Towmax blowout 2 days ago

[JohnD]

When I bought my first Travel Trailer in May of 2012, a Wilderness, I did not get involved with the community so I had no idea of the issues with the Towmax tires I had on my unit. I spend three years driving all over the southwest with this trailer and never had an issue. If I had known I would have swapped them out as soon as possible, all I can say is I was lucky.

We had Blowmax tires on our previous Heartland Trail Runner TT and never had issues with them.

However, after reading all of the horror stories around here I was always running scared!

BlowMax tires were on our Prowler from the factory, but since we had just bought the same size tires one week before to put on the Trail Runner, we had them swapped out at the dealership for our new tires.

I think that the Blowmax problem is really more of an issue with the big 5'vers than with the smaller and much lighter bumper pull trailers.

That being said . . . I'll never roll down the road ever again with a Blowmax on anything I buy.

 

[TravelTiger]

Tireman, thanks for the info, one thing i was very careful about was checking tire pressures and wheel bearings, before and during any traveling. One thing i was suprised by was how much pressure buildup there is when cold pressure shows 80psi and after 300 miles on the road pressures could climb as much as 15psi, and i never let air out of a hot tire to deflate back to 80psi, so not sure how the tire that blew would have been under inflated, like i stated though, i did roll above 65mph in some states, with posted speed limits of 80mph you would get ran over traveling 65, so i pushed the limits of these by rolling 70 to 75, i know, not safe with these tires, could that have caused the melted cords instead of underinflation?? Just curious, new tires are rated for 75mph like the g614's and several others are, and for the most part i don't travel at that speed, 65 is fine for me, but like i said a few places its not safe to drive at that speed, seriously.....

Here's an interesting read:
http://m.truckinginfo.com/blogpost/179742/too-fast-for-your-tires



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Walbeck]

Re: Heartland north exposure 22. 2013. New off lot

We bought our rv off lot brand new 2016 took out west and blow out our tires on driver side $200.00 we paid for it towmax tires do not work on this travel trailer. Waiting for other to blow out to replace. Two left

 

[Bones]

Re: Heartland north exposure 22. 2013. New off lot

We bought our rv off lot brand new 2016 took out west and blow out our tires on driver side $200.00 we paid for it towmax tires do not work on this travel trailer. Waiting for other to blow out to replace. Two left

You should not wait for a blow out. Your should replace as soon as you can. A blow out could cause significant damage.

 

[jakoenig1]

I might as well add my photo to the group. Blowmaxx blowout on I15 just outside of Barstow CA. Fortunately not much damage to fender skirt or trailer. Replaced it with the spare. When we got back to Las Vegas and we replaced all five tires with Goodyear tires.

Hope they weren't the Goodyear Marathons. They do not have a good reputation, foreign made. If they were the Endurance, I think they are US made. If so, repost in a couple of years to let people know how they are doing. I think it is a new product for Goodyear and I can't find any reviews or complaints about them.

 

[MP_CS]

Hope they weren't the Goodyear Marathons. They do not have a good reputation, foreign made. If they were the Endurance, I think they are US made. If so, repost in a couple of years to let people know how they are doing. I think it is a new product for Goodyear and I can't find any reviews or complaints about them.

I just replaced my blowmax tires with the new endurance. I'll keep a watch and let people no my thoughts after we use them for awhile.

 

[jakoenig1]

Re: Heartland north exposure 22. 2013. New off lot

You should not wait for a blow out. Your should replace as soon as you can. A blow out could cause significant damage.

If you wait, this is what your trailer will look like. I didn't replace my spare which was a Towmax. Big mistake. Made less than 2400 miles.

 

[JohnD]

I have 15-inch Hi Run ST tires right now . . . had one start to go bad last fall (caught it in time), but all of the rest have been great!

I've been contemplating the Maxxis 8008 ST tires as I've read lots of good things about them here.

 

[MP_CS]

I have 15-inch Hi Run ST tires right now . . . had one start to go bad last fall (caught it in time), but all of the rest have been great!

I've been contemplating the Maxxis 8008 ST tires as I've read lots of good things about them here.

I woulda went with the maxxis but got a great deal on the goodyears.

 

[JohnD]

I woulda went with the maxxis but got a great deal on the goodyears.

I am very interested to hear how the new Goodyear Endurance tires are.

 

[MP_CS]

I'll keep ya posted

 

[Grey Ghost]

I got sick of sitting along side the interstate with blown tires that I finally put a set of Michelin LT tires on my rig and have NOT had a problem since. I've enjoyed many miles of trouble free exploring and have never regretted making the change.

 

[BigGuy82]

Don't forget the spare tire!

Speaking of spares, I carry two - one under the coach and one in the truck bed. The way I see it is that if one goes, that weight goes to the remaining tire on that side. That ups the chance of a second failure. I got a Sailun mounted on a steel rim delivered for around $250 - cheap insurance.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BigGuy82]

Based on previous posts, you can expect that the tire company may offer you either a replacement tire, or a small cash settlement in the $100-150 range. They will not pay for damage to the RV. And they may require return of the damaged tires for inspection, before agreeing to any compensation, which is how tire companies work.

