Towmax blowout 2 days ago

[BandGun]

I was on the bypass around Atlanta when the explosion occurred. The tread completely separated and the tin in front of the garage steps was folded under 8-12". I was in the right lane going 55-60 and was able to immediately pull over. The extra wide shoulder was nice.

I was not aware of the towmax / blowmax saga until this happened. I am currently in the Baileyton Tn area and will be getting it repaired at http://www.triamrv.com

i will be looking for someone in the immediate area to provide a good deal on goodyear or sailun tires to replace all of mine.

 

[Rhyph]

Get rid of them ASAP.

We had a very similar thing happen, but we lost two of them within miles of one another on Father's Day this past year leaving us stranded at a gas station until we could have them replaced with GY 614's by roadside service (no Sailuns available). Our first blow out was on the highway doing about 65mph. I was being chased by my other half in our Mini Roadster and the force of the blowout caused the trailer to jump up in the air about 2 feet per witness accounts. I practically didn't feel it in the truck, but heard and knew immediately what had happened and got off the shoulder immediately. It took out our fender, bent the metal wrap, severed the electric brake wires, the tread hit the top of the jack and broke it's fitting causing most of our hydraulic fluid to leak out, and tore up a lot of the underpinning. The tread wrapped itself around the axle about 4 times and was very difficult to remove. The tires on that side of the trailer were suffering from an alignment wear issue already, it's still a mystery today as to whether the tire failed due to excessive wear, heat or just being garbage in general. I knew it wasn't air pressure since I had just checked them before we left the house about 4-5 hours prior.

The second tire I fortunately caught just before it actually blew when we went up a mile to the next exit to check the air in the spare, etc off-highway. That's when I discovered that the second tire had a separation in progress. The tires on this side were not showing signs of mis-alignment wear. It's hard to see in the picture, but I knew what I was looking at with the second tire immediately having been in the retail automotive and tire industry for a good portion of my career. Our Bighorn was only 8 months old when all of this happened and maybe had 4000 miles on it. I was trying to get a year out of them and already had planned to have them changed out, but we didn't make it.

First two images are of some of the damage. Last image is of the tire that was separated while still on the 5th wheel at the place we stopped to check them.



Good luck with it and don't let it dampen your trip!

 

[BandGun]

It is odd you mention the trailer going up in the air. It felt so violent to me that I at first thought it was my truck and that someone had hit me. Last night I found that the unglazed tile I keep in the oven had shattered and 2 of the 3 burners had been knocked loose from their fittings. The oven is directly over that tire.

 

[FiremanBill]

How can you tell a trailer with Blowmax tires on them?

They look like this on the side of the road...

 

[StrongJava]

When I read stuff like this, and know I'm considering buying a new RV, I figure I'm going to settle on the best price I am willing to consider for the coach, and then I deduct another $1800 to replace all the tires with Goodyear or Saliuns.

I am also taking any brand selling 16K GVWR trailers with E-rated tires off my list.

Cheers, Tim

 

[FiremanBill]

I was on the bypass around Atlanta when the explosion occurred. The tread completely separated and the tin in front of the garage steps was folded under 8-12". I was in the right lane going 55-60 and was able to immediately pull over. The extra wide shoulder was nice.

I was not aware of the towmax / blowmax saga until this happened. I am currently in the Baileyton Tn area and will be getting it repaired at http://www.triamrv.com

i will be looking for someone in the immediate area to provide a good deal on goodyear or sailun tires to replace all of mine.

View attachment 43448View attachment 43449View attachment 43450View attachment 43451

What's really scary is look at the tire in the last pic next to the blow out. You can see the extra load being put on it and look at the crease in the sidewall already, right by the P on the sidewall. I wouldn't turn a wheel on that thing til it is replaced.

 

[danemayer]

When I read stuff like this, and know I'm considering buying a new RV, I figure I'm going to settle on the best price I am willing to consider for the coach, and then I deduct another $1800 to replace all the tires with Goodyear or Saliuns.

I am also taking any brand selling 16K GVWR trailers with E-rated tires off my list.

Cheers, Tim

I'm not sure what trailers you're considering, but most of the 16K trailers now come with Sailun or Goodyear tires.

 

[DMaxRocks]

I have used Maxxis tires on my SOB 5er the last 10 years. They have worn well and I have not had any issues with the tire exploding, however, my camper is in the 11k range, not as heavy as the ones y'all are talking about. I do change replace the tires every 5 years with out fail (no pun intended). Maxxis does make a tire in the ST235/80R16, but they do not list the load range on their website. The website does state the max load for the tire is 3420 pounds at 80 PSI.

On edit: Never mind, I just looked at the Sailun website and their ST235/85R16 max load at 110 PSI is 4080 pounds. Looks like Maxxis is out when I move up to a BH.

