Towmax tire blow outs, Heartland may want your tire
- Thread starter mattpopp
- Start date
I am excited the HL is looking at this problem. I have been beating this drum for over a year now. I have friends that could have been seriously hurt on I 95 when one blew and took out the rear quarter of the 5er. I have know several people with TOWMAX problems and they keep getting the same response as the above related to pressure and speed and weight. Well I have blowout on my last trip. I have less than 2000 miles on the tires. I check the pressure, was absolutely not overloaded and had the cruise at 62 mph. It was a cool rainy day on I 95 in GA. The steel came right through the outside. I was lucky. I was able to get off the road and get the tire changed. I looked at the remaining tires and sure enough one had a bulge in it. I am on Holiday vacation right now but will contact HL when I return. I checked and there is a National Safety Council issue filed concerning these tires. **************************** What if someone gets seriously injured or worse. This is a serious risk and needs to be fixed. I still have the tire.
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caissiel
Senior Member
Been hearing about it for 5 years on RV forums and lived it since 1993 on my 5th wheels. ST tires are JUNK and the trailer industry are still using them.
An over loaded LT tire is way better and safer then any similar size ST JUNK tire.
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An over loaded LT tire is way better and safer then any similar size ST JUNK tire.
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Did the Heartland Bighorn factory tour in Aug. of 13 all rigs on the assembly line had the Blow Max tires. I went through the Blow Max thrill and it was very costly and not much fun. It really surprised me to see all of the new units with those tires on them after all of the complaints. Someone some where is not listening. With these tires it is not IF BUT WHEN. Good luck to all.
We just bought our new 2014 Bighorn 3010re in Oct. and haven't had a chance to take it on the road yet. After reading all the problems with the Towmax tires, we are scared to death of having a problem when we do travel on them. Is there a recall on these tires yet? Can we get some kind of reimbursement if we trade them in? What are our options?
jmgratz
Original Owners Club Member
To my knowledge there is not any type of recall on the Towmax tires. As far as a reimbursement forget it. Your best option if you do not want them is to replace them and then sell the used tire on Ebay, local paper, or Craigslist. There are plenty of people who will buy used tires for their cattle trailers or farm equipment.
scottyb
Well-known member
mayflower, you are one of the lucky ones, that have discovered this problem the easy way. I also replaced my tires before my rig hit the road. I look at it like this. Yes you can now order your rig with upgraded tires, but you have only one choice and you are going to pay a lot for that option. Plus, they are going to get towed from the factory to your dealer by someone who may/may not check the pressure. This way, you can choose which tires you want, have them mounted and balanced by professionals, purchase the warranties for them, for probably less than you would have paid for the upgrade option. I traded my Towmax for some concrete work and they do nicely on an equipment trailer hauling form lumber.
priorguy
Well-known member
NHTSA. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration in the US.
TSB. Transportation Safety Board in Canada. Send pictures and other supporting documentation. If you have the remnants of the tire they may wish to see it for forensic analysis.
These government agencies enforce recall legislation.
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TSB. Transportation Safety Board in Canada. Send pictures and other supporting documentation. If you have the remnants of the tire they may wish to see it for forensic analysis.
These government agencies enforce recall legislation.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
danemayer
Well-known member
For your report to be effective, it needs to include the detailed DOT info stamped on the outside of the tire.
kowAlski631
Well-known member
If you have the tires & want to make a report, take a picture of them since you will probably not have enough left of the tire to retrieve the info if there is a blowout. This comes from experience.
Martha
Paul & Martha
Life's too short. Live so you can say "Remember when" not "I wish I had".
Hi everybody,
I had 2 towmax tires fail on my 2012 3610RE with only about 3,000 miles which resulted in damage to the rig about $2,500.00.
after arguing with Heartland and Dymax tires in Canada I was getting nowhere. When I was just about through with the battle and disgusted with the responses I decided to put all new tires on the rig and get the damage fixed.
when the Goodyear dealer was replacing the tires I requested they check all the remainig original tires on the balancing machine. Each tire was found to be out of round and beginning to separate. I called Dymax from the Goodyear store and had them talk to the service manager to discuss the results.
Dymax then agreed to reimburse me for the 5 new tires and sent a check. I also informed Heartland on the results and they agreed to pay my insurance deductible for the damage repair. Although i was somewhat satisfied I still did not feel it was the responsibility of my insurance to cover damage caused by cheap tires.
i think the problem will continue until someone is killed or seriously injured and then maybe someone will wake up. I like my 5er but will not purchase a another Heartland product in the future due to the poor response.
I had 2 towmax tires fail on my 2012 3610RE with only about 3,000 miles which resulted in damage to the rig about $2,500.00.
after arguing with Heartland and Dymax tires in Canada I was getting nowhere. When I was just about through with the battle and disgusted with the responses I decided to put all new tires on the rig and get the damage fixed.
when the Goodyear dealer was replacing the tires I requested they check all the remainig original tires on the balancing machine. Each tire was found to be out of round and beginning to separate. I called Dymax from the Goodyear store and had them talk to the service manager to discuss the results.
