CHINA BOMB

Yes, they all get a bad rap for that monicker. in reality, only the cheapest, poorly made Chinese tires are the China Bombs!

Someone pointed out recently that since most RV tires are made in China it makes sense that most of the blowouts, and other tire problems, would be from Chinese tires.

Towmax is a brand to avoid.

dodge guy wrote:
Yes, they all get a bad rap for that monicker. in reality, only the cheapest, poorly made Chinese tires are the China Bombs!

Correct:
Years back Fine Woodworking did an article on production of wood-working machines in Taiwan. At the time there was a popular idea that all wood-working machines made in Taiwan were crap.

They showed, that yes, the cheap machines made in Taiwan were crap, but the really expensive ones, sometimes with "main-line" labels, were not.

The biggest problem in Chinese production is not the "crap", but their willingness to "clone" production, and usually in the process make it poorly, and the governments willingness to allow companies to do this.

A guy I know moved production of his "widget" to China, he discovered that a "cousin" of the plant owner was making a clone of his "widget" and selling it as the original. It was, of course, made cheaper and sold cheaper.
How he discovered this was the "clone" even copied the paperwork, including the warranty and contact info.
So he was getting LOTS of warranty claims for stuff he never made nor sold.
He also could not get anyone in China to do anything about the copying.

For instance Michelin is making tires in China for export to other countries (not USA yet)


Honestly. Michelin ain't all that great. Tend to dry rot pretty quick, and last no longer that Coooper. Just cost a lot.

My opinion.... A few weeks ago I heard a loud BOOM as though a bomb went off and the rear Air Conditioner started some serious vibration, I quickly killed it, and later went topside and confirmed what happened.. The condenser fan had "Blown Up" (All but one blade flew off)

I then called around to find a replacement and found out.. .IT WAS A CHINA BOMB.

Got a US made fan that was exactly the same size, pitch, number of blades, etc and put it on.

So China Bombs are not just tires.

(OH, My AC troubles did not stop there.. ON the other (American made) A/C the blanged blower motor sized up this week.... Thankfully i had a spare (Actually the original motor in that unit was being carried as a spare, long story there that I do not care to type just now).

Boxer Lovers wrote:
Towmax is a brand to avoid.

You aren't kidding. They aren't worthy of making a tire swing out of

dodge guy wrote:
Yes, they all get a bad rap for that monicker. in reality, only the cheapest, poorly made Chinese tires are the China Bombs!

I'll agree with that as well. Iirc, around '08-09 Goodyear pulled pproduction from China due to quality problems. After a period of time, they returned production of at least some of the Marathon line with improved qc. I've had a set of 16's made in '10 since that time. I cover them, keep the speed below 65, do my best not to bang curbs, and keep the pressure at 80, all as recommended, and have never had a problem. Never had so much as a leak. Have almost 10k miles on them currently. The whole "China bomb" thing, as applied to tires, is overblown, imo.

brirene wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Yes, they all get a bad rap for that monicker. in reality, only the cheapest, poorly made Chinese tires are the China Bombs!

The whole "China bomb" thing, as applied to tires, is overblown, imo.

I said the same thing until it happened to me two months ago causing thousands of dollars worth of damage. Always properly cared for with perfect air pressure. Traveling along and all the sudden the tread delaminated.

Look at the NHTSA website. 52 pages of complaints on the towmax China Bomb tires is certainly not "overblown"

The problem with these RV tires, especially 5th wheel tires, is that the manufacturers put on low priced tires that are barely rated for the dry weight of the trailer. They work great when the RV is delivered from the plant to the dealer, sometimes clear across the country.

Then we purchase the RV, load up 3,000 or more pounds of stuff, and fly down the highway on a 90 degree day at 75 MPH.....boom....tire blows and damages the RV.

I agree there are a bunch of "junk" tires out there and many of them are produced in China. But there are also a lot of RV's going down the road that should have G or H rated tires instead of what they actually came with..