Blown Tire, Bad Tire Store, Good Tire Store

[Herowe]

OK! I have another blow out story. But, more important, I found a tire store to never use and a great one to support.

Castle Rock tires. 2 years old to me, but manufacture date puts them at 3 years old. I always check pressure in the morning before a tow, I check temps of tires, wheels and hubs at every stop. I use a Tire Pressure Monitor System. My preferred top highway speed is 62 for best comfort and fuel rate.

1 hour out, just south of Jacksonville, NC running 55, loud pop, TPMS goes off and I pull over. Trailer handles so good, I thought maybe I hit something that damaged a valve sensor. Nope, front passenger side tire gone. Fender skirt is the worst of the damage.

Let me say Trailer Aid Plus ramp makes changing a tire a breeze. Now one of my favorite investments in camping.

I call Family Tire on the south side of Jacksonville, NC they are only 6 miles away. I ask for 4 tires same size, but move up to load range E. The gentleman says I have 4, I'll put your name on them and we'll work you in. Fantastic, I'm on my way. You can read my full review on Google. First it's OH that was the call center in New York, then we play 20 questions on trailer weight etc, get me to move trailer to other side of building, after about 2 hours on site, sorry we do not have those tires or any in your size.

By now my DW has spoken to our daughter and was told to call NTB on Western Blvd. Spoke with Shaun Hickam, they have tires and will work me in. Great experience! They are expecting me when I pull up. Quick write up and they will work us in. Leave truck and trailer right where they are. We step next door for lunch and by the time we get back, they are on the last tire. NTB Tire Western Blvd Jacksonville, NC right next to Sams Club. Shaun Hickam Service Manager. Checked the price when I got home, very close to what I could shop online for and the date code was August of this year. So, very happy and glad to do business with these guys.

I did have to take China tires, but we were already two days beyond our intended stay and wanted to get back to Florida weather very badly.

[Decon Blue]

So...... what brand tires did you get ???

[Iwannacamp]

Glad you got it going and no one hurt.... Sure feels good when a customer service person cares.

I work wholesale...very little of our sales are retail (95/5 ?? As we have contractors who buy many thousands in one order) anyway. At least once a week a person I don't know wants to shake my hand. Why? I try to help them.

[Herowe]

Decon Blue they are a china tire. Tow Max Power King. I do not expect much more than the Castle Rocks. The best thing is I went up to load range E, so maybe I will get a bit more service from them. Maybe next time I'll plan the swap and get to pick my tires.

Iwannacamp you know Customer Service is a skill that is sorely missed at most places. I was a Ford Sales Person for 23 years. I gained so many customers just by providing a little service. One weekend I helped an older couple with a low tire when service was closed. I became their car guy till I retired. By listening and helping with their needs and wants, I gained families that never went anywhere else and I delivered cars to three generations. I could not let Shaun Hickam and NTB Tires good service and quality care go unmentioned.

[Walholler]

You may have found good service with the second shop, but you purchased a tire(Tow Max) that is known for blow outs. If you want a tire that you can trust and comes highly recommended in the RV world, get yourself a set of Maxxis 8008's. These tires come in a size 15 in. diameter and Load range E. The cost of the Maxxis is in line with those blow out kings you have now. Our new 5th wheel came with the Tow Max, I changed to the Maxxis after putting 200 miles on the Tow Max. The Maxxis now have around 7500 miles on them without any problems. Maxxis are made in Thailand.

[rsdata]

You may have found good service with the second shop, but you purchased a tire(Tow Max) that is known for blow outs. If you want a tire that you can trust and comes highly recommended in the RV world, get yourself a set of Maxxis 8008's

good recommendation IF you are sitting at home with time to play with... while on the road sometimes you take what you can get... by upgrading a load range I hope the OP buys some extra miles...

[Oaklevel]

X2

Sometimes you do not have the luxury of getting what you want when you are in a strange area and pushed for time.

Not sure that a Tow Max is worse than any other tire.

Glad things worked out for the OP

[tomrob1161]

If you are sitting home, shopping for tires, you might check out the Good Year Endurance. they are made in Gadsden, AL. You can have tire problems with any tire, there have been several complaints on the Forest River Forum about the Maxxis tires as well.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

X2

Sometimes you do not have the luxury of getting what you want when you are in a strange area and pushed for time.

Not sure that a Tow Max is worse than any other tire.

Glad things worked out for the OP

Agree that the Tow Max is "just a trailer tire".

Big issue with trailer tires, regardless of how much you spend on them or what they're named, is what did the "environment" do to them while not rolling down the road. Some last a couple of years and others of the same name/manufacturer will last 10 years, only difference being the part of the country they "live". Sun, Ozone, Dry Rot, Heat, are all NOT friendly to tires and those conditions vary widely across the country.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Herowe

OK! I have another blow out story. But, more important, I found a tire store to never use and a great one to support.

Castle Rock tires. 2 years old to me, but manufacture date puts them at 3 years old. I always check pressure in the morning before a tow, I check temps of tires, wheels and hubs at every stop. I use a Tire Pressure Monitor System. My preferred top highway speed is 62 for best comfort and fuel rate.