In other words, tire warranties are basically useless. Shocking!



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[danemayer]

In other words, tire warranties are basically useless. Shocking!



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My first experience with tire warranties was back around 1998. DW's minivan had a steering shimmy. The dealer told me it was a tread separation on the tire and they had moved that tire to the back to minimize the shimmy. Then they explained that Firestone warranted the tires, not Toyota.

So my next stop was the Firestone dealer. I explained the situation and was told, without even stepping outside to look, that the tire was not defective. So I asked, just in the unlikely event that the tire did turn out to have a defect, how would the warranty be applied.

They explained that they would measure the tread to determine the useful remaining life as a fraction. Then that fraction would be applied as a discount toward the purchase of a replacement tire at full retail price. Since they always had their tires on sale, the warranty replacement would have cost more than just buying a new tire at the sale price.

A short time later, Firestone and Ford were embroiled in their SUV rollover disaster.

As for me, I've never darkened the door of a Firestone store since then.

On the other hand, when our Goodyear G614 trailer tire threw a tread at 4 years/40,000 miles, Goodyear reimbursed the $550 to have a replacement tire delivered and installed, and reimbursed the cost of body and paint repairs - about $2,200 if I remember correctly. I continue to do business with Goodyear and now have G114s.

 

[JohnD]

When I got new tires on my truck last summer, we pulled the spare (Firestone Transforce HT) out from under the bed of the truck and found that it had a hole in the rubber all the way down to the steel belts:



I had ordered in three more Transforce HT's and was going to rotate the best of the rest to spare duty.

This hole was on the side that was facing up and this tire had not only never been dropped from under the truck, but also had never been used and the truck was within days from two years to the date of purchase old.

I took it to a Firestone store and they told me that I was on my own and to run it by the Chevy dealership, and a couple of days later I went to the Chevy dealership and they told me that if it was to be covered under any kind of warranty that I needed to take it to a Firestone store.

I just left it with the dealership to let them get rid of it . . .

Chances are I'll never buy another Firestone tire after that . . .

And guess what . . . I left the tire store with four tires of another brand that day for the truck.

 

[tireman9]

When I got new tires on my truck last summer, we pulled the spare (Firestone Transforce HT) out from under the bed of the truck and found that it had a hole in the rubber all the way down to the steel belts:

View attachment 51831

I had ordered in three more Transforce HT's and was going to rotate the best of the rest to spare duty.

This hole was on the side that was facing up and this tire had not only never been dropped from under the truck, but also had never been used and the truck was within days from two years to the date of purchase old.

I took it to a Firestone store and they told me that I was on my own and to run it by the Chevy dealership, and a couple of days later I went to the Chevy dealership and they told me that if it was to be covered under any kind of warranty that I needed to take it to a Firestone store.

I just left it with the dealership to let them get rid of it . . .

Chances are I'll never buy another Firestone tire after that . . .

And guess what . . . I left the tire store with four tires of another brand that day for the truck.

Interesting. Wondering how this was Firestone's fault. Clearly the tire was inflated when it was mounted and balanced as it would be impossible to inflate and balance a tire with that large of a hole.

I thought that GM had a "bumper to bumper" warranty that covered tires. Sounds like the dealer was just trying to avoid having to handle that warranty.

RE tire store. Was it a "company" store? i.e. Bridgestone/Firestone Mastercare store or an independent dealer that sold brands that compete with Bridgestons & Firestone brands? i.e. selling Cooper or GY or Michelin or Conti etc?

 

[tireman9]

Hows this one look

Yup that's a belt/tread separation and not a Run Low Flex Failure. Only chance to discover those before they come apart is with a free spin inspection. TPMS are not intended or designed to detect this condition.

 

[JohnD]

Interesting. Wondering how this was Firestone's fault. Clearly the tire was inflated when it was mounted and balanced as it would be impossible to inflate and balance a tire with that large of a hole.

I thought that GM had a "bumper to bumper" warranty that covered tires. Sounds like the dealer was just trying to avoid having to handle that warranty.

RE tire store. Was it a "company" store? i.e. Bridgestone/Firestone Mastercare store or an independent dealer that sold brands that compete with Bridgestones & Firestone brands? i.e. selling Cooper or GY or Michelin or Conti etc?

I bought the new tires at Tires Plus (who are the ones that discovered the hole) . . . which is owned by Firestone.

Then I took the one pictured down the road to an actual Firestone Store/Shop.

I find it interesting that nobody wanted to do anything about it.

As for somebody having to mount it to the wheel . . .

I don't know, but I'm guessing that GM probably buys those spare tires already mounted to the rims.

 

[fastcarsspeed]

So we just purchased a 2014 Cyclone 4100HD. It of course has Towmax tires on it and came with the tire warranty that covers me from road hazards of course and not blow outs from tire defects. When speaking to the tire warranty company he recommended looking at Carlisle tires. They have have two different tires with the difference being ply's and speed rating. They are on par with the goodyears it appears. I was just wondering if anyone here has run the Carlisles?