Tires

[douglasjohnjohnson]

We were recently returning from a tour of the western states. We were leaving Las Vegas headed for Fresno California. We have a 2014 3070 Bighorn behind a 2014 F350 King Ranch. About 10 miles east of Mojave when the front left tire on the Bighorn blew. I use a TireMinder and monitor the pressure regularly. It appears this was a catastrophic event. I put on the spare and continued on to Fresno. This was Saturday. On Monday 9/22/14, I contacted Dynamic Tire Corporation, filed a claim. The tire was a Power King Towmax STR ST235/80/R16E. TDC recommend Les Schwab as a dealer. I had the tire mounted at Schwab an took it home. On Tuesday I removed the spare and bolted on the new tire. Wednesday I took the fiver to the Heartland dealer for an estimate of the damage. The dealer looked at the tires and suggested I take the rig to Schwab and have them look at the remaining three tires. I pulled into Les Schwab's, a technician looked at the tires and said drop the rig where it is, your right front is ready to blow, and the other two are separating. I figure I have about 8,500 miles on the tires, the rig is a year old, and stored indoors. Anyone else having issues with the Power King Towmax tires?

Douglas "John" Johnson

 

[BigJim45]

We were recently returning from a tour of the western states. We were leaving Las Vegas headed for Fresno California. We have a 2014 3070 Bighorn behind a 2014 F350 King Ranch. About 10 miles east of Mojave when the front left tire on the Bighorn blew. I use a TireMinder and monitor the pressure regularly. It appears this was a catastrophic event. I put on the spare and continued on to Fresno. This was Saturday. On Monday 9/22/14, I contacted Dynamic Tire Corporation, filed a claim. The tire was a Power King Towmax STR ST235/80/R16E. TDC recommend Les Schwab as a dealer. I had the tire mounted at Schwab an took it home. On Tuesday I removed the spare and bolted on the new tire. Wednesday I took the fiver to the Heartland dealer for an estimate of the damage. The dealer looked at the tires and suggested I take the rig to Schwab and have them look at the remaining three tires. I pulled into Les Schwab's, a technician looked at the tires and said drop the rig where it is, your right front is ready to blow, and the other two are separating. I figure I have about 8,500 miles on the tires, the rig is a year old, and stored indoors. Anyone else having issues with the Power King Towmax tires?

Douglas "John" Johnson

If you do a search on TowMax tires on this forum you will find ALOT of owners that have trouble. When I bought my rig back in Jan of this year I had all the BlowMax tires changed out. No troubles.....
Here is one thread to read
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/48506-Another-TowMax-victim-reporting-in

 

[Crumgater]

Wow.
I trust the guys at Schwab, 100%.
Glad you got it to the shop before you had another 'event'!

We put new tires on our Elkridge after 2 years (<5000 miles), due to all the stories we read on this forum.

 

[Jim.Allison]

We even have a Blowmax owners group.......

 

[ShaneHess]

EVERYONE has blow outs with those tires!!! Including us, you got way more miles out of em then we did. Fortunately for us, we saw them going bad before they blew, wasn't but 50 miles apart. Got stuck in Elko, GA waiting on Goodyear G614 tires, as we had already used our spare on the first one, and DID NOT want anymore cheap Chinese tires. We were at the Heartland rally this year in Virginia, and it looks like they are aware of these problems, the display units they had there had a better rated tire on them. Sorry you had damage done.

 

[kbbagshaw]

We had our Big Country less than a year and with around 5000 miles when a right side tire blew and took out the wheel well and side. We replaced them all with Goodyears and had the unit for 5 more years with no problems. Just bought a Cyclone and immediately replaced the tires.

 

[Bob&Patty]

You need to replace all of the tires. ...now. I prefer the GY G614's...got them on my Horn and have been trouble free for 5 years now.

 

[Gaffer]

I have good luck with Les Schwab also but only for the Toyos on my truck. Les sells Towmax in Oregon and at two different stores, I get the same story from them, they say they haven't had any problems with them.

Wow.
I trust the guys at Schwab, 100%.
Glad you got it to the shop before you had another 'event'!

We put new tires on our Elkridge after 2 years (<5000 miles), due to all the stories we read on this forum.

 

[Grey Ghost]

I also had Dynamic (blowmax) tires on my rig and blew two of them shortly after purchasing the 5ver. I also tried to deal with Dynamic, they went so far as to pay for having my tires shipped to Canada for inspection. Upon their so called inspection they determined it must have been user error. Either I was running the tires over inflated, under inflated or hit something on the road to cause such damage to the tire. I always ran with 80 psi and checked them religiously prior, durning and after each day on the road. Hate sitting along side the interstate in 100+ degree temps you know! Anyhow, I got rid of the TowMax tires and put on Michelin LT tires and no more problems. Power King (Dynamic Tire Corporation) should not be in business. Those tires are made in China, not saying tires made in China are not good, but their tract record is to good! Don't want to start that debate up again!! They just do not stand behind their product. There are many threads regarding TowMax tires and NONE are good. We have a club called (BlowMax) now you can join that club along with many others. Remember to have fun, enjoy and be safe out there.

 

[Jim.Allison]

one thing for certain is that the blowmax is a problem, the solutions vary, but most on this forum have solved it and are happy with their solutions. That is the only part of the debate that lingers is what solution a victim is going to pursue. When this comes up everyone want to help by providing what has worked for them. One thing I think we can absolutely agree on is that there is no place on a Heartland 8 lug rim for a Towmax tire. I'm being generous at that, I don't really think that there is a place on a heartland rig for any Towmax. 8 lug, 6 lug, or 5 lug if there is such an axle. LOL

For the folks that like the Michelin LT solution, there is a new kid on the block in the Firestone Transforce HT. It has a higher load rating in a reasonably similar diameter for the 16 inch. I don't know what the difference would be but I think it might be a good tire to have a look at. Or at least discuss.

