2 Blown Steer Tires in One Day

[jherrin99]

Next time you have a bad day RVing, just remember my story- It could have been worse.

I have never been a fan of Goodyear tires. My coach came with them, so I thought I would get some wear out of them and replace them with Michelins sometime before I had problems with them. I had alignment issues with my coach and was at Spartan getting that worked on in the fall of 2016 under warranty. They replaced both front tires at that time because of the uneven wear. My steer tires have been on almost 3 years and had maybe 12,000 miles or so on them.

Yesterday started out like any other travel day. We had left Shipshewana about 9am headed to Washington DC with our teenage grandson. We were on the road about 2 hours. I had the cruise set on 65mph and with no reason or warning, the right steer tire blew out. Did I mention I am not a fan of Goodyear tires? Luckily the highway we were on had a shoulder and I pulled over. After we cleaned out our shorts and I surveyed the damage and I told my wife we were lucky, no one was hurt, it could have been alot worse. I called my Emergency Roadside Assistance but they were not a lot of help. I finally asked if I could just call someone myself, which they had no problem with. I finally found someone about 45 minutes away that had a Michelin tire in my size. The tire ripped all the wiring out of the wheel well and the fuel fill hose. There was a piece of trim bent on the outside and lots of scratches and scuffs on the fender. Now the steps, step cover, keypad and everything else in the entry door area is not working. I have to try to tie up the ball of wires and the steps so we can get moving. I debated on replacing the other steer tire too. The tech that mounted the tire inspected my other steer tire and checked the air. He said the tire looked good to him and I told him I would replace that Goodyear when I got back to Texas because I was not a fan of Goodyear. He agreed. After 3 1/2 hours on the side of the road and a $980 tire bill, we had a new right front tire and we were finally back on the road again. About 2 hours later I am cruising along again at 65mph and the left steer tire blows. Did I mention I am NOT a fan of Goodyear tires? So luckily it happened again on a 4 lane with a shoulder but the shoulder is not wide enough to get the coach off far enough to work on the drivers side safely . After we cleaned out our shorts again and I surveyed the damage, I told my wife we were lucky again and no one was hurt, it could have been alot worse. She did not buy it this time, she was ready to sell the coach. I called my ERS again and reported the incident and said I would get someone. It is after 4:30 and I was calling everyone to find another Michelin tire. Unfortunately most shops are closed and I ended up getting an answering service. They do not know if they have a tire my size or what brand is available. They have to call out the tech on duty and then have them check and call me back. Needless to say this took quite a long time. I could not find anyone that had a Michelin tire in my size. It was getting late, so I finally found someone that had a Continental tire in stock and told them to bring it. When the tech showed up, we had to call the police to block the lane so he could safely work on it. My rim was bent, but the tech got it to hold air and said it was safe. He did not have another rim with him. By this time we had been sitting on the side of the road just over 6 hours. This tire bill was just under $900 and we were back on the road about 10:30. Our campground was a good 2 hours away. We had called them earlier and asked about cancelling but they told us it was non refundable. They did not care how late it was when we showed up though, so we decided to drive it. About an hour down the road we get into some heavy rain storms. There is nothing more fun than driving in real heavy rain in the dark on unfamiliar roads after midnight. We get to the campground before 1am and somehow find our spot in the dark and the heavy rain. Now I get to go outside and hookup. What else could go wrong today? After getting soaked hooking up I go inside to take a shower. I turn on the Aquahot and it will not light. I ended up taking a cold shower. I went to bed before anything else could go wrong.

We did make it to DC today without further incident. I have been trying to figure out what might have caused my issues. I did not see any FOD or hazards on the road when either tire blew. I spoke to both tire techs that came out. There were no obvious clues. I have tire monitors and had been monitoring the pressures regularly. I did not get a low pressure alarm until the moment they blew, so I am fairly confident it was not low pressure either. I did run them at the maximum pressure. I had weighed the coach and according to Goodyear's chart that is what I needed for that weight. The only thing I can think of is the weight we carry on those front tires and the maximum pressure just takes its toll on them. They just can't hold up. I just regret not replacing them sooner. I will have a new rim and new Michelin mounted before I start home. Some people like Goodyear, but I have had some bad experiences with them in heavy duty trucks in the past and then this. It may be poor quality or maybe it is just my bad luck, but either way I am definitely not a fan of Goodyear.

[TurboDaveTX]

Argh! Now that is about as bad luck as I ever heard! Never heard of a coach blowing both steer tires the same day! Thank God you and your family were safe and not injured. Sounds like damage could have been much worse. That is the reason I won’t run Goodyear tires on my coach!

