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Old 07-15-2012, 07:56 PM   #21
bbishop3
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

Our Visa 19ERD is at the dealers right now getting tires replaced (2nd set in 15 months, less than 2k miles on this set) Our dealer has been great - Newby's in McMinnville, TN. We are seriously considering trading in for a gulfbreeze sport. Anyone have any comments on that GS model?
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Old 07-16-2012, 02:42 PM   #22
ken white
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

Quote:
Originally Posted by bbishop3
Our Visa 19ERD is at the dealers right now getting tires replaced (2nd set in 15 months, less than 2k miles on this set) Our dealer has been great - Newby's in McMinnville, TN. We are seriously considering trading in for a gulfbreeze sport. Anyone have any comments on that GS model?
Why would you purchase another GS product unless GS is giving you a great deal on the trade...
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Old 07-16-2012, 06:53 PM   #23
bbishop3
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

yes they are giving us a great deal, but also our first TT was a little Amerilite, and we had no trouble out of it; I think it is possible the Visa was rushed out to production to fill the market demand for ultra lite weight units (and it is cute) but we (Visa owners) have suffered as a result. Not real happy to read the lack of response by GS to what appears to be a widespread and well documented problem with the axle/tires, but with our dealer we could not ask for better service.
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Old 07-17-2012, 05:17 AM   #24
ken white
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

Glad they helped you out. I had major issues with my 5th Wheel, see my service thread, and they deal they proposed to get me out of my camper and into a new camper turned out to be quite different once we signed the papers. I hope things work out for you.

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Old 07-17-2012, 12:36 PM   #25
elmerfud
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

Well, the tire wear did not go away after Gulfstream replaced everything under the trailer on my 19 RGU. Both tires are starting to wear after only 450 miles. You can visibly see that the wheels have negative camber. I sent pictures of the wear and the bending up of the torsion axle as it comes out of the tube. I have decided to replace everything with Dexter components with a 3,600-6,000 lb rating. I took my trailer to a truck stop and weighed it both wet, dry and empty (all my stuff out.). According to the CAT scale value the trailer is about 500 lbs heaver than Gulfstream states and the Lippert 3,500 axle is over rated. This results in a grossly over loaded axle. My plan is to get Gulfstream to buy back the defective and under engineered equipment. Will let you all know.
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Old 07-30-2012, 11:54 AM   #26
CaptRon
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

OK so you guys have me concerned about premature tire wear (which is the lesser of premature events) so I started measuring my tires.

On the Passenger Side after an estimated 200 miles the tread depth measured .208 on the inside edge and .208 on the outside edge
On the Driver's Side after an estimated 50 miles the tread depth measured .213 on the inside edge and .214 on the outside edge

The mileage difference is because the Driver's side tire was replaced (by the dealer under warranty) due to sidewall cracking (dry rot?) after about 50 miles. Also the Passenger's Side tire is marked TrailAmerica and does not have a date suffix on the DOT number, The Driver's Side Tire is labeled TrailAmerica II and has a DOT Date suffix of 0911 which I think means that the 9th day of 2011 is when this tire was made. I also measured the spare at .226 Outside Edge and .217 Inside Edge (the spare has never been used and is labeled TrailAmerica and is not dated). I suspect that the tires labeled TrailAmerica are older than the tires labeled TrailAmerica II.

I then took one trip covering about 300 miles round-trip and measured again.

On the Passenger Side the tread depth measured .174 on the inside edge and .196 on the outside edge
On the Driver's Side the tread depth measured .174 on the inside edge and .176 on the outside edge

That seems to me to be excessive wear.

All of these measurements were taken using the same digital caliper at the same time of day. I also measured the spare at .226 Outside Edge and .217 Inside Edge (the spare has never been used and is labeled TrailAmerica and is not dated)

I have three separate certified scale reports showing the trailer axle weight to be well under 3500lbs.

In any case, I estimate that these tires should last for about 1750 miles when the fastest wearing edge will be down to zero tread depth.

I have to say that I'm very disappointed. I'm going to email these results to the Gulfstream service folks and see what they say.

The good news is I have no other premature events to report but then I'm over 65 ...
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Old 08-12-2012, 08:39 PM   #27
jody78
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

i had a similar problem with my 2011 trailmaster, but it turns out that all 4 sets of springs had failed an frame was rubbing the tires. gulf stream was unresponsive on mine and the dealers calls. i went thru extended warraty to get it fixed
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Old 08-17-2012, 12:04 PM   #28
KJR
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

After reading all these reports and Gulfstream's failures to respond to these issues I'm turned off on anything Gulfstream. I hope everyone with issues gets them solved.
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Old 08-19-2012, 06:42 PM   #29
charby
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

I have the same wear after 2000km, and waiting for response under warranty. All tires are bald on inside edge. Trailer is unuseable now as I am not purchasing tires until axle is replaced. This trailer was not overloaded, and has lift kit to pervent tire rubbing which has been reported.
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Old 12-20-2012, 12:11 PM   #30
charby
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

