Power King Towmax tires

[Eyegasmdesigns]

I would love to chat with yall more about your tire issues I have had my Raptor 300MP for under 3 years and have blow 2 tires now. I always have them
Properly inflated cold at 80psi and I blew the right front in October of 2014 and the left front yesterday. Both have occurred while traveling at 60 mph or less. My camper stays parked on a concrete slab when not in use and moved and used monthly. So no dry rot no visible issues when checked before or at any point during a trip. I would say the tires have maybe 6-7k miles on them if that. I am curious as to what you had blow ( ie location of the tire on the trailer) and what brand tire. I have Power Kings. I and wondering if this is a tire issue or a design flaw with the 300MP that keystone is responsible for. Either way I am at the point to where I am going to hold both parties responsible. 1 keystone has been notified by varies parties over the years and continued to use these tires and 2 there seems to be more of and issue than just on raptor toy haulers so the tire company know they have an issue. I am also going to contact the NHTSB regarding this matter

[JRTJH]

Welcome to the forum. From your posts, I'd gather that you are frustrated with the Chinese tires installed on your RV. Many other members share your frustration. If you open the forum section titled "Tires, Tires, Tires!" you'll find 14 pages of threads concerning tires. Of those 14 pages, the subject of nearly half those threads is the reliability of the Chinese tires that RV manufacturers install on RV's. It's not just Keystone, rather virtually every manufacturer uses similar tires.

Take a few minutes (it'll probably be an all nighter) and review some of the threads concerning tire reliability, maintenance, storage and member's perspectives on ST tires.

[willy3805]

I see all these threads about tires but my question is does anyone take there camper in to have the axles aligned. I bought my camper and took it to alignment shop and the we're out of alignment by a lot . I'm not sure all the blame can be put on the tires . Bad alignment leads to tire wear, heat build up which in the end equals blown tires . Just my opinion

[carwheel_09]

First thing I did to my new fifth wheel was to replace the Towmax "blow max". I went with Maxxis 8008 tires. I have had no trouble with them. Have them on the RV, boat trailer and cargo trailer. I have the Mor/Ryde LRE 4100 suspension so having it aligned just anywhere is out of the question.

[Desert185]

That's what I did after considering the possibilities with the OEM Chinese tires. Peace of mind has resulted.

[Ken / Claudia]

They may well be junk waiting to blow. But, really many people driving all type of vehicles with all types of tires have flats and or blow outs. I know due to seeing, helping, being dispatched to them and hearing other police almost daily going to people with flat tires. Much needs to be known with regarding to why and most times all we know is a tire blew. Lets say you checked the psi everyday as you should before travel and it was always 80psi. How was the tread, do you check it before travel, look for splits, goose eggs etc. what was the wt. on each axle and tire. Than remember the trailer tires track outside of the TV tires and go over other parts of the road as do the TV tires. When we hit anything with the TV tires we know right away due to the sound of debris stuck in a tire. We cannot hear that on trailer tires. We can feel the TV shift wt with a flat, maybe not so on the trailer. It is easy to drive for miles on a low trailer tire and not know it. Getting a TPMS system to help find out what's happening will help. Along with proper tire inspections. Some tires maybe be junk but, most (about half all come from China) so I am not convinced that it's always the tires to blame.

[gearhead]

Look at it from the Thor/Keystone point of view. The tires are manufactured according to industry accepted standards and they are DOT approved. Thor would gain very little by installing highly regarded Maxxis tires as standard equipment. If Thor installs Maxxis tires as standard equipment, raises the base price by $500, then loses a sale to Forest River because they were $500 cheaper; and the buyer couldn't have cared less about the tires. We complain about the Chinese tires, but my Maxxis were made in Thailand.
As owners we can either go to a higher regarded tire (Maxxis), or a tire that has a much higher rated load capacity than is needed; G rated for 16" wheels. That opens the can of worms of wheel capacity and another drain on the bank account.
So what did I do? Got the Montana home and ordered Maxxis from Discount Tire. Sold the BlowMax's to a neighbor for a stock trailer.

[raineman]

My 300MP came with similar tires. They were terrible. I replaced mine after just 3 trips. The tires bulged with 80 psi with an empty trailer. The dealer got me on those. Replaced mine with Taskmaster Provider F385's. 235 85 16 G rated tires. Rated at 4080 lbs at 110 psi. These tires are much appropriate for the 300MP. Discount Tire has a great deal in these right now. Good luck

[Ken / Claudia]

My life experiences show gearhead got it right. This is what I found. Every Vehicle I ever purchased from Nissian, Ford, Chev that had factory tires were only OK. The local tire shop always has better tires. All the OSP game vehicles are SUVs or P/Us. When they come to the office as new, off go the factory tires for better ones. Other wise you blow out cheap tires on lousy roads. And those vehicles are not used like your normal vehicle. Patrol cars come with some great tires that I doubt others buy to to high prices and no need for high speed rating. Why would RVs be any different. If I wanted a Airstream, say 28ft. retails over 90,000 bucks new according to the adds, maybe they have premium tires, I do not know because I am not in that market.

