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Kistler · 03-02-2006, 04:13 PM

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.

ArtStream · 03-03-2006, 06:55 AM

Hi,
I was skeptical and disappointed when my new/used 1995, 28 footer was fitted with Towmasters.

It's now 30,000 miles and 20 months latter. Good tread left, never a flat.
I intend to replace all my tires with Towmasters latter this year!

I'm satisfied!

Michael

Kistler · 03-03-2006, 06:59 AM

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

Pick · 03-03-2006, 07:57 AM

I was told by a Goodyear dealer in Ohio that Towmasters are going to replace Marathons. I put 4 used Marathons on my flatbed equipment trailer, and the dealer sold me a Towmaster for a spare. A 1000 mile trip from Ohio to Florida with the spare, 9000 lbs on the tandems, speeds up to 80 mph, no problems. I will put these on my Airstream next time it needs tires.

Paul Mayeux · 03-03-2006, 08:27 AM

Our local dealer that sells both the Marathon and the Towmaster told me that they see fewer tire defects in the Towmasters. He also said that Towmaster is made by Goodyear of Canada. The tire shop is an old one where the owner still runs the counter. They've never disappointed me yet so I purchased a set of them for my 54 Cruiser. Haven't had them on the road yet, but visually they look to be well made.

genearnold · 03-03-2006, 09:39 AM

I'm riding on Towmasters that I had put on three years ago. So far, so good. I bought them at Big O. Six tires, all wheel bearings serviced (I provided the seals) and balanced for $630 plus tax.

Gene

snyderjf · 07-06-2010, 09:56 PM

As I was going home to Los Angeles from Yellowstone, my set of GY Marathons failed me. Luckly, when I filled up my truck, the tire guys at Beaver, Utah pointed out to me that my trailer tires tred bubbled up. All four tires were bubbled up and one of them had a fist size chunk of tred missing. please note that the tempeture was 100+ and the tires were 4 years old with minimal wear. To say the least, I was luck I didn't throw a tred and jack up my wheel well.
The guys at the tire center lined me up with a set of Towmasters (LRE). Hopefully they don't fail me, we'll see.

mello mike · 01-21-2011, 08:01 AM

I just put four Greenball Towmasters (225/75R15, LR-D) on my Sovereign. Never used them before. We'll see how they do.

LHall · 01-21-2011, 08:11 AM

We put Towmaster Radials on our trailer last summer after we had a blowout. The tires are load range E which is overkill for our trailer, the max air pressure is somewhere near 80lbs, but we have them inflated to 55#. We had bias ply tires (we liked the vintage look) prior and the radials are a much better ride and handling. We noticed a marked difference in how the trailer handles and rides. We took the trailer on 2800 mile trip right after we had them installed and had absolutely no issues. We have a total of roughly 4000 miles on them since they were installed and still have no issues. (Many miles in the AZ Heat) We are very happy with them, and will likely stay with them in the future. We purchased them at Discount tire and I believe they were just under $100 each. They manager at Discount Tire informed me that there was absolutely no problems with running the tires at a lower pressure due to the fact that our trailer is much lighter than the load rating. He stated that it is common practice to do so.

jjustice · 01-21-2011, 09:09 AM

When we got our '78 Argosy AS the original bias tires were on the trailer and the first thing I did was to go to Costco and ask about their trailer tires. My local Costco had two Towmasters and I had to go to Everett WA (about 2 hrs north) to get the other two. Was told at that time that Towmasters Co could not guarantee sufficient number of tires to supply Costco so they were not going to handle them. About 6 or so months later I notices that Towmasters were back in stock. I asked the Costco tire mgr and he said that the Towmasters Co wanted Costco's business so they increased their production and the tires are once again on Costco's shelves. I went to Gillette last summer and the tires worked perfectly.

mello mike · 01-21-2011, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LHall

We put Towmaster Radials on our trailer last summer after we had a blowout... We have a total of roughly 4000 miles on them since they were installed and still have no issues. (Many miles in the AZ Heat) We are very happy with them, and will likely stay with them in the future. We purchased them at Discount tire and I believe they were just under $100 each.

Louis,
Thanks for posting that. That makes me feel even better about these tires. The Discount Tire located near my house no longer stocks Goodyear Marathons so I decided to go with the Towmasters. DT said they had too many problems with the Marathons and will no longer stock them. They strongly recommended the Towmasters and after researching them, I decided to try them out. Dead Horse will be my first trip. We'll see how they do.

AirHeadsRus · 01-21-2011, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mello mike

Louis,
Thanks for posting that. That makes me feel even better about these tires. The Discount Tire located near my house no longer stocks Goodyear Marathons so I decided to go with the Towmasters. DT said they had too many problems with the Marathons and will no longer stock them. They strongly recommended the Towmasters and after researching them, I decided to try them out. Dead Horse will be my first trip. We'll see how they do.

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

LHall · 01-21-2011, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mello mike

Louis,
Thanks for posting that. That makes me feel even better about these tires. The Discount Tire located near my house no longer stocks Goodyear Marathons so I decided to go with the Towmasters. DT said they had too many problems with the Marathons and will no longer stock them. They strongly recommended the Towmasters and after researching them, I decided to try them out. Dead Horse will be my first trip. We'll see how they do.

No problem Mike, we are looking forward to seeing you and Karen at DH.

streamair · 01-26-2011, 08:48 AM

Quote:

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.

