Towmax tire blow outs, Heartland may want your tire

tireman9

Well-known member
I was a little surprised how much pressure change occurs going down the highway. If you dont have a tire pressure monitoring system, you may not even think about what is happening inside your tires. I saw about 10 psi gain and 5 to 15 degrees change in temperature. Slowing down from 60 to 55 mph did not seem to have an immediate effect but when I hit a reduced speed area 35 to 45, it seemed to cool off a degree or two. Can we compare pressures and temperature changes we have observed, and at what point ...increase should we stop and take action? Does the sunny side of the trailer make a difference or does any correlation to increased side temp need to be from a brake axle generating some heat?

Here is a post on Temperature and pressure. If you are not overloaded and ensure your cold pressure is the max on the sidewall I would not be concerned too much with Temperature as long as you are maintaining pressure above the cold pressure things should be fine. Running a TPMS is good insurance in case of punctures or leaking valves.

The only way to confirm you are not overloaded is to get on a scale and do the calculations as seen HERE.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Why not Goodyear.Michelin or BF Goodrich.Whats wrong with these manufacturers???
Goodyears are an option but I don't know that Michelin or BFG make an ST rated tire. I'm pretty sure no manufacturer will install an LT tire on a trailer. I'm guessing for legal reasons.
 

scottyb

Well-known member
Here is a email to Michellin and their response concerning the use of XPS Ribs on a trailer, posted on another website

Posted: 12/14/12 12:14am Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator
I sent an email to Michelin for a response regarding using Michelin XPS ribs on my 5th wheel. Here is the question and their response:

Thank you for your email. We welcome the opportunity to serve you.

Due to recent high email volume and some technical issues that we have experienced, please accept our apology for the delay in this response. Your interest in Michelin is certainly appreciated.


In regards to the email you sent stating:
I have a 2006 Montana 5th wheel Trailer that has two 6,000 lb Dexter axles and 4 deluxe aluminum Rims each rated at 3,042 lbs. I would like to install your Michelin XPS® Rib™ LT235/85 R16/E's on this 5th wheel. Will the tires be fully waranteed in this application?

Answer..---------------------------------------------------------------------
We appreciate your request for information regarding the Michelin XPS Rib. The XPS Rib, size LT235/85R16/E, part number 13080 would be a good fitment for your 5th wheel. The tire carries 3042Lbs at 80-psi max pressure. For best pressure recommendation, run at maximum pressure until you can weigh your axles either call or reply to this email for a pressure recommendation.
It is a good application, so there are no warranty issues. Your tires are covered under applicable warranty.
We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Michelin.

It is our goal to ensure that your issue has been resolved or your question answered to your satisfaction. If we can assist you further, please respond to this email or call us at 1-800-642-4354 (toll free) between 8:00AM and 8:00PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday or between 8:30AM and 4:30PM Eastern Time on Saturday.

Sincerely,

Diana
Consumer Care Department
Certified Michelin Product Expert
 

Miltp920

Well-known member
Thanks, my tires are rated for 3960lbs each. My axle weight on camper is 12,360, (I weighed the truck with pin weight and the truck plus camper) difference was just camper = 12,360lbs on 4 axles = 3090lbs IF equal distribution. So, I saw my 95 psi max cold tires increase to 105 psi on the highway. They seem to stablize and not go higher, so I guess 10-12 psi increase is normal. My truck LT tires increased 9 degrees too. Temperature change was different for every tire. Even on my rear wheels on Truck, temperatures were different, by 5-10 degrees. Pressures were consistent. I did get an alarm on high temperature or high pressure, so it freaked me out. this is my first trip towing with the monitoring system. Just trying to not get worried over normal physics. I plan to get each tire weighed some day when I figure out who does that, but until then, I have to believe I am balanced until proven otherwise. So, based on what I have read, this is all normal.


Here is a post on Temperature and pressure. If you are not overloaded and ensure your cold pressure is the max on the sidewall I would not be concerned too much with Temperature as long as you are maintaining pressure above the cold pressure things should be fine. Running a TPMS is good insurance in case of punctures or leaking valves.

The only way to confirm you are not overloaded is to get on a scale and do the calculations as seen HERE.
 

mattpopp

Trouble Maker
We just went to a factory tour on Friday. While there I noticed that plant 2, where LM, BH & BC are built is using Sailun "G" rated tires now.

