Bighorn - Tire Blowouts

[steveayers]

I am curious if anyone has experienced blowout issues with the original tires installed on their Bighorns. We have a 2012 Bighorn that we primarily used within NYS for our first 4 years of ownership. This past November we became snowbirds, and towed our Bighorn to Florida. On the 3rd day of our trip we experienced a blowout of the rear driver's side tire on I95 in Georgia. We had only been on the road for a half-hour that morning. At the time, there was about 3,000 miles on the tires. The tires did not show any evidence of dry rot from over exposure to the sun. They were properly inflated, and the weight was within the maximum loaded weight (15,500). We were traveling at 70 mph at the time. The blowout tore off the fender and damaged the skin around the fender, along with pulling out a hydraulic line in the leveling system. We had the tire replaced and the damage repaired, and made it to our destination the following day. When we had the blown tire replaced, we had the other tires examined to see if they were in need of replacement, and were assured that they appeared to be in good shape. On April 30 we left Florida to come home and experienced another blowout in Orlando on I4. This time it was the front tire on the driver's side, causing similar damage. We were about 200 miles into our trip, and due to traffic were traveling at about 45 mph. After this happened to us again we decided to replace all of the original tires. In discussing our experiences in the tire store, the technician informed us that this has been an all too common occurrence and cited the inferior tires imported from China that are now being put on new RV's. The tires on our Bighorn were, in fact, made in China.

I have been a big fan of Bighorn since I made the decision to purchase one. However, if what I was told in the tire shop is true, than it is disconcerting to learn that customer safety was compromised through the use of cheap, inferior quality tires. Has anyone else out there had similar experiences, or it is just a case of rotten luck for me?

Thanks

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Tire Blowouts

You probably have the Towmax tires or better known as the "BLOWMAX"
Many of them have blown out well before the 5 year mark but if they are 5 years old it a good rule to replace them ASAP.
Don't let them talk you into replacing them with the same thing. ......
Get (my preference)
Goodyear or I've herd good things about the Sailun tires

Sorry to hear you found out the hard way.

Hope this helps
Jerrod

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[justafordguy]

X2, I bet they were TowMax tires. They are awful. Get Goodyear or Sailun G rated tires and you will be good to go.

Also keep in mind that those original ST TowMax/PowerMax trailer tires are not rated for 70 MPH. They will over heat and come apart, as you found out the hard way.

 

[JohnD]

In discussing our experiences in the tire store, the technician informed us that this has been an all too common occurrence and cited the inferior tires imported from China that are now being put on new RV's. The tires on our Bighorn were, in fact, made in China.

I have been a big fan of Bighorn since I made the decision to purchase one. However, if what I was told in the tire shop is true, than it is disconcerting to learn that customer safety was compromised through the use of cheap, inferior quality tires. Has anyone else out there had similar experiences, or it is just a case of rotten luck for me?

Heartland was not the only RV manufacturer putting the BlowMax or other cheap tires on at the factory . . . all of the RV manufacturers do it!

 

[tireman9]

I am curious if anyone has experienced blowout issues with the original tires installed on their Bighorns. We have a 2012 Bighorn that we primarily used within NYS for our first 4 years of ownership. This past November we became snowbirds, and towed our Bighorn to Florida. On the 3rd day of our trip we experienced a blowout of the rear driver's side tire on I95 in Georgia. We had only been on the road for a half-hour that morning. At the time, there was about 3,000 miles on the tires. The tires did not show any evidence of dry rot from over exposure to the sun. They were properly inflated, and the weight was within the maximum loaded weight (15,500). We were traveling at 70 mph at the time. The blowout tore off the fender and damaged the skin around the fender, along with pulling out a hydraulic line in the leveling system. We had the tire replaced and the damage repaired, and made it to our destination the following day. When we had the blown tire replaced, we had the other tires examined to see if they were in need of replacement, and were assured that they appeared to be in good shape. On April 30 we left Florida to come home and experienced another blowout in Orlando on I4. This time it was the front tire on the driver's side, causing similar damage. We were about 200 miles into our trip, and due to traffic were traveling at about 45 mph. After this happened to us again we decided to replace all of the original tires. In discussing our experiences in the tire store, the technician informed us that this has been an all too common occurrence and cited the inferior tires imported from China that are now being put on new RV's. The tires on our Bighorn were, in fact, made in China.

