Tire Review: Power King Towmax 225/75r/15

by buster
(abbeville,la)

Power King Towmax

Pure unadultrated junk.

I always took care of my tires but these tires did not last 8,000 miles.

Do not try to get warranty because they will always blame you.

These were stock tires on a purely junk Forest River Wildcat and were supposedly rated for this class of fifth wheeler.

After 4 blow outs, all being side wall failure, and over 2000 dollars of trailer damage due to a very poorly engineered trailer design I can surely say that Power King blaming it on the owner is not justified.

Lesson learned, stay away from anything remotely related to Forest River and Power King!

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Tire Review: Power King Towmax 225/75r/15

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May 05, 2012
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sick of blowouts
by: Anonymous

After three blowouts we talked to a tire expert. He informed us we need a larger tire size. 17.5 were his suggestion. I have filed a complaint with the Department of highway safety. We need to all do this so we can get to the bottom of this.

Mar 07, 2012
Rating

Power (BLOWOUT) King Towmax st235/80r16
by: Jack Ptashnik

On Driving home from Florida to Michigan on 2/27/12, Spent the night at KOA at the 350 mile exit in Georgia. Prior to continuing our trip from there, I found my right rear tire was flat with the steel belt protruding through it on the side. I changed the tire prior to leaving, feeling lucky that it did not happen on the highway. Left the KOA about 10 am on 2/28/12 and had a blowout at the 97 mile marker exit in Kentucky.
The flapping steel belt cut a propane line supplying my refrigerator and electrical harnesses and my trailer brake wire to the left front wheel that blew. I hurriedly shut off the gas and had to call a tire company to bring out two tires and to change them on the road.
My 37ft Sportsman 5th Whl by KZ is 2008 model and I had less than 7000 miles on it. I am shocked to see all the other difficulty that so many people are having with these tires. RV manfacturers should never use this product the law should ban them. I had faith in the manufacturer and did not suspect that the tires could be so bad. This was a costly experience.

DO NOT BUY OR USE POWER KING TOWMAX TIRES.

Jan 27, 2012
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TowMax 235/80/16 tires
by: Chuck D

I thought it was just me who is having trouble making an educated decision on tires for our 34' Cameo. The facts are this. According to the date code, our tires will be 5 years old in April 012. We have put approximately 6000 miles on the tires in that time with no problems.On our trip to Florida 3 weeks ago from Michigan I noticed that 2 of the tires were showing signs of side wall checking in Tennessee. We ran the rest of the trip on the tires because it was New Years Eve and we did not like the looks of the spare. We stop ever 200-250 miles for fuel & the tires ran cool & got us where we were going with no surprises. Tires were inflated to 75# cold when we left. I have put Nitrogen in the tires 3 years ago but I do not believe that it has a lot to do with things. We have stopped in 5 different tire stores thus far looking for suggestions and alternatives. The only thing that seems to be consistent is we are being told to plan on changing tires every 4 to 6 years no matter what brand of tire you go with.
This shocked me a bit. I have to say based on my situation & the information or lack of, that we will probably put 4 more Tow Max tires back on our rig.

Editorial Comment:

Simple tire age isn't necessarily a problem provided tires are maintained and stored under ideal conditions.

While your tires don't seem to have much driving use one thing that may be causing them to deteriorate is exposure to heat and UV. These are two of the biggest enemies which tires face particularly in areas that are hot and get a lot of sunshine.

If you take special pains to make sure that your tires are protected from direct sunlight you may be able to delay the sidewall cracking which results over time and perhaps prolong your tire life somewhat.

TG

Jul 22, 2011
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Tire Care
by: Tire Guy

There seem to be a lot of reports of tires blowing out without showing any appreciable amount of wear and aging, and leading people to conclude that the tires were faulty.

I'm not denying that tires sometimes --very rarely-- are defective, but I would like to review what is involved in maintaining the correct tire pressure.

I hope everyone who is checking tire pressure is doing it when the tire is cold because as a tire is put into use, they heat up and the pressure increased because hot air expands. This means, that if you adjust your pressure while a tire is hot, it will later have less pressure when it cools.

