Defective Tires

[anazazi1]

In two years of ownership of my Trailmanor and less than 10,000 miles on the tires, both manufacturer mounted Goodyear Tires have lost tread on the road and blown out. On both occasions I was traveling "dry weight". The most recent event involved not only the tread separation and blowout, but when the trailor dropped the dump valves for the holding tanks were ripped off. A word of warning. I also found that Goodyear trailor tires are not waranteed! I am going to investigate having light truck tires installed after my drain system has been repaired

[Bill]

Couple questions.

... when the trailor dropped, the dump valves for the holding tanks were ripped offThis sad result has been mentioned before. I don't think the valves were ripped off by the pavement - instead, the flying tread ripped it off as it was thrown from the carcass of the tire. Some of us have installed heavy "mud flaps" (a good Search term) in hopes of preventing this from happening, but I don't think their effectiveness has been tested in an actual failure.

Goodyear trailor tires are not waranteed!Goodyear tires are indeed warranteed. But here is a sad note, based on my own experiences. There are two kinds of Goodyear stores. One is a factory store. The other is a franchise. When you drive up to one, I have no idea how you tell which one you are entering. However, the factory store is pretty good about warranty reimbursement, and the franchise store will fight you to the death before issuing a credit. One of my failure was in Iowa City, Iowa. The factory store measured the remaining tread depth and immediately gave me 90% off the cost of a new tire. Another failure was in Tucson, AZ. The problem here was a manufacturiong defect in a steel belt. The factory store examined the failure, measured the tread depth, and immediately gave me 80% off the cost. The third was in Pierre, South Dakota. This was a franchise store. The owner explained a couple things to me. First, since the failure was a thrown tread, and I hadn't retrieved any of the tread hunks off the road, he couldn't measure tread depth, and so he couldn't issue a credit. And second, he could ship the carcass of the tire back to the factory and let them decide if there should be a credit. If the factory decided "YES", then everyone is happy. But if the factory decided "NO", they would ship the carcass back to him for disposal, and I would have to pay shipping charges both ways. Now that just plain sucks, doesn't it? Moral? If you can, try to find a factory store. Ask the manager which one he is running.

Finally, there are reasons not to install LT (light truck) tires on a trailer. Use the search tool to review them.

Bill

[ripp1202]

Yes they are my 2004 3023 tires had cracks and Goodyear replaced them in 2006 !!!! Did not cost me anything!!! You beat me to the post Bill !!!!!! Took my tires to a factory store

[B_and_D]

Bill, thanks for posting that. I guess if we ever have a blowout again, it might be worth walking back down the freeway to retrieve the tread if it was going to make a difference between $100 and $0. I'm not sure that we'd do it, though....on the last (and only) blowout we've had, that would have been a long, hot walk! It might, however, be worth circling back with the TV and TM if there was a nearby exit.

[bill s]

i'm about to purchase some tires....has anyone got a better solution than the
marathons??????
thanks bill s

[Frenchy]

You can get 14 inch tires with higher load rating. I bought Cooper tires last time. The dealer said they were a commercial type light truck tire. They were 195R14C, Load Range D 106/104Q with a load rating of 2095 lbs at 65 PSIG. They are not TT tires however but I have had no problem with them. Ive had them for four years. They fit and worked very well on my 98 3023 while on four extended trips. One trip to Grand Teton NP from southern Indiana. One trip to Alaska from southern Indiana. One trip to Carlsbad Caverns from southern Indiana. One trip to Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Mesa Verde from southern Indiana. I believe it is very important to have your TM tires balanced and to weigh your TM every time before you take a long trip.

[wmtire]

Goodyear tires are indeed warranteed. But here is a sad note, based on my own experiences. There are two kinds of Goodyear stores. One is a factory store. The other is a franchise. When you drive up to one, I have no idea how you tell which one you are entering. However, the factory store is pretty good about warranty reimbursement, and the franchise store will fight you to the death before issuing a credit. One of my failure was in Iowa City, Iowa. The factory store measured the remaining tread depth and immediately gave me 90% off the cost of a new tire. Another failure was in Tucson, AZ. The problem here was a manufacturiong defect in a steel belt. The factory store examined the failure, measured the tread depth, and immediately gave me 80% off the cost. The third was in Pierre, South Dakota. This was a franchise store. The owner explained a couple things to me. First, since the failure was a thrown tread, and I hadn't retrieved any of the tread hunks off the road, he couldn't measure tread depth, and so he couldn't issue a credit. And second, he could ship the carcass of the tire back to the factory and let them decide if there should be a credit. If the factory decided "YES", then everyone is happy. But if the factory decided "NO", they would ship the carcass back to him for disposal, and I would have to pay shipping charges both ways. Now that just plain sucks, doesn't it? Moral? If you can, try to find a factory store. Ask the manager which one he is running.
Bill

Bill, the owner of the franchise store was honest with you. The following is an example of the adjustment procedure from the manufacturer.

