Tires

[John Dorrer]

Brand new owner discovered Chinese made tires on his new trailer. Castle Rock Tires. Oliver has stated they are installing Goodyear Endurance 15", 10-ply "E" Rated tires.

 

So how does a Chinese tire end up on a brand new Oliver trailer?  Chinese tires have resulted in hundreds of blowouts on stick built trailers where everything is cheap.

 

This is strange. I told him he needed to reach out to Oliver asap.

 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by John Dorrer
Typo

[Tom and Doreen]

Hmmm.....I wonder if his trailer was bought from a dealer or he possibly bought it from a private owner. 

[John Dorrer]

20 minutes ago, Tom and Doreen said:

Hmmm.....I wonder if his trailer was bought from a dealer or he possibly bought it from a private owner. 

Brand new trailer picked up last week, but don't know it was a Dealer or Hoenwald.

[Steph and Dud B]

It's possible a dealer swapped the tires out. I've heard of dealers doing that sort of thing. Example: The sale of some other brand trailer they have on the lot is held up because the customer doesn't want the Castle Rock tires. There's the unsold Oliver over there with brand new Goodyears in the same size. Problem solved! 

[John Dorrer]

Apparently, Oliver has now switched to the Chinese Tires. This has been confirmed by a reliable source.🙃

[CRM]

1 hour ago, John Dorrer said:

Apparently, Oliver has now switched to the Chinese Tires. This has been confirmed by a reliable source.🙃

Best built camper in the market... riding on Chinese steel springs and Chinese tires? .  

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

Apparently, Oliver has now switched to the Chinese Tires. This has been confirmed by a reliable source.🙃

Wow! Really? Can this be true?

Six years ago, I purchased an old 12’ flatbed trailer to haul our dirt bikes and SxS. Dexter tandem axle 7K, same suspension as OEM Oliver. I planned to restore it, new wiring, lights, paint frame, new flooring, add brakes to the rear axle, etc.

OMG, It had China tires! I quickly purchased a set of the US made Goodyear Endurance ST tires. Listed the old tires on Craig’s. Sold the set for $100 because I didn’t want to take any more money from anybody. I explained twice to the new owner, these are not safe for highway use! He was OK in using them for a landscape trailer.

John, please explain to your friend he needs to buy new tires! Anybody taking possession of a new Oliver, let OTT know you’ll not accept delivery with those cheap tires! 🙃

Glad most of us have 16” rims with LT tires mounted! 

Edited yesterday at 12:12 AM by jd1923

[Steph and Dud B]

2 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

Apparently, Oliver has now switched to the Chinese Tires. This has been confirmed by a reliable source.

Please tell me you're kidding.

[John Dorrer]

2 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

Please tell me you're kidding.

Nope, and these tires are on a list of "China Bomb Tires", thinner sidewalls, tread delamination, and blowouts

 

[Steph and Dud B]

10 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

these tires are on a list of "China Bomb Tires"

Yes, they are. There's a long history of people reporting sudden, catastrophic failures of Castle Rock tires. One of our previous trailers came with them and we replaced them before our first trip. I advise anyone who gets an Oliver wearing Castle Rock tires to replace them immediately with a quality trailer tire like Goodyear Endurance. We also had very good luck with Maxxis M8008 ST tires. Ran those on two or our trailers for years and many miles after Goodyear started having problems with their Marathon trailer tires (which they later replaced with the improved Endurance).

[Tom and Doreen]

15 hours ago, jd1923 said:

 

John, please explain to your friend he needs to buy new tires! 

 

....And springs!! 

[srthomsen]

Shades of Sephen King. Will these tires become a sequel to Christine?

[CRM]

23 minutes ago, Tom and Doreen said:

....And springs!! 

Since they're putting Alcan's on the new X23 models, maybe they'll offer that same upgrade to anyone ordering a standard model? 

[jd1923]

I watched the OTT video on the 2027 model. It turned my stomach in disappointment. Can't stand the BLACK framed windows that look like eyesores to the interior. But worse than that...

What educated buyer cares about fancy options when the basics are substandard? OTT is making design changes in their Hohenwald bubble when all they need to do is read a few threads on the forum they provide!

It is a lot of reading, but OTT Management please start by reading the 37-page thread "Made in USA Leaf Springs." Dexter 1750 LB springs have been failing forever and they still mount them? Ten years ago, they mounted Michelin LT Agilis tires on 16" HD rims, now you get ST tires on 15" rims, and more recently some China Cr@p tires? 🤣

They should lose OPTIFUSE breakers and source something with quality. Lose Xantrex over the much-preferred Victron products.

I'll give them one good choice in dropping Truma!

All Jason talked about was the solar awning, made by another manufacturer, just bolted on by OTT. He said it works better in the morning, facing the sun, but then I'd have to get my tired butt up and out to erect it. You'd also have to think about sun direction when parking in addition to leveling! What if the level spot has no sun exposure in that direction? We've only used our awning 5-6 times in 3 years. They could put 600W solar on the roof with a directional mechanism. Now that would be useful!

Why after 10+ years are they still mounting switches, fuses, breakers and water valves under the beds. I fixed all that after the fact, but it would be better if they would do the right things from the start! 😎

Why are there over 40K posts in the Mechanical & Technical Tips and Ollie Modifications forums alone? Better design would lead to less need for maintenance and modification of our hulls.

Edited 8 hours ago by jd1923

[jd1923]

Sorry for being so negative. We truly love our Oliver. China tires on an Oliver really got me.

[ScottyGS]

46 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

Sorry for being so negative. We truly love our Oliver. China tires on an Oliver really got me.

Some things need to be said.   I am no tire expert but I can see at most a $500 savings per trailer using these tires.  Offset that with the negative publicity, and now having to manage customers who order a new trailer and specify what brand of tire will be on it....  I don't see the benefit.   The money does not move the profit margin needle all that much.  Plus... how can you boast of a "Best in Class" trailer and put these tires on it. 

Unless I am mistaken, Oliver sells every trailer it can make in a given production year.  Maintaining a healthy profit margin is important but at what cost?   To my knowledge there was no official communication on the spring failure issue.   Huge miss.   There are other things too.  

Oliver has built not only a wonderful trailer but has "over the top" brand loyalty from it's products owners.   I feel that sometimes we are reluctant to discuss the companies shortfalls.  Maybe that is a mistake.  Maybe Oliver is not getting the feedback it needs to hear because we are loyal owners.   Even now I am thinking... should I hit "submit reply" or not.  

How does a company with such awesome brand loyalty loose it?   Gradually.... and then all at once.   

I hope not.  

[FloraFauna]

1 hour ago, jd1923 said:

China tires on an Oliver really got me.

Not all Chinese tires are created equal.  On my flat bed trailer (17,000 lbs gvwr) I have a Chinese brand with a good reputation and in that particular size and load rating, thats about all you can get.  But the China bomb tires are real thing and careful, thorough research is essential.   If the new Oliver tires are on that bomb list, it would really be a sad day.   Basically i would not take the trailer off the lot until a swap was made.