An important thing to take into account especially with trailer tires is that the "correct" pressure changes with the amount of weight which the tire is carrying. So, every time you add or remove , people, cargo, or anything with a significant amount of weight you ought to recheck and adjust the pressure.

What is the correct pressure?

Rather than use a certain PSI, a much better way to deal with this is to learn what is your tire's operating diameter. The operating diameter is the size which the tire is designed to be run at when it is loaded below it's maximum load range and inflated to the correct pressure. You can learn this by getting the manufacturer's tire specifications.

Once you know the operating diameter, you then inflate your tire so that the distance from the ground to the center of the axle matches this distance. Then, when you add or remove weight from the trailer, measure the distance again and if this has changed, add or remove air.

A simple way to control this is to mark a simple piece of wood or some other object which you carry with you and hold it against the wheel to see if the mark is above or below the center on the wheel. If there is any change, adjust the pressure.

I hope this will help some people get better results from their trailer tires.

Jul 22, 2011
Rating

Now What?
by: Stan

OMMA GOSH! I was all ready to buy 4 Power King Towmax ST225/75R15 10/E after reading one excellent review elsewhere. I have had nothing but blowouts with Maxxis and Carlisle on our 2006 RV trailer. I maintain correct inflation on all tires and they never show any wear - just blow. Never any noticeable dry rot. I've read several bad reviews on Goodyear Marathon too.
I am at a total loss as to what tire to change to and sure could use some good advice.

Jun 09, 2011
Rating

Towmax Power King
by: Rafael Ortiz-Vazquez

Bought my trailer, Dutchmen Victory Lane5th wheel toy hauler. Came with four Towmax tires. On our maiden trip from Massachusetts to Florida, in the middle of S. Carolina on Route 95, a tire blew. The tire was completely shredded (dual axle front left tire). Replaced the tire with a spare. In Orlando replacedthe the tire with a Goodyear. On our return trip crossing to Maryland another tire blew (dual axle right rear). Again replaced the tire with spare. The remaining of the trip we had concerns of an other tire failing. We made it to our house with no further problem. All tires were replaced with Goodyear. After reading the reviews by others on Towmax, these tires should be outlawed, unless you like junk!

May 30, 2011
Rating

Shredded tire, less than 400 miles
by: Anonymous

We bought a 2011 Keystone 5th wheel. We took it home, about 250 miles. Then on our maiden trip, 100 miles from home, one of our tires blew and was shredded. Haven't yet checked on warranty but it looks to have done probably about $2,000 worth of damage. They are towmax 16 inch. We'll post again when we find out what they say about paying for a new tire and for the damage..

PO, WA

Apr 08, 2011
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Chunks out of tire
by: Anonymous

We bought a Keystone RAPTOR 5th wheel in November 2010. One of the Tow Max tires looked low last month and we stopped at a truck tire place. In examining the tire, the man said you have a chunk out of the tire that looks like a broken belt. He put on the spare until we could get a replacement from a Tow Max dealer. We went to one in Maryland and he looked at the tire and said it was driver error - we slammed on the brakes and damaged the tire. The tire on the left side also had the same chunk. We have never heard of any tire sustaining this damage from brakes. They would not cover the tire nor pro rate it. We got another Tow Max tire and now I am sorry after reading these blogs on line.
Has anyone every heard of this kind of thing?

Sep 19, 2010
Rating

towmax tires
by: Clark Stacks

All four tires on our trailer blew out within 3,000 miles and we were stranded on the highway with horses on the trailer. I highly recommend if you are looking to buy a trailer and the trailer has towmax tires on it, don't buy it unless the dealer will replace the tires at his cost as part of the deal. From what we are reading, why aren't these tires being recalled because they do not stand behind their product.

Sep 08, 2010
Rating

Junk Tires
by: Steve Zoller

I recently experience two blowouts on Power King Towmax tires that came on my fifth wheel camping trailer. These tires were two years old with less than 1,000 miles when the first tire blew out. Then seventeen miles later after replacing the first tire, the second tire blew out. Both tires had seperation in the tread area similar to a recap. The tires were properly inflated to manf. recommended pressure and the trailer was properly loaded within trailer recommended weight requirements. These tires are rags, I replaced all the tires and haven't had any problems since then.

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