping them and see what I get back and report back with results

Thank you for the advice!

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[D2Reid]

I will be following this. I will also be closely inspecting my problem child tire. Left front loses a pound a day. I took it to a tire shop to see if they could find anything. I made the mistake of just dropping it off and sticking around to speak with the tech. They called me and said that they replaced the stem. I asked for a metal stem, got rubber. Now it loses 2 pounds a day. I am now suspecting my TPMS monitor. I have had problems with them leaking a little in the past. So I am testing my theory this week.

Separation leak is another possibility. I saw another post about a micro crack in the rim. I'll keep chipping at it. If my tpms sensor is not the problem, I'll probably just call lions head and ask for a replacement. We'll see how it goes.

[Cate&Rob]

Dallas - Figure out a way to submerge the tire one section at a time (laundry tub, bath tub, swimming pool, etc) and the leak will "appear" .

Rob

[Jerryr]

I will be following this. I will also be closely inspecting my problem child tire. Left front loses a pound a day. I took it to a tire shop to see if they could find anything. I made the mistake of just dropping it off and sticking around to speak with the tech. They called me and said that they replaced the stem. I asked for a metal stem, got rubber. Now it loses 2 pounds a day. I am now suspecting my TPMS monitor. I have had problems with them leaking a little in the past. So I am testing my theory this week.

Separation leak is another possibility. I saw another post about a micro crack in the rim. I'll keep chipping at it. If my tpms sensor is not the problem, I'll probably just call lions head and ask for a replacement. We'll see how it goes.

You can easily rule out the TPMS sensor by swapping it with another tire. If the leak reports from the same sensor, it’s the sensor.

A leak in or around the valve stem of 1 lb per day should show up by using soapy water test. Mine did.

[WhittleBurner]

Not always, I've tried to find slow leaks like that before with submerging the tire with no luck. From taking the tire off to check it you are taking a lot of force off the tire. Which then makes the leak go away. However you can find it with a glass of soapy water and the tire still on the trailer on the ground pouring the water over the tire. Have someone in the truck to move it a little at a time while pouring the soapy water on the tire. If it is the vavle stem or wheel you would have to have a tub to find those leaks.

[D2Reid]

That was the purpose of taking it to a tire dealer. They have a nice big round tub to check for leaks. This was a tire chain store that my son in law recommended. I am sure they do good work on the kid's cars, but these trailer tires are a different animal. Plus, I don't think there was much communication between the service writer and the tech. My paper said, check for leak, possibly around the tire stem. Without the rest of the verbal conversation I can't blame the tech for just replacing the stem and calling it good. I paid the $23 and put the tire back on.

I balanced the pressure in all the tires at 80psi yesterday before our 220 mile run. I took the tpms off when we arrived. I will go check the pressure this morning to see where it is at. It's colder this morning so I know it will be down some, but I will compare it's pressure to the others. If there is a 5psi or greater difference I will call it a TPMS leak and order a new sensor.

All this tells me I really need to get this fixed, something isn't right.

[Jerryr]

Dallas,

Hopefully you willl find that the TPMS sensor is the culprit.

My leak was the metal valve stem that was installed when my Goodyear G614s were installed was loose. I identified the leak at the base of the stem with a soapy water test.

The stems have a nut on the inside of the rim so the tire bead needed to be broken. My local shop (not the one who installed the Goodyear’s) does flat repairs and rotations for free. I asked that they only break the bead and tighten the nut 1 full turn. The 1-2 lb per day leak was gone. At the same time I left my wife’s car there for a rotation. I needed to leave both overnight as they were booked that day. When I got back stem was tightened and tires rotated. As I said I got lucky. I gave the tech who did the work a $10 tip.

[ISULarry]

Thought I would provide an update. Lionshead had me submit a warranty claim. I got that sent off last night and I just received word that tomorrow a new tire will be put in the mail and they will process a $30 check to cover mounting costs. Great customer service and really prompt response from them! Thanks everyone for your advice on this one, glad to be part of the GD family with such great members!

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[D2Reid]

Tire pressure on all tires around 76psi. Given the temp drop that is pretty normal. Still not convinced it was the TPMS, so I put the LF sensor on the LM tire and vice versa. Will check again tomorrow.

Who knows, maybe they did fix it with a new stem. Won't that make me the whiny pants.

[lunchbox]

Get rid of those Westlakes STs. Had 2 failures recently with a 3rd on the way with 6-7k miles on the tires. Double checked, axles/wheels not overloaded and I checked inflation before every trip, 80 PSI. Not overheated, they just failed (tread completely detached) but stayed inflated. There were a number of cuts in the treads on a 3rd tire. Replaced them with Sailun G rated Light commercial grade STs. The Grand Design rims are rated for 120 PSI, or at least on my 2016 357 BHS they were. Currently working with insurance to try and get my deductible back from the damage the tires caused to my trailer when the tread detached.