Powermax TowMax tires

[Cramalot_Inn]

I have just purchased a 2014 CY 4100, this week and I'm scheduled to pick it up next Friday. I had read this trend before joining and ask about the tires. PowerMax Tow Max. He told me that was an old issue and these are some of the best tire available. Do I need to be concerned? When I pick up next Friday I will check date code to make sure they are not an older tire, that has been put on this new trailer. How can I tell the date they where made?

 

[dfk009]

I would make the dealer trade them out as part of the deal. Sales people will tell you anything to keep from loosing a deal, or cutting into their profit margin. Just put on 5 new Maxxis M8008 purchased from Discount Tire with free shipping and gave the old tow max to a farmer to use on his equipment. The Maxxis pull and ride so much smoother. Had Maxxis on our 2005 Holiday Rambler that came standard equipment, and they were on it when traded for the Elkridge. I feel we have peace of mind again, as we were afraid to go anywhere that the Tow Max would peel tread off. P.S. Had the new tires balanced also.

 

[scottyb]

I have just purchased a 2014 CY 4100, this week and I'm scheduled to pick it up next Friday. I had read this trend before joining and ask about the tires. PowerMax Tow Max. He told me that was an old issue and these are some of the best tire available. Do I need to be concerned? When I pick up next Friday I will check date code to make sure they are not an older tire, that has been put on this new trailer. How can I tell the date they where made?

Cramalot_Inn (cool name), welcome to the club. You are going to love your new rig. I think you will find some post here of some recent incidents involving the newer STR's. During my PDI, my tech told me to get rid of them asap. My 1st trip with my rig was to Discount Tire. If you choose to make a change, I would let the tire guys do tires, and not the dealer. Probably will save some money, also.

 

[BarneyFife]

I have just purchased a 2014 CY 4100, this week and I'm scheduled to pick it up next Friday. I had read this trend before joining and ask about the tires. PowerMax Tow Max. He told me that was an old issue and these are some of the best tire available....

That's too funny. When I called Heartland after my blowout and subsequent damage, the Heartland tech told me the exact same thing.

 

[ScottT]

This is our first post, after years of reading this helpful Forum. We felt compelled to share our Power King Tow Max tire experience on our relatively new 2013 Greystone 30CK which we purchased last year. A couple of months ago we arrived home from a 5,300 mile trip, and a total of about 12-14K miles on our Power King Tow Max tires. As we had put a fair amount of mileage on our rig, I was getting concerned about the tires, although they had been wearing and holding pressure well. I regularly checked the tire pressure on all tires and they have held at 80psi. I was even more concerned in the last couple of months, after reading and researching the posts on this Forum. So we recently purchased a TPMS.

Yesterday, I couldn't remove the cover on the tires on the left side of the RV. The tire was jammed against our retracted slide! How could this be?! After extending the slide a bit and removing the tire cover, there was a big bubble on the tire. I have pictures, but cannot attach. The bubble formed with the RV just parked on our driveway! This particular tire was made the first week of 2012 (0112). Thank goodness the tire didn't blow on the road!

Per the recommendations on this Forum, we called our local Discount Tire and ordered 4 replacement Maxxis tires. They do not carry these in stock, so they needed to be ordered - 3-5 days for delivery.

Although we love our Greystone, we do not understand why and are disappointed that Heartland would continue to put these inferior tires on its RVs that can cause significant damage or worse, as repeatedly presented on this Forum.

Thanks.

 

[TireHobby]

I would make the dealer trade them out as part of the deal. Sales people will tell you anything to keep from loosing a deal, or cutting into their profit margin. Just put on 5 new Maxxis M8008 purchased from Discount Tire with free shipping and gave the old tow max to a farmer to use on his equipment. The Maxxis pull and ride so much smoother. Had Maxxis on our 2005 Holiday Rambler that came standard equipment, and they were on it when traded for the Elkridge. I feel we have peace of mind again, as we were afraid to go anywhere that the Tow Max would peel tread off. P.S. Had the new tires balanced also.

Let me qualify where this post is coming from. I don’t know the certified GAWR for your unit so this information is just informative in nature.

RV trailer tire/rim fitments - by regulations - are determined by the GAWR the trailer manufacturer set during the certification process. That GAWR figure does not have to match the axle makers certification label found on the individual axles.

The ST235/80R16E tires come in three distinct load capacities. 3420#, 3500#’ and 3520#, all at 80 psi.

Here is the catch 22. Regulations state that unless a notation is made on the tire certification label the lowest load capacity tire takes precedence. So, vehicle manufacturers will manipulate the actual axle load capacity to make it fit the vehicle’s GVWR which will allow them to derate 7000# axles to 6750#. In doing so all of the above sized tires can be fitted to that 6750# GAWR.

When the vehicle manufacturer uses 7000# axles and certifies them to a GAWR of 7000# they must inform NHTSA when they are using the 3500# or 3520# tires for those fitments so the 3420# tire will not be inadvertently used as replacements. A notation to that effect should be in the owners manual. If not, the manufacturer is in violation of safety regulations and subject to recall actions.


TireHobby

On edit:
I just remembered that I took some pictures of certification labels at a RV show in FL last year. And, sure enough I do have one of a Heartland unit with 6750# axles.
http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=20840

TireHobby

 

[TireHobby]

A couple of months ago we arrived home from a 5,300 mile trip, and a total of about 12-14K miles on our Power King Tow Max tires.

