I got got

[TravelTiger]

Lots of replies... That's good. This is a 2011 3950. Unfortunately the tires had a DOT number from 2009. ???. They are towmax str tires.

The best part of this problem we encountered...we bought the camper on Thursday, April 21 and pulled out of town on Friday. We weren't going very far and I thought we were going to be able to get there and back without any hiccups.

I ordered the new tires before we took delivery but didn't have time to get them installed before the maiden voyage.

The dealer and I are figuring out who will be handling the cost.
They sold a camper with sketchy tires clearly needing replacement. If this would have happened 30 days from now, I fully expect to be responsible.
Only owning the TH for ~60 hours, there should be dealer responsibility.
Everything has gone smoothly so far and the dealer seems to be gathering all info before making their decision. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the replies

We are sorry to hear of your mishap. Glad the dealer is showing some good faith in working with you on the tires, I agree they should not have let you off the lot with 2009 tires!!

Please let us know when this gets resolved. Sounds like you picked a tire you can trust that will be much better than OEM.

 

[JanAndBill]

For whatever reason, despite all the posts to social media, NHTSA, the agency that identifies safety issues and orders recalls, has yet to agree with you. And a couple of years ago when I looked at the tire complaints to NHTSA, Goodyear Marathons had more complaints than Towmax.

I wouldn't buy either a Towmax or a Marathon. I don't consider them reliable. And the risk of damage to the trailer ought to be enough to put anyone off. But in all the complaints I've seen over the last 6 years, I don't recall any reports of injuries. Is it possible? Sure. Has it happened? Not that I've seen.

And despite the high failure rates and high level of complaints, the agency in charge of highway safety doesn't agree with you that they represent a safety issue.

Have to agree with you Dan. I read all the NHTSA information i could find and was surprised at how few complaints there were. Since so much of the data was user generated you would think there would be thousands. We put over 8000 miles on the original Towmax until my nerves got the best of me. When I pulled them off they still looked good. I know most who've had problems don't want to hear it but I believe road hazard and air pressure are probably the main culprit on a marginal tire.

 

[scottyb]

dom1nation, sorry for your troubles. Maybe because the tires are no longer used and most of the others have already been replaced, you landed in a void of information. When we bought our Cyclone in 2012, Towmax was very much at the forefront, and I had the benefit of reading numerous reports of early failures and damage like yours. I even saw the results of one rig at the dealer for repairs. My PDI technician said clearly "get rid of them ASAP". It was a hard pill to swallow, spending $2200 on new tires for a new 5th wheel, but we did before the 1st outing. I'm sure the information is still out there, you may have to dig a little deeper for it. Good luck and I hope your dealer comes through for you.

 

[Mrsfish]

We are sorry to hear of your mishap. Glad the dealer is showing some good faith in working with you on the tires, I agree they should not have let you off the lot with 2009 tires!!

Please let us know when this gets resolved. Sounds like you picked a tire you can trust that will be much better than OEM.

Just an FYI. We bought our new rig in April of 2013. It is a model 2014 and the tires were from 12/12- looks bad at first until you realize they were only 4 months old. Not sure that is the case here, but thought I would throw our experience out here.

 

[avvidclif]

Have to agree with you Dan. I read all the NHTSA information i could find and was surprised at how few complaints there were. Since so much of the data was user generated you would think there would be thousands. We put over 8000 miles on the original Towmax until my nerves got the best of me. When I pulled them off they still looked good. I know most who've had problems don't want to hear it but I believe road hazard and air pressure are probably the main culprit on a marginal tire.

Explain a spare tire blowing out sitting at a campsite????

 

[danemayer]

Explain a spare tire blowing out sitting at a campsite????

Internal damage doesn't happen sitting at a campsite, even if that's where the tire fails. It happens on the road. Damage is cumulative over time and the blowout may occur much later.