Yet the heaviest trailers in the Heartland line gets Towmax.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 

jwg61047

Member
Thanks for the post Jim. I have the same rigs as you and blew a tire and tore up the trailer on a trip from Texas to Grand Canyon. I am afraid to try to make it back home after reading all the bad experiences with these towmax tires. I think I'm going to a Goodyear shop in Flagstaff and have the same tire you put on your rig. Are you still satisfied with your Goodyears?
 

superduty08

Tennessee Chapter Leaders
My 2015 BH 3260 came with the S637 g rated tires and I was so glad after I did my research. The reason Heartland probably uses the Sailun instead of Goodyear is why spend much more when the Sailun tires are much less money and seem to hold up better (based on problems that I see on forums). I have over 4k miles on mine since I picked the rig up 5/5/14. I'm very happy with their performance.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Just completed a 2500 mile trip on HiSpec Mod 03 wheels fitted with Goodyear G114 tires inflated to 110 LBS and TPMS. The trip was uneventful and I travelled with much confidence since I had sufficient tires for my rig.

I spent a week in an RV park and witnessed many tire problems while there. One motorhome (small) came in telling me how great his tires were, I tried to tell him that he was running ST tires on his steering and drive wheels. He had no concern and repeated that his tire man told him they were the tires for his rig.

One guy came in that had two blow outs on ST tires on the trip up. The events tore out the whole side of his rig and and ripped out some plumbing, they spent the next morning repairing some plumbing damaged by the blow outs. I asked him what kind of pressures he was running. He said 70 psi because he just thought 80 psi was just too much (it was a smaller rig though). But I think 80 psi may have prevented his blowouts, maybe not.

Another camper came in with about a 36 footer with ST on them and a ripped fender due to a ST failure. He said the tires were new and he had checked the pressures, he had climbed 6000 feet, but he stated he did not bleed any hot air off along the way, so he had 80 cold psi at 2000 feet and about 83 cold psi at 8000 feet. The tire failed, may have been damaged along the way.

On the highway there were many ST tire treads laying in the road, from boats and travel trailers, you can tell the distinct tread pattern of a ST, and there were a lot of them, of course there were a lot of travelers as well.

My conclusion is ST tires are not durable enough for road service, people are not that savvy, tire manufacturers know the market they sell to. But it does no diminish the fact that there are many people that overload and mistreat tires. And there are many RV manufacturers that misapply tires to the rigs they sell.
 
We have a 2012 Big Country (3450 TS) that has (had) the Towmax tires. On a recent trip we had two blowouts. Of course one on each side of the trailer. The blow out on the passengers side also took our wiring with it. I was on this forum trying to see if anyone has a wiring schematic as my husband is trying to figure out where the wires attach on his own. Does anyone have any ideas?

Also, we called Heartland and complained about the tires and were told to contact manufacturer, which we plan on doing. We found the date our tires were manufactured was April of 2010. Those tires were close to 2 years old BEFORE they were even put on our trailer!!!

Any comments, similar experiences and outcome would appreciated.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
You will be dealing with Dynamic Tire sooner or later, make up your mind what you want. Two new tires, or $125 each as a matter of courtesy as they put it. Get your insurance company to pay for your damages, fix it yourself if you can use the money to buy some real ites so you don't have this problem again. We all know about the towmax/blowmax tires, you can go try to fight the good fight or you can do like the rest of us and get on with enjoying your life. Let us know what rig you have and you will have a list of good tires to buy within one day. BTW, I have not received my tires from them, I will have to write them again.......LOL


We have a 2012 Big Country (3450 TS) that has (had) the Towmax tires. On a recent trip we had two blowouts. Of course one on each side of the trailer. The blow out on the passengers side also took our wiring with it. I was on this forum trying to see if anyone has a wiring schematic as my husband is trying to figure out where the wires attach on his own. Does anyone have any ideas?

Also, we called Heartland and complained about the tires and were told to contact manufacturer, which we plan on doing. We found the date our tires were manufactured was April of 2010. Those tires were close to 2 years old BEFORE they were even put on our trailer!!!

Any comments, similar experiences and outcome would appreciated.
 

SMinter

Member
This is all interesting. I have a 2014 Sundance XLT with Towmax tires. They are the 225/75/R15 LR D with a 2540 load rating. I am well under the weight rating (per CAT scales) and have a TPMS so I know pressures are correct at all times. So far have over 5000 miles with no problem. However, thinking about replacing sometime soon based on the trouble reports and age. However, Goodyear Marathon has more trouble reports than Towmax on the DOT site. There are almost no LT tires in the 15 inch size. I really don't want Carlisle although they only have one failure report on the DOT site but I have heard lots of bad reports about them. There are no Maxxis dealers in my area (Arizona). Maxxis says Discount carries them but they don't. Kind of leaves me wondering what to do. Maybe go to 16 inch wheels?
 

