My GYM Purchase. $$ Adj. & Valve Stem, The Epilogue

[GCinSC2]

I recently purchased 4 GYM's, the previous thread described an in-route near disaster and the details are available on Airforums. I wanted to offer the hopefully final chapter.

After getting home sucessfully and reading in greater detail the horror stories and near misses with GYM tires, I decided to write a letter to the retailer and GY Coprorate in Akron. No harsh words, just the best facts that I could line up, a copy of my previous thread and several links to other GYM failures here on Airforums, but no threats, just a request for consideration for an adjustment as I did not see anything in the GYM warranty policy that precluded consideration for adjustment. Two additional facts, I no longer had the failed tires and this was submitted after the sale was completed.

Within days I rec'd a call from my retailer saleman, basically, sir we are communicating with GY and if they will not do something, we will. OK, that's a nice start.

Days later, sir GY will not do anything. I wasn't suprized. The retailer most likely has a stringent inspection procedure with paperwork to follow in order to qualify for an adjustment, this was not offered at the time of the sale and I didn't think to ask.

We did reach a refund amount value and I just rec'd my credit card credit slip and an adjustment invoice from the retailer along with a kind apology. No harsh words spoken on either side, we can move forward.

But wait.

If you read my original thread, I had 3 installed on the camping trip and 1 tire was to be changed later at a local store of the same chain, no problem.

I needed to hook up in order to take it back to my dealer for the brake actuator recall inspection. But during my pretrip tire PSI check, I noticed something different about the fourth tire mount and a call to the local tire shop that installed it confirmed my suspicion. On the phone the next day back to my original tire sales man, remember me? YES, well I just found out that my 4th tire was installed using a LOW PRESSURE VALVE STEM. Several more words were spoken. Now I don't have all of the technical numbers on this but if they were built with HIGH pressure stems and run 65psi, don't substitute. I removed the tire prior to running it even 1/10 of a mile and got the stem exchanged yesterday at N/C. The low pressure stem did not have the same visible brass tube section, but rather had a chrome sleeve. Other designs may exist, I don't know.

Bottom line. A well phrased polite letter along with the potential power of an owners based forum got me a nice refund, but we still need to maintain our how should we phrase it, observation of others and our own attention to detail.

And a thanks to those who have already shared their experiences with tire issues because without your taking the time to write about it here which increased my efforts at inspecting my tires, no telling how this thread might have turned out.

[2airishuman]

i'm a bit confused by these 2 threads ...

Originally Posted by GCinSC2

I recently purchased 4 GYM's, the previous thread described an in-route near disaster...

is THIS the thread with a "near disaster" ?

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...ter-65178.html

wherein rampant bulges are described?

there are no pictures other than a side shot that looks like NORMAL tires.

is THAT the picture of the supposedly defective tires? (or are those the NEW/replacement tires?)

on closer inspection LINEAR undulations can be seen....



are those 3 red boxes some of the "rampant" bulging observed?
___________

were the tires INSPECTED by a gy rep or tire shop pro?
___________

linear sidewall undulations (protrusions or indents ) are NORMAL.

they are a result of material ends/overlaps and normal construction.

a clue to these being a part of normal construction is location

(notice in the R tire, the indent/protrusion are ACROSS from each other)

but seem more obvious on gyms because the sidewalls are tallnSUPPLE and because of the higher pressures.

and from gy tire tech...



there are several dozen threads here discussing and CLARIFYING normal vs defective lumps on tires.

folks who are interested OR WORRIED should read those threads or DIG a little for the info...

and take the tires to a qualified SHOP for inspection.
__________

valve stems...

while many here use or promote FULL METAL tires stems,

not all full metal stems are HIGH PRESSURE...this depends on the stem CORE/spring.

there are high pressures stems that appear to be RUBBER but are all brass inside.

these snap IN from the inner side vs the "full metal" looking stems that have nuts/washers to snug them down.

almost all E rated tires/stems used on ford trucks (until tpms was mandated) have HIGH PRESSURE stems...

but they are rubber exteriors, snap in and may not be ideal with external tire pressure sensors.
__________

a/s used FULL METAL/high pressure valve stems on all the alcoa equipped classics up till ~2006

that is when they went BACK to rubber stems on the newer/current classic wheels and all of the other a/s models.

cheers
2air'

[Shacksman]

As someone else has said, with all their problems documented on the forums "why would anyone buy Goodyear Marathon tires"?