[notanlines]

My last three Ford pickups came with Michelin tires.....I'm betting GMC and Dodge came with the same or equal Goodyear ......

[PARAPTOR]

Luckily, I had only two near misses with the original tires, One tire leaking was caught in plenty of time to pull over by my Tire Minder TPMS. During an annual state inspection, Inspector noticed bands on tire were starting to go. Tires had near 9K miles on them. Inspector had to show me a few times where the problem was by rotating it before I noticed it. I do not think I would have picked that up.

That was enough for me and after reading various comments from this forum decided to replace all of them with Carlisle Radial Trail ST235/85R16 F rated tire, 3960 at 95 PSI.

[cb1000rider]

My 300MP came with similar tires. They were terrible. I replaced mine after just 3 trips. The tires bulged with 80 psi with an empty trailer. The dealer got me on those. Replaced mine with Taskmaster Provider F385's. 235 85 16 G rated tires. Rated at 4080 lbs at 110 psi. These tires are much appropriate for the 300MP. Discount Tire has a great deal in these right now. Good luck


None in my city.. online showing at $195/each...
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tires/taskmaster/product/submitProductSize.do?r=TLJINT&pc=12062

[raineman]

None in my city.. online showing at $195/each...
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tires/taskmaster/product/submitProductSize.do?r=TLJINT&pc=12062


Please see the following link for $140
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/tires/taskmaster/product/submitProductSize.do?pc=12062&typ=Trailer&tmn=Provider+ST+Radial+F835+Trailer

[raineman]

....with free shipping

[cb1000rider]

thank you!

[raineman]

thank you!

No problem CB1000 - Travel safe!

[Ken / Claudia]

Jim, If those same tires can be purchased at a tire shop, than I would think their are better than some I have had say, Toyos that came on a new vehicle that NO tire shop had or could get. I found out when Elk hunting and putting a hole thru the thin side wall. That was a few years ago. The last new truck tires were as I recall named steel tex. They were ok but, not great.

[CWtheMan]

Just a factual note; The power King Towmax ST235/80R16E tires have 100# more load capacity per tire then the Maxxis ST235/80R16E with both at 80 psi.

CW

[notanlines]

CW, I don't quite understand your comment about the Towmax tires. Are you promoting them, or just stating what the manufacturer claims? I think we've pretty well determined over many conversations on this site and a number of others that the Towmax tire is garbage.

[cb1000rider]

You can check NTSB complaints here:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchSafetyIssues

Interestingly enough TowMax shows 11 complaints - all fairly recently... Probably worth checking complaints on the OEM tires.

[cw3jason]

I am curious how my Power King Trailer King II tires will hold up. Looks like keystone switched to these instead of the towmax. They look to be better quality and I can see no defects in them. I have not seen any bad reviews. Only time will tell

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[CWtheMan]

CW, I don't quite understand your comment about the Towmax tires. Are you promoting them, or just stating what the manufacturer claims? I think we've pretty well determined over many conversations on this site and a number of others that the Towmax tire is garbage.

Sorry, I don't promote tires. The message was intended to be informational. Many people are unaware of the differences in load capacities provided with the ST235/80R16E tires. They can be purchased with 3420#, 3500# and 3520# of load capacity, all at 80 psi.

Often times original equipment tires get a bad rep because they are mistreated and damaged long before the first owner takes control of them.

CW

[gearhead]

Sorry, I don't promote tires. The message was intended to be informational. Many people are unaware of the differences in load capacities provided with the ST235/80R16E tires. They can be purchased with 3420#, 3500# and 3520# of load capacity, all at 80 psi.

Often times original equipment tires get a bad rep because they are mistreated and damaged long before the first owner takes control of them.

CW

Yeah, you have to do the math on capacities. I've got Dexter 5200# axles with Maxxis 235 80 16's on them. Lots of spare capacity.
No telling what those RV transporters do to the tires. You think they even check pressure?? Naaa....ain't their RV.
Lets see if we can get a "rise" out of the transporters on the forum. LOL

[cb1000rider]

Curious about mine too. I'm concerned with the load range F, which works out correct for the weight, but it right on the upper end.

They're "Trailer King" ST235/80R16 - Make load 3520 @ 80psi.

At gross for a carbon, we're talking about 16500 (GVWR) - 2950 (PIN) = 13550 weight on the tires.

That's 3387 lb on tires rated for 3520 (dual) configuration. Again, totally in weight bounds... Moving up to a G rated tire - I don't want to throw money away...

The NTSB has zero complaints for "Trailer King" - so that's good... I see a few good posts.