texasron

Member
Sorry to hear about your problem's. We also had the Towmax tires with less than 2 years on the MFG date stamped, also one on each side. When we had our blowout it was about mid afternoon in the Texas heat about 102 in the shade, I was so mad at the time I didn't care anything at all about trying to save the ruined tires. I was considering turning the damage into my insurance company for the repairs, and the first thing the adjuster asked me was if I kept the tires, he said they would go back on the tire MFG to get reimbursed for the damages. I got a bid from a repair shop for the damages it was around $5400.00. I just decided I had the time to repair it myself. I ordered the replacement parts from Heartland shipping and all for a little over $300.00. I guess what I am trying to say , is if folks with the Towmax tires on there RVs keep the ruined tires, file a insurance claim and give the insurance company the tires that might help others in the future as the insurance companies might be able to get some reimbursement out the tire MFG.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
the insurance companies might be able to get some reimbursement out the tire MFG.
Interesting. In all of the many reports about Towmax blowouts, I don't think anyone has ever mentioned their insurance company getting reimbursed by the tire manufacturer.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Theoretically they might be able to, but they are not going to put their resources to work on it unless there is major money involved. But Proper insurance on your rig in Texas would have covered that damage. It is one thing for an adjuster to blow smoke up....... but it is entirely a different thing to deny a legitimate claim. One should always refer to the contract/policy concerning requirements, if it says in the policy that you have to keep the tread of a blown tire then you have to, but if it does not say that "it ain't so." The most expensive policy you will ever own is one that you do not collect off of.


Interesting. In all of the many reports about Towmax blowouts, I don't think anyone has ever mentioned their insurance company getting reimbursed by the tire manufacturer.
 

texasron

Member
They were going to pay my claim no question asked. After I found out what the actual cost for the replacement parts were, I just decided to do it myself. I believe the adjuster when he said if I had the blown out tires the insurance company would go back to the tire MFG and try and recover the damages, and if I had of kept the ruined tires I more than likely would have filed the damage claim with my insurance company. He wasn't NOT going to pay the claim because I didn't keep the tires, their isn't any wording in my policy that says a policy holder has to keep the damaged tires before a claim can be filed or paid!
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
Got it.........I had a tenant that accidently burned down one of my houses. My insurance went after her for the damage, but she had no money or property so they gave up. If my tenant would have had renters insurance they would have recovered their money and my deductible.

They have people in loss recovery that work on this stuff all the time, when they get a real opportunity to recover they will do it. I guarantee you that if the prize is big enough they will go after it. But $2500 in my case is not going to get their attention. Plus Blowmax will never admit that they have a problem with that tire.

BloMax told me that the tire had been run under inflated, and or with too much load. I knew it was never under inflated, but I did not know about the load, but last week I was able to weigh my trailer and not one wheel was anywhere near 3500 lbs loaded. The tire is an inferior tire and is misapplied to the big fivers.

They were going to pay my claim no question asked. After I found out what the actual cost for the replacement parts were, I just decided to do it myself. I believe the adjuster when he said if I had the blown out tires the insurance company would go back to the tire MFG and try and recover the damages, and if I had of kept the ruined tires I more than likely would have filed the damage claim with my insurance company. He wasn't NOT going to pay the claim because I didn't keep the tires, their isn't any wording in my policy that says a policy holder has to keep the damaged tires before a claim can be filed or paid!
 

Jim Posz

Well-known member
I have a 2007 Sundance equipped with Maxxis tires which I just towed to Alaska and back (10657 miles) with zero tire trouble. Before leaving I went to an independent repair shop who ordered the Maxxis tires for me; he was able to get a better price on shipping than I could. I did spend a few extra bucks to upgrade from load range D to load range E in that same size but a lot less $ than new rims and tires both.

I earlier had a set of made in China Goodyear Marathon which wore quite unevenly. Good luck.

This is all interesting. I have a 2014 Sundance XLT with Towmax tires. They are the 225/75/R15 LR D with a 2540 load rating. I am well under the weight rating (per CAT scales) and have a TPMS so I know pressures are correct at all times. So far have over 5000 miles with no problem. However, thinking about replacing sometime soon based on the trouble reports and age. However, Goodyear Marathon has more trouble reports than Towmax on the DOT site. There are almost no LT tires in the 15 inch size. I really don't want Carlisle although they only have one failure report on the DOT site but I have heard lots of bad reports about them. There are no Maxxis dealers in my area (Arizona). Maxxis says Discount carries them but they don't. Kind of leaves me wondering what to do. Maybe go to 16 inch wheels?
 
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