TowMax Trailer Damage Claims

[Buzzworthy]

Had three blow-outs in 500 miles last week on trip from Arkansas to Colorado. When I initiated claim with Tow Max was told they needed the actual blown tires to process claim. Of course, I had replaced tires on the road, one in Tulsa, one in Wichita and one in McPherson, KS, and did not take the blown tires with me. The Wichita dealer still had the blown tire and TowMax said they would arrange to pick it up. Tore off both fenders and damaged aluminum siding between doorway and front wheel, tore off a couple side running lights. I assume may of you have submitted claims for trailer damage to TowMax. What can I expect?

 

[danemayer]

Here's a link to some Towmax docs that may be informative.

 

[jnbhobe]

Probably nothing, you will be filing a claim with your Insurance company.

 

[BigJim45]

With all that has been written and talked about on this and other forums, why would someone leave these BLOWMAX tires on their rig???

 

[pegmikef]

With all that has been written and talked about on this and other forums, why would someone leave these BLOWMAX tires on their rig???

I think an awfully lot of the new owners are simply not aware of the problem as they haven't been affected (yet) and probably aren't or are very new members of this and other forums. I wasn't a member until my second Heartland product and as a result when I ordered my BH, I ordered the G614s option.

 

[Jim.Allison]

This is the best TowMax story yet sorry for your damage, we feel your pain.

TowMAx sent me $125 for my single TowMax (1800 miles) in exchange for a release of liability releasing to Big O. I settled for a new tire, they are currently shipping to me. They also mentioned that it was out of the kindness of their heart that they were doing it. LOL, My great insurance Liberty Mutual paid for 100% of my damage.

The 16 inch wheels are what is keeping us in bad tire range. There are VERY few 16 inch tires that can handle this punishment TowMax being at the top of the list for not being able to handle. My recommendation is HiSpec 17.5 mod 03 wheels, if you buy this unique wheel, there will be a whole world of affordable tires available to you. I chose Goodyear G114 but it is not the only trailer tire in 17.5. I guarantee you will feel better towing with this configuration. I prefer the Goodyears but there are many more ranging from very affordable to expensive.

The HiSpec wheel has a technology that increases the clamping force of the wheel, eliminating the need for torquing and re-torquing and premature wheel failure. I decided to cure all of these inherent tire and wheel problems in one package. You can shop on the internet and get a good tire and wheel combo, mounted and balanced and delivered to your front door, freight paid with no sales tax. It took only 2 beers and a few minutes to install them.

Had three blow-outs in 500 miles last week on trip from Arkansas to Colorado. When I initiated claim with Tow Max was told they needed the actual blown tires to process claim. Of course, I had replaced tires on the road, one in Tulsa, one in Wichita and one in McPherson, KS, and did not take the blown tires with me. The Wichita dealer still had the blown tire and TowMax said they would arrange to pick it up. Tore off both fenders and damaged aluminum siding between doorway and front wheel, tore off a couple side running lights. I assume may of you have submitted claims for trailer damage to TowMax. What can I expect?

 

[Jim.Allison]

Big Jim.......because people worry about what grease they put in their wheel bearings than they do their tires. There are people on this forum that will tell you they put 4 gazillion miles on their ST tires and are only on their second set of TowMAx. Armchair engineers will say anything to remain relevant to the subject but yet every two or three days a new ST tire victim post his experience. There are people on this forum that will tell you in one breath that your SRW TV is dangerous, but advise you to run a tire that is nowhere near what you need to tow the weight of anything more than a landscapers utility trailer. They call our personal experience with tire failures "anecdotal" because there is no statistical data available which is in itself anecdotal, statistically speaking. They claim that ST tires are made for trailer and an LT is not, so LTs can't be used on a trailer. There are LT tires that are specified by major tire manufacturers for 5th wheel service even with a 16 inch wheels the Goodyear G614 is such an LT. there are others. Some of us that are running LTs that have a sidewall rating less than the ST and are having great success with the tires. I prefer the Goodyear G114. But it is the 16 inch rim that is the problem, get 17.5 inch rims and there is a whole world of tires that will handle the required loads safely.