Dymax then agreed to reimburse me for the 5 new tires and sent a check. I also informed Heartland on the results and they agreed to pay my insurance deductible for the damage repair. Although i was somewhat satisfied I still did not feel it was the responsibility of my insurance to cover damage caused by cheap tires.
i think the problem will continue until someone is killed or seriously injured and then maybe someone will wake up. I like my 5er but will not purchase a another Heartland product in the future due to the poor response.
caissiel
Senior Member
Heartland has nothing to do with the tires on the trailers.
The tire industry supplies an available special tire that certified for the axle capacity: and they use them.
In 92 I had my 1st blowout on ST tires and because ST tires were not available that day i used car/truck tires on my unit. They lasted for 40k miles. I did not have a spare.
In 98 the slide equipped trailers all had LT 16in LR E tires because 16in ST tires were not available. Later I heard that owners had to upgrade rims and tires due to 16in ST LR E were failing and LR G was the solution.
Myself, I ran into all kinds of tire problems with ST Tires for almost 5 years and 35K miles.
Never drove in the dark because i wanted to see my tires in case of blowout.
Installed a set of cheap LT tires and loaded them to 125% and increased the pressure to 110%.
For 7 years and over 45K miles the tires did what I wanted. I was able to drive in the dark and the old spare was never used. Traded the unit with the same LTs with plenty of tread left and no sign of cracking.
I was told I was crazy to install truck tires on a trailer, never was happier for doing it.
The Tread on a ST tire has no protection against road debris and obstacles like potholes and lumps in the hiways, and the tread part of the casing fails and eventually blows.
I bought our BC because it had 7000 lbs axles and LR G Freestar tires. They have served well for 5 years and are now 6 years old.
I plan replacing them one at a time with Sailun LR G tires available in Canada and US.
To bad we are in this situation but the industry is forced to use the available ST LR E tire on 7000lbs axled that only have the size and air for a 6000 lbs axle.
I have 3500 lbs capacity tires on my truck. They are LR E 275/70/18 with 80 psi. Now how can a 235/80/16 tire at 80 psi air with very light thread and also light weight, run cold enough to run all day long without overheating. LR G tires have 38% more air and G114 LR H have 50% more air.
I tell everyone that ST tires are good for the short run but just not capable for long range use.
Sorry for being so long. But the tire industry is pushing us to a point that the owners are getting hurt and it seam that RV ownership is getting discouraging. Maybe its a ploy to make us stay closer to home.
I made a career of fixing everyone else mistakes and will not stop now.
Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk
The tire industry supplies an available special tire that certified for the axle capacity: and they use them.
In 92 I had my 1st blowout on ST tires and because ST tires were not available that day i used car/truck tires on my unit. They lasted for 40k miles. I did not have a spare.
In 98 the slide equipped trailers all had LT 16in LR E tires because 16in ST tires were not available. Later I heard that owners had to upgrade rims and tires due to 16in ST LR E were failing and LR G was the solution.
Myself, I ran into all kinds of tire problems with ST Tires for almost 5 years and 35K miles.
Never drove in the dark because i wanted to see my tires in case of blowout.
Installed a set of cheap LT tires and loaded them to 125% and increased the pressure to 110%.
For 7 years and over 45K miles the tires did what I wanted. I was able to drive in the dark and the old spare was never used. Traded the unit with the same LTs with plenty of tread left and no sign of cracking.
I was told I was crazy to install truck tires on a trailer, never was happier for doing it.
The Tread on a ST tire has no protection against road debris and obstacles like potholes and lumps in the hiways, and the tread part of the casing fails and eventually blows.
I bought our BC because it had 7000 lbs axles and LR G Freestar tires. They have served well for 5 years and are now 6 years old.
I plan replacing them one at a time with Sailun LR G tires available in Canada and US.
To bad we are in this situation but the industry is forced to use the available ST LR E tire on 7000lbs axled that only have the size and air for a 6000 lbs axle.
I have 3500 lbs capacity tires on my truck. They are LR E 275/70/18 with 80 psi. Now how can a 235/80/16 tire at 80 psi air with very light thread and also light weight, run cold enough to run all day long without overheating. LR G tires have 38% more air and G114 LR H have 50% more air.
I tell everyone that ST tires are good for the short run but just not capable for long range use.
Sorry for being so long. But the tire industry is pushing us to a point that the owners are getting hurt and it seam that RV ownership is getting discouraging. Maybe its a ploy to make us stay closer to home.
I made a career of fixing everyone else mistakes and will not stop now.
Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
Re: BlowMax tire blow outs, Heartland may want your tire . . .
