Powermax TowMax tires
- Thread starter ncrzrbk
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Lynn1130
Well-known member
I am no tire expert. I depend upon the guys at Discount when I purchase tires and this will probably start a war but I need to ask anyway. Why are Maxxis tires better than others? They are, in fact, a Chinese made tire and from what I found in researching are "average" at best. This list is by no means totally inclusive but the four major American tire making companies are Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear and Cooper.
lynn1130, I see that you put on some cooper tires. Are they lt tires and what size? I just put some at3 on the back of my half ton.
Like others have posted, there are lots of options for 16" and bigger, but for travel trailers and 15" wheels, we are short on options. I have been looking for an Lt tire to replace 225 75 15 lrd and am having poor luck finding much. I was considering going to an lt235 75 15. I found one at Kal tire with lrd (i think, might even be lre) but is kind of aggressive for a trailer tire. And $175 plus install. At my local place, the tire dealer had a yokohoma 7.00-15 radial tire basically for cattle trailers. I'm going to talk to him about those maybe in a size bigger.
Like others have posted, there are lots of options for 16" and bigger, but for travel trailers and 15" wheels, we are short on options. I have been looking for an Lt tire to replace 225 75 15 lrd and am having poor luck finding much. I was considering going to an lt235 75 15. I found one at Kal tire with lrd (i think, might even be lre) but is kind of aggressive for a trailer tire. And $175 plus install. At my local place, the tire dealer had a yokohoma 7.00-15 radial tire basically for cattle trailers. I'm going to talk to him about those maybe in a size bigger.
westxsrt10
Perfict Senior Member
Maxxis has a 10 PR ST 15" tire that is bullet proof. My uncle just bought a set of 4 balanced and installed for his Wildwood TT. $600 total cost.
The just bought a set of Goodyears Marathons 7 months ago, 2 of them blew out on his last trip.
happykraut
Well-known member
I just blew my TowMax yesterday. My TPMS did not respond. I'm thinking of replacing them with Michellins.
What size trailer do you have? Dang this is getting scary.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
So Bernie, are you saying that after the tire blew the TPMS did not beep?
Or that it did not beep before the blowout?
Peace
Dave
happykraut
Well-known member
I pull a 2012 2950RK Big Country. It is a small 33 footer.
Finally lost my nerve. We are planning on pulling down to North central CA this weekend for a week. I've been reading so many of the "tire challanging" problems on this forum and the RV.net forum, that I am getting cross-eyed. I finally drove down to Tacoma Campers World and bought a TireMinder TPMS about a week back. Several days went by, while I continued to read the posts on tire problems, and finally went and ordered a set of Maxxis ST235/80R16E's to arrive and installed the day before we pull out of Seattle this Saturday. I priced the tires at LesSchwab and at discount tire. Discount Tire certainly gets the nod, price wise. I priced the Michelin's, the Goodyear G614's and the Maxxis. I can buy two sets (8 tires) for less than I can buy one set (4 tires) of the Goodyear G614's, and the Michelin's were more expensive than the Goodyear's. I have put 11,500 miles on the TowMax's in the past 14 months, and thought with the upcoming trip to California (R/T will be 1,300 miles), that I would push the TowMax's one more trip,,,,, but I just can't do it.... I was about half-way sick to my stomach over worrying about the possible TowMax failures others have expressed.... In the end, I've got the Maxxis tires as of this Friday, and for the price I got them for, I can buy another set in 12,000 miles or so, and still have spent less than I would have for the set of Goodyear's. Aaaaannnd, I've finally got the TPMS on as well. Even though the posts of others having so many issues and suffering dammages is worrisome, I'm feelin' better over getting the TowMax's off the BH. Appreciate all the input that I've absorbed on the tire related posts; gebills
I have also ordered the TST tire pressure system. Should be here tomorrow. Think I will wait on the tire change for next season. I also worry about these tires. I have talked to a couple of tire dealers locally and they have both said the Powerking tires are good. However, they both priced me the Maxxis tires. I just don't want to spend money for tires on the brand new camper. I will keep my fingers crossed and be deli gent on checking tire wear.
dalspot
Well-known member
We have 5 Maxxis 8008's in the garage awaiting install. I'm not even comfortable pulling out of the storage yard and driving the half-mile to the tire shop to have them put on after reading more and more about the TowMax tires!
