Tow Max Problems

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
I feel your pain. I was going through this yesterday myself. Pulled the Cyclone up to the house this past weekend to unwinterize it and saw this...
TCB acts like they've never seen this before and insists I take it to a tire store to evaluate it. I'm afraid to drive it the 20 miles to the store for evaluation frankly.

View attachment 19207View attachment 19206View attachment 19205

Been looking at tires, but I don't know what to buy now. G614's will require 110psi wheels that I don't have. I read the Cyclone wheels are only good to 80psi. I can't afford those anyway right now.
Not risking Marathons. I love my Hankook RF10's on my truck, but know nothing about their F19's. Looking at GY Commercial TA's (LT's @ $172 ea) or Maxxis 8008's (ST's @ $191 ea) I guess.
Can't go wrong with Maxxis or B.F. Goodrich Commercial TAs..or most any other 235/85/16 Load range E Name Brand LT tire..Don
 

SJH

Past Washington Chapter Leaders
Sorry Steve, that's not entirely true. TireRack.com has working agreements with several major tire dealers. My tires were shipped to and installed by Big-O Tires. Big-O even sold me their Road Hazard Plan. I saved nearly $200.00.

It was just my feeble attempt at humor having read another post about dealers not doing any work on "stuff" they didn't sell. Didn't mean for anyone to take it seriously! I too have a tire guy willing to put whatever I bring him on my rigs.
 

DW_Gray

Well-known member
I feel your pain. I was going through this yesterday myself. Pulled the Cyclone up to the house this past weekend to unwinterize it and saw this...
TCB acts like they've never seen this before and insists I take it to a tire store to evaluate it. I'm afraid to drive it the 20 miles to the store for evaluation frankly.

View attachment 19207View attachment 19206View attachment 19205

Been looking at tires, but I don't know what to buy now. G614's will require 110psi wheels that I don't have. I read the Cyclone wheels are only good to 80psi. I can't afford those anyway right now.
Not risking Marathons. I love my Hankook RF10's on my truck, but know nothing about their F19's. Looking at GY Commercial TA's (LT's @ $172 ea) or Maxxis 8008's (ST's @ $191 ea) I guess.

How old are these tires? There is a date code imprinted on the sidewalls.

Also, Tredit Tires is good about warranty matters, IMO. They replaced one of my hairline cracked wheels at no charge last year.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
These TowMax tires are just BAD NEWS!!

Maybe those cracks are the next step after this? IMG_6088.JPG

I noticed one of our tires looked "bigger" than the others, and sure enough, once removed, this is what it looked like. All the belts were busted. This tire had less than 3 mo. on the ground (it was the spare, and the youngest of the 5.)

Upon looking at my "before replacement" pics, I did notice we had a slight indentation through the Power King letters, just like your tire... no cracks though. 4 of ours were dated 809 and spare 2809)
 
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gpshemi

Well-known member
My Power Kings all had dimples and oddities in them when I did the PDI. I question the dealer on them and they said that's how all E rated ST's are. I took exception to that. They refused to do anything about it. I took pics of them at the PDI. 600 miles later I lost my first tire on the maiden voyage. I called Heartland and they refused to do anything about it. They said it could have let loose from anything. I ate the cost. In the fall I noticed hairlines on all of them. I didn't do anythign since it was late in the year and I got laid off from my job. It just wasn't a priority. Now I'm back to work and getting it out to dewinterize it and as you see in those pictures they are all splitting. Mine rig is a 2011. They had issues after the summer of 2011. So...two summers and roughly 4000-5000 miles.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Don't eat any more tires, talk to TBC. Mention that you visit this forum and others have had issues, they may be more inclined to help. All I did was send pics and they sent money. :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks everyone for your help on the tire questions. I didn't realize that the company that distributes TowMax tires is the parent company of TireKingdom. Anyway, they had me take the tires to a local TireKingdom and they evaluated them. One tire had belt separation and a second tire (both on rear axel) was starting to separate. I told TireMax that I wanted to replace all four but they would only compensate me for two. They gave me 80% on the tire that was starting to separate but only 30% on the tire that was separated. The funny thing is the extra wear on the separated tire was caused by the separation. Did no good to explain that - it fell on deaf ears. Any way I bought four Maxxis tires on line from Discount Tires and they are now on my Big Country. When I was changing the tires I noticed that the front axel drivers side did not have a dust cap. I am of the opinion that Heartland has very poor quality control at the factory. Steve
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
FYI, the axles, along with the dust covers, come from a different manufacturer.

Peace
Dave
 

scotty

Well-known member
Sorry, but that shouldn't matter, the factory should catch this and not depend on the customer discovering all this various flaws in workmanship. It's to the point that the customer is the QA for the manufactures. The probelm is WE should not have to bear the blunt of low quality work standards. I'm not bashing Heartland, this has become the standard across the board, Heartland has just joined in with the rest.
 
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saskrick

Member
If there is a duplicate of this reply, its because I messed up here. Any problems with 225 75 15 LRD size powerKings? I called a tire shop that does not sell this brand and he said that they are a real good tire and to go ahead and wear them out. Mine are on a 2010 31bdss, and have 500-600 miles on them.
As an alternative, I was looking at a more common 235/75-15. Extra load tires are rated around 2200lbs. LRC are a little less oddly enough. Any thoughts?
 
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