TOWMAX TIRES Get rid of them! HEARTLAND REPS READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GMCaddic]

Well to start off we have been to Vegas twice this year with our new trailer. 815 miles round trip thats 1,630 mile total. Well we stopped in Cove Fort to fuel up
Thats about 168 miles from Salt lake on our way back to Salt lake . I always walk around the trailer and make sure everything is good to go. Well
apparently it was not. There is a tire shop on the south side of the chevron there and one of the tire guys came out of the chevron and was looking at
the trailer then came up to me and said , Did you know you have a bubble in one of your tire sidewalls ? I said no.I walk back there and sure enough he was right. I said holy ****. He said if you pull the trailer over to the shop
doors I will change your tire for you and put your spare tire on. I said thanks . Well I pulled over there and we checked the other three tires on the inside
and out and guess what all four tires had blown beads in the sidewalls some had like three . Well my wife and I kind of freaked out we both said
we are not going any further on these junky *** tires. So we called our Trailer dealer told them what had happened
and told them this tire shop had some tires here. The dealer said change them out and bring the tires back and a receipt back and will send in a claim
to Heartland. Well I think someone was watching out for us because this could have been a DISASTER!
We ended up putting G rated 14 ply tires on. This is what heartland and the other mtgs should be putting on these trailers

Sorry for the long rant but thought you should know Thanks

By the way the tire guy said he has change out a lot of these blowmax tires and wonders why they put such crapy tire on and risks peoples lives also.

 

[Jim.Allison]

Dont be sorry, this post might save some other poor guy from this. You are lucky, you are looking at about 2K in repairs if one blows. If your insured then its no problem. Sometimes one tire blows, then you put on your spare and the tandem blows. You are lucky you found it when you did. Now if we could get everyone to read this and post by others we could save a lot of fretting and spoiled trips. BTW my BLOWMAX went out at 1800 miles.

Well to start off we have been to Vegas twice this year with our new trailer. 815 miles round trip thats 1,630 mile total. Well we stopped in Cove Fort to fuel up
Thats about 168 miles from Salt lake on our way back to Salt lake . I always walk around the trailer and make sure everything is good to go. Well
apparently it was not. There is a tire shop on the south side of the chevron there and one of the tire guys came out of the chevron and was looking at
the trailer then came up to me and said , Did you know you have a bubble in one of your tire sidewalls ? I said no.I walk back there and sure enough he was right. I said holy ****. He said if you pull the trailer over to the shop
doors I will change your tire for you and put your spare tire on. I said thanks . Well I pulled over there and we checked the other three tires on the inside
and out and guess what all four tires had blown beads in the sidewalls some had like three . Well my wife and I kind of freaked out we both said
we are not going any further on these junky *** tires. So we called our Trailer dealer told them what had happened
and told them this tire shop had some tires here. The dealer said change them out and bring the tires back and a receipt back and will send in a claim
to Heartland. Well I think someone was watching out for us because this could have been a DISASTER!
We ended up putting G rated 14 ply tires on. This is what heartland and the other mtgs should be putting on these trailers

Sorry for the long rant but thought you should know Thanks

By the way the tire guy said he has change out a lot of these blowmax tires and wonders why they put such crapy tire on and risks peoples lives also.

 

[jimtoo]

Was this out in the stations flower beds,, rock piles decorations ,, and also a bear?

 

[paleclaire]

Thanks to you and everyone who has posted about Towmax issues! I only put 500 miles on mine and decided to learn from others experiences and change them out. Ordered 4 Goodyear G114 on 17.5" rims for $585 each mounted and balanced from trailer tires and wheels. Delivered in 2 days and slapped em on myself. The 16" good years were around $385 plus mounting and balancing so my wife and I spent a little more for a whole lot of piece of mind. TPMS coming next. I've never been one to spend on things I don't need, but dealerships should make buyers aware of the problem and offer upgrades. I would have happily paid a little extra each month had I known.

