Question Rettroband - are they worth it?

[Jim]

A friend told me that he considered having the Rettrobands on his Newmar would be overkill as he felt the Comfort Drive would keep his rig from diving left/right if a steer tire blew.

Does his theory have merit?

 

[Joe Hogan]

Let’s hope he never finds out..

 

[GlampDaddy]

A friend told me that he considered having the Rettrobands on his Newmar would be overkill as he felt the Comfort Drive would keep his rig from diving left/right if a steer tire blew.

Does his theory have merit?

I heard the same as a second-hand quote from the former president of Newmar.

 

[Scotttkd2]

@Jim, it was not the case in my recent experience as the tire shredding took out the adjacent electronic bay and disabled the comfort steer as well as most of the rest of the electronic controls. I had no steering control at all and was pulled into the median. Not to mention the subsequent damage to the body that now is requiring repairs. I will be adding Retrobands this year as soon as I can get scheduled at an NIRVC location.

 

[J&JD]

I had no steering control at all

Would you clarify this for me please. Are you saying that all driver control of the steering system was lost? That would mean that the mechanical linkage from the front wheels to the steering wheel was so badly damaged that it was totally useless. Is that correct?

 

[turbopilot]

Interesting followup on the video I posted earlier of the New Aire with Rettrobands that had a blow out.

Apparently this coach was involved in an accident a year earlier that involved significant contact with that right front steer wheel that failed. A factor?

 

[Scotttkd2]

Would you clarify this for me please. Are you saying that all driver control of the steering system was lost? That would mean that the mechanical linkage from the front wheels to the steering wheel was so badly damaged that it was totally useless. Is that correct?

I have documented and am updating what happened in a different thread on rvf, but what happened was the shredding tire chewed through the fiberglass bay in front of left wheel that contained the electronics bay, and immediately most of my electrical systems went down. I assume (RV is still in FL shop repairing said damage) that this severed the controls for the comfort steer. I was in right lane at 65 when blowout occurred, no wheel protection (I had Tyrons installed but they failed) so left rim was on pavement and I had no way to steer vehicle to the right shoulder as I had planned to do. I know the procedure for a steer blowout is to accelerate, and I did try that but immediately realized I had no steering control, engine had shut down (again electrical) and was swerving into the left lane and headed for the median at speed. I got into the brakes hard at that point and attempted to stop before going fully into the median. I was able to get it stopped with rv partially in median, right rear wheels were off the ground and rv was "teetering" as traffic blew by. Recovery tow driver estimated with contour of median I had about 15 more feet and I would have rolled over into median. Sorry for lengthy post and I didn't intend to hijack this thread, but I believe the expense of the Retrobands is far less than the cost of my repairs, and hopefully wold provide some semblance of control like seen in the videos. My tire in the photos on my other post has no visible tread on it to run on, just sidewalls and steel wire shredded everywhere and you can see I was running on the rim on pavement, all things the retrobands are intended to prevent. Hope this helps and again apologies to OP for the temporary hijack.

 

[team bradfield]

Why did your Tyrons fail? I've read they are very dependable and designed to prevent exactly what you describe, if installed correctly, they keep the rubber on the rim, what did the Tyron folks discover?

 

[Scotttkd2]

@team....I believe the correct assumption at this point is if installed correctly. You can see in the photo on other thread that the left side band had slipped and was all the way out to the rim edge at one point Instead of centered. Both sidewalls were on the rim, but there was absolutely no tread like their videos show left intact to run on so rim was in full contact with the pavement. I literally just an hour ago heard from my FL shop that their tire shop found the right front rim was damaged by the Tyron install (large gouges in the center of the rim) and they are requiring a new wheel before they will install new tires. So far no answer from my attempts to reach Tyron USA for any feedback, and my selling dealer was sold twice since I bought so I expect nothing but a hand wash from them either.

 

[Neal]

The keyword in this thread "if installed correctly"

My concern from my initial opinion is that tires are not supposed to be messed with nor did tire manufacturers engineer their tires to have stuff inside of them, i.e. will this affect cooling, temps, breakdown, flexing, wear and tear? It's way too early for any data points on the new product that is RettroBands. It looks like a promising design, it seems like a good answer although outrageously priced as usual in this RV market space targeting seniors and retirement accounts on fear. Now lets also look at numbers. What is the total number of truck tires on the road (light truck I suppose is the better characterization) and how many of those fail? How many of those are at proper pressure, properly inspected, replaced at a respectable age, etc.? RettroBand doesn't prevent shredding and damage as happened to @Scotttkd2 I don't believe, so damage can still occur, components can be taken out, etc. but it's a run flat device affording controllability. There are pro's and con's to everything, the owner/buyer decides. Has NIRVC put out any direction on time intervals for RettroBand inspection? What if they come loose or components within fail?