General Tires LT-225-75R16, Ameri*550AS - excessive wear at 10,000 miles on 2001 Gulfstream Ultra Sport motorhome

# 6 for April 29, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on April 28, 2003:

From: Lassiter Alvin J (Jack) NNSY [Email User]

RE: General Tires LT-225-75R16, Ameri*550AS - excessive wear at 10,000 miles on 2001 Gulfstream Ultra Sport motorhome

I have a 2001 Gulfstream Ultra Sport motorhome that has General tires. The tire sizes are listed as LT-225-75R16, Ameri*550AS. On a recent trip across country I noticed a thumping sound as I was traveling on the interstate. Stopping in a small town in Texas I thought I was lucky when I found a dealer who sold these tires. After looking at my tires he said that I needed new shocks and alignment but he could not do this at his shop.

The left front tire was smooth on the inner and outer edges with visible knots around the circumference of the entire tire. The right front tire tread was fine except that their were flat spots across the tire face about 2" wide and six inches apart. He stated that this was caused by bad shocks. It gets worse.

The only place that could take care of replacing the tires and balancing them was 60 miles north of where I was located at this time. I went to the Goodyear dealership that I was referenced to and had them replaced the tires. Before they changed the tires I told them, that upon inspection, if the shocks were indeed bad then they could replace them.

Later when I went to pick up my motorhome I was told that the shocks were indeed bad and that the were replaced. I asked for the old shocks and were given them with no problem however when the store manager looked at the shocks he said that there was nothing wrong with them that he could see. After some lengthy conversation with the repair manager I was told that indeed the shocks were bad and that this was the reason the tires were in the shape that they were.

I also found out that they could not align my motorhome there as I was told earlier however there was a place in town that could do the alignment but they were closed but would open the next morning at 8:00 am.

At 7:30 I was at the alignment shop and they took me immediately. After setting up the alignment equipment and checking out the alignment he informed me that he only had to do a very little adjustment He stated that the alignment was not off nearly as bad as stated by the people and that that was not the cause for the tires being bad. He and the manager, of the alignment shop, looked at the shocks that were replaced and said nothing was wrong with them.

The tires in question, at that time, had only 10,000 miles on them. Is there any reason these tires wore as they did in only 10,000 miles? Should I be worried about the rear tires now that this problem has developed? Is there a web site, email address for general tires that I can file a complaint with? Thanks for reading