Angels on I-10

[Madame Boomer]

Rusty and I left Lake Medina Sunday morning and managed to make it out of the park safely! Oh my gosh....it was as HILLY getting out as it was going in! I no longer have any "pucker power"................

Just 1 mile from Seguin - going 62 miles an hour in traffic, we had our 2nd blowout in 3 months. The first was in July as we headed to Branson.

Within moments, the Wilson's stopped to offer assistance. I was on the phone with Good Sam to get someone out to change the flat. Past experience has proven that we'd be sitting on the side of the road for quite some time.....

Just then, two angels pulled up behind us! LARRY AND JODI MENSCH just happened to be returning home from a motorcycle rally in the hill country and saw us stranded on the road.

There aren't enough words to express our appreciation to them! Within minutes Larry and Rusty had that tire changed and we were on our way!

The blow out in July did minor damage to the rig and Goodyear reimbursed us for the new tire and we signed off on the minor damage.

This blowout caused major structural damage. At first we thought it just affected the lower panel of the slide out, but when Rusty checked underneath (after getting home) we discovered the protective lining is shredded and when we pulled the slide out, he saw that a support beam for the flooring is mangled.

And if the blow-out wasn't enough stress, we exited I-10 at Brookshire and was in the process of making a left turn on the overpass of I-10 when a vehicle approaching the same intersection gave us no room to complete our turn and Rusty clipped them!

It was as if they <span class="ev_code_RED">dared</span> him to hit them on purpose.......they were 2 carlengths away from the intersection and instead of stopping to allow us room to maneuver...they continued to roll right up to the stop sign...and kept on rolling closer. Of course, as soon as we hit them, they took off!

There is now slight damage to the drivers side of the rig - it is cosmetic though and the wheel well rim thingy can be easily replaced, but it's the principle of the matter.

What else could happen on a leisurely drive back home............ha! We were within 1/8 of a mile from the storage lot when we got stuck in traffic backed up from an accident. We waited for almost an hour while haz-mat cleaned the road!

We're safe....we're home....torn up rig and all...but ready for another day camping!

Sandy

[Madame Boomer]

Rusty and I left Lake Medina Sunday morning and managed to make it out of the park safely! Oh my gosh....it was as HILLY getting out as it was going in! I no longer have any "pucker power"................

Just 1 mile from Seguin - going 62 miles an hour in traffic, we had our 2nd blowout in 3 months. The first was in July as we headed to Branson.

Within moments, the Wilson's stopped to offer assistance. I was on the phone with Good Sam to get someone out to change the flat. Past experience has proven that we'd be sitting on the side of the road for quite some time.....

Just then, two angels pulled up behind us! LARRY AND JODI MENSCH just happened to be returning home from a motorcycle rally in the hill country and saw us stranded on the road.

There aren't enough words to express our appreciation to them! Within minutes Larry and Rusty had that tire changed and we were on our way!

The blow out in July did minor damage to the rig and Goodyear reimbursed us for the new tire and we signed off on the minor damage.

This blowout caused major structural damage. At first we thought it just affected the lower panel of the slide out, but when Rusty checked underneath (after getting home) we discovered the protective lining is shredded and when we pulled the slide out, he saw that a support beam for the flooring is mangled.

And if the blow-out wasn't enough stress, we exited I-10 at Brookshire and was in the process of making a left turn on the overpass of I-10 when a vehicle approaching the same intersection gave us no room to complete our turn and Rusty clipped them!

It was as if they <span class="ev_code_RED">dared</span> him to hit them on purpose.......they were 2 carlengths away from the intersection and instead of stopping to allow us room to maneuver...they continued to roll right up to the stop sign...and kept on rolling closer. Of course, as soon as we hit them, they took off!

There is now slight damage to the drivers side of the rig - it is cosmetic though and the wheel well rim thingy can be easily replaced, but it's the principle of the matter.

What else could happen on a leisurely drive back home............ha! We were within 1/8 of a mile from the storage lot when we got stuck in traffic backed up from an accident. We waited for almost an hour while haz-mat cleaned the road!

We're safe....we're home....torn up rig and all...but ready for another day camping!

Sandy

[donna r]

Sandy, sorry to hear of your Goodyear and other problems while traveling. Bummer! We got within 100 miles of home in September after 10,000 miles and had a blowout. Good Sam came within 45 minutes. Goodyear bought a new tire and paid for repairs to the panel. Hope you get taken care of too. Don't know what to tell you about the "clipping." I watch people enter the x-way and never look to the left. Then there's 52 feet of truck and trailer next to them and they act like it's your fault they have nowhere to go. Sometimes you just can't move over! Drive safely out there y'all. Glad you made it home safely.

[ISLAPP]

Gosh, Sandy, what a day that must have been!
Wonder what Goodyear will say about these damages??
Mike

[RustyJC]

Mike,

Yeah, I was pretty depressed by the time we finally got home late yesterday afternoon.

