Anyone road tested Towmaster tires

[pappy19]

All of my Towmaster failures were on 10 ply-E rated tires. I really think it was an age issue rather than a design or brand issue. These tires were 4 years old and looked in pretty good shape. They obviously made our spring trip of 7,000 miles without any problems. In retrospect when I had the first flat, I should have just replaced the whole set. I do think that the 30-34' AS should have come with a set of 16" rims/tires which gives the user a much larger selection of tires and also slightly more clearance. I might also add that one should totally change out the crappy lug nuts with the "false" caps to a solid 13/16ths lug nut. I had big problems with the caps on the lug nuts failing and had to use a Vise-Grip to pry off the caps and use an 18 mm socket to remove the naked nut.(hope this makes it by screening)....

Pap

[djgarcia]

Thank you for the report, Artlink... someone of the Open Roads-travel trailer-forum wrote in that Thor is putting Towmasters on all their products--I guess this does not include Airstream as of yet??????

Next time I think I will get Towmasters. Do they bounce off curbs? I have got to be more careful.

Kistler

Heartland is putting towmasters on their Big Horn trailers.

[djgarcia]

Camping World sells a good one called "tire aide". Just roll the trailer up on the good tire and change the blown tire.

[TBRich]

We have joined the "Towmaster Club"...we had a complete instant blowout on the roadside Marathon on a trip last weekend, between Globe and Show Low, AZ. I mean it just completely blew...leaving a 8"-long hole in the tire...and the entire tread came off. Minor damage to the underbelly, but luckily our plumbing directly behind the wheel well was spared...it's in for repairs now. We replaced both tires with Towmaster D Load Range. When we took the other Marathon off the wheel we discovered it was also in the process of tread separation...there was an area about 1/3 the distance around the outer edge of the tire tread that was nearly bald and in the middle of that area was a small hole worn through that exposed the steel belts inside. Another 50 miles and it would have blown, too. Since we have a single axle trailer we had to change the tire on the spot with a jack and the whole nine yards. We are glad we carry those triangle hazard things to alert oncoming traffic... Because we were running on the rim after the blowout, we had to change the tire about 1/3 the way into the traffic lane because there was very little room between the white line at the side of the road and the guard rail. We all survived, but not because people were slowing down or moving over. Most were sheer idiots. We were lucky on so many levels. Here are some pics of the blown tire...

[whitefawn]

I am glad you are ok and survived that nightmare. We have a set of marathons on our SOB- less than 2 years old, but I will never ride easy until we get our Airstream on the road with new NOT MARATHON tires. I am confused because I thought there was evidence that Towmasters were no longer avilable. Where did you buy yours?

Kathy

[TBRich]

We got the new tires at Big-O ... I think the D load range are available in the Towmaster branding and the E load in Transmaster, both made by the same folks (Greenball).

[smith123]

Originally Posted by Kistler

I noticed today that Costco is now selling Towmaster trailer tires ... Greenball mfg.

Having just bought (4) new Good Year Marathons I am hoping to at least get through this coming summer.

Had one pair of Towmasters and they were fine...didn't have any trouble....lasted about 5000 miles with heavy use.

[Alumaholic]

Motivated by TBRich, and after talking to happy campers at Balloon Fiesta Rally, went to Big-O to purchase a set of Towmasters . The Towmasters at the rally were made in U.S.A. All the Towmasters currently in stock in the Big O Southwest Region supplied by Denver are made in China. If you find Towmasters made in U.S.A., they may be old tires. Buying tires has become a crapshoot.

[TBRich]

Update: Got the Bambi back from Oasis RV yesterday all fixed and ready to roll. They said it would take 2 weeks, but the stink-eye I gave them must have worked...we got it back in just over a week. I think they were just covering themselves in case they had trouble getting parts.

Anyway, everything looks great. They even resealed and repainted the inside of the wheel well that got thrashed by the separating tread as it flopped around before we could stop...they painted the inside of the other wheel well so they would match. Nice of them to do that.

They ended up replacing the curved underwrap below the lower belt line from the front of the street side all the way to the back...and the belt trim all the way around the back up to the backside of the curbside wheel well because it is one piece. The plumbing directly behind the tire that blew did not get broken (other than the handle of one of the valves) and it didn't leak, but it got knocked pretty hard, so they dropped that to put on the new underwrap and resealed/adjusted everything there.

I was impressed with Progressive Ins. The cost was $3270— and expensive blowout (but not as bad as it could have been) — and they cut a check the day after we delivered it to Oasis for an estimate...and it all went very smoothly. I wonder what will happened with our premium, but since it was a no-fault incident, it should not increase. We have a "disappearing" deductible, and since we haven't made a claim since we've had the policy, our deductible had completely disappeared, so we had no out-of-pocket costs except to replace the tires (which of course, the ins does not cover).

We didn't think of it at the time, but we are going to replace the spare as well...it's the original so it's at least 6 years old...should have done that when the other two were put on, but since we got the tires at Big-O I'm sure we'll be able to get the same tire here. One thing we definitely do NOT need is to have a blowout on the spare, should we every need it again.

Ready to go camping!