 

[jnbhobe]

Transforce HT's should have the same load rating as the Michelin Ribs when comparing the same sizes. And yes there are many 5 lug axles out there. A little research will show whats available and their capacity.

 

[Jim.Allison]

Transforce HT have a 3400 plus tire in a 16 inch in a similar diameter, I think that is more load than XP RIB.

 

[dave10a]

If these tires are a problem like many suggest-- why does Heartland continue to use them?? Are they putting cost and profit ahead of safety?

 

[jnbhobe]

Transforce HT have a 3400 plus tire in a 16 inch in a similar diameter, I think that is more load than XP RIB.

Please read the spec charts LT 235-85-16 LR-E Have a load rating of 3042 lbs @ 80 psi ,you probably looked at LT 265-75-16 LR-E they about are the same diameter but wider and have a load rating of 3416 ibs @ 80 psi. I have used these tires for years for the ratings both on my trucks and trailers before I went to 18 inch on the new trucks.

 

[TravelTiger]

If these tires are a problem like many suggest-- why does Heartland continue to use them?? Are they putting cost and profit ahead of safety?

I'm sure the company will never admit that. But it's not just Heartland, I saw many TowMax tires on many other brands at the RV show.

But even so, we've never heard of anyone having an accident or dying directly because of these tires. If so, you know there would be a recall. That said, IMHO, I bet there were contracts in place that tied the hands of Heartland to get a different brand. I think that Tredit made an attempt to appease the situation with new advertising (within the past year) stating some form of roadside assistance and warranty on the TowMax, but this didn't stop the tires from failing. I am sure initially, as with anything we buy, HL was "sold" these tires for cost and weight ratings that seemed better than the alternatives at the time.

Now I see Heartland has changed the tire brand on the heavier coaches, so the reports of tire failures hopefully goes down for 2015 models and beyond.

My opinion is, if you have TowMax, change them, and forego the headache on the side of the road.

 

[Westwind]

We are the lucky ones, I replaced them before we had a blowout - It wasn't fun ponying up the money for 5 GY G614's, but all I wanted was peace of mind. Hopefully I will get 5 years out of these.

 

[glr482]

As a retired police officer and former mechanic, I recommend everyone who has had a Towmax fail report it in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database ( https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/online.cfm ). They only display the 50 most recent complaints... And Towmax complaints hit 50 since June. This is astounding considering few people know of this site for reporting tire complaints. We had a catastrophic failure a week ago and have replaced all our tires with Goodyears. Here is our NHTSA report:
"Saturday, 9/20/14, we drove approx 300 miles from FL on interstates 95 and 26, speed 65 mph or lower, with 2014 Heartland Bighorn 5th wheel trailer. Tire pressure (80 psi) and lug torque (120 ft/lb) checked before departure. Exited I-26 in Lexington SC and had driven 2-3 miles, speeds 35 and under, on surface street when left rear tire blew, separating 2/3 of the tread circumference creating a 3 1/2 foot long 8 inch wide steel belted flail that destroyed the lower valance and wheel well on left main slide, throwing debris on adjacent traffic. Thankfully, due to low speed at time (20-25), there were no injuries, damage to other vehicles or loss of vehicle control. Trailer purchased new Jan 2014 and had less than 1500 miles total use. Internet search revealed LOTS of similar stories and a full complaint log (50) since 6/14 on NHTSA site. No faith in these tires; replaced two (all the local Goodyear tire dealer had on a Sunday) but will replace them all when available. Heartland and TBC, the tire maker (?) will hear as well. Serious safety hazard!"

 

[jimtoo]

Hi glr482,


Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

Sorry you had a problem with a tire,, but as you can see,, you are not alone. Save the carcass and contact Tredit Tire, (800) 537-2925, explain your problem, they may want the carcass and may help you.

Let us know what happens.

Jim M

 

[whp4262]

I needed to pick up a forklift near Houston and didn't have a trailer heavy enough to carry it. So I rented one from Big Tex trailers in Fort Worth. While I was there I looked at some of there new heavy duty dually trailers. I noticed that they all had Taskmaster Provider ST tires on them, the same thing I run on my Cyclone. So I asked about them and they said they used to run Carlisle tires but had to many customer complaints so they switched to the Provider tires. If Heartland wants to stick with ST tires on their units to keep the price down maybe they should research and use a different brand. When Big Tex had several complaints they were proactive and are trying something different. Heartland seems to ignore the complaints and stays on the same old path.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mlpeloquin]

I too, replaced my TowMax tires with the Goodyear G614’s. I don’t think that I had more than 1K miles in the TowMax tires. While at the regional rally at Sparks Nevada, I saw the results of a TowMax failure. He had one blow, two with the belts separated and ready to blow, and one that had a large bubble. I heard many that had blowouts with the TowMax tires. I am going to the Hartland Chapter Rally in Temecula California and was not going down to Southern California with TowMax tires. By the way a week ago at the Jackson California rally, the Heartland dealer, Happy Days, brought in two rigs. The new Landmark and a new Bighorn. Both had LT tires on them. I did not ask if this is now standard or if they ordered them with the LT’s.

Marc & Carol