Castle Rock Tires exploding

[Shawz]

Tuffr2 - Speed rating was 75mph. I was doing between 65-70 when they let go. Thanks

[mjacxx]

If you haven't already, go to the Forest River forum and search "castle Rock" you can read a metric ton of failure threads, including mine. Some dealers will help some won't.
To some one reading this if your next purchase has cr tires do not accept them. If the dealer will not swap em for another tire run away from that dealer.

[tuffr2]

Man, that is not good. I was hoping a 75mph speed rating tires would be built better.

I had a none damage blowout from the sidewall and not the tread. I was doing 45mph in a congested area in the right lane. I was lucky as a exit was 1/8 mile ahead. I was in the Knoxville area on I-40E / I-75S on my way to Crystal River Florida for the winter. So it was cool also.

That winter in Florida I bit the bullet and replaced the China Bombs with expensive Michilen XPS Ribs LT commercial tire. It had a speed rating of 99 mph.

Advice I can give on replacement tires. Buy the heavier tire. I replaced lite 28 pound per tire with heavier 42 pound per tire weight.

I do not know for sure, but I think the heavier tire will be the better tire.

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by Shawz

Mich F thanks, I did call my insurance they said that they doubt that it will be covered because it was not caused by any road hazard. I likely could fight that but they said its $1000 deductible I can fix and replace all for less than that. Its all just extremely frustrating to be honest.

That's BS. I'm a licensed insurance adjuster. Read your policy. It will say it does not cover mechanical breakdown but does cover related damage.

IE: we would not pay for the tire, but would pay for the resulting damage it causes. It does not take long to run up $1000 repairs on a tire blowout.

On a side note, it appears those tires were run under inflated or overloaded. My best guess would be underinflated, during transport from the factory. No way to prove it.

Another note. I have a friend who used to run an RV dealership. Honest guy. He would tell his customers buying new TT to go get a new set of quality tires and they would install them before delivery. Yup. Brand new and buying new tires. They had stacks of take offs sitting in a shed. He would sell them to people who bought campers, took them to a seasonal lot and left them sit for years. Then get ready to move to a new campground on 10 year old tires. They were good enough to move a couple hundred miles to a new spot. That was about it.

[TXiceman]

Well the Chinese tires are good for one thing. You can run them on the farm trailers that never see much highway use. The only Chines tire that is work anything is the Sailun tires...otherwise stick to US, Japanese or South Korean tires.

Ken

[Shawz]

So quick update Castle Rock just emailed me back and said they would reimburse $85 per tire. They said the check is in the mail. That is not bad considering I just spent $100 per tire on Goodyear’s. Now time to ramp up the pressure on forest river. I suggest anyone with concerns over faulty tires start emailing customer service. I’ll let you know if I get anything out of them for Damages. Doubt it but gonna try. Thanks to everyone for your responses and advice. Gonna take the trailer for An alignment next just to be safe.

[Tajfish]

Originally Posted by Shawz

So quick update Castle Rock just emailed me back and said they would reimburse $85 per tire. They said the check is in the mail. That is not bad considering I just spent $100 per tire on Goodyear’s. Now time to ramp up the pressure on forest river. I suggest anyone with concerns over faulty tires start emailing customer service. I’ll let you know if I get anything out of them for Damages. Doubt it but gonna try. Thanks to everyone for your responses and advice. Gonna take the trailer for An alignment next just to be safe.

Please let me know about alignment. I bought a 2021 Freedom Express and it has the Castlerock tires

[Shawz]

Tajfish I need to find a place to get it checked. However I really don't think my alignment is out because the tires were pretty evenly worn. The tires that were in the worst shape were worn a little un even however I would suggest that is more from the driving with broken belts. If I find anything out I will update but I strongly suggest that you don't put to many miles on those tires. 1 year most and take them off to do an inspection before your warranty is out. I have the 2020 freedom express 246rks, My tires DOT was JUJT 1119. On quick inspection my tires looked good on the trailer, it wasn't till I got them off and looked really closely that you could see evidence that something was wrong. I would keep a close eye on the tread and watch for uneven heights on each row as well as twisting of the rows. Watch in between the tread for evidence of the steel coming through. Again very difficult to see while the tire is on the trailer.

[TXiceman]

Originally Posted by Tajfish

Please let me know about alignment. I bought a 2021 Freedom Express and it has the Castlerock tires

Best thing to do is get the Castlerocks off the trailer and get a decent tire on it before there is damage to the trailer.

Ken

[BPTS]

People dont think ChinaBomb tires do what they do but they do.....

[Pslif]

Well I’ll put my two cents in, this just goes to show that it is necessary to at least check your tires before you start any trips. Truckers check their tires every day as required by law, in the future if you check your tires let’s say monthly and there’s a good chance that this will never happen Again.

[satchiss]

I own Fleet Tire Truck and Auto in Hollywood Florida. I also am an avid RV guy. The brand of tire you have is most probably a cheep chines brand since I haven't heard of that brand. I would only run a premium brand tire like Goodyear Endurance. Not only does this brand last longer Goodyear will stand behind their products all day long. Note: you do not want any tires older than 5 years past the DOT date "EVER" on an RV. Also if you don't have a TPMS kit to monitor your tire PSI and Temp it's worth the investment.

Now for the PSI. Tires will expand in PSI from running on the road. My 22.5 tires call for 125PSI "MAX". I set them at 110 PSI and while driving they expand to around 122PSI. Haven't had any issues with them and I am on my second set of 6. I had a customer some years back that would fill his tires to max PSI per the sidewall cold. Then complained that he was having blowouts. I learned from him.

After you replace the tires keep an eye on tread wear. If the axles of off alignment you should be able to see it happening before they are ruined.

Wishing you the best going forward.

[Sailorman295]

We had a similar experience with our new Minnie Winnie Plus. It came with Goodride tires which we traveled last year for over a month through the Appalachians in West Virginia with no problems. This year we planned a 3 month trip from Florida to Yellowstone and points in between. First blowout 2nd day in Georgia. 2nd blowout 2 days later in Oklahoma. Got to Denver and replaced all 4 with Goodyear’s. Was reimbursed about $100.00 per tire. Goodyear’s were about $150.00 each. There was a fair amount of damage underneath which Goodride will not cover. Tried to talk to Winnebago but after being told they would get back to me, they don’t return my calls or respond to messages left. I can only get a hold of phone answerer who swears someone will contact me. That’s a lie. I will do the repairs myself and forget about Winnebago in the future. Factory tires are only good for 1year if you’re lucky.

[Travel_Quest]

I have been a member of the Forest River Mini Lite Facebook forum for several months and have seen probably a dozen instances and terrifying photos similar to yours. Their tires seem to erupt. It is my understanding these Castle Rock tires became legendary for this issue and Forest River switched to putting Goodyear on their new trailers. If you google 'China Bombs' on the forums you may learn whether others found any way to get better resolution