Swapping tires

**AZCM98** · 11-28-2018, 12:19 PM

D2Reid, Ouch. I’m re-thinking about running the Westlakes a while. How many miles before the separation?

**MidwestCamper** · 11-28-2018, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by Leon T

I've had very good luck with Discount Tire over a span of many years. And they do torque the lug nuts.

I've also lifted one side of my trailer with the Ground Control and not had any issues. It was kind of an emergency when I did it. I've found that at times in an uneven pad the Ground Control will basically lift one of more tires off the ground anyway, so I don't know what it hurts.

Discount tire and most all other tire shops use a torque tube which they call torqueing wheels. It is not where I have ended up with warped rotors several times on my truck(s) and car(s) shortly after a tire swap. I now drive it home, loosen up the lugs nuts and hand torque with my snap on torque wrench. No harbor freight wrenches in this critical area.

**Cate&Rob** · 11-28-2018, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by AZCM98

D2Reid, Ouch. I’m re-thinking about running the Westlakes a while. How many miles before the separation?

AZCM98 - Grab a beer (or three) and search (upper right corner) on “Westlake”. You will find hundreds of posts from 1) those who have travelled thousands of miles on Westlakes with no problems, 2) those who have had a Westlake tire fail prematurely, and 3) those who have replaced their nearly new Westlakes because they believe another brand is better.

Unfortunately, no consensus on the “right” answer.

Rob

**BigGuy82** · 11-28-2018, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by AZCM98

Thanks for all the replies. I should be coming home next week with a new 303rls and will run the Westlakes for a while and then go with another set. Rob, I thought the same about a tire shop and someone jacking in the wrong location and causing damage. I will ask a few shops, but will probably do it myself, I need a new torque wrench anyway. 😊

Do yourself a huge favor - get rid of the Westlakes. Just my opinion .

**D2Reid** · 11-28-2018, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by AZCM98

D2Reid, Ouch. I’m re-thinking about running the Westlakes a while. How many miles before the separation?

Around 7000 I think, we don't do log books so couldn't really say. Plus, they were the E rated Westlakes not the G rated Westlakes.

Like you I rationalized that I knew what I was doing, I perform good PM, I can spot trouble coming, I am anal about tire pressure. So I didn't spend the extra bucks to get the G614's like I thought I ought to. On my previous 5er I had mega problems and the G614's did real good, I knew they were a better choice. But we had added dual pane, full body paint, slide toppers, I was feeling pretty poor. So I took a known chance, and I paid the full amount for my error.

Many people do have good luck with the Westlakes. We use our RV hard. We live in it full time. It's within a few hundred pounds of max GVW. We travel constantly for 9 months out of the year. We travel on the roughest roads, some of them dirt.

In the end you make your own choice as I did. You will either have no issues and be happy with your choice or events will occur. As I often say, there are no right answers only decisions to be made. Each decision will take you down a different path in life.

**Cate&Rob** · 11-28-2018, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by BigGuy82

Do yourself a huge favor - get rid of the Westlakes. Just my opinion .

And the counterpoint is that we travelled 11,000 miles on the original Westlakes which looked so perfect when I replaced them that the tire guy said . . . do you mind me asking why you are doing this

. https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...4308#post74308

Rob

**BigGuy82** · 11-28-2018, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Cate&Rob

And the counterpoint is that we travelled 11,000 miles on the original Westlakes which looked so perfect when I replaced them that the tire guy said . . . do you mind me asking why you are doing this

. https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...4308#post74308

Rob

Rob,

Here's the counter-counter point. Look up Westlake on this forum and see how many failures you find. Then, look up Sailun or G614. Do that on several forums - in fact, Westlakes have as bad of a reputation on this forum as Towmax (Blowmax) tires have on the Heartland forum, but Goodyears and Sailuns have a pretty much stellar rep. Enough said on that point.

Then of course, there's my personal counter point. Brand new coach out of the factory. Didn't even make it 500 miles to the dealer. Destroyed the left wheel well before I even picked it up. And, yes, these were G rated Westlakes. No, it wasn't a "road hazard" - it was on the center tire and the tire was destroyed - totally.