 

[GOTTOYS]

But it's been reported several times on several forums that Tow Max tires that have never been on the road and are mounted as spares, blow out....No road hazard or tire pressure isues there. They just blow out while on the spare tire carrier. I don't know if I even want to walk by them..Don

 

[mlpeloquin]

Not to get too far off the beaten path of the original topic. But this reminds of the Firestone / Ford Explorer tire issues. Was it Ford's fault for telling it's customers to only put 26PSI in their tires per their factory door stickers? Was it Firestone's fault due to an inherent tire design flaw? Was it Ford's fault for having a poor rear suspension design in the first place or the reason they told customers to run 26PSI was to make the vehicle ride nice, lessen it's tendency to roll and overheat the tires? Firestone took a big beating on it because they were Ford's primary tire supplier for many years, with millions of tires on the road. It took rolling those trucks over and killing many folks before NHTSA stood up and said whooooah, what's going on here? They were just at complacent in all of it, and I only happen to know as much as I do because I was inside with Bridgestone at that time to see it all unfolding. Very sad times I have the unfortunate memories of.

I suppose my point is, both manufacturers should come together and acknowledge the issue and get the unsafe product off these trailers.

There was a demonstration on TV after the Ford Explorer and Firestone tire issues. They put out riggers on the vehicle and had an instant deflating. 65 mph, top heavy over loaded the professional driver easily brought the vehicle to a stop. He was asked how he did it. He did it the way I was trained to drive. Release the gas peddle, coast and do not turn the wheels, he actually took his hands off the steering wheel, apply the breaks gently only after coasting to less the 15 miles per hour while counter steering gently. When the improperly or untrained driver gets a blowout, they apply the breaks and turn the wheel to pull over. This causes the top heavy overloaded vehicle to turn over every time. This was DRIVER ERROR along with overloading and making the vehicle top heavy. As far as the tire issue, the Firestone plant did not neutralize the acid flux used to clean the stainless steel belts in the fabrication process causing the belts to be eaten through over time by the acid.

 

[danemayer]

But it's been reported several times on several forums that Tow Max tires that have never been on the road and are mounted as spares, blow out....No road hazard or tire pressure isues there. They just blow out while on the spare tire carrier. I don't know if I even want to walk by them..Don

I recall one post like that on this forum.

But an unused tire blowing out seems so unlikely, even given that they're lousy tires, that I have to wonder if there's a simpler explanation - like maybe a dealer swapped tires before the trailer was delivered, putting someone else's damaged tire on the spare carrier.

 

[dom1nation]

**update**
Dealer is covering our deductible for the insurance claim and buying 7 new tires. They are coming thru very well I think. I would rather have not had to make the claim and just have them make the repairs but I don't think I could ask that much since it technically was an accident. Total damage was just shy of $8k

 

[dom1nation]

Soooo, we have encountered a new problem.
Long time between posts I know. We got our trailer repaired (took them 4 tries though) we now have structural damage underneath the bedroom slide. I guess the diagnosis was that some welds came apart. Dealer is correcting the problem and we shall see if it is fixed right. Everytime we set the trailer onto the truck, there was a ton of upward movement. It buckled the fiberglass significantly.
This newest issue is the last of a long list of important pieces of the trailer failing me, at this time.

Yay! Love this money pit.
Worst purchase I've ever made.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

 

[Jim.Allison]

It can not be emphasized enough, IF YOU HAVE A TOWMAX TIREs ON YOUR RIG RUN, DON'T WALK, to the nearest tire dealer and get something else.

 

[Bones]

Soooo, we have encountered a new problem.
Long time between posts I know. We got our trailer repaired (took them 4 tries though) we now have structural damage underneath the bedroom slide. I guess the diagnosis was that some welds came apart. Dealer is correcting the problem and we shall see if it is fixed right. Everytime we set the trailer onto the truck, there was a ton of upward movement. It buckled the fiberglass significantly.
This newest issue is the last of a long list of important pieces of the trailer failing me, at this time.

Yay! Love this money pit.
Worst purchase I've ever made.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

If you have upward movement when you hook up to your truck and buckling, the neck area of your frame has probably failed. Make sure you do a through inspection of all the main support components.