I got got

When we left on Friday, our new to us 3950 looked like this...
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Today, it looks like this...
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We put about 200 miles between us and home before we had to limp home @ 55 mph. The third tire held but I'm pretty sure it's close behind the other two.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi dom1nation,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

You do not have the year of your unit listed, but if the tires are 3-4 years old or are TowMax get rid of them.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M
 

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
I don't understand why anyone would still have Tow Max tires on their rig after all the bad press they have on every RV site on the internet..Don
 

Diamondjim

Well-known member
dom1nation - I feel your pain. We had the same tires blow out on our way home from our first FL Rally at Santa Rosa Sound a couple of weeks ago.
We had planned to put different tires on before we headed north at end of May, as snowbirds.
Our damage was nothing compared to yours, and will be all fixed tomorrow. The replacement fender skirt arrived from Heartland Friday night and I've replaced the electrical wiring, running lights, gas line to the stove etc..
New tires arrive Wednesday (Maxxis - 5 of them) so we're well on our way to making it whole again.
Good luck with the repair of your damaged unit, I'm sure your wife is as upset with the mess as mine.
I'm preparing a claim to my insurance company.....let's see how that flies. I DID buy tire protection, which was an add on.
 

SilverRhino

Well-known member
I don't understand why anyone would still have Tow Max tires on their rig after all the bad press they have on every RV site on the internet..Don

The real question is why was the trailer ever allowed to leave the factory with tires known to be inadequate??
 

FiremanBill

Well-known member
The real question is why was the trailer ever allowed to leave the factory with tires known to be inadequate??


That IS the real question. Why does Heartland continue to use these Bombs. Sad.

We too had our blowmax issues on our 2013, sadly we were not aware of the issue until after our first explosion that destroyed the side of our 3110 as well.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
That IS the real question. Why does Heartland continue to use these Bombs. Sad.

We too had our blowmax issues on our 2013, sadly we were not aware of the issue until after our first explosion that destroyed the side of our 3110 as well.

I don't believe Heartland has used TowMax since 2nd quarter of 2015.

In theory, the TowMax tire had the correct load rating for its use. Real world, the tire did not live up to its claims. That is not Heartland's fault. I'm sure their hands were tied with Thor negotiating the tire contract for multiple brands, this was not just a HL problem.
 

Ladiver

Well-known member
I don't believe Heartland has used TowMax since 2nd quarter of 2015.

In theory, the TowMax tire had the correct load rating for its use. Real world, the tire did not live up to its claims. That is not Heartland's fault. I'm sure their hands were tied with Thor negotiating the tire contract for multiple brands, this was not just a HL problem.

What is Heartland using on the Cyclones now? I heard there was an option for Goodyear G614's. That would be my choice.
 

Rhyph

Well-known member
What is Heartland using on the Cyclones now? I heard there was an option for Goodyear G614's. That would be my choice.

Late 2015, all 2016 and newer Cyclones and Road Warriors are coming with Sailun or Goodyear G-rated tires standard now as I understand it. I don't know what the Torque has on it, I never looked at them when we were making the purchase decision on our RW. Our RW has the Sailuns on it.

Our 2014 Bighorn 3610 RE had the TowMax tires on it, and we also suffered the same fate as many others have with almost $4k in damages to insurance. We replaced them with Goodyear G-rated G614's on the roadside.
 

FiremanBill

Well-known member
I don't believe Heartland has used TowMax since 2nd quarter of 2015.

In theory, the TowMax tire had the correct load rating for its use. Real world, the tire did not live up to its claims. That is not Heartland's fault. I'm sure their hands were tied with Thor negotiating the tire contract for multiple brands, this was not just a HL problem.

That is where we will have to disagree. When it was brought to their attention MULTIPLE times as a safety issue the contracts to use them should have been voided.

Agree that is was not just Heartlands problem though. Any trailer that had them on it was a ticking time bomb.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
That is where we will have to disagree. When it was brought to their attention MULTIPLE times as a safety issue ....