[GCinSC2]

2air,

Good morning.

The thread you copied is my reference thread.

Quoted from original thread:
"The picture with the new tires is in my driveway, trailer is not level and the opposite side is actually on jacks,"

I didn't take any pic's of the failed tires in the same pose because my focus at the time was get it fixed, it was the begining of a holiday weekend and I had a major chore ahead of me. The tire project in camp took all day to fix, I did all of the wrench work.

The home made compression chocks in the pic are fitting as I made them, but with the failed tires the 12" X 1/2" carriage bolt would not extend thru the 4X4 wedges.

I explained my tire problem to my salesman, he personaly took the tires to the tire techs, that was their oppourtunity to inspect. We also discussed the problem during the invoicing, he was aware of my situation and I asked why.

The tread was seperating or please use the correct tire term, but the circumfrence was much larger, it was easy to feel and see the tread bulges. The tires did not blow or damage the AS. Someone has a GYM thread with a side by side pic that shows just what my tires looked like, the failed tire is taller side by side and the tread is not flat across, but cups out, bulging. None of my observations were related to sidewall bulging, I have seen that for many years on tires.

[GCinSC2]

Originally Posted by Shacksman

As someone else has said, with all their problems documented on the forums "why would anyone buy Goodyear Marathon tires"?

That may be a good point, but circumstances often direct decisions that may be different than from an ideal situation.

I'm not going to put a GYM bumpersticker on my rig, I'm stuck for the immediate future.

The purpose of any of us taking the time to type this stuff up should be to help someone else and share our fun experiences.

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by GCinSC2

...The tread was seperating or please use the correct tire term, but the circumfrence was much larger, it was easy to feel and see the tread bulges. The tires did not blow or damage the AS. Someone has a GYM thread with a side by side pic that shows just what my tires looked like, the failed tire is taller side by side and the tread is not flat across, but cups out, bulging. None of my observations were related to sidewall bulging, I have seen that for many years on tires.

gotcha, that's much clearer...

the pictures are of the NEW TIRES.

gy has replaced/prorated some gyms with defects, and belt separation IS a defect...

unless it's determined to be from abuse of some sort.

so the tire shop wouldn't agree to replacement or prorated pricing on new tires?

THAT would have been worth kicking up to the company/corp level perhaps.

i did get a questionably defective gym (the oem spare) replaced

and the shop charged me 25 cents (the disposal fee) but not all gy shops will support the product this way.

cheers
2air'

[GCinSC2]

2air,

Nothing was offered or mentioned as warranty, prorated or policy adjustment at the time of sale. It was like welcome to short term tire life at your expense, have a nice day.

I wrote the letter to the retailer's corporate office and GY HQ and I did get a refund from the retailer, not GY HQ. Was it more or less than if I raised a stink at the time of purchase? unknown. But I got something.

When we bought the AS it came with a large AS case with what seemed like a hunderd different manuals, diagrams and the like. All of the systems need understanding or extra deep pockets. I'm trying to choose understanding and dilligence. The current issues now include a hopefully repaired compression seal on the slide, which put some water on the carpet when closed, no it wasn't runoff while closing, a Dometic that ain't quite as cold (lower, not freezer section) as the USDA (IIRC) guidelines and my brake actuator recall. Unsure what the outcomes are to be, my dealer is working with me and assisting.

Please we all need to remember, new members are on a learning curve, sure many have been there done that and WORE OUT the T-Shirt that us new guys are learning about. I just got my 1st real Airstream Old Guys Rule T-Shirt. I participate on a pick up forum quite a bit and guys still buy a new to them truck and their first thread is WHAT KINDA OIL SHOULD I USE? for the guru's its been discussed to the Nth degree, but someone is still learning.

[Splitrock]

When I bought tires I had three choices of stems: standard rubber stem, high pressure, and all metal. I chose all metal. Typically my trailer tires get replaced due to age from sitting. I don't drive a lot of miles. I live in the best house on the prettiest lot in the world. Any place I travel to is a step down in quality of life.