First Heartland Rally-First Towmax Blowout

[Buckeye]

Another victim of Towmax tires ! While traveling from Longs,SC where we store our 2013 Elkridge Fifth Wheel with less than 1500 total road mileage,on I40 just East of Sevierville,Tn, the front passenger side tire blew out causing minor damage to the side of our fifth wheel. I had been planning to get rid of the Blowmax tires when we got back to Ohio but unfortunately we didn't make it. Yesterday I went to a tire dealer in Sevierville and purchased five new Maxxis Tires mounted on my RV. In addition to the blown out tire, a second tire on the same side was swelled up in the middle of the tread which was an indication, according to the tire dealer, of belt separation. The tire dealer I went to also sold Towmax tires and he said this wasn't the first time he had seen this kind of tire failure. Why does heartland continue to put an $ 89 tire on a $ 60,000 RV ? My tires only had less than 1500 miles . Obviously these RV's are too heavy for these tires. Thank God we were travelling with our good friends Tom and Millie Combs on this trip, I don't know how we would have got thru it without their help and friendship.

 

[danemayer]

Why does heartland continue to put an $ 89 tire on a $ 60,000 RV ?

Heartland has moved to Sailun and Goodyear tires on the heavier rigs. Of course, that doesn't help trailers built in 2012 or 2013.

 

[Buckeye]

The weight rating on the Towmax tires were the same then as they are now. In my opinion this is a safety issue. God forbid that someone has a double blow out on the same side of their Fifth wheel and lose control resulting in a personal injury. We all know what happened to GM this year when they deliberately ignored a safety issue.

 

[JohnD]

Another victim of Towmax tires ! While traveling from Longs,SC where we store our 2013 Elkridge Fifth Wheel with less than 1500 total road mileage,on I40 just East of Sevierville,Tn, the front passenger side tire blew out causing minor damage to the side of our fifth wheel. I had been planning to get rid of the Blowmax tires when we got back to Ohio but unfortunately we didn't make it. Yesterday I went to a tire dealer in Sevierville and purchased five new Maxxis Tires mounted on my RV. In addition to the blown out tire, a second tire on the same side was swelled up in the middle of the tread which was an indication, according to the tire dealer, of belt separation. The tire dealer I went to also sold Towmax tires and he said this wasn't the first time he had seen this kind of tire failure. Why does heartland continue to put an $ 89 tire on a $ 60,000 RV ? My tires only had less than 1500 miles . Obviously these RV's are too heavy for these tires. Thank God we were travelling with our good friends Tom and Millie Combs on this trip, I don't know how we would have got thru it without their help and friendship.

Glad you are safe and only minor damage to your trailer.

The Maxxis tires are a good choice as I've heard a lot of good things about them.

Like you said . . . I believe the BlowMax tires are an issue on the bigger and heavier 5th-wheelers!

We had BlowMax tires on our previous 2013 Heartland Trail Runner bumper-pull and never had a problem with them in 5000 miles put on the trailer before we traded it in on our new Prowler.

But . . . having read all of the horror stories here and elsewhere on the internet, it seemed that every time we hit the road, all I did was sweat and worry about those darned tires!

When we bought our new 2015 Heartland Prowler 5th-wheeler, it had BlowMax tires on it, but since we had just put the same size brand new tires on the Trail Runner one week before we traded it in, we had them put our new tires on the Prowler and the BlowMaxes from the Prowler on the Trail Runner.

However, we had some major axle and spring work done on the Trail Runner, and we bought new tires and wheels from the shop that did the repair work.

I had never heard of the brand name of tire . . . Hi Run . . . but our repair shop is also a utility trailer builder and puts the Hi Run tires on every trailer he builds . . . and he assured me that he has never had or heard of a problem with them!

And when I did an internet search for reviews . . . there were two on the entire world wide web . . . one good . . . one bad!