You just have to read all the post and get a feel for the subject and your eyes will be opened, mine were and I cannot be happier. Yes it came at a price, but how much is your valuable camping time worth. I find it very distasteful to have to look at the damage to my rig cause by a ST blowout much less 4 and damage to both sides of my rig such as that experienced by the original poster of this thread.
'
Misery loves company and these armchair engineers fear that they are going to be the only ones running ST tires in the future.

With all that has been written and talked about on this and other forums, why would someone leave these BLOWMAX tires on their rig???

 

[Jim.Allison]

You can get your damage repaired by your insurance company, but they will not replace the tire. My insurance company paid $2000 for the damage to the rig and the wheel, no deductible in my case. I collected on the tire from TowMax. They gave me the choice of a new tire or $125. I chose the new tire because I need to have a full set to sell to some landscaper around San Antonio. They will give him better service than they can me.

Probably nothing, you will be filing a claim with your Insurance company.

 

[Nabo]

We also learned the hard way about keeping the bad/blown tire for making a claim. In our 2003 5th wheel camper that had 3 of the 4 blown tire during a cross country travel, the tire company refused to replace or help with repair costs. Since then we haven't had a blown tire on any of our other 4 campers but know to keep the tire no matter what.

 

[Buzzworthy]

With all that has been written and talked about on this and other forums, why would someone leave these BLOWMAX tires on their rig???

We are new to fifth wheeling, and was unaware of TowMax issues. I generally go to the forums AFTER I have experienced a problem instead of researching every possible issue that I might run into. Thanks to all who have provided advice. Will research 17.5 wheels and G614's further. TowMax will be coming off as soon as possible.

 

[Jim.Allison]

The G614 is a 16 in tire. The 17.5 inch wheel will put you into serious trailer tires, I used the G114 for the 17.5. Be sure to examine the benifits of the HiSpec mod 03.

We are new to fifth wheeling, and was unaware of TowMax issues. I generally go to the forums AFTER I have experienced a problem instead of researching every possible issue that I might run into. Thanks to all who have provided advice. Will research 17.5 wheels and G614's further. TowMax will be coming off as soon as possible.

 

[Snow]

With all that has been written and talked about on this and other forums, why would someone leave these BLOWMAX tires on their rig???

The reason mine are still on is simple caint afford them at this time 😥 but I did install a tpms system a few trips ago which helped with me worrying a lot . Yes I know it won't detect a sudden blow out but if you keep an eye on the temps and pressures you might catch it in time ,I only have about 3500 miles on the tires that I put on don't know about the distance from the factory to the dealer , another reason is I guess iam hard headed but I hate to take off brand new tires and put on brand new tires it's just freaking crazy that you would have to do that bull---- , my tires look perfect so maybe I might be one of the lucky ones and get 10000 - 15000 miles out of them , I run pretty good roads and stay around 65 mph , anyway it's been awhile since I vented off some steam I've had nothing but good times in my BC no bad issues at all so all in all it's been a great rv , getting ready to go to Hershey show in September maybe get something there , do they sell tires there lol ? ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

 

[Jim.Allison]

Me too, I can't say enough about my BC. It a great rig. But I was so disappointed when I lost that tire and got $2000 in damages as a result. Spent the whole weekend staring at it. So I had to vent on that issue. But I may have a tire failure again but it wont be for trying. As a result of that experience I learned a lot about tires and RV's. There is a difference inadequate tire and bad tire. But it is note worthy that we all forget about when we damage those tires then we tend to blame it on the tire manufacturer of the tire. So it is what it is.

Read up on TPMS and how it can warn you of impending blowout. Temperature is your warning like you said. My TPMS has an alarm. I don't wait for the alarm, I check mine every few minutes to see if they are all running more or less the same temp.