[Rebee]

I have two E rated Towmasters on the front tires. I went to these after calling Airstream and asked what they use for an E rated tire.
I had three tires self distruct in 1 year one was a googyear and two were carlise. Then I went to towmasters. I had to go to an independent to get them, The brand name places do not carry them. We are in Tenn. now and we have had many runs to Pa with no problems. The back two tires will be changed out next year and towmasters E rated will be installed. The E rated carries 80 psi.

[spenfolder]

After a scary freeway blow-out and complete tread loss on a Marathon this summer, I went to Jackson Center for an upgrade from 14" to 15" wheels on my Bambi. Jackson center supplied the 15" wheels with Towmaster load range E tires. They now have approximately 3,000 miles on them with no problems. The Marathon blew at approximately 5,000 miles.

Stan

[Grand Master]

I have had Towmasters (D rated) on my Trade Wind for 2 years and 18,000 miles. So far so good.

[popeye1]

I purchased 3 towmaster tires from discount tire on 9/24/11 they are 225/75r15 load range D 65psi, on 10/1/11 we did a trip to Ladonia Tx. 1200 miles from Chandler Az. at 70 mph the tires are great they were manufactured in China on the tenth week of 2011. We have a 19ft Bambi special edition, and I would definately recomend Towmasters, 2400 miles round trip with no problems.

[TBRich]

Forgive me...I don't know why I thought our new tires were Towmasters as I stated in an earlier post... They are not... They are Towmax (15" Load Range D). Since the time we replaced the tires I thought they were Towmasters...but when I went to replace our old Marathon spare with a matching new tire today, I learned otherwise. From what I have been able to find out Towmax seem to be decent tires and fairly widely used...I hope they are good! I am running them at about 60s at the moment and will increase up to 65 lbs if I feel 60 lbs is not enough (they are rated for 65 lbs max). We were running the Marathons at 65 lbs and it sometimes felt too stiff.

My mistake. But I wanted to clarify here, should it matter to anyone in making a choice of tires. Prior to this blowout, I felt Marathons were as good as any choice and what mattered most was tire care, but at this point in the game, I have changed that opinion and feel like almost anything BUT a Marathon is a better choice.

I intend to watch the new tires carefully for any signs of poor wear, etc.

[Melody Ranch]

Well, after touting Towmasters for three years ....today I met my first failure. Texas heat and roads proved to much for them. I decided to do a routine bearing / brake check today and as I inspected the tires I found an abnormal looking tread wear. It then showed a severe case of tread separation and was due a major failure soon. Luckily I found the problem early. So my life with Towmasters is over...Canadian at that.

Two years ago, on a trans Texas Summer trip, my friend in a Casita using Marathons had two blow outs within 50 miles of each other. Goodyear is not exactly on my favorites list now.

[AirHeadsRus]

Originally Posted by AirHeadsRus

Hi Mike,
I run Towmasters and have not had a problem since I bought in 2009. The ones that came on my 1990 were Towmasters. 2 from 2001 and 2 from 2004. It looked like I was getting some separation on 1 of the 2001's so I replaced all 4. Could have gotten by for another year or 2 on the 04's but I needed a spare.
Regards,
Joe

Just thought I would update this post. I just had to replace 3 of my Towmasters that I bought in 2009. They had under three years and 10,350 miles in service. My last trip out, one separated and went flat. Bought a new one and went on. About 400 miles later, two more showed very bad signs of separation so I replaced them also.
I'm really anal about checking both pressure and temp. All the tires showed increase in temp before the separation was seen.
Maybe Santa will bring me some 16 inch wheels & tires.

[rodsterinfl]

Forgive me...I don't know why I thought our new tires were Towmasters as I stated in an earlier post... They are not... They are Towmax (15" Load Range D).

Ah, I thought they were the same too. It appears that Tow Master is a GreenBall product and Tow Max is a TBC Wholesale Product. Tow Max has a 5 year warranty and free roadside assistance.

[Grand Master]

I bought TowMax 225/75R15 tires for my Trade Wind in February of 2009. This Fall I noticed they had developed some sidewalk UV / Dry Rot cracks. They have never been covered and spent considerable time in the Florida and Arizona sunshine. After having them checked by a dealer I was told they were still safe, but I should replace soon. I drove 3600 miles to Arizona and back home in Indiana. No issues.

Checking the warranty I noticed I was just weeks from the 5 year warranty deadline, so I called the distributor I bought them from and enquired about any possible warranty coverage. They asked that I send some pictures of the tires, and then informed me that they were covered. Not prorated. They UPS'd new tires Next Day Delivery at no charge. They even offered to cover the mounting and balance charges. I was so grateful for their great warranty coverage, that I did not send them the bill for installation.

I had about 40,000 trouble free miles on these tires, and 4 years - 11 months of a 5 year warranty.

With all the negative comments about trailer tires I wanted to give a well deserved plug for Tredit Tire (distributor for TowMax). I got excellent customer service from this Indiana distributor of TowMax tires.

[Pick]

Local dealer says they have Towmasters. I am going to take a couple of rims up there and have some mounted. I asked if they were made this year, and she assured me they were. We shall see on Friday.