Rettroband redesign/recall

[C310]

Sorry to hear of NIRV’s problems with their new Retro Bands. Unfortunately I have had reservations with their design of these after first seeing them but because I have not had ANY communication from the top of NIRV (After trying many times)in almost 2 years on other issues I do not feel my input would have only fallen on deaf ears. As I’ve always said best of success Brett.
Steve

[Cruzer]

I had about 7,000 miles on the failure and am at 9,000 right now on the other one. I will pull it when I get back home at 11,000 and inspect it to determine whether to pull it or leave it in until replacement with the new version. I do have an upcoming 5,000 mile trip from Wisconsin to Oregon and back to pick up a puppy and don't want any surprises on that trip so might just pull it out to be on the safe side.

[4Freedom]

I caution anyone saying "i have --- miles and have had no problems." I am thankful others did not lose control of their vehicles, but that outcome may not be generalizable to others.

I didn't have any problems either, rode great, until one broke last week. No warning signs. I did have initial loss of control of the vehicle at interstate speeds in the middle lane of a left curve with a big rig to my right and it was a front right rettroband failure leading me into the right lane. Not ideal. I regained control and am safe, but it is a major risk.

I had the tire professionally removed today to inspect and there were nicks and cuts and gouges out of the inside of the tire and sidewall where the metal broken parts had damaged the inside of the tire. This was not at all evident from the outside.

The ballistic material does have some give to it and the metal does not. The yellow ballistic material parts broke through the bolt hole which is a stress riser. The metal rods sheered off through threads from the stress.

Interestingly, there were stress fractures of the material on the opposite side of the band that broke as well that were only apparent after a thorough look. and likely had nothing to do with the failure but likely were a future problem.

I have an engineering degree and am an orthopaedic surgeon. Fracture surgeons see this happen all the time in bone when using plates and screws to repair fractures without regard for differences in material properties with round holes and square corners and high stress areas--further fractures propagate.

IMO, this is not just an installation and overtightening issue. Certainly, that would make matters worse.

I have removed the remaining band on the other side with no visible problems and presumably they were installed by the same person, the same day, in the same way, with the same device, likely to the same installation torque. This would argue against installation as the only problem.

Again, interestingly, my experience with NIRV has been good, but leadership has not contacted me at all about the experience or update. I supplied them pictures that certainly are concerning. I appreciate the companies are working towards solutions, but likely it was already a known problem if they already had an updated model being tested and already available to install. Yet, I just bought these 2 weeks ago. Otherwise, the sales and service staff have supported me well after the sale and have gone above and beyond arranging for my tires to be exchanged.

I will evaluate the new options, but I personally would remove the existing design as soon as possible--the risk of failure likely outweighs the benefit--especially with new/good/well maintained tires--and certainly cost.

God bless and safe travels,

Mark
Hope 4Freedom

[zman62]

I am on the same boat as above. From what I see I am questioning if these failures are actually from over tightening vs a design flaw.

If the band is clamped tight to the rim which they are I don’t see any provisions for thermal expansion.

[photraveller]

Originally Posted by zman62

I have not seen retro bands in person yet. I have read most of the info available online. I come from the engineering world and these are an interesting idea.

One thing I see that requires some thought is the rim gets slightly larger as it heats up. The retroband is fixed and doesn’t seem to be able to change diameter as the wheel expands. Quite possibly there is more going on here than I am able to see.

I am also trying to figure out what over torquing will do. Sure the over tightening to the point it compromises the retrobands fasteners is obvious. Do these have some expansion capabilities?

Good thought about expansion, but I believe most plastics have a higher expansion coefficient than aluminum or steel. Since the retroband appears to be to in constant contact with the rim any rim heating should pass into the retroband at the same time.

That said, you might still be onto something. Thermal cycling does some weird things over time. However, I would assume the manufacturer would have taken that into account during the design and testing phases. It sounds like they did, and applied proper torque (tensioning) parameters to their installation requirements.

I'm going to assume that mechanics are over torquing just like Brett said. They aren't used to torquing down plastics/polymers. So their air/impact wrenches are set very high for lug nuts and other fasteners. Let's face it, almost all workhorse type air wrenches are terrible at stopping at a specified torque value.

When you tighten steel fasteners into steel parts 99% of the time, I can see where it would be easy for someone to over torque a plastic/polymer part. Too many oldtimers (myself included) rely on "feel and experience" instead of a torque wrench. Sometimes that bits us in the butt.

Steve

[777 Driver]

Originally Posted by Cruzer

I removed the tire and separated it from the rim (yes I carry tools for everything ) and found pieces of Rettroband all over. I removed everything and cleaned out the tire, remounted it on the rim, aired it up and we were fine.

Bow!!! Wow!!!

Click on image for full effect.


Take care,
Stu

[Gasman 2]

Originally Posted by 777 Driver

Bow!!! Wow!!!

Click on image for full effect.
Attachment 295332

Take care,
Stu

Yep the dogs are even happy about that.[emoji3]

[Pigman1]

Has anyone who experienced a failure submitted a NHTSA failure report? The manufacturer and or installer is required to submit such a report, but sometimes these do not get done due to "OVERSIGHTS" ? ? ? The only way for a user to be sure NHTSA gets the word is to submit one yourself. These reports are what initiate the motor vehicle safety recalls we see periodically. https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

[buck58]

Damn, 4Freedom.... an engineering degree and you’re a orthopedic surgeon... why don’t you try to do something with your life [emoji15].. ✝️[emoji120]

[buck58]

Has anybody got any success stories with retro bands? Any blowouts that I actually work as advertised And possibly saved lives?

[Gary.Jones]

I have seen tests on intentional flats induced on motorhomes equipped with the Rettrobands. My understanding is that there were going to be direct comparisons between Rettrobands and some other products to be done this year but have not seen the results published.

Have not seen any direct blowout with rettrobands reported up here yet. My belief is that they should be a life saver, but have not seen the owner reports here yet.

Gary

[buck58]

What’s the other product? Tyron something? This other product that is supposed to hold the tire on the rim I guess something like that

[Gary.Jones]

Yes, Tyron is the other older product... supposed to keep the tire on the wheel and not let it come fully off..... Lets the sidewalls of the tire fall part of the way down into the inner slot of the wheel. They have a web site.... also show tests.... when I last looked, all the tests were with much smaller European type RVs.... was not impressed. JMO

Gary

[tom chelbana]

We have had two tire blow outs with about 250K miles of travel. The last blow out coming back in the States from Alaska we had a right front tire blow out on our Essex with a Spartan chassis which did over 20K worth of damage. That blow out and the one from our earlier London Aire the tire stayed on the rim which is what Tyron's are to do and we didn't have them. We do have RettroBands and think this is a far better system then Tyron's and hope this issue gets taken care of because the RettroBands, if working as tested would be the safest.