For whatever reason, despite all the posts to social media, NHTSA, the agency that identifies safety issues and orders recalls, has yet to agree with you. And a couple of years ago when I looked at the tire complaints to NHTSA, Goodyear Marathons had more complaints than Towmax.

I wouldn't buy either a Towmax or a Marathon. I don't consider them reliable. And the risk of damage to the trailer ought to be enough to put anyone off. But in all the complaints I've seen over the last 6 years, I don't recall any reports of injuries. Is it possible? Sure. Has it happened? Not that I've seen.

And despite the high failure rates and high level of complaints, the agency in charge of highway safety doesn't agree with you that they represent a safety issue.
 

FiremanBill

Well-known member
For whatever reason, despite all the posts to social media, NHTSA, the agency that identifies safety issues and orders recalls, has yet to agree with you. And a couple of years ago when I looked at the tire complaints to NHTSA, Goodyear Marathons had more complaints than Towmax.

I wouldn't buy either a Towmax or a Marathon. I don't consider them reliable. And the risk of damage to the trailer ought to be enough to put anyone off. But in all the complaints I've seen over the last 6 years, I don't recall any reports of injuries. Is it possible? Sure. Has it happened? Not that I've seen.

And despite the high failure rates and high level of complaints, the agency in charge of highway safety doesn't agree with you that they represent a safety issue.

Well I guess we are all idiots then. When I had a blowout SITTING in a campground I pretty much agreed that these tires are a ticking time bomb.

Blowmax only agreed with me that they were junk when I posted to their facebook page my trials and tribulations with them. Until I made that post it was all my fault. They sent me a check after I brought it to everyone's attention on their site.

This will probably get deleted but a gov't agency not agreeing with me that there is a safety issue with these tires doesn't bear much weight in my book. We all know these tires are unsafe.
 

Rhyph

Well-known member
Not to get too far off the beaten path of the original topic. But this reminds of the Firestone / Ford Explorer tire issues. Was it Ford's fault for telling it's customers to only put 26PSI in their tires per their factory door stickers? Was it Firestone's fault due to an inherent tire design flaw? Was it Ford's fault for having a poor rear suspension design in the first place or the reason they told customers to run 26PSI was to make the vehicle ride nice, lessen it's tendency to roll and overheat the tires? Firestone took a big beating on it because they were Ford's primary tire supplier for many years, with millions of tires on the road. It took rolling those trucks over and killing many folks before NHTSA stood up and said whooooah, what's going on here? They were just at complacent in all of it, and I only happen to know as much as I do because I was inside with Bridgestone at that time to see it all unfolding. Very sad times I have the unfortunate memories of.

I suppose my point is, both manufacturers should come together and acknowledge the issue and get the unsafe product off these trailers.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Dangerous is relative here, no one has been injured or killed by having these tires. Yes, the situation becomes unsafe when they fail. They are too unpredictable.

But like I said, Heartland has stopped using them.

In 2013, a Tredit representative at the National Heartland Rally said they visit the factory in China to ensure standards are met. At some point after that, TowMax started offering a warranty that would cover roadside assistance.

The tires continued to fail.

Although I may think HL moved slow, they at least did realize and make a change. We can only speculate why it didn't happen sooner.
 
Lots of replies... That's good. This is a 2011 3950. Unfortunately the tires had a DOT number from 2009. ???. They are towmax str tires.

The best part of this problem we encountered...we bought the camper on Thursday, April 21 and pulled out of town on Friday. We weren't going very far and I thought we were going to be able to get there and back without any hiccups.

I ordered the new tires before we took delivery but didn't have time to get them installed before the maiden voyage.

The dealer and I are figuring out who will be handling the cost.
They sold a camper with sketchy tires clearly needing replacement. If this would have happened 30 days from now, I fully expect to be responsible.
Only owning the TH for ~60 hours, there should be dealer responsibility.
Everything has gone smoothly so far and the dealer seems to be gathering all info before making their decision. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the replies
 
On another note. I'm putting on gladiator 12 ply tires. I've had pretty good luck in the past with these on another TH and a couple of heavy equipment trailers.
 
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