2018 RAM 3500 Tires & wheels Problems

Trailer King RST 235/80R16: six of them on a triple axle boat trailer. Was towing a boat and experienced a blowout on the passenger rear trailer tire, of which we did not hit a pothole or strike debris. It bent the boat trailer fender and damaged several components of the trailer. It was identified by Discount Tire that the passenger side lead tire experienced belt separation, which is a manufacturer defect and was most likely the cause of the passenger side rear trailer tire to blow out and cause excessive damage to the trailer. There are numerous other customers of this tire who experienced significant blowouts on their trailer, which poses a safety risk to all who own trailers with these Trailer King RST tires and those who travel the roads with them. The belt separation was confirmed by a third-party tire shop recognized nationally. I submitted a claim for the blown out tire with the company manufacturer, and they claim it was not due to manufacturer defect. Unicorn tire does not accept responsibility for the manufacturer defect, even though it was confirmed by the company discount tire. These trailer tires are unsafe. Bottom line: two of six trailer tires that were two years old and had less than 3000 miles on them experienced belt separation, one of which had a significant blowout that could’ve caused serious accidents. This is not an isolated case as other reviews have shown these tires to be unreliable and unsafe disregard the VIN associated with this complaint as it would not accept my trailer VIN.

NHTSA ID

11714295

Incident

Oct 4, 2025

August 2024, arrived to Discount Tire, Lee Store in Prescott Valley, AZ. Showed salesperson my Ram 3500HD, also reflected on my account with them. Salesperson ordered 122Q instead of 122QE for 1 ton truck. This was intentional as 4 months later (December) brought in for excessive wear, manager on duty declined warranty and tried Toyo who required I go back to dealer placing me into procedural loopholes and denial of service from both. This week noticed drastically worse and demanded reopening of December claim. Same dealer manager on duty did nothing, reached out to Toyo again. At no point did anyone (Toyo, salesperson or Discount Tire Manager) admit the mistake as kept repeating premature disintegration of tread and safety issues. After continuous delays, knowing vehicle is 3500HD and these are not E-10 no viable actions taken to secure my safety. I researched further and found the wrong tires were installed on my vehicle. Tire company knew and withheld this vital piece of information and failed to take action when reported back in December and again in July. Tire on vehicle: Toyo Open Country CT - LT275/70R18 125/122Q. I have the back and forth emails for this month's and December. I've enclosed the one tire (purchased 4).

NHTSA ID

11672594

Incident

Jul 5, 2025

Sep 2020 purchased 6 Cooper Discoverer AT3 (LT235/80 R17) tires to replace OEM tires, mileage 12,885. On/around Sep 2022 while towing a 38' 5th wheel trailer, front end of truck started bouncing, mileage 26,334. Both driver and passenger tires where found to have tread separation. Replaced those two with same make/model new tires. All other tires where rotated and balanced. New tires went to inner rear wheels. On/around Aug 2023, once again while towing large 5th wheel trailer, front of truck started bouncing when turning to the left, muted vibration when turning to the right. Tire shop found passenger front tire tread separation again. This was one of the orginal 6 from 2020, mileage 33,762. Since 3 of the 6 tires failed I replaced all 7 (spare included) Cooper tires at my expense.

NHTSA ID

11541221

Incident

Aug 21, 2023

Bought truck brand new in 2019. Around 16-17,000 miles, I had to replace both front tires, the steel belt had shifted inside the tire causing a bulge and making the vehicle vibrate severly while transporting 3 horses (Approximate trailer w/ horse weight = 14000lbs). I brought back to the dealership, replaced with the same brand as I was unaware of these issues. I now have 36,000 total miles on my truck and about 19,000 miles on this new set and the issue just occurred again. There is something wrong with this brad of tire that these belts continue to shift inside the tire and will eventually cause larger issues. When the event occurs, everything inside the vehicle begins to vibrate and no question impacts the suspension components.

NHTSA ID

11537383

Incident

Aug 8, 2023

With 13,253 miles, this LT235-80 R17 tire tread started separating making it unusable and unsafe, especially since it was a front tire.

NHTSA ID

11520809

Incident

Apr 30, 2023

Our 2018 RAM 3500 is factory equipped with Nexen LT235/80R tires. This Ram has 16023 miles on it. We pull a 36 foot 5th wheel RV, weighing approx 15K lbs. When coming home from a trip on July 16th 2022 at 7pm, on I75 south around Sidney Ohio, 15 miles from home. This is a 70 mph zone, when we got to 60 mph the entire cab and bed started shaking and vibrating to where it was hard to keep on the road. At this time we feared of being or causing an accident. We exited and visually inspected the Ram and unit, and visually looked to be fine, We continued home via back county roads at a 35mph speed as the fear was still within us from what we just experienced. On Monday July 18th 2022 I took the Ram to Tires Choice 1101 West Main Street Troy Ohio [XXX]. The tech and I took the Ram out and reproduced exactly what we experienced on July 16th, without the trailer hooked. After inspection while on the lift it was found that the belt was broken on the front passenger tire , and was told we were lucky this did blow hauling a 15k trailer. I replaced all 6 tires in fear that the other tires may also be faulty, and if fear of having or causing an accident to would result in serious injury or even death. After researching this particular Nexen tire I found SEVERAL negative and shocking reviews. THIS TIRE NEEDS TO BE REMOVED AND RECALLED FROM THE PUBLIC. Thank you [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ID

11474527

Incident

Jul 16, 2022

LT 275 / 70 R 18 (tire size) The sidewall of the tire is splitting/failing. In parallel with the bead.

NHTSA ID

11458896

Incident

Mar 16, 2022

While driving, the passenger-side rear wheel separated from the vehicle. All of the wheel studs were fractured off at the wheel mounting surface of the hub.

NHTSA ID

11446869

Incident

Jan 8, 2022

The contact owns a 2018 Ram 3500 equipped with Nexen Tires, Tire Line: Roadian HTX, Tire Size: LT235/80/R17, DOT Number: 8EX6. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the contact noticed the vehicle was bouncing while driving. The contact was able to continue driving to work. After exiting the vehicle, the contact inspected the vehicle and noticed that a bubble had started to form on the front driver’s side tire. Additionally, the contact became aware of tread separation on the tire. The contact took the vehicle to a local dealer who inspected the vehicle and offered to replace the tires with new tires. The contact declined and informed the dealer that he would seek assistance from the tire manufacturer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 27,362.

NHTSA ID

11438095

Incident

Oct 5, 2021

Mileage

27,362 mi

Front passenger side tire had large ballon form on inside sidewall causing uneven rolling. LT 235/80/17. Luckily I wasnt hauling my 5th wheel Toyhauler when this developed I imagine the rest of the tires on the vehicle are faulty as well. Lives are at risk with these tires on my vehicle

NHTSA ID

11427803

Incident

Aug 4, 2021

235/80r17

NHTSA ID

11424767

Incident

Jul 14, 2021