1. You bring a tire that may be eligible for an adjustment to me.

2. After giving it an initial inspection and deciding it is adjustable, I go to a pro-rate chart and use the manufacturers calculations on how much adjustment to give, based on the amount of usable tread depth left. I got to have the tread to calculate this. Also, the manufacturer's adjustment figure will not include mounting, balancing, taxes, or disposal fees. We are supposed to collect all of this from the customer.....or just eat it, which is a big loss if we do.

3. Some manufacturers will require the adjusted tire to be shipped back to them for factory analysis, or may send a rep by our shop to do it on the spot. Either way, if for some reason they decide that we erred in adjusting the tire, then we're out everything we gave for credit.....and any mounting, balancing, etc. we gave. They may also come up with a different pro-rata percentage if they do accept our adjustment.

4. If they do decide that we were correct in adjusting the tire, then they give us a credit towards our next purchase of tires from them. They don't give us any money back, even though we are out the money we spent in buying the tire we used for adjustment. They also don't give us the pro-rated adjustment price of the retail price, which we did for the customer..but instead give us a credit based off of wholesale price. (Ex:we adjust a tire at 70% of a $100 dollar retail tire....so the customer pays only $30. If we had to pay $80 for the tire originally, the manufacturer credits us 70% of this wholesale price, which is $56).

So, I got $56 credit and $30 from the customer for a total of $86 on a tire I normally get $100. I made a whole $6 on this and had to do more paperwork, invest more time, and take a risk that the manufacturer would even accept my adjustment.....not counting the money I payed out for mounting, balancing, etc. (if I didn't charge the customer for it).

5. If I had to ship the tire to the manufacturer, and they deny my claim, I'm also backcharged the cost of shipping.....along with all the other losses I have.

I hope this helps everyone understand why a regular store owner doesn't profit, but actually loses from adjusting tires. If you bought the tire from him originally, then he has a little cushion from the profit he made originally to help. However, when you just drive up from out of town, and will never buy anything from him again......he is going to be resistant to lose money just to help you out.:eek:

So, what am I saying? The same thing you did. You will be much better off to find a company owned store for adjustment purposes. This way, the manufacturer of the defective tire, can absorb the loss on their product. However, not all tire manufacturers have company owned retail outlets.

[wbmiller3]

Is there a way to get a list of all the factory owned Goodyear stores? Thanks for all the inside scoop wmtire; I've learned a lot!

[wmtire]

Is there a way to get a list of all the factory owned Goodyear stores? Thanks for all the inside scoop wmtire; I've learned a lot!

Bill, I don't have a list, but I do have a number that you can supposedly call to find the nearest Goodyear company owned store, in case Marathon owners have trouble on the road. It's 1-888-GDYR-STORES. When I called it, I got an encouraging message, then it said it wasn't available in my area. It directed me to another number below.

It's 1-800-GOODYEAR

I did call it, and it does work. However, it gave me all the Goodyear dealers close to me without differentiating between company owned and independant. Might want to write it down in your TM owners guide to have with you on the road.

Also, some other TM members may want to call the first number and let us know if they get company owned goodyear store listings in their area.

Bobby

[wmtire]

Just updating this a little. Goodyear has announced they are shuttering 92 company owned stores, so it may make them a little harder to find for adjustment purposes, if the need arises.

http://www.moderntiredealer.com/t_inside.cfm?action=news_det&storyID=9234

[Wavery]

I hope this isn't a stupid question but why would anyone want to buy Goodyear tires if this is the way that customers are treated?

These posts make it sound like the consumer may have done something wrong to make the tire fail.

If I had 3 blow-outs on my trailer, I'd want some answers and I sure as heck wouldn't be paying for that 3rd tire. That is to say, I would be seeking full reimbursement even if it meant filing against the manufacturer in Small Claims Court. I'm a little funny that way. I believe that companies should be held accountable for shoddy products ESPECIALLY tires...:new_Eyecr:new_cussi

There is no way that I would be walking down some freeway to pick-up tire pieces either.