It sounds like Goodyear is trying to do the right thing. Sandy went over to the Goodyear store near our house this morning, and with this being our 2nd G614 failure in 3 months, Goodyear is replacing the 2 tires that have yet to fail at no charge. We will have to purchase the replacement for the tire that failed yesterday, but like the first failure, I expect Goodyear to credit us for it as part of the damage settlement.

I have to take the 5th wheel over to the Goodyear store on Wednesday so that the 3 new tires can be installed. Akron also asked the local store manager to photograph the damage and send the pictures to them as part of the claim process. Now, if we can just manage to get a repair estimate.... It looks like the lower sheet metal section on the slideout will have to be replaced as well as the wheel well trim piece. Under the 5th wheel, the tread shredded the waterproof cover on the bottom of the floor section as well as some insulation and mangled a section of metal floor joist that runs parallel to the frame.

Oh, and as a matter of clarification, the guy at the intersection ran into me. It was a 4 way stop, I was on his right and was already in the intersection in the process of turning left as he approached the stop sign. I couldn't believe it when I looked in the mirror and he just kept coming, and coming, and coming until the left front of his car disappeared into the wheel well on the road (driver's) side of the 5th wheel. I pulled on across the interstate and stopped to examine the damage and to wait for the guy to come over to exchange information, call the police, etc. I guess he must not have had insurance, because he took off before I could get a license plate number, description of the car or anything else. The only damage to the 5th wheel was a minor scratch on the front of the wheel well trim, but it certainly was enough to finish off our day!

Rusty

[ISLAPP]

Do you have a dealer or someone to do the repair work? Sounds like Goodyear will do their part, I just hope the repairs can be done to your satisfaction.
Mike

[RustyJC]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't trust my selling dealer to make repairs to a tricycle. We have an independent RV service man that does good work - 30+ years in the business, but I don't know if he does body work. If not, we'll get a reference from him for a qualified facility to do the repairs.

Rusty

[Don (W5IT)]

Sandy and Rusty,

Are yall SURE yall didn't run over a black cat somewhere????

Yall got a "Golden shower" on the way home from one outing, blowout going to the National and now a DOUBLE whammy on the way home from Medina......

[M2Kelley]

Sandy and Rusty,

Sorry for your troubles!

Seems like sometimes a feller just has bad luck. Some days if we didn't have bad luck we'd have no luck at all. I'm just glad you guys didn't get hurt. That dirt bag that run into you was probably an uninsured illegal.

Is that a bad series of tires? We had some bad tires on Mavis car that took 2 years to get replaced even though GM had a bulletin out. I hope everyone checks their tires after reading your posting.

[AL]

Hi All,

Sandy & Rusty glad you all are now back home and safe, hope you don't have to much trouble getting everything fixed up and ready to go again!! Also thanks for posting about you troubles, this way it let's us all know things like this don't only happen to us!!!

[donna r]

Sandy, Ted just told me our tires (and the one that blew) were G614 also. There's a lot on the forums about the failure of these tires. We're getting all new ones before we take off again. We were lucky in that we had an appt. scheduled at the factory for a few weeks after the blowout so we were able to get our repairs done there. Good luck. It's a royal pain at times isn't it?

[RustyJC]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by M2Kelley:
Is that a bad series of tires? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Mike,

Good question. The tires have a 2004 date code (don't remember the week right now), and the 5th wheel sits in covered storage. We never had a problem with them - until our first failure in July 2007 on the way to Branson. Now another failure in 3 months. The tires were inspected by a Goodyear commercial tire facility in Fort Worth after the first failure and pronounced to be OK (no bulges, knots, etc.) I check air pressure before every trip, but these failures give no warning whatsoever. You're rolling along, everything's fine, then BANG and it's all over.

Rusty

[TexasPSDX]

My trailer had Goodyear Marathons on it and had trouble with 3 of the 4. 1 blow out and 2 seperations. Switched to Michelin XPS and very pleased so far.

[Madame Boomer]

Thanks all for your words of encouragement! It is a bad situation, but THINGS can be repaired or replaced. We are safe and angels abound on I-10!

I was so apprehensive about going to the Goodyear store today, but was greeted by the nicest young store manager I've ever met. I went in with a good attitude and he is bending over backwards to help us get our claims proess started.

We're taking the rig to THORNTON'S RV SERVICE SHOP on 1488 (just 2 miles west of Magnolia) on Saturday to get estimates for repair work (to be taken care of by Goodyear). I was quite impressed with them as well.

I absolutely will NOT EVER IF AT ALL POSSIBLE take the rig back to our dealer. Dealers are quick to sell RV's, but it's a "PITA" to get them to work on it. I'd rather be shot between the eyes than to take it there, so I am ever grateful that there is an independent shop closer to us with an attitude of "customer appreciation" in their tone.

Will keep you posted!

Sandy