1 hour out, just south of Jacksonville, NC running 55, loud pop, TPMS goes off and I pull over. Trailer handles so good, I thought maybe I hit something that damaged a valve sensor. Nope, front passenger side tire gone. Fender skirt is the worst of the damage.

Let me say Trailer Aid Plus ramp makes changing a tire a breeze. Now one of my favorite investments in camping.

I call Family Tire on the south side of Jacksonville, NC they are only 6 miles away. I ask for 4 tires same size, but move up to load range E. The gentleman says I have 4, I'll put your name on them and we'll work you in. Fantastic, I'm on my way. You can read my full review on Google. First it's OH that was the call center in New York, then we play 20 questions on trailer weight etc, get me to move trailer to other side of building, after about 2 hours on site, sorry we do not have those tires or any in your size.

By now my DW has spoken to our daughter and was told to call NTB on Western Blvd. Spoke with Shaun Hickam, they have tires and will work me in. Great experience! They are expecting me when I pull up. Quick write up and they will work us in. Leave truck and trailer right where they are. We step next door for lunch and by the time we get back, they are on the last tire. NTB Tire Western Blvd Jacksonville, NC right next to Sams Club. Shaun Hickam Service Manager. Checked the price when I got home, very close to what I could shop online for and the date code was August of this year. So, very happy and glad to do business with these guys.

I did have to take China tires, but we were already two days beyond our intended stay and wanted to get back to Florida weather very badly.

Glad to hear you got good service from an NTB store. I retired from their parent company that is financing my retirement quite nicely. Customer Service was stressed emphatically among all their different owned outlets.

At the time I retired the company owned or controlled well over 2,000 outlets and has grown immensely since them. They also "own" the Sailun Brand name.

[moose074]

I had tow max on my bumper pull 5 years close to 17k miles before I traded up to 5th wheel stored outside in my backyard West Texas sun never had issue

[Herowe]

Originally Posted by Walholler

You may have found good service with the second shop, but you purchased a tire(Tow Max) that is known for blow outs. If you want a tire that you can trust and comes highly recommended in the RV world, get yourself a set of Maxxis 8008's. These tires come in a size 15 in. diameter and Load range E. The cost of the Maxxis is in line with those blow out kings you have now. Our new 5th wheel came with the Tow Max, I changed to the Maxxis after putting 200 miles on the Tow Max. The Maxxis now have around 7500 miles on them without any problems. Maxxis are made in Thailand.

I believe I mentioned I had to take more China tires. I would have to hang out one to two days to get anything else. It had been cold and wet and I was past due for home in Florida. Reading is fundamental. LOL

[Herowe]

Originally Posted by moose074

I had tow max on my bumper pull 5 years close to 17k miles before I traded up to 5th wheel stored outside in my backyard West Texas sun never had issue

Thank you moose074 for giving me hope. If I get to 3 years I’ll feel good.

[Herowe]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Glad to hear you got good service from an NTB store. I retired from their parent company that is financing my retirement quite nicely. Customer Service was stressed emphatically among all their different owned outlets.



At the time I retired the company owned or controlled well over 2,000 outlets and has grown immensely since them. They also "own" the Sailun Brand name.

TitanMike this store certainly embraces Customer Service and that was the main objective of my post, to say these guys get it right and the other guys are a nightmare. Before I sold Fords, I was a field service engineer in the computer world. My saying was you have to fix the customer as well as the machine. The customer is already in a bad place due to the breakdown. Hope these guys continue to finance that retirement for you.

[JohnD10]

The TowMax tires (aka 'BlowMax') tires are a known issue mostly on heavier TT's, 5'vers and toy haulers.

Not so much of an issue with smaller trailers, but still had some issues there as well.

My previous TT had them (BlowMax) and I had put roughly 5000 miles on the trailer and tire combination in two years time and never had any tire issues, but did get rid of that TT after having other major issues with the suspension that made me decide to get rid of it.

My current 5'ver also had BlowMax tires on it from the factory, but since I had just purchased brand new tires of the same size for my previous TT a week before I traded it in...I had the dealer swap the tires so that I kept my brand new tires.

I will say that not having those BlowMax tires on anything anymore is probably the biggest piece of mind I could get when towing after all I had heard about them from not only the internet, but RV friends who had blowouts continuously with them.

In your situation and faced with only the BlowMax tires available to purchase, I probably would have just replaced the blown tire and continued on my way home instead of buying a whole set as the other tires from your original set would have most likely gotten you home with the same chances of another possible blowout as the new tires.

[Filterman]

Originally Posted by tomrob1161

If you are sitting home, shopping for tires, you might check out the Good Year Endurance. they are made in Gadsden, AL. You can have tire problems with any tire, there have been several complaints on the Forest River Forum about the Maxxis tires as well.

X2 Have GY Endurance new this summer. Only about 5000mi on them but happy. I had a set of the GY predecessor to the Endurance ( can’t remember the name) and put 30000 miles on them with no issues. In 40 years of RVing I’ve never experienced a blowout ( fingers crossed) I’m anal about tire pressure ( check once a week on long trips) and always stay below the posted speed for the tire I’m running.