Westlake Tires any Good

[Timbo57]

I read in a forum that they are not a good tire. Does anyone know? I have read good and bad reviews but have no personal knowledge. As a newbie don't want to take a chance on a blowout. Any and all opinions would be appreciated.

[Country Campers]

Plenty do not have any problems with the Westlake tires. Issues with tires can result from overloading, not maintaining proper tire pressures , driving too fast , and others I am sure. A lot of the issues you read about may be caused by not having the correct weight range tire on the unit. I will not say that you will not have any troubles, if you are just a weekender you should be fine, if you will be traveling around the country you should be fine but may want to make a change. You will have to make this decision yourself.

Brian

[TucsonJim]

I had bad luck with them. A tread detached from the tire carcass and did significant damage to the RV. The tire was still fully inflated after it came apart.

[Cate&Rob]

As a counter point, we travelled 3 years and over 11,000 miles on our original Westlakes. I replaced them because they were 3 years old . . . not because they showed any signs of problems . . . inside or out. See attached picture of removed Westlakes. In fact, the tire shop guy said . . . if you don't mind me asking . . . why are you doing this ? I sold the removed Westlakes in a blink.

Timbo57 . . . you don't mention what you are towing or where. These are important considerations. Smaller trailers in other than the southwest, seem to do better on Westlakes. Most of the current RV industry (any manufacturer) are riding on Westlakes.

Rob

[howson]

I read in a forum that they are not a good tire. Does anyone know? I have read good and bad reviews but have no personal knowledge. As a newbie don't want to take a chance on a blowout. Any and all opinions would be appreciated.

An article I found informative on why tires fail is here: http://www.rvtiresafety.net/search/label/Speed%20Rating

A few quotes from the article that I think are especially important (in no special order):

Tire failures usually occur because of cumulative internal structural damage from heat and time. The excess heat comes from the combination of speed/inflation/load.

...tires can tolerate a certain level of abuse be it over-load, under inflation or over speed. But every minute a tire is operating outside its design capacity the driver is consuming large portions of the tire life and the tire will eventually fail. Sometimes in a catastrophic manner.

When that happens all to often the driver says "I was just driving 50 mph down the road and had checked the air that morning when the tire blew out. must have been a defective tire". In reality it was the driver's conscious decision to ignore the specifications for the tire be it load, inflation or speed and many miles of improper operation finally caught up with the driver.

The point is ANY brand tire can fail if it is abused. The takeaways are 1) know your tire pressures and check them religiously, 3) keep your speed under the maximum speed rating of the tire and 3) know your (trailer) weight.

-Howard

P.S. For the record, I changed my (seemingly perfectly good) Westlakes for Goodyear Endurances after only 3K miles. The reason? I could so I did. The guy that bought my Westlakes for his dump trailer was thrilled.

[CloseToRetirement]

Like Rob (Cate&Rob) I had pretty good luck with my Westlakes. A little over 10,000 miles and 3 years until I found the street side rear flat in the storage lot after it's winter hibernation. My maintenance schedule on tires is 15,000 miles or 3 years, whichever comes first. The Westlakes were scheduled to be replace in that coming camping season but rather than replace one, I jumped at replacing all with Sailun S637 before the camping season started.

Other than the flat over the winter, I always found my Westlakes losing 40psi over the winter. Didn't think twice about it until my Sailuns went through their first winter hibernation. My pressure check in the spring and the tires had not lost 1psi over the 6 months of hibernation at the storage lot.

My Sailun's took an automotive screw just west of Cleveland on I90 the first year I put them in service. I didn't experience a blowout just a fast leak with plenty of time to get to the shoulder. I suspect the Westlakes would have blown and done some damage to the coach.

Lyle

[motocamper]

I've towed 3k with them. But I plan on some sailuns in spring.

[Guest]

I sold my D rated Westlakes after two seasons and 2K miles with no issues. Though I did not see many issues with D rated tires I had noticed a great deal of failures on the E rated versions. May have been an application issue. I purchased E rated Goodyear Endurance tires and inflated them based on load. At the same pressure, each tire has around 400lbs of increased load capacity. These tires have been on the market now for around three years and I cannot find an incident of failure on the internet in regard to this brand.

[TNFSolitude]

I travelled on 2 sets of Westlakes with absolutely no problems. When it came time for new tires again last fall I priced them and ended up with Sailuns, primarily because they were cheaper (although they are a very highly rated tire). As pointed out by others you can hit a curb, pothole or other obstacle and be good for 1000 miles. Then when it does pop you don't remember the previous incident, but the tire did and was continuously degrading on the inside. Good luck going forward and enjoy your camper.

[TucsonJim]

I sold my D rated Westlakes after two seasons and 2K miles. Though I did not see many issues with D rated tires I had noticed a great deal of failures on the E rated versions. May have been an application issue. I purchased E rated Goodyear Endurance tires and inflated them based on load. At the same pressure, each tire has around 400lbs of increased load capacity. These tires have been on the market now for around three years and I cannot find an incident of failure on the internet in regard to this brand.

I had my first Endurance failure this last week. We were less than 10 miles into a several thousand mile trip and one of the Endurance tires was punctured by a bolt. Of course, you can't blame the tire for a road hazard, but this shows they aren't bullet (bolt) proof. Fortunately, Discount Tire replaced the tire at no charge, and we were back on the road in less than an hour. My TST TPMS flagged the defect before the tire went flat.

Jim

[Guest]

Jim,

Glad you did not have any damage to your rig. Yes any tire can be damaged by road debris, and any tire can be abused. From what I'm seeing, the endurance tire is exhibiting a better track record where no tread shedding has been reported that I can find. TPMS is also a key accessory as well.

Jim

[Rivercityjeff]

Put 9,000 miles on our Westlakes in 2 years. Proper inflation and limited speed...no issues. Sold the old set on Craigslist to a guy with a utility trailer.

The heavier GY Endurance with stiffer side walls greatly reduced "truck suck." Had I known, I would have changed tires much sooner.

[VinceB]

After my bent axle issue (GD Customer service was great), I replaced my Westlakes with GY Endurance and really noticed the difference. This is a much more stable ride

[FatTire]

I've towed 3k with them. But I plan on some sailuns in spring.

I'm trying to decide between the Sailuns or Endurance. What is the cold inflation psi on the Sailun?

[howson]

Apparently Sailun no longer posts a tire inflation chart. If you google "sailun tire pressure chart" you'll find many old copies posted on various forums. Use at your own discretion--the charts are not current. (That's why I didn't post a copy here.)

[motocamper]

I'm trying to decide between the Sailuns or Endurance. What is the cold inflation psi on the Sailun?

The G rated Sailuns are 110 psi. I put some on my last toyhauler to replace the GY 614's. They seemed to be built just as well. They are a heavy all steel sidewall commercial tire.