2 Blown Steer Tires in One Day

[jherrin99]

Originally Posted by 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

The funny part about the 15 year old grand son is he slept through one. The other one he was up with his headphones on. Both times he said he heard the noise, but he just thought we were just on a rough road.

[Gary.Jones]

James

Thanks for the information.

One more question..... did your TPMS also monitor heat and do you know where the temps were set?

Gary

[bevandtomH]

Glad to hear you and your grandson are safe. Great job keeping the coach under control.
We set our high/low limits on our TPMS when we first installed it. Good reminder to review those min/max settings.

[C-PHartley]

I like the idea of replacing both front tires with new every time you need to replace tires and then mounting the removed tires to where they are needed in the rear. That way you always have fresh tires on the front. The only limitation I see is that it restricts you to always using the same size tires.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by jherrin99

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.

I know it's hard to take off perfectly good looking tires, But those bombs can explode at anytime. It's not so much the cost of tires as the damage they do. Plus the cost of having the front end aligned. If the dealer does not give you a good trade in on the Continental, try calling a couple of dump truck companies. I sold my takeoffs to one and they picked them up. The 22.5 fit their tag axles.

[DoggieDaddy]

We replaced both of our front tires this spring because they had some minor checking. The born on dates of the tires was 2013 which made them six years old. After the OP's story I'm so glad we did. We were told a six year old tire is an old tire. Any truth to that?

[RVPioneer]

Originally Posted by jherrin99

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.

Why did you allow Spartan to replace the OEM Goodyear tires with Goodyear tires in 2016?

[Jose67]

Originally Posted by jherrin99

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.

I would replace both tires. My reasoning is that when one tire blows the other is overloaded. Your new XZA2 has been overloaded. I would use Michellin X Coach HL Z Catalog number 31078. This tire is rated at 8270 Lbs each. This should provide some room between the rating of the axle and the tire. I call this room "Safety Margin". BTW that is what I did.

I also noticed that the 2018 Insignia has a Meritor 16,000 Lbs. axle with 315 tires (according to the published data from Entegra and Spartan). My 2015 Aspire has the Meritor Axle rated at 15,660 Lbs because it is tire limited due to the Goodyear 670 tires. I have been considering asking Spartan for the Accuride wheel part number and replacing the wheels and installing 315's. By doing this the tire safety margin would be increased. The 315's require a 9" wheel and I believe that my coach has 8.25". The 315's can be mounted on a 8.25' wheel but the load capacity would be lower.

They fit the 2018 Insignia so I am optimistic that they will fit the 2015's and other with the same axle to provide a "tire vs rated load" safety margin.

Does this make sense?

Does anybody with a 2018 Insignia has tire issues?

[hdgoldie]

I'd suggest you buy a lottery ticket because you were VERY lucky - and did a great job of maintaining control. I'm very happy that you are all safe and actually made it to your campground. FWIW, our insurance company took possession of the tire and wheel and told us that they would be going back against Goodyear. Many of us have filed reports with the NHTSA - those Goodyear tires should not be on the road. Please report your experience also. It scares me to know that people are still driving on those tires. We walked away from our accident with our dogs uninjured, our cat and many others were not that fortunate. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I hope that anyone still driving on those tires will see this and get them off their coach.

[Jolar01]

Originally Posted by Jose67

I would replace both tires. My reasoning is that when one tire blows the other is overloaded. Your new XZA2 has been overloaded. I would use Michellin X Coach HL Z Catalog number 31078. This tire is rated at 8270 Lbs each. This should provide some room between the rating of the axle and the tire. I call this room "Safety Margin". BTW that is what I did.



I also noticed that the 2018 Insignia has a Meritor 16,000 Lbs. axle with 315 tires (according to the published data from Entegra and Spartan). My 2015 Aspire has the Meritor Axle rated at 15,660 Lbs because it is tire limited due to the Goodyear 670 tires. I have been considering asking Spartan for the Accuride wheel part number and replacing the wheels and installing 315's. By doing this the tire safety margin would be increased. The 315's require a 9" wheel and I believe that my coach has 8.25". The 315's can be mounted on a 8.25' wheel but the load capacity would be lower.



They fit the 2018 Insignia so I am optimistic that they will fit the 2015's and other with the same axle to provide a "tire vs rated load" safety margin.



Does this make sense?



Does anybody with a 2018 Insignia has tire issues?

[emoji106]Well said!

[jherrin99]

Originally Posted by 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?

There is no special skill required except just don't panic. There will be plenty of time for that when it is over. I had both hands on the wheel and it took both of them to keep it straight but nothing extraordinary. I had the cruise on the first time and had to disengage it while hearding the coach toward the shoulder. The second one, I was in traffic and did not have the cruise on. I have read some articles and seen some videos about handling a steer tire blow out by pressing the accelerator. I never touched the accelerator or brakes. The coach slowed pretty fast all by itself. My focus was on finding a safe place to land. I knew where it stopped was where it was going to stay. My previous experience was from back in the 80s. I have some pretty good stories, but I doubt I retained any skills from it.

[jherrin99]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

James

Thanks for the information.

One more question..... did your TPMS also monitor heat and do you know where the temps were set?

Gary

Yes, I have a TST system that gives me temperature and pressure alarms. I had been monitoring both occasionally, but did not see anything out of the ordinary. I do not remember specifics. TST recommends that you use 158 degrees for the high temp alarm which is the default. That is what I used. Right before this trip we had been in NM and the Texas panhandle in 100+ temps. I would have expected problems in that heat instead of the mild weather in Ohio in the 70s.

[jherrin99]

Originally Posted by RVPioneer

Why did you allow Spartan to replace the OEM Goodyear tires with Goodyear tires in 2016?

They did not give me a choice. Trust me, I tried.

[Lundman]

Originally Posted by Jose67

I would replace both tires. My reasoning is that when one tire blows the other is overloaded. Your new XZA2 has been overloaded. I would use Michellin X Coach HL Z Catalog number 31078. This tire is rated at 8270 Lbs each. This should provide some room between the rating of the axle and the tire. I call this room "Safety Margin". BTW that is what I did.

I also noticed that the 2018 Insignia has a Meritor 16,000 Lbs. axle with 315 tires (according to the published data from Entegra and Spartan). My 2015 Aspire has the Meritor Axle rated at 15,660 Lbs because it is tire limited due to the Goodyear 670 tires. I have been considering asking Spartan for the Accuride wheel part number and replacing the wheels and installing 315's. By doing this the tire safety margin would be increased. The 315's require a 9" wheel and I believe that my coach has 8.25". The 315's can be mounted on a 8.25' wheel but the load capacity would be lower.

They fit the 2018 Insignia so I am optimistic that they will fit the 2015's and other with the same axle to provide a "tire vs rated load" safety margin.
Does this make sense?
Does anybody with a 2018 Insignia has tire issues?

I have a 2019 anthem that I put 365's on the front and had to put on new rims. I have the take off rims and they only have approx. 2000 miles on them. if they would work for anyone and you are interested in a good deal please PM me. The rim size is 22.5x9.00. accuride part number is 41730 XP. They had 315’s on them.

Thanks, Jon