Power King Tow Master Tires

I had read here that these tires have been a problem for some and found out the hard way that this is a fact. With that in mind I have been careful about keeping tire pressure at the recommended settings. 40 miles out of Tucson on a 70 degree day and smooth road I noticed that something was "flapping" on the side of the trailer so I pulled off to check. It turned out to be the fender above the right rear tire. The tire had just thrown the tread but was still inflated. It did not take long for the tire to go flat and had I not seen the damage when I did the problem would have been more dangerous. After calling the number for road service listed with the tire information in my owner's packet and having the spare put on I went to the nearest Discount Tire for a new set of tires. I am waiting for a call from the tire company to see about damage repairs but this could have been much more of an issue had the tire gone flat before I could get stopped.

This is really not acceptable, especially considering these tires have less than 3000 miles and have been properly aired on all trips.

It looks like the biggest issue will not be repairing the J-Wrap area, but what looks like significant damage to the steps. Do they still operate with that big dent in them?

Yes, they still operate. I have one estimate from the local Heartland dealer and will be getting another from an RV service business that I use. The estimate I have includes replacing the entire step set. The local dealer said they have dealt with these tires and the damage and have seen instances where the damage has been extensive to the floor as well as external parts. I was lucky that I noticed it when I did.

Lynn1130,

I went through the same issue with my SOB trailer with Carlisle tires. Always good pressure, normal speed, and low miles......thread separation / blowout. I'm keeping a very close eye on these Power King Tow Masters. I see you went with Cooper and not Goodyear. Was that based on availability or do you like them better then the Goodyears?

Take care.

Just another eason to say "NO" to Chinese tires....I like to call them delivery and display tires. My almost new Power Kings are on somebody's manure spreader. Right where they belong...Don

I had an in-depth discussion with the manager at Discount about what to put on in place of the Power Kings. I have had good luck with Discount over the last 30 years or more and went with his recommendation.

I hear ya Don. I ran Michelin XPS ribs on my SOB trailer and never had an issue after that.

Lynn1130,

What model of Coopers? They have a bunch of them. I have the Zeons on my truck right now. Needed a strong tire with good offroad thread. They make good tires. Just curious what model you put on the unit.

Thanks.

Yes I too am curious what model Cooper those are. I currently have Cooper Discoverer ATR on my TV and really like them.

Cooper Discoverer H/T s

We had our first Towmax failure right around 10,000 miles. The tread separated and tire failed catastrophically. It was about 100f that day. It went off with a bang and luckily no damage beyond some black marks on the wall. I heard it go and pulled over right away. The tpms beeped about 1 second after the bang. We planned to upgrade around 20,000 miles but didn't make it. At 16,000 miles we had two slow leaker/flats within 45 minutes of each other. The tpms caught both of those. Two more of the original Towmax tires were shot, missing chunks of rubber. We wound up putting 6 Maxxis tires on. We only went another couple hundred miles and have been sitting down here in Florida ever since. I'm hoping they last a very long time, not cheap.

RV companies should not even think about putting these Chinese Brand tires on these rvs. I am sure they buy what they can get the best price on but it is a danger to everyone on the road. I had a MISSION tire blow out one time and luckily no damage, and these tires only had about 1500 miles on them. I immediately replaced them with light truck tires.

Had to replace the TowMax tires after 5000 miles due to tread separation. Fortunately a friend noticed the odd shape of two of the tires before they failed. Called Heartland and they passed me to Tredit, their supplier. I was given a $600.00 replacement tire allowance for the five tires. Had to send a mode of failure report from Discount Tire to the supplier prior to receiving the allowance. Purchased 5 new GY G614 tires from Discount Tire. When the young man that installed new GY tires finished the job I had him to load the 3 tires that hadn't failed in the back of the truck, as he tossed one of the tires in the bed of the truck it struck the corner (no sharp edge) of the tool box and knocked a slit in the sidewall about 2" long. Sure glad that I changed out the TowMax when I did.

We've had issues with TowMax. One looked like a hex nut once it was removed. 5 new Maxxis now.

Amen! on the Maxxis tires.

The first estimate for damage repairs is in. Just under $1800.00.

I thought that I would post an update.
I still have not settled this problem with Dynamic Tire of Ontario, Canada. Now keep in mind this tire failure happened 2/23/12. After being passed from Heartland to TBC Corp to Dynamic I filed the claim for damage and the tire with Dynamic. To make a long story short Dynamic sent UPS to pick up the tire. UPS lost the tire, or at least that is what Dynamic claims (how convenient) so since Dynamic cannot determine how the tire failed, they propose that it was "impact" and not tire failure but "in good faith" they made an offer less than the damage to the trailer and not including the tire I had to replace not to mention the other three that were suspect also. We are still dickering but I am not real happy with Dynamic or with Heartland for continuing to mount these tires on their units when there is so much question about their safety.

On my 09 Cyclone 3950 I had Mission tires and actually had no trouble with them. I put a TPMS system on and watched them constantly though. I sold the Cyclone and purchased a SOB that is a high end trailer. Same thing even with a high ender they put Duro tires on it. Being they give you nothing for the tires if you replace them at the dealer I decided to run them and see how they worked. Well after 3500 miles I noticed a sidewall bubble. Duro replaced the tire with no trouble. 600 miles later my TPMS went off and yet another sidewall bubble. I am getting it replaced now with a new one. About the only thing I can say for Duro is they replace them easily.

After a ton of reseach I ordered four Goodyear G-614s from Discount Tire Direct. I will mount these and sell Duros to someone not hauling as much weight.

My advice to people is who order a trailer in is to order it with high quality tires to start with. A TPMS system is a "must". For those purchasing off of a dealer lot, I would suggest having the cost per tire of the factory tires and the cost per tire of a good quality tire like the Goodyears ready at negotiation time. I would get down to the bottom dollar on the trl first and then say I will pay you the difference in price of the upgraded tires and hold to your guns.

Lynn1130, did you take any photographs of the tires? That might bolster your claim even though the tires were "lost".

Jay,
Sorry, I did not respond. I just saw your question. Yes I had many photos and bottom line is that after some dickering we were able to come to a satisfactory settlement. I can't say more than that.

Glad that you were satisfied. Now to move on.