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Old 05-09-2014, 12:47 PM   #1
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Anyone had good luck with Tow Max?

I decided to give my tires a year at least. I have now towed 3,526 miles with them. So far they are wearing good, no signs of damage, Don't seem to be getting hot. {I check with infrared temp every time I stop}.
I tow at 60mph, never more than 62 maybe 65 on a downhill, anyhow so far they seem to be doing a great job.
So I repeat, has any one had good luck with these tires???
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Old 05-09-2014, 01:26 PM   #2
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I have one season on my Tow Max. Probably only 1k miles on them, but so far no troubles. I have no plans to replace them.

I look at it this way. You will always read the complaints online. But seldom the praise. Not to mention that pretty much every low to mid-priced trailer has Tow Max tires on today. I don't know about you but I haven't seen someone on the side of the road with a ST blowout in quite a few years. Judging from what people claim, you should see one of these on the side of the road every time you tow.
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Old 05-09-2014, 02:03 PM   #3
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I just finished a5k+ tow from Wi. to Ca. to Id and back to WI. So far so go on the tow max tires. I just keep my fingers crossed.
DocBrown makes a good point!
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Old 05-09-2014, 02:41 PM   #4
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I think the reason there are so many blowouts is well theres a couple 1 being lack of maintenance and 2 just about all not just low to mid grade TT and 5rs have tow max tires on them from the factory. My last TT had T M tires 3 years and around 6k miles on them and was still in good shape. Had I kept that TT i would have replaced them in another year or two. I am three weeks away from a 2k+ mile round trip vacation we'll see how well they hold up in my new TT. Crossing my fingers!
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Old 05-09-2014, 07:18 PM   #5
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Well take this for what it is worth but in less than 5000 mi I have blown 2 and have probably $1000. damage on a 2013 Pinnacle. It's in the shop now for repairs.
Have Goodyear LT tires now. I was going to give my Tow Max tires 2 years but they didn't make it. Never again will I wait to put good tires on my next trailer. Not worth the stress.
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Old 05-10-2014, 03:07 PM   #6
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wow! Very few positive replies. Guess I better plan on getting new tires before we head to Texas again in the fall. I always wondered though, if the people having trouble were the ones who go flying by me at 75 or more when I am traveling.
Thanks for the replies folks!
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Old 05-10-2014, 04:07 PM   #7
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I just installed 14 wheels on my 17z with Towmax tires and now I'm hearing all these horror stories about them :-(
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Old 05-10-2014, 07:48 PM   #8
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wow! Very few positive replies. Guess I better plan on getting new tires before we head to Texas again in the fall. I always wondered though, if the people having trouble were the ones who go flying by me at 75 or more when I am traveling.Thanks for the replies folks!
Try less than 62 mph on both blow outs which were 8 days apart. Also it don't look like they are going to warranty them but that fight isn't over yet.

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Old 05-11-2014, 05:03 AM   #9
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3 years old, @ 1,500 miles...no problems. I'm well under capacity, I check inflation regularly, and rarely drift over 65mph.
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Old 05-11-2014, 05:49 AM   #10
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I've got around 3k miles on mine in the past 10 months with zero problems. Like ThreeButchers, I watch the weight and keep the speed to <65 mph.
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Old 05-11-2014, 07:32 AM   #11
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Tire Failures typically happen for a couple of reasons,
1. Heat, usually from either overloading or low air pressure or both.
2. Speed, ST Tires are rated for 65 MPH, like previous posted said, we see people pass us all the time running 70 to 80 mph like we are sitting still.
3. Tire Sidewall Damage, usually from Curbing, have to watch on those turns and make sure there is plenty of room so the tire does not hit or scrub the curb. Just look at the black marks on many tight turn curbs.

Depending on the model of trailer, the tires are almost overloaded when the RV is delivered due to very low carrying capacity or the tire / axle size is close to max load.

Since we fulltime, have quite a bit of weight and travel year round (approx. 15,000 to 18,000 miles a year) we upgraded our tires immediately from the factory supplied 10 ply "E" rated ST tires to a 14 ply "G" Rated LT tire.
On our Pinnacle, the factory de-rated the axle capacity due to the tires being a lower rating than the axle. Our Dexter axles are rated at 7,000 lbs. but are de-rated on the label to 6,800 lbs. due to the installation of 3,400 lb. rated tires.
We had our Pinnacle weighted by the RV Safety Foundation with individual scales on each wheel and on the heavy side (Entertainment Center, Kitchen with Refig, Stove, Microwave and Washer Dryer) each tire has about 3,200 lbs weight on them (we have approximately 12,000 lbs. weight on our axles).
Too close for comfort for me so we upgraded to the "G" Rated 3,750 lb. rated tire.
Now with over 30,000 miles on our Pinnacle, we have had no tire failures.

