Another Tire Bites the Dust

This is getting quite ridiculous!!! This is the third tire that has failed in the last 18 months. This tire also has the tread pealing off of it, but it also blew.

We were driving along on I-35 about 20 miles north of Des Moines, Iowa when we heard a loud POP. Kevin looked in the side mirror and saw the tire had blown. This is on the same side as the one that blew in March, 2011 only it’s the front one this time.

Luckily, we were close to an exit so Kevin slowly limped us off the exit and onto the side of the entrance ramp across the road. He did a great job keeping control of everything.

As you can see the tire was quite flat. It also did damage to our 5th wheel again. Kevin tried to put the spare on, but his jack wouldn’t raise the axle high enough. We were not in the best place for changing a tire, so I suggested we should call for help.

We got to try out our On Star on the new truck. They connected me with GM Roadside Assistance who sent out a guy to change the tire for us. The bill was $259. Wow, that sounds pretty steep. We have coverage under our trailer insurance, so I will have to submit the bill to them for reimbursement.

While waiting for the roadside assistance guy, I used my smart phone to find a Goodyear tire dealer near where we would be staying the night. After calling a couple of places, I found one with our type tire. Its about a 45 minute drive from where we’re staying tonight, so we’ll drive over there first thing tomorrow morning, pick up the tire, mount it, and continue to Coffeyville.

So, after a two hour delay we were back on the road. This is now the third tire that has failed. At most, these tires have 12,000 miles on them. I don’t care what Goodyear says, there had to be some kind of defect in these tires. They will be getting a real earful from me. I expect them to cover some or all of the cost of the tire and the damage to our unit. I also expect them to give us some compensation towards the fourth tire as we will be replacing it. We do not trust that tire at all.

We know of many other RVers with these Goodyear G rated light truck tires on their 5th wheels, and no one else seems to have had the bad luck we have had. That’s what makes me think we had a defective batch. Kevin has been so careful checking them since our first problem. He had just looked at them about 20 miles earlier at a rest stop. But, you can’t always see if the tread is separating.

As always, things could have been worse. No one was hurt, the tread did not wrap itself around the axle which would have been so much worse. The damage to our 5th wheel is only cosmetic. On Star worked very well.

Tonight we’re staying at Wallace State Park in Cameron, Missouri. It’s about 30 miles north of Kansas City. This is really a beautiful park. We’ll definitely have to come back when we can take advantage of the hiking trails. The tree colors are just gorgeous. Here’s our site. We have a pull through, paved, 30 amp electric only site with free Wi-Fi for $21 per night.

On a brighter note, we had dinner at Joe and Julie’s on Saturday night and got to spend some more time with our niece Jen and her family. We had a great time visiting. Here’s the required family picture.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!