Motorhome tyre load rating and insurance claim knockbacks?
Hihosilver1953 said
07:19 PM Dec 9, 2012
We recently had a memorable first road trip in our 'new' preowned, Jayco Conquest from Brisbane to Melbourne and return.
At Narrabri I asked a truckie to take a look at the right rear tyre. He said get it replaced asap as it was out of round and destroying itself. $340 later we had the only suitable light truck tyre the local dealer said he had. As we near Brisbane ten days later the RV starts to again shake as the left rear implodes. We got home but only just. My local tyre dealer then says all the tyres were rated at 115/112 whereas Fiat specified a load limit of 116/114. They said the tyres, which had done just 26,000k's before imploding, should (a) never have been fitted in the first place and (b) that insurers could have voided any damages/accident claim because the tyres were not the correct load rating.
All I could see was a small split on the left rear tyre outer wall. The inner side was a shocker though.
Has anyone here ever had or heard of any insurer knock back a claim because of wrongly rated tyres?
Of course an insurance company will refuse to pay for damages caused by operating an unsafe vehicle, however insurance is a secondary consideration after putting yourself and other road users at risk. You should also check what the actual weight of the vehicle is.
Cheers, Peter
biggles said
08:41 PM Dec 9, 2012
.. and if your Fiat is a Fiat Ducato as mine is .. and a pic shows feathering of an edge to a rear tyre, it would be also a good idea to check the allignment of the rear "swing" axle as they are known to wander .. mine was found to be 6 degrees out and so scrubbed the tyres .. no longer a problem since rectified !
Jon
Yuglamron said
08:46 PM Dec 9, 2012
The whole episode raises a few questions.Glad no one was injured and no other damage occurred.
Who was responsible for fitting the tyres,and it then raises the question if it was tyre dealer does he become liable for fitting incorrect tyres.
You would expect if you go to a reputable tyre dealer they would fit the appropriate tyres to the vehicle. Yes ultimately the owner is responsible but you go to a tyre dealer and employ them for their expertise and knowledge.
"Breach of contract and duty of care"?
Hihosilver1953 said
09:33 PM Dec 9, 2012
Jon , thanks for the tip I will get the alignment checked out as I wait on the last of the new set of rubber to arrive.
We are complete newbies to touring and this was our first and so far only trip. All tyres were in excellent nick and showed massive amounts of tread. Both rear tyres looked new as you can see from the image.
I only realised later the danger I put us in by continuing to drive on an out of round tyre. We came back via Cunninghams Gap (for the first time) and could have wiped out coming down the Range. The vibration only became noticeable as we were driving into Brisbane. I didn't stop and put the spare on because I hadn't done it before (still haven't) and didn't want to try on what was a bloody 'hot n humid' Brisbane day.
Any other Jayco Conquest tips?
PeterInSa said
11:40 PM Dec 9, 2012
If I owned a Fiat based campervan/motorhome I would join this Forum:
http://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/
Peter
Duh said
09:09 PM Dec 15, 2012
Just out of interest, I know they hadn't done many km's, but how old were the tyres?
Hihosilver1953 said
04:19 AM Dec 20, 2012
The tyres were bought new in 2010. I had alook but couldn't see the manufacture date but presume 09
We recently had a memorable first road trip in our 'new' preowned, Jayco Conquest from Brisbane to Melbourne and return.
At Narrabri I asked a truckie to take a look at the right rear tyre. He said get it replaced asap as it was out of round and destroying itself. $340 later we had the only suitable light truck tyre the local dealer said he had. As we near Brisbane ten days later the RV starts to again shake as the left rear implodes. We got home but only just. My local tyre dealer then says all the tyres were rated at 115/112 whereas Fiat specified a load limit of 116/114. They said the tyres, which had done just 26,000k's before imploding, should (a) never have been fitted in the first place and (b) that insurers could have voided any damages/accident claim because the tyres were not the correct load rating.
All I could see was a small split on the left rear tyre outer wall. The inner side was a shocker though.
Has anyone here ever had or heard of any insurer knock back a claim because of wrongly rated tyres?
Hihosilver
You should also check what the actual weight of the vehicle is.
Cheers,
Peter
.. and if your Fiat is a Fiat Ducato as mine is .. and a pic shows feathering of an edge to a rear tyre, it would be also a good idea to check the allignment of the rear "swing" axle as they are known to wander .. mine was found to be 6 degrees out and so scrubbed the tyres .. no longer a problem since rectified !
Jon
The whole episode raises a few questions.Glad no one was injured and no other damage occurred.
Who was responsible for fitting the tyres,and it then raises the question if it was tyre dealer does he become liable for fitting incorrect tyres.
You would expect if you go to a reputable tyre dealer they would fit the appropriate tyres to the vehicle. Yes ultimately the owner is responsible but you go to a tyre dealer and employ them for their expertise and knowledge.
"Breach of contract and duty of care"?
We are complete newbies to touring and this was our first and so far only trip. All tyres were in excellent nick and showed massive amounts of tread. Both rear tyres looked new as you can see from the image.
I only realised later the danger I put us in by continuing to drive on an out of round tyre. We came back via Cunninghams Gap (for the first time) and could have wiped out coming down the Range. The vibration only became noticeable as we were driving into Brisbane. I didn't stop and put the spare on because I hadn't done it before (still haven't) and didn't want to try on what was a bloody 'hot n humid' Brisbane day.
Any other Jayco Conquest tips?
http://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/
Peter
Just out of interest, I know they hadn't done many km's, but how old were the tyres?