[hawkeye1995]

I'm glad that no one was hurt!!! That is really called bad luck. I have never used Goodyear on my Motorhome, but have had Goodyear Wranglers on my pickup truck. I have not had any problems, and they are about 6 years old now. Getting close to replacement time. Consider yourself very lucky! I have seen front tire blow outs not turn out very well in the end. I'm not a big fan of Mitchelin tires. I have had a real bad problem with them weather cracking on the sidewalls real bad. They were only 4 years old when showing real bad signs of cracking. They finally exceeded the crack limits on the front, so I have already replaced with Gladiators. Never heard of them but got a good price. So far, they have been just as good as Michelin as far as ride is concerned. Have not taken any cross country trips, but have taken several short 200 mile trips. Good luck.

[burt_hacker]

Wow, that is amazing to hear and thankfully you are the family are fine and walked away with only some scratches and some wiring issues. All can be fixed... I have seen others that were not so fortunate. I have had RV's for over 24 years and seem to be a big backer for Michelin tires (yes I know all tires have issues and only last so long) and have had a few blowouts ourselfs but not as close in timing as yours.


You will hear others talk about TPMS, but reality is TPMS will NOT save you from a blowout. You might get less then a second notice of a failure. Cant believe your tires failed 3yr old. I would suggest you get the coach weighted and check the load range on the new tires to make sure weights are in line with tire pressures.

[TonyDi]

Jeeeez that looks like you hit a land mine. I'm glad no one was hurt.

[Gary.Jones]

James

I am so so sorry to hear your story. Its amazing bad luck. Its also amazing good luck that you had two front tire failures and you kept your coach under control and brought it to a safe stop. I know your wife doesnt want to hear this, but you WERE VERY LUCKY, and my hats off to your driving.... you must have had both hands on the wheel and kept it lined up. You are to be congratulated.

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but the failures of Goodyear steer axle tires have been discussed heavily on this forum since about 2014 and a lot of people have no trust in the OEM steer Goodyear tires. You were right to be concerned, and I would probably have tried to get a few miles out of them also because Michelins are sure not cheap. Be sure to look at the FMCA and GoodSams tire programs. They can save you a bunch of money on that last (or other) tire. I had to put 2 Continentals on my toad the last time because when I had trouble, they did not have Michelins in the right size. I did a lot of talking to tire people and they had a lot of good things to say about recent Continentals my tire size so I bought them. Put them on the rear but they have been working fine.

Now, the one thing that you said that doesn't seem right to me is that you ran the tires at "maximum pressure" which you said the tire tables said was where they needed to be. I know that the Aspire has been loaded heavy on the steer axle and tires for many years as was my 15 Anthem but even on the Anthem, my tires were not inflated to close to their maximum inflation. Now, my Anthems were 315s but what was your axle or 4-corner weights on your coach? Are you carrying some very heavy cargo (like 4000 rounds of AK-47 shells like one guy I heard of ) in the front basement compartment??? Something seems not right here.

Again, congrats to you for bringing your coach to a safe halt twice. I am proud of you. Now to figure out how to deal with it best. I hope I never have to deal with even half of your day.... !!!!

Gary
'

[MRUSA14]

On a previous coach I too had a steer tire blowout using a Goodyear tire. $10,000 to repair the coach damage. Whereupon I immediately replaced all the junk Goodyear tires on the coach with Michelins.

[lancslad]

We had a Goodyear steer tire fail too, the sidewall blew out.. We were towed off the interstate to a truck stop and they had Bridgestones in stock. I bought 2, for the 2 steer tire replacements and then 4 more later for the rear tires. Have been very happy with them and I noticed, when purchased, that the sidewalls are a lot beefier and the tires are heavier than the Goodyears. My wheels are 19.5" and the tires are R250 model

[ronlin11]

Having had real bad experiences with Goodyear tires, I replaced my Aspire steer tires with Michelins right after I purchased it. I got $250 for each tire in trade and used the FMCA tire program to purchased the Michelins from a commercial truck tire dealer. The Goodyear tires I had on my 06 Diplomat were so out of round they could not be properly balanced. Goodyear said they would replace them at their cost which turned out to be $735 each in 07!! I purchased two Continentals for $390 each and they were great tires. I still have the Goodyears on my Aspire drive but will replace them soon. I would never deal with Goodyear again.

[Matt D]

James, I’m very sorry to hear of your failures.

It’s amazing to see 2 steer tire failures in such a short span of time.

