TowMax Tires

[GoPackGo]

My rig is exactly one year old and has been pulled around 9 - 10,000 miles. I just pulled into a campground here in Wyoming and noticed one tire looked kinda low. Pulled the wheel off and saw that the outer rubber was cut open about 3 inches on the inner side of the tire and had separated. This was not due to hitting anything. I think it blew 'softly' and slowly leaked down over several miles as opposed to 'explosively'. The tread also seemed to be raised upward and the mechanic said that meant it was separating internally. It still had 20 pounds of pressure in it. I figure that if I had driven too much further all the remaining air would have leaked out, putting the entire weight of the rig on that side onto the one remaining tire with possibly real ugly consequences.

I always run at 55-58 mph and always had the tires inflated to 80 pounds. Still had lots of tread. So they were not abused. I've read lots of tire posts on rv.net so I tried to keep an eye on them.

I had wanted to finish my traveling for this year (full timing) and then get new tires but NOT !

I understand that you can't judge when to replace an ST tire by the number of miles you put on them. But these TowMax tires seem to fail internally regardless of age or miles. Shouldn't I expect to get more then one year out of them ? No need to answer.

I really do think it should be illegal to sell (or install as OEM) TowMax tires. How can these things possibly be DOT approved ??

I now have 4 Maxxis M8008s ordered.

I'm not trying to restart the LT vs ST discussion. I've read lots of posts on the subject and made my decision. Maxxis ST tires seem to have a good reputation and owners seem to be happy with them.

OK, I feel better now.

Tim

[Me_Again]

GoPackGo wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:

As I said, we don't have Maxxis owners complaining do we ?

Over twenty former Maxxis owners and RV.net trailer owners would disagree with that comment. They no longer use Maxxis.
And google the subject across the trailering world (not just RVs) shows about the same thing.

A ST tire is still a ST tire regardless of brand.

I did just spend a little time with Google and can't really find anything but good reviews. I'm sure there are some bad ones because nothing is perfect, but they sure aren't jumping out at me. Not trying to be argumentative here. I would think if they were horrible that it would not be all that difficult to find bad news. So maybe you could give me the search terms you used to find all the bad reviews ?

When I searched, I did find this rv.net thread from a few months ago. Sorry, I do not know how to make it into a link.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27454875/gotomsg/27455767.cfm

Chris

[GoPackGo]

As regards reporting the tire failure -

I want nothing to do with TowMax. If I file a warranty claim, they may give me a new tire, or maybe a discount on a new one. Whoop De Doo ! Why do I want that ? Won't I just be waiting for the other three to fail ? Sooner rather then later ? And I might not be so lucky when they do. So they're all going in the trash bin. Anybody want them ? If you're in central Wyoming, give me a shout and I'll let you know when and where.

Tim

[GoPackGo]

JIMNLIN wrote:

As I said, we don't have Maxxis owners complaining do we ?

Over twenty former Maxxis owners and RV.net trailer owners would disagree with that comment. They no longer use Maxxis.
And google the subject across the trailering world (not just RVs) shows about the same thing.

A ST tire is still a ST tire regardless of brand.

I did just spend a little time with Google and can't really find anything but good reviews. I'm sure there are some bad ones because nothing is perfect, but they sure aren't jumping out at me. Not trying to be argumentative here. I would think if they were horrible that it would not be all that difficult to find bad news. So maybe you could give me the search terms you used to find all the bad reviews ?

When I searched, I did find this rv.net thread from a few months ago. Sorry, I do not know how to make it into a link.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27454875/gotomsg/27455767.cfm

[ReneeG]

elkhorn98 wrote:
Report the failures. Those things should be illegal. They're like the demo batteries in kids toys...just enough to get you home then get real batteries.

Exactly! Especially if that tire was 1 year old - that's a true failure and a warranty issue, or should be.

[JIMNLIN]

As I said, we don't have Maxxis owners complaining do we ?

Over twenty former Maxxis owners and RV.net trailer owners would disagree with that comment. They no longer use Maxxis.
And google the subject across the trailering world (not just RVs) shows about the same thing.

A ST tire is still a ST tire regardless of brand.