Quote:
Originally Posted by charby
I have the same wear after 2000km, and waiting for response under warranty. All tires are bald on inside edge. Trailer is unuseable now as I am not purchasing tires until axle is replaced. This trailer was not overloaded, and has lift kit to pervent tire rubbing which has been reported.
An update to the tire issue: The trailer was inspected for axle alignment at a Gulfstream dealer, which proved to be out by 1 1/4" between tires. Lippard shipped a new axle, repair kit, and return shipping tags for the original to be inspected at their facility. Gulfstream was excellent in handling the warranty claim, and upgraded the tires to Goodyear Marathons, including the spare, which was also worn after expressing displeasure to Lippards policy of $65 per tire credit. Thus far, I must be in the clear, as no news, is good news. The only bad part was no camping for the month of September.
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Old 10-20-2013, 08:25 AM   #31
tinapetel
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

Quote:
Originally Posted by tinapetel
I am on my 3rd set of tires as reported previously on this forum. On the first set of tires, the dealer replaced the axle and tires on my 19' Visa due to premature wear. Then the factory replaced the inner fender wells after a 2nd set of tires wore out prematurely. I now have over 8500 miles on my 3rd set of tires with even wear across the treads. The treads appear to be about 50% worn which I would guess is some where in the normal wear pattern. I believe my problem has been solved with the installation of the newer style fender wells. My dealer, M's RV in Berlin, VT, was very persistent with the factory in getting this problem resolved
I now have completed 20,000 miles on my 3rd set of tires. The drivers side tire on the trailer started to show wear on the inside at about 12,000 miles. It looks like some sort of rubbing damage. At 20,000 I installed a pair of C205R-14 Kumho Radial 857 D rated tires. These are rated at 2271 lbs each. The original tires are rated at 1760 lbs.
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Old 01-12-2014, 02:59 PM   #32
Marvin
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

We have a 2012 Visa 23RBK and the tires are also wearing due to axel problems. Pulled camper to Texas and and now back home.
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Old 02-22-2014, 11:50 AM   #33
sam75
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

I have a 2010 Visa 19ERD, so I'm living with premature tire wear. I've been measuring my tread depths with a caliper for the last year, and it looks like I'll be replacing the tires when they reach 5000 miles. Since we drive about 2000 a year, we can live with it.
My question is: I've read tinapetal's report that their inner fender wells were also part of the problem and had them replaced. I've looked under my wheel wells and can't see any evidence of rubbing - is there any thing else I can do to make sure the fender wells are OK?
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Old 02-24-2014, 02:57 PM   #34
thphelps
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

I purchased a used 2011 Visa RGU from an individual. It had new tires and the seller said he had the axle aligned, but he didn't replace the tires because of the axle. I thought great! Well during my first trip to Portland Oregon from the Phoenix Az area I noticed the insides of both tires had the inside rib of tread worn smooth. I thought what the H*%#! I always maintain the req. 50# tire pressure and do a hand check for heat on the tires and hubs at every stop.
A little later into the trip I felt the total tread and noticed the outside of each tire felt worn down more than the center. That is an indication of underinflating, so I up my pressure to 60#. I had never weighed the trailer after loading it, so I did at a Pilot and found I was way over on the gross of the trailer. The axe weight alone while hitched to the truck was 3,900 and gross was around 4850 . Oops! After returning home, I called an axle specialist and he said he was the one to align the axle, but the guy had taken the axle off the trailer and brought it to him to align. What? That isn't the way to do it. Anyway, the axle specialist said I should try a quality radial tire first and watch the wear. I completely emptied the trailer and reweighed it and found it was heavier then the specifications said empty. So we weighed everything we put back in the trailer and kept it under the GVWR. So far after around a 1,000 miles on new radial tires, I see no noticeable wear on the inside rib. I hope my over loading it was the culprit and I think it was. We will see as we get more miles on these tires and watch our weight.
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Old 04-16-2014, 07:21 PM   #35
thphelps
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

I had the same experience as depicted in the photos. My problem was bias tires and too much weight. Installed good radials and reduced my weight. To date and 2,400 miles later no problem or inside wear.
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Old 04-30-2014, 01:03 PM   #36
joey1127
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Default Re: Another Visa owner reporting inside tire wear

I bought a BRAND NEW Ameri-Lite 19KD. It was shipped to me in CA from RV Wholesalers, about 3,200 miles. All 4 tires have the inside and outside tread compleatly gone AND the tires are dry rooted. Check to see if you have craking between your tread. I think Gulf Strem is using some really cheep tires on these coachs.

I addressed this issue with RV Wholesalers and Gulf Stream paid me a whole whooping $400 to get new tires. So, the tires they put on their trailers are only worth $100 each and are crap! Have your trailer checked out to make sure there is not something wrong with the alignment before you have new tires put on.
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