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Motor31 · 11-23-2007, 10:47 AM

At the HDT rally a tire rep gave a talk and he answered some pointed questions about tires. To his credit he didn't flinch a bit about the trailer tire failures either.

He indicated that the older G159's had an issue with separation of the tread at the point where the fabric belts were just under the steel tread belts. They flexed at different rates, built up heat, delaminated then threw the tread. No way to see it happening other than just blind luck in catching it before the tread went.

The 17.5" G614's have a higher number of plies and supposedly didn't suffer the same problem even thought they also have steel and fabric belts. Now they have had a rash of failures and stopped production of them to review the design making them hard to find. Since they are also commercial grade tires and used in heavy industry they are looking very hard at them. I haven't heard anything new since the rally and don't know if the design was changed or production has resumed.

11-23-2007, 10:47 AM	#6
Motor31 Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2,130	At the HDT rally a tire rep gave a talk and he answered some pointed questions about tires. To his credit he didn't flinch a bit about the trailer tire failures either. He indicated that the older G159's had an issue with separation of the tread at the point where the fabric belts were just under the steel tread belts. They flexed at different rates, built up heat, delaminated then threw the tread. No way to see it happening other than just blind luck in catching it before the tread went. The 17.5" G614's have a higher number of plies and supposedly didn't suffer the same problem even thought they also have steel and fabric belts. Now they have had a rash of failures and stopped production of them to review the design making them hard to find. Since they are also commercial grade tires and used in heavy industry they are looking very hard at them. I haven't heard anything new since the rally and don't know if the design was changed or production has resumed. __________________ Mike Nancy and the fuzzies Fulltiming since June 2004 Volvo 660 MH tow vehicle 2005 MS 38RL 2007 Saturn Ion "toad" 2010 Gold Wing "piggyback"