 

[avvidclif]

Well to start off we have been to Vegas twice this year with our new trailer. 815 miles round trip thats 1,630 mile total. Well we stopped in Cove Fort to fuel up
Thats about 168 miles from Salt lake on our way back to Salt lake . I always walk around the trailer and make sure everything is good to go. Well
apparently it was not. There is a tire shop on the south side of the chevron there and one of the tire guys came out of the chevron and was looking at
the trailer then came up to me and said , Did you know you have a bubble in one of your tire sidewalls ? I said no.I walk back there and sure enough he was right. I said holy ****. He said if you pull the trailer over to the shop
doors I will change your tire for you and put your spare tire on. I said thanks . Well I pulled over there and we checked the other three tires on the inside
and out and guess what all four tires had blown beads in the sidewalls some had like three . Well my wife and I kind of freaked out we both said
we are not going any further on these junky *** tires. So we called our Trailer dealer told them what had happened
and told them this tire shop had some tires here. The dealer said change them out and bring the tires back and a receipt back and will send in a claim
to Heartland. Well I think someone was watching out for us because this could have been a DISASTER!
We ended up putting G rated 14 ply tires on. This is what heartland and the other mtgs should be putting on these trailers

Sorry for the long rant but thought you should know Thanks

By the way the tire guy said he has change out a lot of these blowmax tires and wonders why they put such crapy tire on and risks peoples lives also.

What brand did you put on?

 

[olcoon]

I guess we were really lucky, we got a little over 3 years, and 21,543 miles (not including the mileage from Elkhart to the dealer), out of ours. Replaced them due to separation. I'm kind of thinking that was my fault because we had a leak in one of them, & I tried to plug it, and I think I did it improperly.

 

[GMCaddic]

I did not see those out there no.
We were off of I-15 by I-70 if you know where that is .

The tires we ended up with are MNI Cargo Tires We were going to buy the Hercules but they were to expensive. So we ended up with the Cargo's .

 

[Miltp920]

I have to believe you had such good results because your 5er is pretty light in the grand scheme of things. I think the tires that are blowing are on 5ers rated at around 15,500 lbs or more. I upgraded to 12 ply tires based on this forum.

I guess we were really lucky, we got a little over 3 years, and 21,543 miles (not including the mileage from Elkhart to the dealer), out of ours. Replaced them due to separation. I'm kind of thinking that was my fault because we had a leak in one of them, & I tried to plug it, and I think I did it improperly.

 

[Jim.Allison]

YUP and that is supporting evidence, in that the "nominal load on wheel" for a 15,500 lb GVW trailer is 3100 lbs. I'm running about 14,000 lbs right now and with a nominal 20% pin that would work out to 2800 lbs. So my Tomax was loaded between 2800 and 3100 lbs and failed. The load rating for the TowMax 3520. If I would have had it loaded to 3520 it would have exploded in the driveway. The analysis letter from Towmax stated that my tire was over loaded. LOL.

LT tires FAR outperform ST tires and they are much cheaper too. I wish I would have known more when I was afflicted with the Tomax scourge, I could have fixed the problem easily for about $500 out of pocket.

 

[TravelTiger]

I have to believe you had such good results because your 5er is pretty light in the grand scheme of things. I think the tires that are blowing are on 5ers rated at around 15,500 lbs or more. I upgraded to 12 ply tires based on this forum.

One of our TowMax started showing uneven wear at about 1year. We had it replaced by TBC. The spare, which was put on in March 2011 when we saw the wear, ended up having broken belts all around, which I happened to catch before it blew in September 2011!

We had the rig weighed and we were under 13500, GVWR is 14,348.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[avvidclif]

YUP and that is supporting evidence, in that the "nominal load on wheel" for a 15,500 lb GVW trailer is 3100 lbs. I'm running about 14,000 lbs right now and with a nominal 20% pin that would work out to 2800 lbs. So my Tomax was loaded between 2800 and 3100 lbs and failed. The load rating for the TowMax 3520. If I would have had it loaded to 3520 it would have exploded in the driveway. The analysis letter from Towmax stated that my tire was over loaded. LOL.

LT tires FAR outperform ST tires and they are much cheaper too. I wish I would have known more when I was afflicted with the Tomax scourge, I could have fixed the problem easily for about $500 out of pocket.

