Originally written by Gone on 2010-08-06 5:58 AM

Yeah!!!! Getting all new tires (GoodYear G14's) Saturday!!!! The rims are made in the USA...wow what a nice surprise.

It ain't much, but every little bit helps...!! http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/RVOnline_Rebate_0110.pdf

I've had trouble with my Goodyears recently. I had such good luck with the G614 and G647 on my trailers that I tried a set of Goodyear Wrangler silent Armour on my truck. At 15,000 miles in late June I had a tire develop a large egg sized bulge on the sidewall of the tire.  Dealer exchanged it out for a  fee of about 1/2 of a new tire. Dealer told me I was over loading the tire with too much weight. Which isn't the case. I've pulled this same trailer with the factory Conti's, and with Toyos tires and never had any problems, I've been across the scale and am well with in my trucks rating.

So this week, I had another tire go bad. Just like the first tire.  Dealer this time said it was a road hazard and I needed to buy his Road hazard certificate that would protect. I assured him, that there was no way I had hit two road hazards in a 30 day period, on the opposite sides of my truck that had caused the exact same damage. That there were no external signs of damage, ( other than the bulge) He assure me that I had hit something that had fractured the internal casing of the tire allowing the air to leak into the sidewall creating the bulge.

I really believe these people make stories up as they talk to you. At any rate, I'm not impressed with Goodyear truck tires. These Silent Amour tires are supposed to have a Kevlar belt that is supposed to be tougher for this Super Duty pick ups. They are advertized to be able to tolerate the weight and extra hard work and give better than average tread life. They did have good snow traction last winter, But have only lasted about 1/2 as long as the other tires I've used on this truck.

PH, what size tire is this and how much pressure are you running?

Next time, take a look at the Michelin LTX M/S2.

http://www.michelinman.com/tire-selector/name/ltx-m-s2-tires

I have a set of Goodrich tires on my truck, replacing the Firestones that almost killed us. The Goodrich are wearing well, are quiet on the road, clear the mud when necessary, and have a taught, competent feeling in the steering. On my trailer are a set of LT Bridgestone "take offs" that are also working well. I can't relate how they would work on a truck, but they are flawless on my trailer. I'm pleased with both brands.

PH, a dealer will try to snow you any way he can. Obviously he would not be my source of tires when the next need arises. I would try to contact someone in authority at the Goodyear Inc. service dept. Keep your old tires and take photos until the situation is resolved. He who yells the loudest, will at least get some kind of response.

My tires are the stock Ford 18" tires.  275/70/18E. I run the backs at 70psi and fronts at 60psi.

I have several bumper pull trailers for my skid loader, mini excavator, dump trailer etc.  But none of those should put more than 600lbs of down force on the bumper. My horse trailer is the only gooseneck. It's a 4h Aluminum skin over steel frame with a small unfinished DR in the front. Trailer is about 6000lbs loaded with 4 horses it's 10,000 lbs. I have not checked the pin weight, because it should be anywhere close to my load limits. My previous trailer ( sold in 2008) was the same make and size but it had a 9 foot LQ in the front. I did weigh that trailer and it was right at my trucks GCVW and about 100lbs over my rear axle rating. I never had any tire problems towing that trailer with the OEM Conti tires or the Toyo tires I put on after wearing out the Conti's.

I get about 30,000 miles per set of tires. My truck works hard. It has a trailer hooked up almost daily.  Lots of starting and stopping of city driving with  equipment trailers as well as my trips with the horse trailer. Goodyear is one of the very few tire makers that offers any kind of a wear warranty on it's All Terrain tires in that size. (Michelin offers a tread wear on their highway tread, but not their AT tread) I decided that since I had good luck with my Goodyear trailer tires, that since they cost the same as buying a new set of Toyo's, and came with a 50,000 mile wear warrnty, I'd try the Goodyears. I know that making any kind of a tread wear claim, is a pretty tough battle. But went into this with thought that if I got anything back on the tread warranty, I'd be ahead since they cost the same. And if as Goodyear advertised, These Silent Armour Pro Grade tires did wear better than any of my previous tires, That was also a win situation.

The dealer did measure the remaining tread on the bad tire to determine what to charge.  They were about about 60% gone. Which at 16,000 miles means I was on track to wear them out at 28,000 miles. About the same as any of the other brands of tires that I have tried. Since, they have been replaced as Road Hazard, I won't be able to make any wear warranty claims.

I did go on Goodyears website and try to submit a comment on their Contact Us tab. That proved to be unsuccessful.  After 3 tries and receiving  the same error code, I gave up trying. I'll have to see if the tire dealer can give me a Regional contact.

As you can see in the photo, the tire is holding air. When we took it off the rim. The bubble immediately disappeared. So there is no puncture or damage from the outside.  Inspecting the inside also showed no visable damage. As I mentioned this has happened to two tires. One from the passenger side and one from the drivers side. Both were on the rear when the bubble appeared. The second tire had been on the front when the first tire went bad. I had the dealer rotate tires when he replaced the bad tire and it had been on the back for a month before it went bad.

Other than the bubbles and their tread wear. The tires have been great. They are not noisy on the road. had great traction in the snow last winter.

PH

You might want to file a complaint with these folks:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/

I kinda barked at the salesman at the tire store when he told me it was a road hazard, that I must have hit something to fracture the tire carcass. That's when I knew he had no idea what he was talking about. I kinda felt bad about loosing my temper, But they gotta learn, they are better off to just admit they don't know what happened, than to make up stuff.

As far as your "G" rated tires on your trailer. If you are close to your weight limits. Yes I'd just run the tires at 110psi. If you run them at 80psi, You are basically getting the same weight limits as an "E" rated tire.  I suspect the tires will rot out before you wear the tread off.

If you were to cut a cross section of the tire at the bubble, you would find a separation of the radial plies in the sidewall. They have debonded, and you now have an escape of air into the outer rubber sidewall coating.

I'm sure you know what a road hazzard is, and how it usually concerns the thread. A damage to the sidewall would involve a cut, tear or puncture, and would leave some indication of damage, which you have none. The sidewalls usually don't suffer from an impact, usually the damage is a tearing or scraping caused bt the tire's rotation. The lettering shows no indication of this.

If that is road hazzard damage, my father is the pope. Whatever smoke the sales person was blowing, wasn't legal in any state.