Firestone Air Bag Deformed When Being Aired Up

Published 02/14/2024

Products Featured in This Question

Firestone Ride-Rite Red Label Extreme Duty Air Helper Springs - Rear Axle

(969)

$688.61

Replacement Firestone Red Label Extreme Duty Air Helper Spring - Qty 1

(17)

$218.16

Question:

Hi, I ordered the Firestone Ride-Rite Red Label Extreme Duty Air Helper Springs – Rear Axle # F2701 for my 2013 Ram 2500 4x4 about 6(ish) years ago from you guys and they have been working as expected with no issues as all. But, I was just airing them up as I have a trip in a few months (I use the 6 P's of success (Proper Previous Planning Prevents Poor Performance) when planning things like this) and something that I don't think is normal happened. I have a picture included of both air bags and the first one you can see is deformed. I keep these aired to 5 psi whenever I am not towing or loading the bed and do my best to keep them clean (I am in Missouri and we do get salt on the roads in winter). Basically I was right at 30 psi and I heard a “pop” and immediately stopped filling. I looked and there are wires that appear to have rusted out and snapped, causing the bag to fill up in a weird way. So I have 2 questions. First, what caused this? Second, is this covered under warranty? Thanks for any help you can offer.

asked by: James C

Expert Reply:

Well James, I can say with 100% certainty that what you are seeing and experiencing is NOT normal. However, this is not the first time we have heard of this occurring.

To answer your first question, it was corrosion that caused it. To be more specific, rust caused the wires that hold the middle of the air bag to burst when you filled said bag, hence the pop you heard. This is an inevitability with the salty roads in Missouri and you did everything right to try and prevent it.

As to your question about if this kind of this is covered under warranty, it absolutely is. The # F2135828401 air bag that comes with the Firestone Ride-Rite Red Label Extreme Duty # F2701 you have has a Lifetime warranty for the bags and a 2 year limited warranty on hardware. Firestone does prefer to handle all warranty issues like this in house, so you will need to call them at 1-800-888-0650 and they will definitely get you all taken care of.

For preventative care, you are already doing what we recommend. Keeping them clean and with at least 5 psi of air pressure is an absolute must. Not doing so will only cause those metal strands to start degrading sooner and having a potential failure while traveling more likely (you never know when that pesky Mr. Murphy (of Murphy's Law) will show his ugly mug).

As a side note, I have heard through the grapevine that Firestone is looking to go with a single wire instead of multiple strands to alleviate this issue, but I do not know when that will happen. Just keep your ear to the ground for updates on that.

expert reply by: Lazer S