Some around here are eagerly waiting and wondering about this post...but I'm going to keep it pretty short.
I signed up for Newmar Hoots which I'm at the tail end of located at Hilton Head National RV Resort. When signing up I asked if they were doing RettroBand installs as NIRVC handles the sign up process, the answer was no, they are going to be at a conflicting event. I decided to get new tires installed the week prior to coming to this event and made arrangements to go to NIRVC in "Washington, DC" aka Manassas, VA on November 15th. I had hoped to go before coming to the Hoots rally but NIRVC didn't have the rettroband for my tire in stock.
I get to the event and learn that they ARE doing Rettroband installs and was disappointed as I'm carrying around two heavy tires in the back of my pickup for a month and would really like to have gotten it done here but they only have a few slots (2 a day I think) and they booked up before I got wind of it. Short story - they fit me in due to a cancellation. Great!
In the above thread, or another one, I expressed my concerns on the torsion placed on the tire during the install process and how it may damage the tire, etc. Short story again - they destroyed my brand new Toyo during the install process today, a torn bead they call it. According to one of the staff, it occurs every few months (he said 6-8, who knows, it happens). They are training a new guy here presumably and it happened. The sad situation is they could not find a tire and I was on the phone with my dealer in Virginia that I bought 8 tires from and he could get me one not too far from me mid next week. Finally the guys here found a tire and drove to Augusta, GA (2-1/2 hours) to get it. It's amazing that both Michelin and Toyo are hard to find when we thought Toyo should be the easy ones to find. Kudos to Corey G. for going the extra mile. He had a discussion with me afterwards about doing the right thing vs. trying the other tire. Ummm, that is not an option, I'm glad he chose to do the right thing!
I'm tired, it's been a long day in the heat and my day was pretty much trashed due to this so I got nothing done and couldn't partake in the activities due to the dog. I requested compensation for the situation, it was not met with a pleasant response, sadly, but in the end, it was granted and I'm pleased with the result. For the person I spoke with, if you're reading this, your answer to me immediately should have been "Don't worry, we will make it right."
My concern remains that some tire failures with Rettrobands may be due to the installation itself. While Rettrobands should give you confidence for a blowout situation, my concern is they could be a contributing factor but I hope I'm wrong. The total cost for my size tires which are 305's comes out to around $4k. It's done and I'm done, for the day. Hoping for the best with all 8 new tires now in play.