I’m happy you got the whole thing stopped in one piece.

I can only imagine what your grandson thinks.

Thanks for sharing your story.

-Matt

[brobox]

Thank you for sharing your story and sure sorry it happened to you. Thank God all were safe. After the number of posts here echoing your store and hdgoldie totaling out her Aspire, I can't understand why people continue to run Goodyear steer tires.

BTW there is noting wrong with the Continental you purchase. One of the forum members replaced all of his tires with Continentals and likes them better than his Michelins. I have used Continentals in CO on all my vehicles and never had a problem with them. One was a new Pickup with Goodyears, I replaced with Continentals. I think I would add another Continental and a set of Rettrobands

Thanks to you sharing your story we will be adding Rettrobands on our stop at NIRVC.

[jherrin99]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

James

I am so so sorry to hear your story. Its amazing bad luck. Its also amazing good luck that you had two front tire failures and you kept your coach under control and brought it to a safe stop. I know your wife doesnt want to hear this, but you WERE VERY LUCKY, and my hats off to your driving.... you must have had both hands on the wheel and kept it lined up. You are to be congratulated.

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but the failures of Goodyear steer axle tires have been discussed heavily on this forum since about 2014 and a lot of people have no trust in the OEM steer Goodyear tires. You were right to be concerned, and I would probably have tried to get a few miles out of them also because Michelins are sure not cheap. Be sure to look at the FMCA and GoodSams tire programs. They can save you a bunch of money on that last (or other) tire. I had to put 2 Continentals on my toad the last time because when I had trouble, they did not have Michelins in the right size. I did a lot of talking to tire people and they had a lot of good things to say about recent Continentals my tire size so I bought them. Put them on the rear but they have been working fine.

Now, the one thing that you said that doesn't seem right to me is that you ran the tires at "maximum pressure" which you said the tire tables said was where they needed to be. I know that the Aspire has been loaded heavy on the steer axle and tires for many years as was my 15 Anthem but even on the Anthem, my tires were not inflated to close to their maximum inflation. Now, my Anthems were 315s but what was your axle or 4-corner weights on your coach? Are you carrying some very heavy cargo (like 4000 rounds of AK-47 shells like one guy I heard of ) in the front basement compartment??? Something seems not right here.

Again, congrats to you for bringing your coach to a safe halt twice. I am proud of you. Now to figure out how to deal with it best. I hope I never have to deal with even half of your day.... !!!!

Gary
'

In a previous life I drove all kinds of large trucks in the oilfield. I have had quite a few interesting blowouts and breakdowns running down the highway with a 100,000 pound rig. Ever had a trailer tire pass you going 70 down the highway? The difference was then I was young, stupid and thought I was bullet proof. I am old enough to know better now. I know we were lucky, it could have been much worse.

I am not carrying anything out of the ordinary except maybe for all the shoes and clothes of my wife's, but that stuff is all in the back. On my 295/80R22.5 tires the minimum recommended inflation was 90 and the maximum was 125. That is the min/max pressure stamped on the tire. I had the coach weighed and used Goodyear's chart for my size and model of tire to determine the pressure I should use with my weight. My steer tires were at the maximum pressure of 125 and the rest of my tires were at the minimum of 90. I do not have the weights with me but it was within the specs of the tire. I had it done while I was at Spartan also and they come up with the same pressures I had been using.

[jherrin99]

Originally Posted by brobox

Thank you for sharing your story and sure sorry it happened to you. Thank God all were safe. After the number of posts here echoing your store and hdgoldie totaling out her Aspire, I can't understand why people continue to run Goodyear steer tires.

BTW there is noting wrong with the Continental you purchase. One of the forum members replaced all of his tires with Continentals and likes them better than his Michelins. I have used Continentals in CO on all my vehicles and never had a problem with them. One was a new Pickup with Goodyears, I replaced with Continentals. I think I would add another Continental and a set of Rettrobands

Thanks to you sharing your story we will be adding Rettrobands on our stop at NIRVC.

I hope my bad luck story helps someone else avoid what I went through. I knew I needed to replace those steer tires, but I just hated to take off some perfectly good tires so soon. I regret that decision now. It would have saved me a lot of time and money replacing early instead of replacing them this way. The Continental I ended up with was not the exact same size. So I will definitely replace it. I already have 1 new Michelin XZA2, so I will just match it.

[grindstone01]

Sounds like you had good control of your rig and your past experience driving big rigs helped you. Do you have any suggestions for "Lessons Learned" to other MH owners besides the brand of tires?