We've carried Towmaster tires in a few sizes for a while now. We've had good luck with them. Seems to be a well made tire.

stowaways · 08-31-2011, 03:08 PM

I realize this is an older thread, but looking to replace the Marathons on our 07 Safari 27FB before a long trip. Looking at the Towmasters (ST 22575R 15 LR D) ... two questions; are these the "radials" that you are referring to ... or should we be looking for E tires? We're on 15" rims, I think. No blowouts on the Marathons, but side wall bulges, etc. have always made us more nervous than necessary. We never tow over 65 mph, and always inflate the Marathons to 65 cold. With "E" rated Towmasters, is it still okay to do as Louis and Sergio ... (hey guys!) ... although, we're much heavier than a vintage? Would welcome any advice. Go back with ST ... D rated tire ... or E? Or am I confused. It wouldn't be the first time.

Howard E · 08-31-2011, 03:56 PM

We switched our '07 25' International from the factory Marathons to Transmaster tires, LR E, about 10000 miles ago and have not had a bit of problems. The trailer weighs 6800 pounds road ready (full propane, fresh water, food etc.). We had to replace one Marathon due to a nail and Discount Tire sold us a Towmaster LR E. They recommended running it at about 75 PSI for a slightly softer ride - did not need the full E load rating.

When we came back to Discount Tire to replace the other three tires, they mentioned that the Towmasters had been replaced by the Transmaster tires. Since our single Towmaster had little wear on it, they exchanged it for a Transmaster so all four tires would match.

The Transmasters are radial tires.

whitefawn · 08-31-2011, 04:48 PM

I hope when we go to buy tires within the next 4-6 months, Transmasters or Towmasters are available for our '78 Argosy. When I went to Sam's Club recently, they did some research for me and said that it looks like Towmasters have been discontinued. This whole 15" tire thing makes me really twitchy because I don't want to swap out the 15" wheels for 16"- or should I say I don't want to spend the $$ on our beloved money pit for new wheels to get decent tires. We still have the $$foam and curtains$$ to replace, and bit the bullet for a new $$Zip Dee awning. By the time we get to even thinking about replacing axles or wheels, we will either be too old or too broke to keep the thing on the road! Hopefully the Transmasters will serve you well.

Kathy

pappy19 · 09-13-2011, 06:03 AM

We bought our 2002 30' Classic W/SO last year and the seller had replaced the stock tires with Towmasters. He said they were 3 years old. We took the AS on a 7,000 mile trip this past April and never had a problem. The day after we came home and parked the AS, it had a flat. The side wall had split so I replaced the tire with a Triangle 10 ply(in little Garden Valley, Idaho you take what you can get). On our way to San Antonio from Boise to Durango, I had a blow out doing 70 on I-70 about 30 miles from Green River, Utah. I was glad that I had purchased the Hawkshead tire monitor since I did not know it went flat. I called Good Sam to change the tire(that's another story). We stayed in Moab that night instead of Durango so I could get a new tire. I wanted to change out the last 2 Towmasters but the wife said to wait until we got to San Antonio. The Moab tire dealer(Milehi) had Hercules 10 plys. So we traveled on and yesterday almost to Ozona, TX, another tire blew. I heard it this time as the entire tread blew off before the monitor could react. Now, I am an AS tire changing consultant and had the spare on in 20 minutes. We limped into Ozone and the only tire place was Treto's and he also had Triangle's. I now have 3 Triangles and 1 Hercules. One thing I have learned is I was very lucky to have a wooden tire block that has worked to drive onto and change the bad tire. I'd hate to think about trying to jack up my AS. I am wondering if anyone knows of a good after market tire lift since my little wooden one is ok but not the greatest. Thanks-

Pap

SteveH · 09-13-2011, 07:02 AM

Pappy,

I've used the stock jack out of my truck ('08 GMC 3/4 ton) to lift one side at a time of our Airstream. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do, but works fine on a 2X under the vertical metal piece between the two axles.

I'm sorry to hear the Towmasters are discontinued. We had them on our trailer that went to Alaska in '08 with no troubles, and we now have a set of LR D's on our '04 28' for about a year now. Don't have too many miles on this set, maybe 10K, but have had no troubles so far. I do have a monitoring system, and run them at 75 PSI cold because sometimes I go slightly above 65.

I've just about had it with all the ST tire problems I've read about, and will definately go to LT tires the next time around. Think I will try some of the Yokohama 7R15's as I've only heard good things about them.

fltlevel510 · 09-13-2011, 08:12 AM

Pappy,

Talking about tires on the forums is like discussing fuel milage, favorite tow vehicle or best wine. It is generally a matter of preference. However, with quite a few miles on my 30' SO I do have a few observations. First, the trailer is just to heavy for load level D tires. The early model 30' SO trailers had a GVWR of 9100 lbs with two 4400# axles and D rated tires. Kind of like contracting to the lowest bidder for every part. So I would suggest finding a 15" load level E or upgrading to 16" tires and wheels. I am currently running the 15" load level E tires. Have put 8000 miles on them this year and have had no problems. Secondly, and I know everyone likes to beat this one to death, ST tires are not made to handle speeds greater than 65mph. I noticed you were towing at 70mph when one of your blowouts occurred. Attached is a link with a few facts about ST tires hope this is helpful.

Trailer Tire Facts - Discount Tire