I have been a big fan of Bighorn since I made the decision to purchase one. However, if what I was told in the tire shop is true, than it is disconcerting to learn that customer safety was compromised through the use of cheap, inferior quality tires. Has anyone else out there had similar experiences, or it is just a case of rotten luck for me?

Thanks

You did not provide the tire size or type. If they were 5 year old tires ST type many find that is about the life limit. You said you had a "blowout" but that is a common term and in reality there are two main types of failure with two significantly different causes. A sidewall failure with melted body cord is actually a Run Low Flex failure which occur when the tire has a leak and is driven at highway speed for a few miles. If you checked the air pressure that morning 30 minutes is sufficient time for a flex failure to develop. The second type of failure is a belt separation off the body. This is the result of long term degradation from high loads or high speed. ST tires are only rated for 65 MAX. Not average speed so 70 is definitely not a good thing to do.
If you could post a few well lit pictures of the tire I might be able to offer an opinion as to the cause if the pictures are close enough and in good focus of the areas of importance.
I doubt that the tire tech has received the hours of training and experience in proper failed tire inspection and analysis to know the real reason for the failures.

 

[mlpeloquin]

X2, I bet they were TowMax tires. They are awful. Get Goodyear or Sailun G rated tires and you will be good to go.

Also keep in mind that those original ST TowMax/PowerMax trailer tires are not rated for 70 MPH. They will over heat and come apart, as you found out the hard way.

The age or speed does not matter. On out first Heartland Rally in Rino, a new Landmark pulled in with the side tore up do to a Blowmax. He traveled just over 200 miles. 80 psi and 60 mph. That is when I started searching for new tires. We registered for the rally in southern California and asked Bob Heartland about tires and he recommended the Goodyear G614"s. Changed the Blowmax as soon as he recommended them to us. Great tires. Sailun tires were unknown at that time. When five years are up I am still replacing with the Goodyears.

 

[tireman9]

The age or speed does not matter. On out first Heartland Rally in Rino, a new Landmark pulled in with the side tore up do to a Blowmax. He traveled just over 200 miles. 80 psi and 60 mph. That is when I started searching for new tires. We registered for the rally in southern California and asked Bob Heartland about tires and he recommended the Goodyear G614"s. Changed the Blowmax as soon as he recommended them to us. Great tires. Sailun tires were unknown at that time. When five years are up I am still replacing with the Goodyears.

Sorry to hear your problems. What was the hot pressure an temperature as reported by the TPMS right before the failures? That data might help us understand the reason why the tires failed.

 

[danemayer]

On out first Heartland Rally in Rino, a new Landmark pulled in with the side tore up do to a Blowmax.

Marc,

Are you sure it was a Landmark with Towmax tires? While that Landmark could possibly have had Towmax tires installed, I don't think Heartland ever shipped any Landmarks with Towmax. Maybe a dealer swap or possibly the owner replacing the original tires. Also, I think the 2 axle Landmarks always used Load Range G tires and more recently Load Range H. Towmax 80 psi tires are Load Range E which would have been overloaded from the gitgo, unless perhaps it was a triple axle model. Downgrading from Load Range G to E would be a sure prescription for failure.

 

[JohnDar]

Unfortunately, the OP has not identified the tire brand yet. But it was well known that HL changed the G-rated tires they were putting on Bighorns to an E-rated one around that time frame, as I recall, claiming they could handle the load. The G-rated Freestar's (Chinese) that my rig came with had about 4500 miles on them after almost 9 years (mold date 5207) and still looked like new. I did replace them this spring with the Sailun S637's, just because of their age.

 

[danemayer]

I am curious if anyone has experienced blowout issues with the original tires installed on their Bighorns. We have a 2012 Bighorn........ just a case of rotten luck for me?

2018 models are shipping now and I think Heartland has been shipping with Sailun tires on Bighorns for several years now. Sailun has an excellent reputation and so far we've heard of 1 failure - cause unknown.
That doesn't help you with your tire failure, but is more about letting you know that Heartland moved the heavy coaches to better tires a while ago.

 

[CDN]

SOB Columbus and Cedar Creek still standard E rated. G are an option but not standard. SOB use Towmax tires have taken out many fenders, propane lines and floor damage. Seems the problem is the 65 MPH speed rating and people going over this often and the tires just overheat and explode.

Was very happy to see G Rated Sailun on our 2017 Bighorn.