The reason mine are still on is simple caint afford them at this time  but I did install a tpms system a few trips ago which helped with me worrying a lot . Yes I know it won't detect a sudden blow out but if you keep an eye on the temps and pressures you might catch it in time ,I only have about 3500 miles on the tires that I put on don't know about the distance from the factory to the dealer , another reason is I guess iam hard headed but I hate to take off brand new tires and put on brand new tires it's just freaking crazy that you would have to do that bull---- , my tires look perfect so maybe I might be one of the lucky ones and get 10000 - 15000 miles out of them , I run pretty good roads and stay around 65 mph , anyway it's been awhile since I vented off some steam I've had nothing but good times in my BC no bad issues at all so all in all it's been a great rv , getting ready to go to Hershey show in September maybe get something there , do they sell tires there lol ? ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

 

[JohnD]

Where are you at in Colorado?

 

[Gary521]

There are other 16" options other than going the Good Year route and less expensive. Do the research on LT rib tires. ( I don't mean Michelin although they work just fine ).

 

[Jim.Allison]

Interested to know what LT ribbed tire you are talking about. I have heard people talking about them, but cannot find one. I think Im looking at the wrong thing. Can you post a link?

There are other 16" options other than going the Good Year route and less expensive. Do the research on LT rib tires. ( I don't mean Michelin although they work just fine ).

 

[lynndiwagoner]

Snow, you're about where I was before replacing the Tow Max tires. I've got a brand new BC with about 5000 miles on it. I've been real careful with the speed and pressure. After reading all of the horror stories on this forum I decided to bite the bullet and replace the Tow Max with Saillun S637's as they seem to have a good track record, all steel, higher weight rating, and higher speed rating. Went to Big O and during the installation discovered that one of them had already separated. I know that the insurance would have covered the damage but what a mess it would have been. The Sailun tires appear to be pretty rugged and if weight is any factor they weigh about twice as much as the Tow Max's. Time will tell. For around $750.00 I got all four replaced. I did get $108.00 back from Olga for the bad tire.

 

[ncrzrbk]

When my Towmax failed a couple of weeks ago, I went Bridgestone Duravis R250 ribbed tire. LT235/85/16. It has a lower load rating but is equal to the axles and spring. Also found out that 3 of 4 springs were considered flat. Lippert is replacing the springs and Heartland is paying the labor to have them all replaced even though my trailer is out of warranty, Heartland is helping. Towmax didn't pay anything because they said the blown tire had excessive wear on the outside at 2/32" on roughly 3000 miles of travel. The next step will be to check alignment based on Towmax reference to excessive wear.


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[Snow]

Snow, you're about where I was before replacing the Tow Max tires. I've got a brand new BC with about 5000 miles on it. I've been real careful with the speed and pressure. After reading all of the horror stories on this forum I decided to bite the bullet and replace the Tow Max with Saillun S637's as they seem to have a good track record, all steel, higher weight rating, and higher speed rating. Went to Big O and during the installation discovered that one of them had already separated. I know that the insurance would have covered the damage but what a mess it would have been. The Sailun tires appear to be pretty rugged and if weight is any factor they weigh about twice as much as the Tow Max's. Time will tell. For around $750.00 I got all four replaced. I did get $108.00 back from Olga for the bad tire.

thanks for the info on the tires , 750.00 is not all that bad ,just the thought of replacing tires on a brand new *****.00 $ rv it's crazy , I have a few more short trips this year yet so going to try to finish this year out. I just don't understand with all the posts and complaints that are posted on this forum that heartland wouldn't do something ? If it was me I don't think I could sleep at nite knowing some rv out there is going is going blow these pieces of **** tires that they keep putting on these beautiful RV s !! oh we'll , a penny saved is a penny earned , ok that's it no more dogging heartland , iam sure other RV s have the same problem , or do they ? ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

 

[Jim.Allison]

SHHHHHHH, you guys are bordering on violating the prime directive and article 1.