 

[BandGun]

What's really scary is look at the tire in the last pic next to the blow out. You can see the extra load being put on it and look at the crease in the sidewall already, right by the P on the sidewall. I wouldn't turn a wheel on that thing til it is replaced.

Good eye...I had already seen it and am trying to find someone around me to do the tires. I am waiting on two places to call me back right now. Everyone wants to sell me something else but I am adamant on the Goodyears or Sailun.

 

[Gtoli]

I replaced all 5 tires and wheels with Sailun 235/85 R16 and proper weight rated wheels before I even towed it out of my driveway.
Ordered the tires and wheels online and had them delivered by Fed-Ex mounted and balanced.

(A little muddy after the inaugural camping trip there was still a bit of mud/snow on the ground last month)

 

[macjj]

Here, here. We all seem to learn the hard way. Like others, I had two blow within 20 miles, and replaced all 5 (included the spare). Don't expect much from the factory either


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[FiremanBill]

I made a big stink with blowmax on their facebook page. Was getting nowhere with them until I did that. After all the comments on that thread they settled with me, no where near enough for replacements but I did get something out of their sorry behinds.

 

[boatto5er]

How long do you plan to be in Baileyton? SimpleTire.com has G614s for $300 each and ships free. Takes about three days. You just need to find a place to get them mounted. The SimpleTire website has a tool to help you find a place.


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[wdk450]

When I read stuff like this, and know I'm considering buying a new RV, I figure I'm going to settle on the best price I am willing to consider for the coach, and then I deduct another $1800 to replace all the tires with Goodyear or Saliuns.

I am also taking any brand selling 16K GVWR trailers with E-rated tires off my list.

Cheers, Tim

You know you can negotiate all kinds of stuff with the salesman. A set of tires to your satisfaction is something I have heard of new RV buyers getting from the salesmen before. I got a hitch setup for my truck included in the RV purchase price.

 

[JohnD]

You know you can negotiate all kinds of stuff with the salesman.

I got a hitch setup for my truck included in the RV purchase price.

We got our hitch tossed in as well, although I'm sure we are paying for it somehow.

 

[rhodies1]

Did the alignment fix your wear problem ,l have a bh3455 model and was experiencing rear axle excessive wear. It turned out to be a collapsed equalizer rubber and collapsed spring on the drivers side ,thus pulled the axle 3/4 inch closer together than passenger side.looked like alignment issue,I live in Canada and heartland sent all new parts including upgraded springs,equalizes,axle etc at no charge,fixed the problem.

 

[jmgratz]

When I read stuff like this, and know I'm considering buying a new RV, I figure I'm going to settle on the best price I am willing to consider for the coach, and then I deduct another $1800 to replace all the tires with Goodyear or Saliuns.

I am also taking any brand selling 16K GVWR trailers with E-rated tires off my list.

Cheers, Tim

E rated tires on a 16k trailer could be fine if the trailer has 3 axles. G would be better though.

 

[Rollin_Free]

I have been reading about Tow Max (Power King) tire failures for well over 3 years on multiple forums. Based on these forums I know a lot of owners have changed to Goodyear 614's or Sailun tires. I'm sitting here on a rainy day with time on my hands (dangerous to start thinking) and wonder if tire manufacturers are really aware of this issue and what steps owners are taking to prevent the potential or reaccurance of a tire failure. Since there are so many occurrences of tire failures on multiple brands there is obviously opportunity to engineer a design change to improve this type of tire. From what I have read IMHO anyone buying an RV of any kind should not accept delivery until the tires are changed to, in this case, Goodyear or Sailun tires.

Don't get me wrong I'm changing my tires out to something different for this same reason but if dealers and RV owners would refuse accepting these Towmax tires maybe it would be a stronger force to get resolution of this problem.

 

[KenandKK]

I had 2 blowouts, read lot's of forums and was confused, frustrated and looking for the root cause of the blowouts. After a call to Trailer tire and Wheel in Ohio, I hope I found the solution. I ordered the salesman's suggested tires/rims and received them the next day, (Yep! that's not a mistake) and free shipping! No problems since! Great price too!!

 

[beasleyrl]

From what I have read IMHO anyone buying an RV of any kind should not accept delivery until the tires are changed to, in this case, Goodyear or Sailun tires.

Keep in mind, not all GoodYear tires are created equal. We had GoodYear Marathons on our last Cyclone and replaced 2 in less than 2 years - 1 before it blew and 1 after. I will say, GoodYear did stand behind the tire that blew and paid for not only a replacement tire but also all the damage to the trailer but that doesn't help much when you are sitting on the side of the road or can't use the rig because it is being repaired.