Tyres

Sept 2000   

A story of four caravan tyres.

We started our recent last trip with four new Dunlop Adventurer tyres. (This tyre type was fitted as original equipment by the caravan manufacturer)
They were 195R14 8 ply with a load rating of 950 Kg @ 60psi.  The load on the wheels is 1650 Kg or 825 Kg per wheel and inflated as per Dunlop specifications.
Road speed never exceeded 100 Kph, and maximum was typically 90 Kph.

The adjacent photo was taken 900 Km into the trip. The tyre, whilst still inflated, has shed all tread from the entire circumference.
After what I thought was a disappointing response from the manufacturers who simply referred me to Beaurepairs, the tyre was replaced by a sympathetic manager in central NSW with a Dunlop LT5.   LT5s were $35 odd cheaper than the Adventurers but we were grateful to be mobile again.

The second incident was an exact duplication of the first only 1700 Km into the trip. 
Unfortunately this time there was no sympathetic Beaurepairs manager to do the 'right thing', so, still thinking Dunlop were a good choice at that stage and after purchasing another LT5, at full retail price, we were on our way again.

The third incident 3800 Km into the trip and after checking the tyres several times a day since the second failure, I noticed a bulbous looking tread on one of the remaining Adventurers.
The photo below clearly shows the difference between the good tyre and the delaminated one.  They are both inflated to 55psi.  (Believe it or not, these are otherwise absolutely identical Dunlop Adventurer 195R14 tyres.)
At that point the two Adventurers came off and the two LT5 went on in their place.

We finished the trip without further problems, although with only one spare tyre.   Attempts to get an exchange tyre at various Dunlop outlets along the way were fruitless.   At this stage I decided I had purchased my last Dunlop.   I was determined to have the matter resolved without incurring further financial loss.
After all, these tyres were still new and there was no suggestion that they had been mistreated in any way so why should I be out-of-pocket.

Upon returning home I looked up Dunlop's web site and via their feedback feature politely explained my desire to contact them via e-mail (so I could send them these photos) and enquire how they wished to proceed with the matter.   In the months that followed, they failed to respond to every request I made for an e-mail contact or 1800 contact phone number.

Quite by chance while having a set of BF Goodrich tyres fitted to our  Holden Jackaroo at a Bob Jane Tmart, they offered to replace both Adventurers with Michelin tyres, and later did so for only the difference in the new tyre price.  (Adventurers were $148 and Michelin $160)
The wear rate was so low that were judged as new, so full replacement was in order.
The Bob Jane Tmart branch is in Beenleigh Qld, and this is not the first time their good service has stood out from the rest.

We had started out with four new Dunlop Adventurers and returned home with only one, and that was a spare for the last half of the trip.

The tyres were not punctured or staked, they didn't even deflate, the tread simply detached from the tyre.
They were not even tyres from the same manufacturing batch.   This was pointed out to me by the only Dunlop dealer that did help us out without trying to profit from our predicament, when our first problem occurred.

Why did three out of four fail in the same manner?  I don't know, I was unable to find out, Dunlop never replied to my emails. 

We are now traveling on two new Michelin XCD tyres with two Dunlop LT5 as spares only. 

What's to be learned from this ?    Buy the best you can afford but just as importantly from someone that will support you if something goes wrong.

I believe it makes good sense to deal with an Australia wide tyre retailer when you will be traveling, and I have found the Bob Jane Tmart organisation to be an ideal choice.
They seem to have a good range of products at good prices and provide excellent competent service.
Most importantly, they seem to back up what they sell, and in our case what someone else sold us.   (The Adventurers were not purchased at a Bob Jane Tmart outlet.)


Update (18 months later - June 02)

Eighteen months and 18,000 Km later, the Michelin XCD still look like new (as they should) with not so much as a puncture despite some of the rough and often stony tracks we traveled.

Likewise our new BF Goodrich all terrain light truck tyres fitted to our Jackaroo just before our last trip were faultless, a tough tyre with excellent grip off road yet quiet and comfortable on the highway.

This is in marked contrast to last years trip in probably less demanding circumstances where we lost three tyres on the caravan - as described above - and two on the Jackaroo.

I am very impressed with both these products.


Further Updates 

Aug 04
It's now almost four years since fitting the Michelin XCD to our caravan and BF Goodrich to the Jackaroo and they are all still going strong, not a puncture between them.
The Michelins still look almost new and the BF Goodrich tyres have covered 45,000 Km and still have just over 60% tread.

July 05
It's now almost five years since fitting the Michelin XCD to our caravan and BF Goodrich to the Jackaroo and they are all still going strong, and still not a puncture between them.
The Michelins still look almost new and the BFG tyres have now covered 58,000 Km and still have approximately 40% usable tread (assuming 1.6mm is the minimum legal tread depth).

Jan 07
Still have the same tyres on both caravan (53,000 Km) and Jackaroo (79,000 Km) and have not had a single problem with any of them despite some rough off road tracks.
The BFG have still got some life in them yet (with only some minor chipping of the edge of the tread) and the XCDs on the caravan look almost new.

My conclusion, expensive tyres are a lot cheaper than cheap tyres.  In particular, vehicles that leave the bitumen need light truck rated tyres and in the case of 4wds, not the lightweight 2 ply tyres with which most are originally fitted.
In my case, the BFG cost me just over $1100, about $200 more than if I bought original spec tyres.  I estimate taking into account difference in tyre wear and extrapolating the attrition rate I experienced with the previous original 2 ply tyres, to this date it would have cost me $3600 to have kept replacing with original spec tyre.

Moral of the story for me, don't buy inferior or inappropriate tyres (or anything else for that matter), it's too expensive.   Buy what is appropriate for the job not what you hope might be good enough and take advice from people who have been there, done that.

And
just in case you are interested, below is a speed and load rating table, but as I have said elsewhere, if this info is important to you, check with other sources, it may contain errors.

(My BFG 245/70 R16 AT's are rated 113S which equates to  180KPH & 1150 Kg
and the Michelin 195R14 XCD are rated 106P, 150KPH & 950Kg)