On a side note, ordered ours from Amazon. No packaging, all they did was to slap an adhesive UPS label to the tire and ship. Two arrived, three went AWOL. The label was barely holding on to the two that did arrive. I had no problem getting Amazon to replace the 3 missing. Next time, still no packaging, but they wrapped packing tape around the tire about 10 times and stuck the UPS label to the tape. I would love to know what happened to the 3 tires after they arrived in Horsham PA at 9:40 pm! Either somebody at UPS took home 3 tires, or somebody is going to get a big discount on them at the UPS lost package sale!
Karen
On a side note, ordered ours from Amazon. No packaging, all they did was to slap an adhesive UPS label to the tire and ship. Two arrived, three went AWOL. The label was barely holding on to the two that did arrive. I had no problem getting Amazon to replace the 3 missing. Next time, still no packaging, but they wrapped packing tape around the tire about 10 times and stuck the UPS label to the tape. I would love to know what happened to the 3 tires after they arrived in Horsham PA at 9:40 pm! Either somebody at UPS took home 3 tires, or somebody is going to get a big discount on them at the UPS lost package sale!
Karen
happykraut
Well-known member
You said you will diligently watch for tire wear. Unfortunately the TowMax can blow anytime. Mine blow on a 33 foot 2012 BC.
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Maybe someone, who is more familiar with them than I, will set up a survey about this so we could get an accurate answer from this forum about these tires. I do not believe that answering a question like: 'Did you ever have a towmax blowout' would violate the agreement you must sign with Dynamic tire. Other questions could include what brand you replaced with, do you use LT tires of ST tires etc.
pegmikef
Well-known member
Tread and wear wise, mine looked great and was inflated correctly. It went POW anyway.
Totally agree with happykraut and Lynn1130. Watching for tread weak is near irrelevant to the TowMax failures. Not that it hurts; that is part of maintaining your rig. During the last 5,000 mile trip this past fall, I religiously got out at fuel stops and rest areas eyeballing the tread, and the inner and outer sidewalls, but that still doesn’t guarantee your TowMax isn’t going to blow. That is what so many of the posts on the forums have been suggesting. Guess that is why I lost my nerve to do just one more trip. The concern that the TowMax may throw a tread, based on the number of posts suggesting other users have suffered that experience, just doesn’t set well with me. I have no desire to be stranded alongside the road with a blown tire and a damaged BH, or worse. I suppose the purchase of a set of tires is a little like buying insurance, except this insurance hopefully won’t put a person through the misery of an accident followed buy monetary payment for an accident.
When my Maxxis tires are installed this Friday, I’ll end up with the old 4 TowMax tires and probably put them on Craigslist. I don’t think that I would recommend anyone putting them on anything other than a small lightweight trailer or maybe a manure spreader. Not too many of those around the Seattle area though. The TowMax tires I’ve removed show virtually no wear. I haven’t measured them but I’ll bet they measure within a 32[SUP]nd[/SUP] inch of being new. It’s like the Discount Tire recommendations on their web site suggested; “Trailer tires are not designed to wear out” and “The mileage expectation of a trailer tire is 5,000 to 12,000 miles.”
As reported by numerous posts, just because your TowMax tires look good, doesn’t imply you’re safe towing your rig down the road. Happy Towing; gebills
When my Maxxis tires are installed this Friday, I’ll end up with the old 4 TowMax tires and probably put them on Craigslist. I don’t think that I would recommend anyone putting them on anything other than a small lightweight trailer or maybe a manure spreader. Not too many of those around the Seattle area though. The TowMax tires I’ve removed show virtually no wear. I haven’t measured them but I’ll bet they measure within a 32[SUP]nd[/SUP] inch of being new. It’s like the Discount Tire recommendations on their web site suggested; “Trailer tires are not designed to wear out” and “The mileage expectation of a trailer tire is 5,000 to 12,000 miles.”
As reported by numerous posts, just because your TowMax tires look good, doesn’t imply you’re safe towing your rig down the road. Happy Towing; gebills
TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Ditto, I looked at ours every time we stopped, and with fueling every 225 miles or so, that's often. We tow at 60-63MPH. I discovered the strange stretching on one of ours, when it was home, in front of the house. I was looking underneath (actually crawling around on my auto creeper) looking at the underbelly and axles and springs, when I happened to put my hand on the backside of the tire to move myself. I felt a slight bulge. I never would have "seen" this at a fuel stop.
I think that if you have the opportunity to change them, you will not regret it. Our Maxxis still look excellent, and they have 15K+ on them.
