Question Rettroband - are they worth it?

[DHudson]

Here is my 2 cents worth. Attached is a VERY horrible accident. I did not find a write up about it, but pretty sure the outcome was very bad. My guess is, they had a leak in the left front tire, and low tire pressure cause heat build up with the tire coming apart as a result. They may have struck something in the road and blew the tire as well.
A blowout usually happens when there is air loss and heat builds up in the tire, causing it to come apart..
Low air pressure settings on the Ford Explorer a few years back was the cause of all the blowouts/roll overs. Most of them happen in the hot Nevada type enviroment.
What I am getting at, If you do not have a coach with factory a installed TPMS system, I would highly recommend one. Reguardless if factory installed or aftermarket, maintain it and pay attention to it. Other than stricking something, destroying the tire, it will give you time to come to a stop before you have a accident. I would guess, the majority of blowouts is the result from air loss, that if you were warned of, you could have time to slow down and stop under control.
About the only time I see Rettrobands come into play, is when you strike something and destroy the tire. IF you have a TPMS in good working order, you should have time to slow down to avoid a accident, or worse.

 

[Richpatty]

Here is my 2 cents worth. Attached is a VERY horrible accident. I did not find a write up about it, but pretty sure the outcome was very bad. My guess is, they had a leak in the left front tire, and low tire pressure cause heat build up with the tire coming apart as a result. They may have struck something in the road and blew the tire as well.
A blowout usually happens when there is air loss and heat builds up in the tire, causing it to come apart..
Low air pressure settings on the Ford Explorer a few years back was the cause of all the blowouts/roll overs. Most of them happen in the hot Nevada type enviroment.
What I am getting at, If you do not have a coach with factory a installed TPMS system, I would highly recommend one. Reguardless if factory installed or aftermarket, maintain it and pay attention to it. Other than stricking something, destroying the tire, it will give you time to come to a stop before you have a accident. I would guess, the majority of blowouts is the result from air loss, that if you were warned of, you could have time to slow down and stop under control.
About the only time I see Rettrobands come into play, is when you strike something and destroy the tire. IF you have a TPMS in good working order, you should have time to slow down to avoid a accident, or worse.

If you are insulating that watching your tire pressures, having a TPMS and taking care of your tires you can avoid any issues with tire blow outs, I respectively disagree. I baby my tires in so many ways but still almost had a disaster when a bubble formed on the inside of my tire. I found this after a trip coming out of the VA mountains. This could have been ugly and life threatening. I got luckily. I now have Rettrobands as that extra insurance.

 

[Neal]

I’m an hour on the road and I’ve heard a loud bang twice and I don’t know what it is. I pulled over and inspected and all looks good and pressures are holding. I sent an email to Corey G and Chuck L. and hope someone will call. I’m going to resume my trip but I’m concerned a rettroband has separated. Posting for the record. Resuming travel as I have no idea what it was or what to do.

 

[Neemer]

@Neal , if it helps put your mind at ease, there would be a whole lot of shaking going on if the band had failed. At least that was the reporting of the ver 1.0 failures.

 

[sheridany]

I think @Neemer is right. I recall reading something a while back that if the two pieces became separated, you would know it right away.

 

[Neal]

Thank you both @Neemer and @sheridany. I am stopped at a rest area for a break and no more loud bangs and no vibration.

I emailed Corey and Chuck at the time and promptly got a call from Corey which is above and beyond as we all know on a Sunday morning. He said the same that if it separated I’d hear or feel it. He thinks it was the air bags reseating as he had all tires off the ground and also the camp sites are so out of level we have jacks at or beyond stops. The air bags popped when airing up this morning and I’ve had that happen before. I have never had it happen while driving.

The construction going through Spartanburg on I-26 is bad and certainly would have raised an issue if there was going to be one.

I just followed up with Corey all we well and go an immediate reply from him. Very pleased with the customer service. Now if I could have just borrowed @GlampDaddy’s bottle of bourbon things would be even better. What a few days it’s been!!

 

[sheridany]

Now if I could have just borrowed @GlampDaddy’s bottle of bourbon things would be even better. What a few days it’s been!!

Sounds like a trip to a lil smitty or walla walla is on your horizon.

 

[Neal]

Arrived Asheville with apparently the same number of RV parts I left with so all is well.

 

[Neal]

Here are pics I took during the install. This is the tire that got messed up by this machine that pulls it down while they install the rettroband. On the right side of the first picture is the wheel balancer. Watched them do the second tire, pretty neat system, worked well! This is all in their custom trailer they take to locations to install them.

 

[J&JD]

Toyo’s feel ok?

 

[Bigblockyeti]

The construction going through Spartanburg on I-26 is bad and certainly would have raised an issue if there was going to be one.

I'm out there more often than not and it's way, way better than I-85 between exit 80 and the NC line. That project seems to get 0.000000001% more complete every day.

 

[Neal]

Toyo’s feel ok?

Absolutely, they are balanced well (and have centramatic's now) - no concerns, no regrets, I would buy them again. My Michelin's got a lot of attention as they were out of round and/or had balance issues, two were warranty replaced they were so bad. My concern with the Michelin's being hard to get is "is there a production or supply problem?" And with that, are any corners being cut, etc. We'll see how these go but I am impressed.

 

[Neal]

Before I forget, again! In talking with a guy at Hoots that had a blowout with Rettroband (there were two there I think) he mentioned wishing NIRVC offered a tire replacement tool kit, i.e. the tools you needed to remove a RettroBand. I talked to Corey about this and he said it's nothing you don't already carry, I think he mentioned 13mm socket, so if you have a socket set, you have what you need EXCEPT for as shown in the picture above, you need a socket extension. I may have one on board, I know I have them at home and will put back on board.

One of these I suppose:

Amazon product ASIN B07R5C8RR9
or

Amazon product ASIN B08NFMPB5L

 

[DennisT]

Before I forget, again! In talking with a guy at Hoots that had a blowout with Rettroband (there were two there I think)

So, what were their, or his if you only met one, impressions of how the Rettrobands did during the blowout?

 

[Neal]

I don't have any details but heard nothing bad. At least one of them was on the Michelin 365 and they had a hard time finding a replacement (too) and Steve Showalter (mentioned in the Hoots thread) found a replacement and had it sent down - amazing!! The other one, if not the same one, was supposedly a mile or two prior to a gas station or truck stop and was told, from what I hear, it is okay to drive on the Rettroband to get to safety and that is apparently what they did, with police escort I believe. If anyone knows the real story on these two please chime in.

Brett did talk about the lifetime warranty etc. etc. and if you have a blowout it will be replaced and he stated why - they want to know about every blowout. Brett is very big into statistics as was apparent in his talk he gave.