I figure that is a good thing as if there were a lot of problems with Hi Run tires there would be thousands of bad reviews and one or two good reviews.

So far we have between 4000-5000 miles on them (including a trip to Tucson, AZ) . . . and they still look like brand new!

- - - Updated - - -

The weight rating on the Towmax tires were the same then as they are now. In my opinion this is a safety issue. God forbid that someone has a double blow out on the same side of their Fifth wheel and lose control resulting in a personal injury. We all know what happened to GM this year when they deliberately ignored a safety issue.

That is how I ended up with a GM (Chevy) truck . . .

I had a Dodge Ram 1500 . . . probably my most favorite vehicle I have ever owned since I started driving in the mid-70's . . . and I was a Dodge Ram fan!

I had a 2010 Chevy Cobalt and they offered me a lot of moolah in trade to get it off of the road (because of all of the recalls on it)!



Both purchased from the same dealership.

I do miss that little Cobalt . . . I called it my Poor Man's Porche!

I really did like that little car . . . not too mention that it got 30 MPG vs. 12 MPG.

At least since I traded it in I haven't gotten a single speeding ticket . . .

By the by . . . it will be two years of Chevy Truck ownership in August . . . and so far I love this truck!

 

[rhodies1]

Another victim of Towmax tires ! While traveling from Longs,SC where we store our 2013 Elkridge Fifth Wheel with less than 1500 total road mileage,on I40 just East of Sevierville,Tn, the front passenger side tire blew out causing minor damage to the side of our fifth wheel. I had been planning to get rid of the Blowmax tires when we got back to Ohio but unfortunately we didn't make it. Yesterday I went to a tire dealer in Sevierville and purchased five new Maxxis Tires mounted on my RV. In addition to the blown out tire, a second tire on the same side was swelled up in the middle of the tread which was an indication, according to the tire dealer, of belt separation. The tire dealer I went to also sold Towmax tires and he said this wasn't the first time he had seen this kind of tire failure. Why does heartland continue to put an $ 89 tire on a $ 60,000 RV ? My tires only had less than 1500 miles . Obviously these RV's are too heavy for these tires. Thank God we were travelling with our good friends Tom and Millie Combs on this trip, I don't know how we would have got thru it without their help and friendship.

It has always been about profit,fortunately Heartland has seen the light and made a change ******. My cousin has a 2014 Bighorn and had less than 1000 miles on the unit when 1 Of those
Blowmax tires twisted like a pretzel, luckly for him he was just entering a campgrounds when here heard and saw the tire go to pieces.

 

[Speedy]

It has always been about profit,fortunately Heartland has seen the light and made a change before they were sued.

Isn't everything in the business world about profit? If manufacturers chose quality over profit then where would they be? Every RV is built with a price point in mind including the Landmark. Exceed that price point then you turn away business because only a given few will purchase your product for the quality. Look at an Airstream sometime and tell me if they are worth the price on the window sticker.

 

[JohnD]

Isn't everything in the business world about profit? If manufacturers chose quality over profit then where would they be? Every RV is built with a price point in mind including the Landmark. Exceed that price point then you turn away business because only a given few will purchase your product for the quality. Look at an Airstream sometime and tell me if they are worth the price on the window sticker.

Problem is that there is a fine line between price point of purchase from a costumer to the price point a satisfied customer!

Unfortunately . . . the seller (dealership) is hoping that the customer (you, me, us) never figures out all of the warranty repair items.

Kinda like playing the craps tables in Vegas!

 

[Bones]

Isn't everything in the business world about profit? If manufacturers chose quality over profit then where would they be? Every RV is built with a price point in mind including the Landmark. Exceed that price point then you turn away business because only a given few will purchase your product for the quality. Look at an Airstream sometime and tell me if they are worth the price on the window sticker.

I'm not sure I understand the air stream reference?

 

[JohnD]

I'm not sure I understand the air stream reference?

Airstreams are awesome . . . but they are definately overpriced!

