Towmax by Power King – Facts

[TravelTiger]

OK, here goes. We love our Heartland Landmark. No problems. Just completed a 2000 mile round trip and it performed flawlessly. No tire problems (Goodyear G614) and nothing came apart.

Seriously, there are hundreds of threads on here with folks singing the praises of their RVs.


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Agreed! The forum is a great place to deal with issues -- lots of times, others may have experienced something similar and can offer advice.

We have had tire issues with TowMax, luckily no blowouts. And we've had some issues along the way. But we still love love love our 2010 ElkRidge!!

I would recommend upgrading tires. There "seems" to be a high failure rate, even when properly inflated, not overloaded, and driven below recommended speeds.


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[TravelTiger]

I can tell you exactly what causes the big air bubbles on the sidewalls. It is from overheating that occurs after under inflation while traveling down the highway.

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Dave, I thought I recalled someone who had bulges with less than 3k miles-- that seems like a pretty low threshold for failure, if it's heat build-up caused.

I think many folks are NOT reporting these to NTHSA... Because in most cases, a crash doesn't occur, no-one is injured -- only damage the rig.

We tend to think of recalls being for things that kill or injure people.

I finally reported ours in Dec. from tire issues in March and August of 2011, thanks to the urging on this forum.


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[wdk450]

Dober:
I would STRONGLY encourage you to attend a Heartland Owners Rally this year and meet other Heartland owners for a weekend (or week) of face-to-face discussions. You can find a list of these rallies with clickable links on the right side of the HOG "Portal" page. You can attend any rally you like to.
BTW, you are lucky to have the Heartland National Rally in June in your region (Virginia). It is out of the question for me in California, but they move it around to keep the distances traveled as fair as they can.
Most all of us on this forum have SOME problems at some time, but all-in-all LOVE our Heartland RV's!

Thank you for posting this I just bought a brand new Cyclone 3100 I am starting to think joining this forum was a mistake for me. I tend to over think and over analyze everything. It seems as though everything on this forum is negative postings about the Heartland product and now I am second guessing my decision. At least this post put the tire issue into perspective. Is there a thread anywhere on here where owners talk about the things they LOVE about their Heartland products?

 

[DW_Gray]

Dave, I thought I recalled someone who had bulges with less than 3k miles-- that seems like a pretty low threshold for failure, if it's heat build-up caused.

I finally reported ours in Dec. from tire issues in March and August of 2011, thanks to the urging on this forum.


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Tireman9 of RV Tire Safety may have a better answer. I don't think it matters how old a tire is. Anytime a tire is overloaded and under inflated, excessive heat is generated. Excessive heat is the killer for tires. The damage process has started. Based on my recent experiences, I now understand that tire failure can take up to 6 months after the initial damage started. The damage cannot be reversed by maintaining tire pressure after one has discovered low air pressure. Anyone that has to routinely add air to a tire before each travel day is looking at a problem that needs to be fixed but that doesn't mean the damage hasn't already occurred. I've come to understand how important it is to have a TPMS on our RVs. Even I, who is religious about checking the air pressure before each travel day, know that there's no guarantee that air will not escape during travel. Without the TPMS, we will not know a tire is going flat.

I"m glad you took the time to file a complaint at NHTSA. RVers need to be more proactive with this resource than venting about a tire problem on all the RV forums. The NHTSA doesn't read RV forums.

 

[alex00]

I'd be curious to know if a particular side (passenger/driver) is more prone to failure across the board. I'd also like to know if trailers sold as new further from Indiana have a higher failure rate. I would hope that the Transporter is actually checking air pressure and keeping the trailer under 65 MPH. I know that is like hoping unicorns are real.

I'm glad you took the time pull the actual numbers of threads, and complaints posted on the board. I know I don't yet have a dog in this fight, but I'm weeks away from taking delivery, so I need to decide what I am going to do. Part of me has wondered if the sheer number of failures is over-estimated by the frequency of posts.

It would be interesting to further dissect the posts and figure out how many actual, individual complaints of failure have been reported on the forum. Of the numbers you posted up of Towmax references, how many were repeats from the same poster. I am certainly not saying or implying there isn't a problem with the tires. I am just wondering out loud if our perception of the problem is exacerbated by the routine nature of the posts.

Much like the 24 hour news cycle making certain crimes appear more prevalent in today's society, when in reality, the rate of that crime has dropped over the years.

 

[OhShoot]

I can tell you exactly what causes the big air bubbles on the sidewalls. It is from overheating that occurs after under inflation while traveling down the highway.

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it has to do with the bonding of the rubber when made http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=159

 

[Snow]

Re: Towmax by Power King – Facts . . . ?

Dober2004 , john D couldn't have said it better we do love our trailers ,I shopped online ,researched online and at dealerships and I think heartland has the best trailer for the money ,yea there are a lot better trailers out there but a lot more money my buddy has a 100 grand trilogy and he has had just as many problems with that as I have mine , I never had any major problems yet but a good many small ones that I think QC should have caught before it went out the door , my only regret is not haveing the level up system ! Maybe my next heartland will have it , hope you enjoy your rv as much as we do ours ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

 

[scottyb]

it has to do with the bonding of the rubber when made http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=159

There you go. It is a quality control issue during manufacturing, something a lot of us have been saying for a while.

 

[danemayer]

it has to do with the bonding of the rubber when made http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=159

Suggest you read the entire article more closely.

the bond can be reduced if 1) any of the components are contaminated during manufacturing (resulting in incomplete bonding), or 2) components are damaged in service due to use while overloaded/underinflated, or by impact with potholes, curbs or other road hazards

There's also a time element.

 

[Dober2004]

Re: Towmax by Power King – Facts . . . ?