Note: On our previous Jayco Eagle 5er, it had a gross weight rating of 9,750 lbs. Jayco installed two 5,000 lb. axles with 16 inch tires rated at 3,000 lbs. each. Lots of margin in the axle / tire setup on that Eagle, so it does vary widely from model / floorplan to model / floorplan.
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Old 05-13-2014, 09:11 AM   #12
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I took mine off and replaced them while they were still new. Sold them on CL for almost half the cost of the new replacements, and moved up to a LR E tire from a D. Now I know they will never be overloaded, and have plenty of wiggle room if I have a heavy, or unequally loaded axle.
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Old 05-13-2014, 09:17 AM   #13
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Although this certainly isn't definitive, only one person had blowouts, and most replaced them based on fear rather than facts. Interesting...
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Old 05-13-2014, 09:38 AM   #14
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Plenty of people have had blow outs with them. Much cheaper to replace the tires before they blow out and destroy the side of your RV. Some of us have learned from others misfortunes. I don't have to repeat what they have already proven to me. Even my dealer acknowledged that it would be wise to replace them. They are known to be a poor quality tire. Why take a chance on them? Why try to defend them???
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Old 05-13-2014, 10:18 AM   #15
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They are known to be a poor quality tire. Why take a chance on them? Why try to defend them???
Actually it sounds more like you are trying to defend a purchase made without hard evidence. I'm not trying to defend anything. I'm simply asking where are the facts? How are they "known to be a poor quality tire"? Because you've read a couple of postings on the Internet? I'm a realist. I don't make decisions to spend hundreds of dollars based on anecdotal evidence in Internet postings. If you choose to make your decisions based on such postings, that's your choice. And isn't that what the OP is asking for, real evidence? Look, I'm not bashing your decision. Your choice. Replacing them with a tire that has a better weight rating is never a bad thing. But the OP was asking about experiences. Since you replaced yours right away, you apparently have no experience with Tow Max and are just proliferating anecdotal evidence.

Like I said, thousands of newer trailers have them. How come I'm not seeing blowouts on the side of the road if they are that bad? The trouble is that we read the negativity on the Internet and for some reason it gets magnified in our minds.

There was a very similar thread about Tow Max on rv.net a few weeks ago. Almost everyone said they had good experiences with them. Only a couple of folks said they had troubles.

A few years ago everyone bashed Goodyear Marathons. I had a set of those on my previous trailer. I got 6 years out of those tires. What's real and what's not?
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Old 05-13-2014, 12:37 PM   #16
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I was told by a Jayco rep at a show that they have less issues with Tow Max than they had with Goodyear. I had questioned him why they would put these cheap tires on.
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Old 05-13-2014, 12:44 PM   #17
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Rob Fla has the right answer here. There is no hard and fast rule on tires. Some models have head room on the tires while others are at the max as shipped from the factory. My TT needed E rated tires but Jayco decided on D rated tires, but at least it came with 80psi rims.
While you are checking on things look at the weight of your rig and the rating of the tires and see if you have some room to spare.

I read posts where people are pulling fresh water tanks full......I can do that now but I still refuse to do that because I know the weight of my trailer and the ratings of my tires and axle.

I would guess there are 5 reasons for blowouts.
1) Tires under-inflated
2) Tires not rated for the actual load.
3) Speed
4) Tires to old (but with good tread)
5) All of the above on the same day.
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Old 05-13-2014, 01:23 PM   #18
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I have Tow Max on our HTT. We have about 12K miles on them and no issues at all. Sidewalls look good. Tread looks good overall. I can tell that ether the front or the rear set; I do not recall, does show a little more wear then the other pair. I expect it is from sharp turns. I have no plans to change them out. They are working fine and to change tires will only cost me cash, that could be used somewhere else.

Make sure you have a good tire maintenance program and you should be fine. I check my tire pressure before each trip, or days drive. I had for a while checked the tire/brake temps on both the HTT and TV to see what is normal. I check the tires for sidewalls for wear and damage, when checking the tires over.
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Old 05-14-2014, 10:55 AM   #19
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Hahaha, Doc, I don't ever feel the need to justify anything I purchase to anyone, including myself. Anyone who cares to take the time to do some searching will find that Tow Max tires are known to be of low quality. If I were to post a link to all the problems folks have had with them, this would be a long, long post. The evidence and proof is out there for those who care enough to read it all. If it was just a flat tire, and $120 for a new tire and on the road again, it would be no big deal. When a blow out has the potential to do thousands of dollars in damage to your trailer, that's a big deal. $500 for a new set of good tires is pretty cheap in comparison.
Looking at the tread and sidewalls of tires really tells you nothing, when the failure point is under the rubber and out of sight. If you are lucky, you might see signs of separation before throwing the tread off, but that's not usually the case.
Good luck to those of you not willing to take preventive measures to protect your investments. To each their own. I'm not going to continue to beat this horse.
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Old 05-14-2014, 11:07 AM   #20
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Anyone who cares to take the time to do some searching will find that Tow Max tires are known to be of low quality. If I were to post a link to all the problems folks have had with them, this would be a long, long post. The evidence and proof is out there for those who care enough to read it all.
But that's the point Bob, where is the proof? People's postings of thier personal opinions? I can find those on my own. What I can't find is definitive proof that folks properly aired them, didn't over tax the weight limits, etc. and still had blowouts. Did your dealer show you a spreadsheet that said, hey we sold 500 trailers with Tow Max tires and 75 had blow outs? That would be proof. If these are so bad, where's the recall? That would be proof. Everything on the net about this "problem" is anecdotal and you haven't shown us otherwise.

I'm going to close this now too Bob. No sense in keeping this up, we don't agree and that's OK by me.
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