Maxxis-Amazon

[sailorii]

Have any readers had experience purchasing Maxxis tires on Amazon.com? I am wondering what age the tires were when you got them.

Their price is some 35% cheaper. But, guess it is a shot in the dark on the manufacturing date you get. I'm a frequent, satisfied customer of Amazon; but, if there is anyway to call someone there with a question like this, it must be a closely guarded secret.

I am not near any Maxxis dealers so if there are any other purchase alternatives that might get reasonably "fresh stock", would appreciate your advices. Thanks.

[Mrjkq]

There has been quite a talk on here recently about many users switching to LT (truck) tires for their airstream trailers. I believe some of the threads are still active if you want to check them out.

[tjdonahoe]

Chinese maxxis? Not me...

[xrvr]

Not made in China, mine were made in Thailand.

[sailorii]

Not trying to fire off the ST vs LT debate again here. Just looking for someone who has Amazon tire buying experience. Thanks.

[sailorii]

Bump.

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Not made in China, mine were made in Thailand.

What's the difference, you get what you paid for!

[xrvr]

Honda generators are made in Thailand, you got one of them?

[brokeboater]

I hope someone has a reply to the OP's question eventually. I'd be interested.

[CapriRacer]

I am not a fan of buying tires over the internet. Here's why:

Tires have to be mounted and balanced. When you buy tires over the internet and you take them to be mounted, the mounting dealer has no incentive to be careful - nor does he feel any responsibility if there is an issue.

As a troubleshooter for a major tire manufacturer, I was involved with a situation where a customer had purchased our brand of tire through an off-road online store and had them mounted at a local tire dealer who torn the bead in mounting - which caused a slow leak. The customer did not know why he had the leak - the mounting dealer blamed the tires/wheels - other local tire dealers did not want to deal with the situation - the selling dealer didn't know what to do,

Eventually, the selling dealer shipped another tire to the customer, obtained the offending tire and realized what the problem was. By that point in time the customer was very angry at everyone involved.

No, I think buying tires over the internet - and that includes Tire Rack and Discount Tire Direct - is not a good idea. Better to have a local dealer special order tires if necessary and then he is responsible if anything goes wrong. Besides, most tire dealers will match prices if you pressure them a bit.

[arstrmlvr]

CarpriRacer offers good advise about buying from a local dealer that you trust plus Sailorii will be able to see the date codes on the tires during purchase.

I was in the tire business for 24 years and am not as concerned about Asian production (China, Thailand etc) as production responsibility. The Honda example from Avionstream shows this.
What matters is the brand name who contracted production or their production factory ownership and if they have any control of production quality.
Much Asian production is distributed by importers with little if no tire industry background. This is an exaggeration but some importers may broker a container of tires and the next moment plastic whistles for a discount store.

[Foiled Again]

To answer your ACTUAL question, NO I haven't bought tires over the internet. I buy SHOES from Zappos.

That actually IS important and on point.

Zappos guarantees I can return them at no cost if I just don't like the way they look or feel. They are not the lowest priced shoes in the world, but the choice is excellent and they will take anything back that hasn't been worn for a full year.

If you watched "Sex in the City" you'll know that there ARE shoes that cost more than tires, BUT if I'm putting TIRES on my tow vehicle or trailer, I want to see that they're NEW, and are not factory seconds or blemished. Save money by bargaining, but if you have to pay more to insure your safety and keep your rig shiny side up!

Paula

[tjdonahoe]

Install cheap tires on an airstream, then you blow one , doing $4000 damage , that is a no brainier. It seems you always get what you pay for, there are no bargains out there .

[Outbackga]

The Maxxis is a good tire, I know from experience. I bought them from a local dealer. Tire prices are always negotiable, so shop around. Tire should be less than a year old when you buy. Too many variables to buy tires online.
Dave

[sailorii]

Thanks much CapriRacer and arstrmlr. Great, fact based points to consider.

Although I have had perfect service on four sets of GYMs on two different Airstreams purchased new, got interested in the ST vs LT and 15" vs 16" debates. Based on everything I read, might consider the 16" ST solution later; but, decided to go with 15" ST for now.

While I would have tried the Maxxis if I had a local dealer, will go to my local Goodyear dealer for another set of the Marathons.

Thanks folks.

[jcanavera]

I bought my current Michelin tires through Discount Tire Direct. They were two months out of production when I received them via UPS. I bought a set of Cooper's for my van and found that they were 6 months from production. Those were also bought from the Discount Tire Direct web site.

Even though there are no Discount Tire stores in my part of the country, they have working agreements with local tire and service dealers that give you discounts on installation and warranted mountings. I used a local NTB store for disposal of my ST tires, and mounting and balancing of the tires bought from Discount Tire Direct. They do a good job since they are responsible to Discount Tire for future business referred to them.

If you were purchasing tires through Amazon, you might post a question on the Amazon site about the age of the tires that others have received.

Jack