I recently ordered a set of 295-70-18 Nitto Trail Grappler M/Ts and they showed up this morning from UPS (from Discount Tire Direct). I took them to have them mounted up and the guy got three tires mounted without trouble.

On the last tire he mounted it on the rim, beaded the tire, set it down to 40psi, and was screwing the valve stem cap on and the tire blew off of the rim and shot 2 good sized pieces of rubber right at his face. The shock threw him to the ground and was one of the loudest things I've ever heard.

Upon inspection of the 3rd tire that was mounted, it was starting to show a large bulge in the same area so they immediately pulled the valve stem (after showing me that it was at 40psi also). The bulge was way down by the time I got my camera phone to take a pic. Needless to say it would have blown the same way on my drive home.

Has anyone seen or heard of this before? The shop is a Ford dealer and experienced with large truck tires and I've been dealing with them since the purchase of the truck.

I called Discount Tire Direct but they are closed for Good Friday until 3pm Pacific time.

I called Nitto and the person I needed to talk to was at lunch. I called back later and got a guy who said that it was "mounting damage" before looking at the pictures. He didn't ask what size or type of wheel I had, any serial numbers, or anything. When he saw the pictures he said that the tire hadn't been beaded yet... He couldn't have cared less about the situation and told me to send the tires to Discount Tire and they would "deal with it".

Needless to say I was a less than impressed with Nitto. I've had 2 sets of Trail Grappler A/Ts on this truck (in 325-60-18s) with no trouble. I've also burned through 2 very expensive sets of Nitto Invo's on my heavily modified C6Z06 Vette, have Invo's on my 750HP Buick Grand National, and have another set of Invo's coming Monday on CCW custom rims for my GTO. I just thought so highly of them until I actually had a problem and now my opinion is falling.

Has anyone ever experienced this before or anything like it? The installer said that if Nitto or Discount Tire Direct thinks that it is mounting damage, that they will make it right with me.

Anyway, here are the pictures, sorry the only camera I had was on my phone.

The first picture is obviously the damage, you can see one piece of rubber that came out just under the N (it was placed there, that's not where it landed). The next picture is another piece of rubber that came from the damage. The last picture is the 3rd tire to be mounted after the valve stem was pulled. It was really bulged about 20 seconds before i took this picture.

 

Man that is weird...keep us posted.

 

thats not good to hear man. hope you get this corrected and figured out and i bet alot of guys on here with those tires might need to hear it also

 

What brand of wheels are those, and what are the specs?

 

Sorry I forgot wheel size. They're 18x10 Helo Maxx 6's.

 

Around where I live {stl MO} most everyone that I have talked to has a less than favorable impression of Nitto. I was concidering some trail grapplers for my 02 screw but after seeing your pics and the trouble you have had w/ Nitto on the phone I'm really glad that I went w/ BFG at-ko's instead! I used to work at a tire store and my old boss got so frustrated w/ dealing w/ Nitto that he stopped carrying them!!Hope you get it worked out/resolved-I'm really surprised that they DID NOT ASK YOU QUESTIONS about what shop/tire wheels etc!!Maybe it was a bad run of tires but I have NEVER seen anything like in your pics

 

Man thats crazy! Any idea what PSI they were using to seat the bead? Looks very suspicious to me. Theres no way a tire should fold over the rim like that. (if mounted properly)

 

that sucks. i have a set in my garage waiting to be mounted, just waiting on my wheels to come in. there are not the same size as yours but i hope that doesnt happen to me.

 

Let us know for sure how it goes. I am going to get my set next month maybe but i am going to definatly have discount install just in case now.

 

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell that is a tire defect.

 

I agree, I hope its just a bad batch. Glad no one was hurt in the ordeal and that you can get your problem solved. I just got mine put on last weekend and have not had any problems yet, but I am definitely going to keep an eye on them. This is the first I have heard of this. Please keep us posted as you find out more.

 

Well discount tire has been great and they sent me return labels to return the tires. I'll get them back from the dealer Monday morning. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

And I didn't make this thread to trash nitto, at this point the installer or machine could be at fault too. I was just shocked by the rude service on the phone. I've been one of their biggest supporters when people ask me at car shows, the track, forums, etc...

 

I'd email Nitto and tell them about their service rep. You may want to include a link to this forum thread also.

 

Yeah, I mean it happens...just like with all products there are imperfections and anomalies in the manufacturing process, just glad to hear they are taking care of you. Hope everything gets worked out.