Question
defective tire
QUESTION: myself and some friends are fulltime RVer's, and we own almost identical '07 upscale 35' 5th wheels.They came from the factory with Powerking Towmasters,ld. range E tires. This year i have had 2 tire failures , cost $10,000 plus lost time and replacement of all tires. My friends have had 5 failures. I recently weighted my RV, it weight 14,000 lbs, max. load from mfg. is 15,970 lbs. Have contacted mfg of RV and tires, they accused us of not maintaining tires. Still have 4 of the Powerking tires, had several tire people look at them, they all say obvious mfg.defect. can you tell us of anything else to do.
ANSWER: Thomas,
The picture you sent me could be from underinflation or indeed be from liner separation.
Please send me a pic of the outside of the tire from both sides. If you have more than one tire please send pics of both the inside and both outsides of the tires.
Send me the DOT's from the tires as well. Record ALL of the numbers from the DOT.
Powerking was once produced by an American owned company under the brand name Hercules. The DOT's will provide this info.
I will see if I can assist you further when I have this data.
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DOT INFO
QUESTION: could only download 1 picture, have several more. Tire Powerking ST235/80R16 10 PR ld. rg.E max ld. at 80 psi 3520lbs. last tire that blewout still held 80 psi when i had it dismounted. can verfy by rv dealer that all tires were correctly inflated. have the tread that separated in one piece, plus several more pix, tell haw to send them to you.
thanks thomas
ANSWER: Thomas,
The DOT the you sent indicates the tire was indeed produced in China during the 22nd week of 2006. I am not sure who uses the "OH" in the DOT but, these two letters indicate who made it and where. Maybe my counterpart here, Barry, can answer that for you. I believe he has the books that contain that info.
From the pic you sent of the DOT I do not see any weather checking around the bead which would indicate fatigue or overloading. From the pic of the inside I can not see any indication of under-Inflation.
From the pics it seems as though you have a legitimate claim however, without actually seeing the tires it is hard to say for sure. Contact Barry or a dealer that has the "Who made it & Where" books. Once you have this data you should be able able to contact their public relations Dept.
This is the best I can do given the facts.
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QUESTION: I CONTACTED PRODUCT LIABILITY FOR POWERKING IN MAY, WAS ASSURED THEY WOULD REIMBURSE ME FOR EXPENSES. SENT THEM THE TIRE THAT STILL HELD AIR AFTER BLOWOUT, THEY SAID THEY COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE TIRE BUT IF I SIGNED A WAIVER FOR ANY DAMAGES THEY WOULD REPLACE THE 1 TIRE. I REFUSED
AnswerThomas,
That was a wise choice refusing their offer. For the most part the tires that are built in China don't cause any more problems than those built here in the states. ALL tires that are sold here in the States have to meet DOT requirements. But, when there is a problem it's difficult to get them to make the proper adjustments, this goes for the French built tires as well.
We have to stand up to them !! This will probably have to go to small claims court.