Our old trailer was a 1978 Coachman Cadet 24' footer and it had off-road truck tires on it when we bought it.
I always thought it was cool that we had white-lettered tires on our camper . . .
I have no idea how long they were on the trailer before we got it . . . but we had it for 12 years and I never once worried about the tires!
Not once!
I checked the tire pressure once . . . maybe twice a year . . .
They were still on it when we traded it in for our new Trail Runner, which is equipped with the BlowMax Power King's, and after reading this forum has got me scared $#!+less!
I have less than 2000 miles on the BlowMaxes and they still look as good as new, but I hope to replace them before we venture out next camping season.
Now, every time I pull out of the driveway with our new trailer, I sweat out the drive all the way until we get to our destination, wondering when one of those tires might blow and rip half of the siding off of our trailer!
Not to mention the worry about someone being injured or killed!
Now with my BlowMaxes . . . if a thought just passes through my mind, I pull over and check the tire pressure!
Our trips are generally less than 500 miles from home, but we plan on getting a new truck in the next year or so and will start making longer trips then!
We do pull in the mountains a lot, so having maypops on the trailer is a no go!
Perhaps it is time for us RV owners to start some kind of an uprising about these cheap tires being placed on new RV's!
Maybe then our voices will be heard . . .
When we bought our new Trail Runner, not only the dealership, but the Heartland brochures bragged about the fact that Heartland doesn't skimp on not only the manufacturing process, but also doesn't skimp on the tires . . .
Well . . . I think there is plenty of proof otherwise . . .
I think that I'd rather be able to spend that extra $1500 on something new for my camping adventures (like the down payment on a new truck) as opposed to having to replace something that I was lead to believe by not only the dealership, but by Heartland, would be good to go from the factory for many years to come.
And before somebody says that I had the option of upgrading the tires . . .
Well, for starters, I never even considered the fact that I even needed to consider this since they told me that Heartland doesn't skimp on the tires.
And, my dealership never even offered me this option.
Our old trailer was a 1978 Coachman Cadet 24' footer and it had off-road truck tires on it when we bought it.
I always thought it was cool that we had white-lettered tires on our camper . . .
I have no idea how long they were on the trailer before we got it . . . but we had it for 12 years and I never once worried about the tires!
Not once!
I checked the tire pressure once . . . maybe twice a year . . .
They were still on it when we traded it in for our new Trail Runner, which is equipped with the BlowMax Power King's, and after reading this forum has got me scared $#!+less!
I have less than 2000 miles on the BlowMaxes and they still look as good as new, but I hope to replace them before we venture out next camping season.
Now, every time I pull out of the driveway with our new trailer, I sweat out the drive all the way until we get to our destination, wondering when one of those tires might blow and rip half of the siding off of our trailer!
Not to mention the worry about someone being injured or killed!
Now with my BlowMaxes . . . if a thought just passes through my mind, I pull over and check the tire pressure!
Our trips are generally less than 500 miles from home, but we plan on getting a new truck in the next year or so and will start making longer trips then!
We do pull in the mountains a lot, so having maypops on the trailer is a no go!
Perhaps it is time for us RV owners to start some kind of an uprising about these cheap tires being placed on new RV's!
Maybe then our voices will be heard . . .
When we bought our new Trail Runner, not only the dealership, but the Heartland brochures bragged about the fact that Heartland doesn't skimp on not only the manufacturing process, but also doesn't skimp on the tires . . .
Well . . . I think there is plenty of proof otherwise . . .
I think that I'd rather be able to spend that extra $1500 on something new for my camping adventures (like the down payment on a new truck) as opposed to having to replace something that I was lead to believe by not only the dealership, but by Heartland, would be good to go from the factory for many years to come.
And before somebody says that I had the option of upgrading the tires . . .
Well, for starters, I never even considered the fact that I even needed to consider this since they told me that Heartland doesn't skimp on the tires.
And, my dealership never even offered me this option.
Last edited:
caissiel
Senior Member
My neighbor has original bias ply tires on his 40 year old TT that he uses for hunting and bluegrass!music festivals.
Short trips and keeps them under cover with sheets of plywood in storage. They are frozen under snow for half the year. He would not know what tire problems are an I am sure his tractor tires are 20 years old.
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Short trips and keeps them under cover with sheets of plywood in storage. They are frozen under snow for half the year. He would not know what tire problems are an I am sure his tractor tires are 20 years old.
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Well, if Heartland or Towmax wants my blowout they are welcome to come get it. Came off of 2013 Big Country 3650, has maybe 2000 miles on the tires and proper pressure. I don't know what to put on and not have to worry. Factory tire is Towmax ST235/80R16. I WANT something dependable and worry free for a few years! Yes, this could have been from a road hazard but I think not. Are these China tires??????
sajo
sajo
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