LT size tire recall

[Tireman9]

Michelin North America, Inc., announced Thursday July 26 it is voluntarily recalling about 841,000 BFGoodrich commercial tires LT 235/85 R16 120 Q LRE and LT 245/75 R16 120 Q LRE, and Uniroyal Laredo tires LT 235/85 R16 120 Q LRE and LT 245/75 R16 120 Q LRE.

The tires were produced between April 2010 and the end of July 2012.
Consumers can call 800-637-5527 or visit BFGoodrich Announces Voluntary Safety Recall for Commercial T/A A/S LRE tires or UNIROYAL Announces Voluntary Safety Recall for Commercial Laredo HD/H tires.

More info at Michelin recalling 841,000 BFGoodrich, Uniroyal tires - CNN.com



While looking for details on the Michelin recall, I also came across info on a number of other vehicles included in the current July recall list with 44 separate recall notices involved. You might want to check the list to see if you own a covered vehicle.

Recall Results | Safercar.gov | NHTSA

[FW5000DRIVER]

Thanks for posting. Doesn't affect me, but it's good that someone thought of others.

[Groovy]

Even if your tires aren't specifically recalled, it's still worth a look to see if you have something similar.

Our Uniroyal Laredo tires are not on the recall list, but they are a similar model and share the numbers "LT 235/85 R16" with the recalled tires. The only difference is ours are "all season" tires.

And lo and behold the tread just ripped off of one of our trailer tires -- exactly the way the recalled tires do -- and has left us in a hurt locker with broken fender, trim work and broken steel supports under a slide-out and a big RV repair bill and big replacement tire bill. The tire was up to pressure (and was still at pressure after all the tread peeled off), and the road was as smooth as the smoothest highway can be. We were driving 55 mph. Luckily no one was hurt.

We are sending our bad tire back to Michelin/Uniroyal for "evaluation" (as they requested) and may get a little compensation in the end. But since our tires are not on the recall list Michelin/Uniroyal is giving us a very difficult time and making us front the money for shipping the tire etc. etc. etc... Two full days at tire shops and on the phone (mostly on hold -- expect hold times of 30 minutes if you call Uniroyal's 800 number -- you can't dial anyone there direct or get anyone's full name either) -- we're pooped.

Not fun -- if you have "thought about" replacing your tires and you have anything remotely similar to what's on the recall list, replace them now. I suspect a lot more tires exhibit the problems of the recalled tires than just the specific models that have been recalled...

Our tires came with our trailer and were factory installed by NuWa (Hitchhiker). They still had lots of good tread left...

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Groovy

Even if your tires aren't specifically recalled, it's still worth a look to see if you have something similar.

Our Uniroyal Laredo tires are not on the recall list, but they are a similar model and share the numbers "LT 235/85 R16" with the recalled tires. The only difference is ours are "all season" tires.

And lo and behold the tread just ripped off of one of our trailer tires -- exactly the way the recalled tires do -- and has left us in a hurt locker with broken fender, trim work and broken steel supports under a slide-out and a big RV repair bill and big replacement tire bill. The tire was up to pressure (and was still at pressure after all the tread peeled off), and the road was as smooth as the smoothest highway can be. We were driving 55 mph. Luckily no one was hurt.

We are sending our bad tire back to Michelin/Uniroyal for "evaluation" (as they requested) and may get a little compensation in the end. But since our tires are not on the recall list Michelin/Uniroyal is giving us a very difficult time and making us front the money for shipping the tire etc. etc. etc... Two full days at tire shops and on the phone (mostly on hold -- expect hold times of 30 minutes if you call Uniroyal's 800 number -- you can't dial anyone there direct or get anyone's full name either) -- we're pooped.

Not fun -- if you have "thought about" replacing your tires and you have anything remotely similar to what's on the recall list, replace them now. I suspect a lot more tires exhibit the problems of the recalled tires than just the specific models that have been recalled...

Our tires came with our trailer and were factory installed by NuWa (Hitchhiker). They still had lots of good tread left...

You need to be sure to file a complaint with NHTSA.

Be sure to get some good pictures of the tire and the damage. be sure to get the COMPLETE DOT serial All 10, 11 or 12 characters after the "DOT" be sure you include the date portion.

If you have questions on how to file a complaint let me know and I can walk you through the process.

[wanderso]

Mine motorhome tires are the same in all ways (brand, etc) of the recall except one thing: size 225/70 R16. I keep watching to see if it gets broadened.

[Ponds]

THANK's so much for your post. My son pulls a 48' enclosed Featherlight. He had just had a blowout a few days before and has had 3 more blow since. He had not kept the first tire and the tire service had already dumped it. Friday he went to Snider Tires in Charlotte and they replaced five tires for him. Three proven blows he'd kept and the 2 still on his trailer.
They went out of their way to accommodate him and correct the situation.
Two other tire sellers said they did not know anything about the recall.
He is most appreciative of your post and from a dollar stand point you possably saved him much more than just money....

[450Donn]

Got my 800 mile old commercial ta's replaced about a month ago.

[Tireman9]

Glad to see some people are having a good experience with this recall.

If you have a tire failure (be it with these recalled tires or not) you need to get a number of good, in focus pictures and be sure to record the full DOT serial including the date.

Then we can work through how to file a complaint with NHTSA. Who knows you might be able to save someone els some $$ and aggravation if there is an undiscovered defect and a different tire gets recalled.