Yep and most of the LT tires in that size range are rated just over 3000 lbs. There-in lies the problem. The G614 is rated 3750 at 110 PSI, will your rims handle that? Something else, I talked to a rep of HiSpec Wheels yesterday, they make most of the RV wheels today. The wheels can handle 110 lbs. BUT there are 2 different 16" rims, one rated at 3200 and the other rated 3800 lbs. The rating is stamped on the back of one of the "spokes". He stated the limiting factor on the tire pressure is the valve stem and the factory installed stem is rated to 200 lbs.

Oh what a tangled web we weave.

 

[Doublegranch]

My North Trail is only 6900 lbs gross, my tow max took a dump after just 1,000 miles. All four tires, so I disagree with the earlier post about being a light trailer helps. Tow max tires in my opinion, is a very bad product and should be banned from sale in the U.S. When a life is lost, maybe some one will wake up!

 

[Jim.Allison]

Except the 16 inch Firestone Transforce AT which is rated at 3420, and the multitude of other quality name brand tires. The diameter is similar also.

Yep and most of the LT tires in that size range are rated just over 3000 lbs. There-in lies the problem. The G614 is rated 3750 at 110 PSI, will your rims handle that? Something else, I talked to a rep of HiSpec Wheels yesterday, they make most of the RV wheels today. The wheels can handle 110 lbs. BUT there are 2 different 16" rims, one rated at 3200 and the other rated 3800 lbs. The rating is stamped on the back of one of the "spokes". He stated the limiting factor on the tire pressure is the valve stem and the factory installed stem is rated to 200 lbs.

Oh what a tangled web we weave.

 

[Doublegranch]

For some reason the posts from 3 -11 were not showing up on my screen, but after I asked the question, they appeared.....I guess I need to check what's in my water...

 

[avvidclif]

Except the 16 inch Firestone Transforce AT which is rated at 3420, and the multitude of other quality name brand tires. The diameter is similar also.

Dyslexia. This is for the Transforce AT, the HT is the same.

LT235/85R16 120/116R E

3042 lbs.

80 psi

 

[Jim.Allison]

Lack of research? Dyslexia is a harsh term to call someone. People sometimes see what they want to see, and not what is.

Dyslexia. This is for the Transforce AT, the HT is the same.

LT235/85R16 120/116R E

3042 lbs.

80 psi

 

[avvidclif]

Nope, wrong size.

 

[Jim.Allison]

This tire

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Transforce+HT&partnum=675R6THT

W/ this rim

http://www.trailer-wheels.com/16x7-...-Lug-3960-lb-Max-Load_p_606.html#.VQSrM4F4rmY

Equal a complete affordable solution to Towmax problem

Tires + Rim $280

X4 = 1120

Sell your Towmax and OEM rims -$500 to $800 ( got $800 on Craigslist for mine)

Total out of pocket 620 to 320 for continuous duty tire and heavy duty HiSpec rim.


Original Towmax spec

MAX24

ST235/80R16*

E/10

10

3520 @ 80

3080@80

30.8

9.25

14.5

Nominal tire loading for a 15500 lb rig 3100 lbs considering 20% on pin and 100% loaded.

IMHO the LT 265 75 R 16 will handle our loads and at the right price, the new rims will open up the available tires in remote locations in case of failure.

If you have not seen a Transforce tire, you need to go look at them. They are one modern piece of work. You will see immediately why this tire might be a good choice for you.

I would do this mod, if I had it to do over again. Or I would do the G614. Problem with the G614 is that it is not available everywhere. Buying the G614 would cost you in the neighborhood of $1000 to $1100 if you sold your Towmax tires and kept your rims.

Or if buying Chinese tires does not bother you, you could buy the Sailun S637 X 16 (G614 equivalent) for about $612, and sell your Towmax for $200 to $300 and have a total out of pocket of about $300 to $400.

 

[Jim.Allison]

What are you talking about? This is a 16 inch tire. Smaller diameter and less than 1 inch section width wider. And is closer to the dimensions of the OEM Blowmax that is being replaced than the tire you are saying is the correct tire.

Nope, wrong size.

 

[jnbhobe]

Nope, wrong size.

You are right the 265/75 and 235/85 have the same diameter just a little wider and rated at 3415# . Iuse 265's in place of 235's all the time.