Thank you the positives regarding the Heartlands. I am so excited to pick ours up in March. If there wasn't a ton of snow still on the ground I would have it in my yard already!

 

[DW_Gray]

Re: Towmax by Power King – Facts . . . ?

Thanks, Dan, for that important detail. Additionally, the paragraph below from that article supports what I said previously.

"If the sidewall separation/bubble appears after six months of on-vehicle service, prolonged driving on overloaded/underinflated tires or a road hazard are the most likely causes. However it may take weeks or months after an impact for a separation/bubble to appear as the damaged or bruised area continues to weaken. Unfortunately the time differential between the impact that caused the initial damage and the delayed appearance of visible evidence often means that the driver has forgotten about the impact that damaged the tire in the first place."

 

[OhShoot]

Suggest you read the entire article more closely.


There's also a time element.

so what happened to this tire brand new 0 miles what do you suggest on this one

 

[DW_Gray]

View attachment 28570 so what happened to this tire brand new 0 miles what do you suggest on this one

How do you know it was 0 miles? Did you take the picture at the plant in Elkhart, IN following completion of production?

 

[danemayer]

View attachment 28570 so what happened to this tire brand new 0 miles what do you suggest on this one

I'm not a tire expert but let me note 3 things: 1. For a tire to have 0 miles, it would have been just mounted, or on a trailer that is coming out of the factory. So maybe this tire had some miles on the road getting delivered. 2. From what I've read, determining cause involves cutting the tire open and examining the interior under a microscope, which we obviously can't do from a picture. 3. There's a pretty good scuff mark on the sidewall at about 8 o'clock. The bubble is at about 7 o'clock and is on the corner of the tire. My non-expert guess would be that this tire hit a curb on the way to the dealer.

 

[OhShoot]

I'm not a tire expert but let me note 3 things: 1. For a tire to have 0 miles, it would have been just mounted, or on a trailer that is coming out of the factory. So maybe this tire had some miles on the road getting delivered. 2. From what I've read, determining cause involves cutting the tire open and examining the interior under a microscope, which we obviously can't do from a picture. 3. There's a pretty good scuff mark on the sidewall at about 8 o'clock. The bubble is at about 7 o'clock and is on the corner of the tire. My non-expert guess would be that this tire hit a curb on the way to the dealer.

This was sent to me by a friend of a friend that had jest bought his rv . pic was taken at the dealer while he was doing his pdi they changed the tire for him , that's all I know , I love my heartland gateway , heartland has the best built 5th wheel out there but after seeing this I will be changeing my tires to Goodyear ,

 

[jasons09cyclone]

Had my 42 foot 3950 for almost 6 years now... And I still get people that think I just purchased it new. It still has the new smell inside too..needless to say I'm glad to pick heartland brands.. That being said.. I'm on my second set of tires after seeing my last marathons were starting to get out of round... Which isn't bad.. I think my trailer weighs 19,000 pounds with a smart car in the back and loaded down on some trips...


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[tireman9]

I'm not a tire expert but let me note 3 things: 1. For a tire to have 0 miles, it would have been just mounted, or on a trailer that is coming out of the factory. So maybe this tire had some miles on the road getting delivered. 2. From what I've read, determining cause involves cutting the tire open and examining the interior under a microscope, which we obviously can't do from a picture. 3. There's a pretty good scuff mark on the sidewall at about 8 o'clock. The bubble is at about 7 o'clock and is on the corner of the tire. My non-expert guess would be that this tire hit a curb on the way to the dealer.

Good guess. A few possibilities including curb hit but also an open body ply splice or Innerliner split. BUT definattly not a tire I would drive a mile on.

 

[tireman9]

I know many complain about the idea that RV owners could be at fault when there is a tire failure so they simply use the lawyers thought process. If a product fails to perform as expected we do not want to blame the victim so the product must have been defective, even if we can't point to the reason for the failure.

If you pick up a nail I don't see how that is anyone's fault. If you have a slow leak and don't have a TPMS than the leak is not your fault but you didn't help the situation by not having the safety device installed that could have provided warning.

Here is a post with lots of pictures that identify the "cause" of the blowout as being run while having lost a lot of air. I was able to do this inspection even without having the tire because there was a movie that was sharp in focus and well lit. If I had had the tire it is possible I might have been able to identify the reason for the air loss.

You should note that the owner has suffered another very similar failure again but as far as i know has still failed to install TPMS.

So again the failure may not be his fault but the damage is as far as I am concerned.

 

[kowAlski631]

I've followed the thought processes about the RV owners who are to blame for tire failures. While this may be true in cases, to use this as a continuing rationale for TowMax tire blow-outs & failures insults the intelligence of careful, thoughtful owners.

We were aware of the reputation of this brand of tires, but foolishly thought that vigilance in inspecting & constant monitoring of pressure in addition to insuring our RV was not overloaded would result in no tire failures. We were wrong as have been many other owners of all brands of RVs.

As written before, if you have TowMax tires replace them as soon as possible. You're not the problem, these tires are no matter what others may espouse as truth.


Paul & Martha

Life's too short. Live so you can say "Remember when" not "I wish I had".

 

[Rddocatt]

I must agree with the poor quality of tires in the Towmax area. We had our Elkridge trailer 3 days and had a slow leak in on of the tires. Removal revealed a small slice on the inside of the tire near the bead. Next about 800 miles later a blowout and another replacement. Now I am very careful to check tire pressuer ect. These tires are the worse. Then in Dec a 900 mile trip to AZ over Interstate 10. Another blowout of the sidewall. We stopped at the next tire store and replaced all four tires. I know that Heartland cares and Tredit is easy to work with but my families safety is more important to me. Please change tire manufacturers soon. Your products quality should be more important to you than anything. Remember Bad news travels fast.

Thanks
Rick