[Bighorns]

Funny Thing (Not Really).. Just had the same thing but worse yesterday here in Wyoming also.. My tires were the Tow Max, 2 years old this month. I always check pressure before each trip and inspect them. Tires look fine, no odd wear & tear on them. On the way home the front passenger side tire blows apart as I am heading down interstate at 65 mph. Tore up the lower metal wrap for about 14 ft , bent a bracket, tore up cover on underbelly and also messed up access door on water heater. Luckily I am only 5 miles from the next town. Put spare on and move on to next town. Pull over in town to get drink and look at tires again. Notice that both tires on drivers side look odd on the tread area. Find the only tire shop in town and the guy looks at them and says "yep, those are starting to separate also". Luckily he was able to fit me in before closing shop for the day. So I ended up buying 4 new tires. Had LT's put on. Turned into an expensive weekend, but no one got hurt.. A 4 hour drive home turned into an 8 hour drive. Meeting with insurance guy tomorrow morning...

[laknox]

Me Again wrote:

GoPackGo wrote:
I prefer to use tires that are developed specifically for trailers - but I'm picky - I also want GOOD ones.

Here is what Discount Tire says about ST tires:

Why Use An "ST" Tire
•"ST" tires feature materials and construction to meet the higher load requirements and demands of trailering.
•The polyester cords are bigger than they would be for a comparable "P" or "LT" tire.
•The steel cords have a larger diameter and greater tensile strength to meet the additional load requirements.
•"ST" tire rubber compounds contain more chemicals to resist weather and ozone cracking.



Tim

So Tim if you want good trailer tires forget the marketing BS about cheap ST tires and install GY G614's or Sailun LRG tires.

Chris

And DT is also just repeating the marketing BS. If ST tires really did have more compounds to resist ozone and cracking, they wouldn't start weathering virtually immediately.

Lyle

[laknox]

ScottG wrote:

Me Again wrote:

Boxer Lovers wrote:
Just replaced OEM TowMax. One tire blew a belt. Less than 4,000 miles. Dangerous tires. China is sending******over here and getting away with it.

ST tires had lots of problems before their production was moved china. Anytime you take a light weight tire and up its carrying capacity by 30 percent and subject them to lower testing standards, you are in for problems.

This is a tire type that was created for local service, not extended freeway use. Chris

Have to respectfully disagree.
I wore out (never concerned myself with age) 3 sets of ST tires on our old TT before they all went to China. Never had an issue. In fact twice I had flats and they just went flat - no drama, no explosions.
And two of those sets were bias ply Carlisle's made in the USA.

How heavy was your TT? If < 10k lbs, then I'm not surprised you had good luck. Also, IMO the old bias ply tires =were= flatly a better tire. There are 2 problems with ST tires; poor manufacturing quality, plain and simple, and designs that are marked for use =way= beyond their true capacity.

Lyle

[GoPackGo]

Chris, thanks for the good advice but I think I'll be fine. As I said, we don't have Maxxis owners complaining do we ?

I'll let you all know how it works out.

[Me_Again]

elkhorn98 wrote:
Report the failures. Those things should be illegal. They're like the demo batteries in kids toys...just enough to get you home then get real batteries.

Actually if they were limited to what they were design for(local occasional use) they are OK until moved to tire swings. Using them at freeway speed for extended times seems to be their pitfall.

[clydengail]

I was fortunate. I got 3 years out of my Towmax. Tire went flat sitting in RV park in Texas. I put spare on and took flat tire to a tire shop. It showed multiple leaks, obviously separating. I held my breath and made it back to Arkansas and replaced all four with Firestone Transforce HTs.

[GoPackGo]

Yes, I'm sure you're right about the axle. I was not thinking it thru properly.

The 16 inch TowMax tires are E rated and call for 80 psi. The trailer is 14,000 pounds GVW. If 20% is in the bed of my truck (2,800 pounds),then 11,200 is spread over 4 tires = 2,800 pounds per tire (assuming an equal distribution). The tires are rated at 3520 pounds.

[elkhorn98]

Report the failures. Those things should be illegal. They're like the demo batteries in kids toys...just enough to get you home then get real batteries.

[Me_Again]

GoPackGo wrote:
I prefer to use tires that are developed specifically for trailers - but I'm picky - I also want GOOD ones.

Here is what Discount Tire says about ST tires:

Why Use An "ST" Tire
•"ST" tires feature materials and construction to meet the higher load requirements and demands of trailering.
•The polyester cords are bigger than they would be for a comparable "P" or "LT" tire.
•The steel cords have a larger diameter and greater tensile strength to meet the additional load requirements.
•"ST" tire rubber compounds contain more chemicals to resist weather and ozone cracking.



Tim

So Tim if you want good trailer tires forget the marketing BS about cheap ST tires and install GY G614's or Sailun LRG tires.

Chris