floridarandy
Well-known member
Note: Posted in general interest due to content.
As many of you know I just completed the "what tires to buy" process and ended up with Maxxis M8008ST's in the 235/80R16E 10 ply. There were as hard as hen's teeth to find.
I called Maxxis USA, in Suwannee Georgia of all places, to find out why and discovered there are virtually none of that tire in their central warehouses. They reported that their 8 factories worldwide are at 100% capacity and can't supply demand....especially for this "specialty" type tire.
We hear a lot in the news about "global demand". And, we hear a lot about "China" tires. The guy I talked to said Asia is the only place they can build factories fast enough, and produce cheap enough, to supply demand and yet we see the result.
My tire dealer wasn't surprised. He said virtually every tire manufacturer is on backorder for many types of tire. An additional problem is that car manufacturers are building cars to a car-specific tire spec and because they buy so many the manufacturers build lots for the factory but don't have enough in the general supply pipeline to serve replacement demand.
I guess a certain amount of the China bomb issue can't be blamed entirely on the RV manufacturer as their supplier is most likely trying to find a single source that can supply the total demand for tires/wheel combos and most likely its going to be a factory in China.
In this case it sounds like quantity trumps quality....especially in "specialty" tires like ST. Not surprising that you hear that LT tires are appearing on more RV's. Makes sense that a more "generic" tire used by more than one vehicle type would be easier to find.
Fortunately my guy commercial tire guy found 5 Maxxis tires but he had to get them from 2 separate warehouses.
MORAL -if you want Maxxis tires START EARLY.
For those who are interested I found a Maxxis dealer who sells through Ebay and his prices, including shipping, were pretty good. If my local guy hadn't come through this is where I would lhave gone:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...200&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1&viewitem=
Randy
As many of you know I just completed the "what tires to buy" process and ended up with Maxxis M8008ST's in the 235/80R16E 10 ply. There were as hard as hen's teeth to find.
I called Maxxis USA, in Suwannee Georgia of all places, to find out why and discovered there are virtually none of that tire in their central warehouses. They reported that their 8 factories worldwide are at 100% capacity and can't supply demand....especially for this "specialty" type tire.
We hear a lot in the news about "global demand". And, we hear a lot about "China" tires. The guy I talked to said Asia is the only place they can build factories fast enough, and produce cheap enough, to supply demand and yet we see the result.
My tire dealer wasn't surprised. He said virtually every tire manufacturer is on backorder for many types of tire. An additional problem is that car manufacturers are building cars to a car-specific tire spec and because they buy so many the manufacturers build lots for the factory but don't have enough in the general supply pipeline to serve replacement demand.
I guess a certain amount of the China bomb issue can't be blamed entirely on the RV manufacturer as their supplier is most likely trying to find a single source that can supply the total demand for tires/wheel combos and most likely its going to be a factory in China.
In this case it sounds like quantity trumps quality....especially in "specialty" tires like ST. Not surprising that you hear that LT tires are appearing on more RV's. Makes sense that a more "generic" tire used by more than one vehicle type would be easier to find.
Fortunately my guy commercial tire guy found 5 Maxxis tires but he had to get them from 2 separate warehouses.
MORAL -if you want Maxxis tires START EARLY.
For those who are interested I found a Maxxis dealer who sells through Ebay and his prices, including shipping, were pretty good. If my local guy hadn't come through this is where I would lhave gone:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...200&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1&viewitem=
Randy