Per the recommendations on this Forum, we called our local Discount Tire and ordered 4 replacement Maxxis tires. They do not carry these in stock, so they needed to be ordered - 3-5 days for delivery.


Thanks.

I see you have used Discount Tire to find replacement tires. Here is a reference from their on-line web pages.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTrailerTireFacts.dos

Becoming more familiar with the ST tire design and their operating parameters may help your Maxxis tires last a little longer.

Most Maxxis reps will give a canned 20,000 mile expectation for their 15” & 16” radial tires.

TireHobby

 

[ScottT]

TireHobby,

Thanks for the additional information!

Discount Tire's Trailer Tire Facts:
"Mileage

• Trailer tires are not designed to wear out.
• The life of a trailer tire is limited by time and duty cycles.
• The mileage expectation of a trailer tire is 5,000 to 12,000 miles."

Trailer tires are not designed to wear out - Oh good!
The mileage expectation of a trailer tire is 5K-12K - Yikes, doesn't this conflict with the previous statement!

Then I guess we were lucky again to get the 12K out of the Tow Max ...

Hopefully, we'll get more than this with the Maxxis.

 

[Thenomads]

Want to thank everybody on the forum for all the tire information.

Two weeks ago on our way home from a 1200 mile trip, and 130 miles after our most recent tire pressure check, one of our Towmax tires blew just 45 miles from home causing $2,400.00 in damage to the 5th wheel. When we went to replace the blown tire we were informed that 2 other tires had minor separation. We did some research and just purchased 5 Bridgestone Duravis R250's at America Tire Store (Discount Tire outside California) it was a tough call between the Bridgestones and the Maxxis M8008. Never thought I would have to replace the tires on a trailer with around 8000 miles on it and only 20 months old.





'

 

[danemayer]

Hi Thenomads,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. As you've already noticed, there's a lot of useful information here along with a great bunch of friendly and helpful people.

I'm sorry to hear about the damage to your trailer. Many of us have shared that gut-wrenching feeling. Hopefully it'll all get fixed quickly and you can get back to enjoying your Bighorn. And maybe your comprehensive coverage will pay for the repairs.

 

[TravelTiger]

We didn't have a blowout, but replaced our failing (broken belts) TowMax tires at 17 mo. - tires were less than 2yrs old according to their mfg date.

Sorry you had the blowout!!

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[ncrzrbk]

I talked to the sundance factory rep last week. They had a meeting with Tredit and mentioned that the plant in China had been retooled because of quality issues. He mentioned that powerking tires with date codes during 2012 have the upgraded tires. It seems at least Heartland is taking some time to talk about tire issues. Hopefully, they have corrected these issues. Do you know what your date code is?


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[ScottT]

I previously posted on this thread that the tire that we had a bulge on was dated 0112. I believe I had read on this forum that Tow Max's were upgraded/improved in 2010. So I'm skeptical.

Update on our Tow Max tire. We contacted Tredit and then TBC Warranty, per the recommendations on this forum. TBC was extremely helpful and worked with the Discount Tire who reported on the tire. It was tread separation - very clear. Therefore, manufacturer defect. As such, TBC will reimburse us the remaining treadwear life on all 4 Tow Max tires that we replaced with Maxxis!! Definitely worth contacting TBC!

Thank you TBC, Discount Tire, and Forum Members!

I now can attach pictures of our bulging tire. I stored it in our garage and the bulge kept getting bigger and eventually popped before we got it to Discount Tire. The inner tube was still intact.

 

[kowAlski631]

New member of Tomax blowout club as of noon today. We were in route to Reno, NV 35 miles to the nearest exit. Totally shredded tire. Some damage to rig also, but no damage to any of us.

Suggest that if you have Tomax tires, you record all info including DOT number so when this happens to you you will have it to file a claim.

 

[kinports]

We have a 2010 3950 Cyclone and had two blow outs this weekend! It being a Holiday and nothing was open and we had all ready used the spare on the first blow out we were really stuck!! They blew out within 20 mins of each other on different sides and really messed up our camper
We are searching for any thoughts you can share on what are good tires to replace with! They are 235/80/16 any help would be great this was so scary!! I hope we never have to deal with this again. I am just sick that both sides of the camper are messed up.

Can anyone that has had this problem give me some help on where I start to get the camper fixed?

 

[scottyb]

Man, this is terrible news, two more new reports within hours. I am very sorry for your troubles. I gues I should go back and give my technician that did my PDI, a big attaboy, for scaring the heck out of me. He point blank said "get rid of em", then showed me a Big Horn that was in for 5K in repairs. I wish HL would take note so we wouldn't be having these conversations. It's a tough pill to swallow, having to spend 2K on tires on a brand new 60-70K RV. BTW, I put Michellin XPS Ribs on mine.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Kinports,

Sorry about your tire problems. You might check with your insurance company to see if they cover this as part of the Comprehensive policy. Even if they don't cover it, the adjusters will know the names of body shops in your area that can do a good job on the repair work.

 

[kinports]

Thank you for the info.!

 

[Mrsfish]

Okay - we've decided to replace our potential problem tires with new before we encounter a problem. We're really, really preventative maintenance people. My problem? Our unit is stored 200 miles from here. Does anybody know what size tire would have come from the factory on our 2014 BH 3010re? This way we can make sure the small town discount t tire store can have the correct replacement tires ready for us next week when we go on our next trip. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

[jnbhobe]

Your 3010 has 235-80-16 LR-E tires some are useing 235-85 as replacements.