Of course Westlake makes tires that don't fail - the point is that the failure RATE of their tires is high (the skewed figures provided by GD not withstanding). Westlakes are lightweight tires (I mean literally lightweight when compared to real ST tires - read the comments from folks who have literally weighed them against Sailun and Goodyear products). They are, in my opinion, used by GD because they are dirt cheap. These tires have a distinct tendency to explode and separate (again my opinion based on facts and what I read here) - that's not the norm for a tubeless tire that picks up a nail. Now, if you are a new owner, you can take a chance with a tire that has a questionable reputation and risk hundreds (thousands) of dollars in damage or go with a proven brand that has a documented low failure rate. Doesn't matter to me, except I hope nobody gets hurt if it happens.

You are a Westlake champion. My opinion is that these are an unsafe product and I don't have any problem sharing that opinion, because I don't think "biting my tongue" contributes anything to the discussion. Like I say, your money, your choice.

Back to the OP's problem. I stated my opinion on how to handle that and agree with your comments regarding the lack of understanding that tire dealers have regarding torque, let alone their ignorance of how to jack a vehicle with tube axles.

**Cate&Rob** · 11-28-2018, 07:58 PM

H

Originally Posted by BigGuy82

Rob,

Here's the counter-counter point. Look up Westlake on this forum and see how many failures you find. Then, look up Sailun or G614. Do that on several forums - in fact, Westlakes have as bad of a reputation on this forum as Towmax (Blowmax) tires have on the Heartland forum, but Goodyears and Sailuns have a pretty much stellar rep. Enough said on that point.

Then of course, there's my personal counter point. Brand new coach out of the factory. Didn't even make it 500 miles to the dealer. Destroyed the left wheel well before I even picked it up. And, yes, these were G rated Westlakes. No, it wasn't a "road hazard" - it was on the center tire and the tire was destroyed - totally.

Of course Westlake makes tires that don't fail - the point is that the failure RATE of their tires is high (the skewed figures provided by GD not withstanding). Westlakes are lightweight tires (I mean literally lightweight when compared to real ST tires - read the comments from folks who have literally weighed them against Sailun and Goodyear products). They are, in my opinion, used by GD because they are dirt cheap. These tires have a distinct tendency to explode and separate (again my opinion based on facts and what I read here) - that's not the norm for a tubeless tire that picks up a nail. Now, if you are a new owner, you can take a chance with a tire that has a questionable reputation and risk hundreds (thousands) of dollars in damage or go with a proven brand that has a documented low failure rate. Doesn't matter to me, except I hope nobody gets hurt if it happens.

You are a Westlake champion. My opinion is that these are an unsafe product and I don't have any problem sharing that opinion, because I don't think "biting my tongue" contributes anything to the discussion. Like I say, your money, your choice.

Back to the OP's problem. I stated my opinion on how to handle that and agree with your comments regarding the lack of understanding that tire dealers have regarding torque, let alone their ignorance of how to jack a vehicle with tube axles.

Dick (BigGuy82) . . . we have to “agree to disagree” on this. You have no real evidence of why the Westlake tire failed before you took delivery of your rig. Maybe this tire left the factory at way under spec pressure? I had 3 years and 11,000 problem free miles on my Westlake tires. That is my “fact”.

You have a “heavy” trailer . . . I have a “light” one. This is probably a significant difference.

I traded my Westlakes for similar spec Maxxis tires. The best option in 15” tires before Goodyear Endurance came into the market. The Maxxis ST E spec tires each weigh about the same as the Westlake tires. I have nearly as many miles on the Maxxis tires and they are wearing just as well as the Westlakes.

Most of the thousands of GDRV trailers on the road today are travelling on their OEM Westlake tires. You can disagree with the manufacturer’s claimed 1/2% failure rate, but there is no way to prove/disprove this claim. Westlake sells so many tires across all types of trailers that 1/2% is still thousands of failed tires. I have never seen failure claims by other tire manufacturers, but I expect that they are not much less than 1/2% . . . just a much lower sales volume.

Rob

**Bamaman** · 11-28-2018, 08:30 PM

I order all tires online and save about $50 a tire. I'll take them to a local tire store and get them installed and balanced for about $50.

Rather than to tow my fifth wheel to a tire store, I took my tires/wheels off two by two and took them to a tire store for remounting.

**bertschb** · 11-28-2018, 08:31 PM

This whole argument about tires really boils down to where people want to spend their money. Nobody that knows anything about tires would choose Westlake over Goodyear if the price was the same.

Here's another thought-
Has anybody who is familiar with trailer tires replaced their worn out Westlake E rated tires with a new set of Westlake E rated tires????