However . . . they are worth every penny!

 

[danemayer]

A Classic 30 Airstream, which is 30-31 feet long, 8' wide, and I think with 0 slideouts, lists starting at $127K. Or you could buy a fully loaded Landmark 365 with IS, Disc Brakes, Cheap Heat, and more.

But it appeals to a certain niche market.

 

[JohnD]

That being said . . . last I heard, Airstream is a 'Thor' product.

And 'Thor' is the master name on all of the Heartland products.

 

[Bones]

A Classic 30 Airstream, which is 30-31 feet long, 8' wide, and I think with 0 slideouts, lists starting at $127K. Or you could buy a fully loaded Landmark 365 with IS, Disc Brakes, Cheap Heat, and more.

But it appeals to a certain niche market.

Wooooow...!!!!!!!!!

 

[Diamondjim]

Buckeye -- we were coming home from our first HOC Florida Rally in Navarre a couple of weeks ago, and had the same thing happen.
The unit is a 2011 and I too was going to change out the BlowMax before heading north in May......1st tire Curbside blew on I-10, east of Tallahassee.
New fender from Heartland arrived this afternoon, 5 new Maxxis will show up on my door step Tuesday. Have repaired the other damage to running lights, stove gas line (wiped out very cleanly), bracing, fiberglass panel and skirting.
While I was fixing the interior damage, I added a shelf in the cabinet next to the stove (had to get in there to run the new gas line), moved the vertical partition under the stove toward the outside wall about 2" to increase room for cookie sheets, muffin tins etc. under the stove.
Kind of a "win" for my bride.
We were alone along I-10, DW was in a tissy, told her to stand far away from the rig in the shade and enjoy the traffic. When it came time to put the spare on, got her involved holding the tire in place as I raised the jack that last 1/4" and it popped right on the lugs.
Again, to give her a job while I torqued all the lugs, had her disassemble the jack crank extensions and stow them in the basement. All set to go, did a once over to see that I had not left any tools on the grass shoulder.............drove off...........about 10 miles down the road it dawned on me that I had lowered the jack, BUT left it right there on the shoulder of the road!
Salvage yard did not have the correct jack for my RAM, they came up with a scissors jack, NO - mine is a "bottle jack"!
Follow me, the guy said as we went into the back area, found one (GM) that I thought would work. $20.! half the price he was going to charge me for the incorrect one.
Cleaned it up and spray painted, back under the seat, good as new.
Lesson learned, MAYBE!:angel:

 

[Buckeye]

These RV's sure do make life interesting. We really enjoyed ourselves at the Tn. rally. Met some great folks and are already making plans for the Illinois rally in June. I no longer blame the Towmax tires, I blame Heartland for putting an inferior tire on a very heavy RV. Sort of like putting a bicycle tire on a Buick.

 

[FiremanBill]

We had a blowmax explode sitting in a campground in Blacksburg VA. Sitting by the river and heard this loud boom and saw the trailer shake. At first I thought someone hit it until I saw it sagging on one side. Big bubble on the sidewall let go.

The towmax folks said I was probably going too fast when I called for the warranty (less than a year old) Sadly I had to agree with them as these tires are "unsafe at any speed"

 

[Diamondjim]

We had a blowmax explode sitting in a campground in Blacksburg VA. Sitting by the river and heard this loud boom and saw the trailer shake. At first I thought someone hit it until I saw it sagging on one side. Big bubble on the sidewall let go.

The towmax folks said I was probably going too fast when I called for the warranty (less than a year old) Sadly I had to agree with them as these tires are "unsafe at any speed"

Love "unsafe at any speed " comment!
It's highly possible our recent Tomax failure was due to a nasty pothole on I-10 that I could not avoid. It was the leading tire that took the hit.
Put on set of Maxxis tires yesterday, hope that issue is laid to rest! Have the new fender skirt, gas line, running lights wiring etc all back together now.
Heading north before long!

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