When my friends were planning our tour, we utilized this forum a great deal and the advice was very welcome on all counts. Now that we’ve been out a couple months, I’d like to make a contribution that might reciprocate. We have had 4 Ortlieb panniers (of 7 pairs) fail for different reasons: broken clasp, split seam, screws that come loose (we should probably own that because didn’t know they needed frequent checking). 3 were Sport Rollers, 1 was a Back Roller.
I know they are universally loved but I wondered if there were production changes and/or quality control changes (covid?).

I haven't seen any issues or heard of any issues. However I would reach out to Ortlieb and see if they can help get them repaired or take them back to the authorized seller you bought them from and they should be able to help with warranty.

We have sold a ton of them in the past few years and nobody has come back with issues on them and trust me I would have seen them and heard about them as I do the warranty where I work.

Are the screws the self-tapping screws which attach the mounting rail/hooks? It is a known problem: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/...id=321316&v=RN

It hit me on back-roller pro's. I replaced them with the regular screws as described in the linked article.

Judging by the Ortlieb spare parts, now they at least use the normal screws and nuts at the ends of the upper rail. Is this the case for your ones?

In 2010 I bought a set of four packer plus panniers from thetouringstore. After one or two long weekend trips the stitching of one of the compression straps on one of the rear bags came undone. Wayne told me there had been quality control issues for a bit and replaced it quickly. Haven’t had any issues with them since except for losing one of the lower hooks of one of the front bags. That was my fault. I failed to tighten it enough and did some rough roads.

The point is is that I can imagine quality control issues related to the pandemic. Recently I bought a front Planet Bike light through Amazon. Planet Bike has its own Amazon store. Received the box. Inside was the manufacturer’s packaging. It was supposed to contain the light, mounting bracket and charging cord. The light was missing. Amazon sent me another one. Guess what. Again, the light was missing. I got a refund.

Re: screws: my impression is that the screw(s) come loose from the plastic nut, the nut falls away so the screw now bears the weight unequally, tearing the hole in pannier material just enough to make the combo ineffectual. I now tighten the screws more regularly (and now know they do get loose) and put little metal backing plates on to help distribute the stresses on the screw.

As far as Ortlieb warranties, we bought them at MEC so swapping them was easy (props to MEC). Also, we are in the midst of our tour so when told about timeline to await developments from Ortlieb, we chalked it up to lessons learned.
ps My Arkels have been great

I was not aware of the screw issues, I will look at mine later. My Ortliebs were purchased 12 to 14 years ago, have not had any problems. I found a slit in the bottom of one after two tours, I suspected that it was there all along, I glued a patch over it with seam grip on the inside. Mine have the football shaped lower hook mount, not the newer single track for the lower hook.

The little inserts in the plastic upper hooks often fall out after heavy use, the hooks deform with use and the inserts are not held in as well. The inserts that I refer to are used to modify the hooks to different rack tubing diameters, different inserts for different diameters. I put plastic tubing (clear plastic hose) from the hardware store over my rack tubing, then the Ortlieb hooks do not need the inserts for that larger diameter of my plastic tubing. I also use that tubing down lower on the rack to prevent chaffing where the panniers rub on the metal racks.

Thanks for posting. I was wondering how your trip was coming?

We’re half way across now and it’s been, almost without exception, great. Funny, though- I was only on the road a few days before we started to encounter the Tour Divide challenge riders and I began to wish for new bikes and new places to see (n+1).
Although we did a lot of research and training and so on, we’ve realized there are lots of insights about touring that only touring can provide - what our rhythms are, what short and
long-term rest we should probably take, how best to consume the calories needed etc. Very interesting and very rewarding. I see why you tour veterans do them frequently.

I recall the conversation on calories, types of nutrition, etc. I take it as a good sign that you have not been back asking about other hardware issues.

There is a reason that I have three touring bikes. It is good to hear things are going well.

I’ve encountered race participants twice along a paved segment of the route in Montana. Once was at the Wise River Club after a bad storm. They weed wet, cold and dirty. Can’t imagine doing what they do.

I've never had screws coming loose, but one of my pairs of rears developed splitting seams, just one individual pannier, started this a few years back.
I've been my meaning to do a fix of some sort, but just bought another used set, so never repaired it yet.

I do wonder if the loose screw thing is from how the panniers are attached , because mine certainly get used a lot and it's never been an issue.

Arkels are awesome. I love my GT-54s though the connection point at the bottom doesn't work well on one of my bikes so I might end up with some Ortlieb Front Roller Hi-Vis for a smaller solution.

Just to repeat, I've owned ortiebs for just about 30 years, and haven't had any problems with mounting screws.
In the link to the Timothy towers problems, from the wear marks on his racks, it would very much appear that his setup+position of the two top mounts, and perhaps the lower tab, allows his panniers to move back and forth, causing the rub wear and the screw loosening.

My panniers don't move, the counter force created by the positioning of upper mounts and lower tab, in opposing positions, means there is no movement, therefore not rubbing or bouncing, so no wear and not vibrating loose screw.

To me, it's common sense to eliminate movement.

To be fair, ortlieb doesn't show clearly how to do this properly.
It's tricky, as each rack is different.
But I'm also think it's a Germanic thing, they think in a certain way and just assume everyone else does too.

If set up properly, your panniers should NOT shift, bounce, or move about over bumps.