Power king tires

NHIrish wrote:
I had a power king towmax failure, and two of my camping friends also had towmax powerking failures. Three different brand rigs. Can't speak for them, but mine was well cared for , almost new and aired up properly...tread separation without blowout. They bought me 4 new tires.

Towmax have been problem tires for years. Get rid of them.

I agree. From my experience and from friends of mine who all have had tire failure from tread seperation on there Power Kings. Mine also had irregular wear issues on some. Replaced with Maxxis, no problems. Over 25k on them so far. I was recently at the Camping World in Fort Myers. A customer came in with 2 mounted tires that were shredded. They had tread seperation, looked just like mine. Yep, Power Kings.
Maybe they did change there construction now and are ok. From previous experiance I would not buy them again.

dspencer wrote:

Campfire Time wrote:

bob213 wrote:

If I make it home with them, I'll replace them.

Well, that's one way to look at it. The other is to ask yourself how many trailers you see by the side of the road with failed tires. Not too many. And most of them are delivered with Tow Max tires. Actually I haven't seen any in the last 5 years or so. I know, that doesn't mean it isn't happening. But...

People will tell you all sorts of experiences. And that's just it, they are their experiences. We don't always know if the proper PSI was set, or if they were towing over 65 (and I see this A LOT!), nor do we know if they are towing over their GVWR. We don't know the road conditions, nor a hundred other things. People can say they were doing it right, but they can say anything they want.

I've had mine for one season now and no troubles. Granted, its only one season, but anecdotal accounts would have people believe that we wouldn't get 100 miles out of them.

So now I'm going to get shredded for this post. Go ahead, have at it folks. :p

More accurate words couldn't have been said. Last year i was on I-70 west of KC coming home from work driving my personal vehicle about 70 and a guy pulling a 5th wheel blew my doors off passing me. About 15 miles up the road low and behold he was setting along side the road with a blow out. Being a fellow RV'r i stopped to see if i could assist him. He had just got off the phone with his roadside assistance when i came along. He kept telling me how he always drove between 55 and 60 and was anal about the air pressure. He simply was beside himself how a tire could have blown. Not saying that is what caused his but it makes you wonder. He had no ideal he had blown my doors off earlier and i didn't say a thing. I know that doesn't represent everyone but i also know some people will tell you what they think you want to hear. JMHO

Dead on....I check my tire pressures frequently, but find it odd that I never (ok...rarely) seea anyone else doing it. I do see lots of trailers being towed too fast with visibly low looking tires or tires that show damage from hitting curbs etc. Lots of folks don't seem to get it.

I had a power king towmax failure, and two of my camping friends also had towmax powerking failures. Three different brand rigs. Can't speak for them, but mine was well cared for , almost new and aired up properly...tread separation without blowout. They bought me 4 new tires.

Towmax have been problem tires for years. Get rid of them.

BarneyS wrote:

Here is a link to the survey that he is talking about.
Barney

Thank you. That was very helpful.

The thing that jumps out at me is the term "failure" seems to include all manner of things, including simple punctures.

The term "blowout" could mean quite a few different things, including a tire that experienced a puncture that was undetected and the tire was run flat. The term has also been used to describe a tread detachment (tread separation where the tread and top belt come off). Can't sort that out.

Given that a tire going flat on a motorized RV is detectable by the driver (sound and feel), but undetectable on a towed vehicle (except by visual means or an arm waving passer-by), it would make sense that the motorized values would be lower for "failures", but not for "blowouts". In other words, a driver might not report a puncture as a failure, but a puncture could result in a reported "failure" - and the difference between the rate on a motorized RV and a towed RV would also be different.

On the other hand, it is common for the term "tread separation" to be misused - or more accurately, misdiagnosed.

Not to mention this is a survey about a 3 year period and the summary doesn't extract if there were more than one failure in that period (and how many tires were on the vehicle).

And as has been mentioned, no way to determine between LT's and ST's on on towed vehicles. We could assume that most of these are ST's, but that would be an assumption.

So trying to come up with a "tire failure rate" - that is how many tires failed compared to how many were in service - is chock full of problems. My suggestion would be to be very careful about characterizing the results of this study.

elkhorn98 wrote:
Wow a detailed survey! I wished they would have had a question to separate st from lt failure rates on towables.

Most "ultra lights" trailers come with ST. Now, heavier trailers (5th wheels, toy haulers) are starting to come equipped with LT tires. It would be hard to distinguish for comparative purposes since your not comparing apples to apples on the rigs themselves.

The you have speeding, curb hitting, tight turns, that are all variables.

Wow a detailed survey! I wished they would have had a question to separate st from lt failure rates on towables.

Campfire Time wrote:

CapriRacer wrote:

Shadow Catcher wrote:
A study done by Good Sam with 17,000 respondents found a roughly 33% failure rate......

Do you have a link?

I'm interested in looking at this study. 33% sounds way, way, way too high and there may be a way to understand what that value really represents. But a link is essential.

Yes, a link please. I also would like to read more on this. But this posting just goes to my earlier point about anecdotal evidence.

Here is a link to the survey that he is talking about.
Barney

CapriRacer wrote:

Shadow Catcher wrote:
A study done by Good Sam with 17,000 respondents found a roughly 33% failure rate......

Do you have a link?

I'm interested in looking at this study. 33% sounds way, way, way too high and there may be a way to understand what that value really represents. But a link is essential.

Yes, a link please. I also would like to read more on this. But this posting just goes to my earlier point about anecdotal evidence.

My 2011 Outback came with Power Kings, D rated. I had an alignment problem show up the first year. Had that repaired and two new Power Kings to replace the two worn originals. I am below pay load, keep proper inflation, drive 65 and under except the rare occasions I have to pass someone, use the trailer frequently and store it on concrete pads so there is no dry rot problem. The third one blew out on my last trip. I replaced all four with Carlisle Radial Trail RH, E rated, hoping that will solve the problem. We'll see!

Shadow Catcher wrote:
A study done by Good Sam with 17,000 respondents found a roughly 33% failure rate......

Do you have a link?

I'm interested in looking at this study. 33% sounds way, way, way too high and there may be a way to understand what that value really represents. But a link is essential.