Westlake Tire Story along with Superior Grand Design Support

[TENN22]

I sent the following email to Jerry McCarthy on September 21st at approximately 9 am:

"I have a Reflection Travel Trailer that has a continuing tire problem. I have one wheel that will not hold air when under load. I returned to the dealer and they looked it over with no luck, they removed the wheel and tire and sent it to their local tire shop, no problem found. They did replace the valve stem and sent it back to the dealer. I picked up the trailer and drove home, it sat in our driveway for about a month and lost approximately 15 lbs of air. I removed the wheel from the unit and took it to my own local tire shop. They attempted to find a leak by placing the tire in a water tank, and performing the soap bubble test. Again, No problem found. They did change the valve stem core, as an attempt to fix the problem. We picked the wheel up on Thursday, after two days of holding air, replaced the wheel on trailer and took a weekend trip approximately 75 miles away. Once I arrived at the campground we had lost 10 lbs of air.

I spoke to several people at the campground and called my local tire shop this morning. The speculation is the wheel has a hairline crack in it that only shows up under load. Without being able to prove this, I wanted to reach out to you for suggestions. Knowing that I would like to eventually upgrade to 16” wheels and tire, but due to safety concern of the wheel having a catastrophic failure I need to address this issue first."

I received an response at 9:13am stating the following:
"The most likely culprit is a porous aluminum rim. Rare, but it does happen. If you would like, we can ship you a new rim & tire assembly. Just forward the address where you want it sent. A picture of the rim would be helpful as design changes occur frequently. Want to make sure we get a match. Thanks! Jerry "

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Today, September 28th I received a brand new tire and rim via UPS. THANK YOU!! Grand Design, and specifically Jerry McCarthy.


And for those of you that have followed along this far into the email, the Westlake tire that was sent as a replacement has the "speed rating of L, 75mph max speed" imprinted on the tire, My original three other Westlake tires do not have this marking.

[pg_rider]

Wow!!! Great service!

[TucsonJim]

Good info. Reading your post in detail, it appears the problem may have been with the rim, and not the Westlake tires then?

Jim

[Scott and Jan]

So the newest Westlakes have the "L" 75 MPH stamped on them, no wonder I can't find that on my '14. Are we to assume the older ones are also rated for this, just not marked, or did they change something in newer tires?

[Scott and Jan]

P.S. Great service from GD as usual.

[TENN22]

Good info. Reading your post in detail, it appears the problem may have been with the rim, and not the Westlake tires then?

Jim

Yes, it appears the rim is the suspected culprit. With so much negativity surrounding the Westlake tires I thought it was important to title this as a Westlake story because we initially suspected a bead seal or some type of tire issue.

I have had two different shade tree mechanics tell me the Aluminum wheels that were made in USA all have a "coating" on the inside of the wheel that seals the pits and uneven surfaces that cannot be avoided in a cast aluminum wheel. Their experience is that anything made oversees does not have that coating applied. This being the case, it was suggested, I have someone remove the tire from the rim, spray the inside of the wheel with any type of spray sealer/paint/undercoating. This would solve my problem.

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[Sandi]

Just another great story Tenn22 of what a great company we all purchased from! The level of customer support that we get just can't be beat! I sure have not heard of this happening with any other manufacturer.

[steve gravelle]

To add to the kudos Grand design deserves, when we had our axle issue with our 337 (5200 vs. 6000), not only did GDRV ship 2 complete 6000 lb. axles to the closest dealer, because we had inside tire wear on the rear tires, they sent 4 new Westlakes with the 75 mph rating! As we travel in the Southland our TST pressure monitoring system gives us constant assurance that all pressures build 5-7 psi during travel, and temperatures rise to 100-105 degrees on the sunny side, mid 90's in the shade! Because we are full-timers, safety options are required!

[TucsonJim]

To add to the kudos Grand design deserves, when we had our axle issue with our 337 (5200 vs. 6000), not only did GDRV ship 2 complete 6000 lb. axles to the closest dealer, because we had inside tire wear on the rear tires, they sent 4 new Westlakes with the 75 mph rating! As we travel in the Southland our TST pressure monitoring system gives us constant assurance that all pressures build 5-7 psi during travel, and temperatures rise to 100-105 degrees on the sunny side, mid 90's in the shade! Because we are full-timers, safety options are required!

Last June, we were driving on I-15 Towards Las Vegas, and the outside air temp was 115F degrees! The TPMS said the tire temperature was 126F. We drove in those conditions for several hours, and no problems with the tires. I'm sticking with them.

[avidair]

http://www.mygrandrv.com/for...st.php?p=46384


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