There’s An Alligator In the Road!

Full time RVers Larry and Cheryl Mattingly travel in this nice Alpenlite 5th wheel. Recently they experienced a tire failure on one of their Goodyear RST LT235 / 85R16 tires, load range G. The tread separation caused a good bit of damage on their coach. By the way, for those who may not know, the term “alligator” is CB talk for a large tire tread on the road. This tread not only tore up the 5er skirt, it also ripped a couple holes in the wheel well. Larry said, “The tire was just under 2 years old and had about 12,000 miles on it. Because the tire was still inflated, the dealer was able to verify that the proper pressure of 110 lbs had been used. The tires come new with 12/32 of tread. My remaining 3 tires all measured as having 10/32 of tread remaining.” This turn of events worked in Larry and Cheryl’s favor because Goodyear agreed to pay for repairs to their rig and to replace the tire. Goodyear has a form that you must complete and submit along with supporting documentation of repairs. Larry also had this to say, “Through this process, I have learned that my tires are rated for 65 MPH. This means I can't take advantage of the higher speed limits in some of the states we visit.” Thanks Larry for sharing this information with us because I’m sure many of us didn’t know about the speed limitations on some types of RV tires. We are also encouraged to know that some tire manufacturers will stand behind their products and pick up the pieces. Jim