Simply complaining on RV forums will never result is a possible defect being investigated.

I will be posting detailed step by step instructions on what is needed and how to file a complaint.

[Groovy]

If your tire is not on the recall list and it fails, you have to go through the warranty claim process. This is a very long and complicated process that we are in the midst of right now and will be for the next 8 months.

First you have to ship your tire to Michelin/Uniroyal.

in order to do this you need to file a warranty claim -- and to do this you need to get the DOT number off your tire. It is very hard to distinguish 8 from B and A from R, O from 0, etc. etc. -- it took 3 tries between the manager of our tire dealer Big O Tires, us and two different claims folks at Michelin/Uniroyal during 3 different phone calls to get the DOT number read correctly so it worked in their computer.

After your file your warranty claim -- and before they will reveal the address of where you should ship your tire -- Michelin/Uniroyal has to mail you a document (yes, mail a document through the US postal service) that you sign and mail back. If you are a full-timer and don't have a mailing address where you can receive mail immediately -- and if you beg and plead -- they might fax this document it to you. It took me 20 minutes of negotiation with 3 different people for me to get them to agree to do this for us. They said they were making a HUGE exception by faxing instead of mailing because they didn't think a signature on a faxed document was legally valid (I've bought and sold houses based on faxed documents since the 1980's).

If you submit receipts for the cost of shipping they will reimburse you (we haven't seen any money yet and shipping cost us $110).

Then you have to submit 2 quotes for repairs to your RV along with the receipt for the new tire. Once all that is received by Michelin/Uniroyal they will look at your tire and determine if it failed due to poor manufacturing/design or if it was your fault.

They will not look at your tire until they have received all of the paperwork.

If they decide it was their fault they will then mail you a document you need to have notarized. After you return the signed and notarized document they will process a reimbursement of whatever they deem is fair compensation.

All this has to be completed within 45 days of the initial submission of the warranty claim.

Because we live half the year in Mexico and won't be near any RV repair facilities that can produce the required written quotes for another month, we will not be able to complete the process of submitting our paperwork to Michelin/Uniroyal and getting their document notarized until next May. They have said they will make an exception for us and keep our case open until then.

The hardest part in all of this is that there is no way to reach the Michelin/Uniroyal warranty claim department directly until you sign and mail back the first document that gives the instructions on where to ship the tire.

The warranty staff do not give out full names and they do not have direct phone extensions or email addresses. Instead, you have to call the 800 number and wait on hold for 10-30 minutes each time you call. The first person you talk to will then wait on hold with you while they try to reach someone in the warranty/claim department.

Once Michelin/Uniroyal gives you the address for where to ship your tire, you will be given the full name and extension for a claims person. However, these people do not answer their phones -- you will need to leave a voicemail and wait for a call back.

So far our experience with Michelin/Uniroyal has been ridiculous and depressing. They are not a company that wants to take care of their customers.

Our tire failed in exactly the same way as the recalled tires -- the tread peeled off unexpectedly on a smooth road while driving 55 mph despite the tire being up to pressure and having plenty of good tread left.

But because it is not on the recall list it is being handled through their warranty claims department whose mission is NOT to reimburse any claims if they can avoid it and to make the customer jump through extraordinary hoops, apparently in hopes of discouraging them from completing the process.

If I had it to do over and I had tires that even remotely resembled those on the recall list I'd get them replaced right away. After our tire failure we had to replace them all anyway. At most, Michelin/Uniroyal might reimburse us for 1 of the 4 tires we replaced. If we had thrown out our Uniroyal Laredo tires right away we wouldn't have all this damage on the side of our trailer. It's true, we'd be out the cost of 4 new tires -- but we are anyway!!!!

We'll keep you posted on how the warranty process goes. I'm sure folks going through the recall process will have a much easier time... here's hopes that your tires are on the list and not "one-offs." The only difference with ours is they are "All Season" and were manufactured in 2007.

[wanderso]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the warranty process. I'm thinking that if folks decide to replace their tires that are the same design but not the same size in the recall should keep their old tires for awhile if possible after they're dismounted. When the Firestone recall happened several years ago, they expanded the recall and we got another set of tired as a result when we turned in our culls.

[Tireman9]

How tire warranties are handled is one of the items that buyers should consider when deciding which tire to buy. I cover this in my blog post "What's the Best Tire".
In the case of Michelin/BFG I believe the issue is that they only have dealers and not company stores so you may become responsible for the expense of shipping the tire across the country as you try and get the tire adjusted.

When deciding which tire to buy you need to remember you are not just buying the round and black rubber thing but also investing in a multi-year relationship with a tire dealer who may only have a handful or possibly just a single location or a tire company with many hundred locations across America.


One other thing you need to do is to file a complaint with NHTSA. See Here for more info.
Now the NHTSA complaint is ONLY ABOUT the tire and damage it caused. You need this info for NHTSA

• Tire information needed
  • Tire Brand
  • Tire Line
  • Tire Size, (e.g., P275/75R16 89H)
  • Component (part of tire i.e. tread, sidewall, bead)
  • DOT Number (Tire Identification Number) (very important)
• Vehicle information needed
  • Model Year
  • Make
  • Model
  • Component in this case "tire"
  • Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) (Optional, but very important)
    Found on registration or insurance card.

NOTE NHTSA is not concerned about warranty claim problems so a short posting is best. If you have pictures say so. If they want more information or the pictures they will call you.