I'll tell you - I'd love to see Keystone offer upgraded axle/tire options - I could care less about the latest stereo, but axles and tires built to do more than GVWR mean something to me.

[jsmith948]

The tires on your trailer are in a "single" configuration - not "dual".

[BOWWOW]

Curious about mine too. the load range F, which works out correct for the weight, but it right on the upper end. I'm concerned with

They're "Trailer King" ST235/80R16 - Make load 3520 @ 80psi.

At gross for a carbon, we're talking about 16500 (GVWR) - 2950 (PIN) = 13550 weight on the tires.

That's 3387 lb on tires rated for 3520 (dual) configuration. Again, totally in weight bounds... Moving up to a G rated tire - I don't want to throw money away...

The NTSB has zero complaints for "Trailer King" - so that's good... I see a few good posts.

I'll tell you - I'd love to see Keystone offer upgraded axle/tire options - I could care less about the latest stereo, but axles and tires built to do more than GVWR mean something to me.

I did not want to spend the $ for g rated either.
I did buy F rated 12 ply Hercules and moved to a 235/85/16 .
I think they are rated @3960 single @90 psi
No problems to report yet.

[NotyetMHCowner]

My 2015 Montana High Country has the Trailer King tires. I had them balanced a couple of weeks ago and the tire guy told me I had 3 bad tires. Haha. 1 of them only took 1 ounce but the other 3 took 5 to 7 ounces. We talked for a while about tires made in China. His take on it was the biggest problem with the "cheap" Chinese tires is the way they load them in the conex boxes to ship them. He said they "wad" as many as they can get in each conex box to keep shipping down. This flattens and twists the tires and causes harm by busting some of the plys. That is why they take several ounces to balance out. Sounds good to me, but I really don't know. I hope to not have a blowout until I get some Bridgestone Duravis R250's on mine.

[cb1000rider]

I didn't notice - are they not balanced from Keystone/Lippart? Typically I balance all of my trailer tires...

[NotyetMHCowner]

From what I understand, none of them are balanced from the factory. Some people think trailer tires do not need to be balanced because your not riding in it. I think that any tire, that is running anywhere near highway speeds, should be balanced.

[cb1000rider]

Me too.. I had a 5x10 cargo trailer and a misbalanced tire literally caused some weld failures over 5k miles. I'll add getting the tires balanced to my pre-trip to-do list.

Seems absolutely silly not to have them balanced.

[CWtheMan]

Curious about mine too. I'm concerned with the load range F, which works out correct for the weight, but it right on the upper end.

They're "Trailer King" ST235/80R16 - Make load 3520 @ 80psi.

At gross for a carbon, we're talking about 16500 (GVWR) - 2950 (PIN) = 13550 weight on the tires.

That's 3387 lb on tires rated for 3520 (dual) configuration. Again, totally in weight bounds... Moving up to a G rated tire - I don't want to throw money away...

The NTSB has zero complaints for "Trailer King" - so that's good... I see a few good posts.

I'll tell you - I'd love to see Keystone offer upgraded axle/tire options - I could care less about the latest stereo, but axles and tires built to do more than GVWR mean something to me.

This information is out there. When you read as much about tires as I do you will find it. The ST tire degrades faster than other tires, as high as 10% per year when using most of it’s load capacity all the time. So your 3520# tires should not be expected to last two years at their current loads. Just a 5% loss of load capacity will have them down to 3344# in the first year.

It’s the reason a lot of trailer owners have early failures. Search Carlisle tire documents if you really want the shock. They say their tires may degrade by 33% after three years.

CW

[Drew Waller]

the tires not being balanced causes vibrations inside the trailer structure which causes all the wood screws to unscrew and the nuts and bolts on evert thing to loosen up like there doing on my Raptor 332TS. also shakes all the lights off the ceiling and walls.

[JRTJH]

the tires not being balanced causes vibrations inside the trailer structure which causes all the wood screws to unscrew and the nuts and bolts on evert thing to loosen up like there doing on my Raptor 332TS. also shakes all the lights off the ceiling and walls.

In addition to wheel/tire balancing, there are shock absorber kits available for travel trailers. If you've ever had a travel trailer with shocks, you know the difference already, if not, suffice to say there is a remarkable difference in how the trailer "rides".

[BOWWOW]

Yes Sir vibration indeed. I installed the Dexter EZ Flex equalizers with the wet bolt kit after having the wheels balanced. It is so smooth now I cant believe it.
Even my decals vibrated off, LOL maybe I'll paint it Loc-Tite red so all the spots match. The F load tires are wearing like iron.

[theasphaltrv'er]

Well guess we've just been lucky then. Had a 91' Dutchman TT and run nuttin but ST Marathon's on it, then bought an 07 Cougar TT a that came with ST Duro's and replaced them with a couple sets of ST Tow Master "Greenballs" and now have our iddy biddy 5er that is running ST Trailer Kings. We average bout 10 thousand miles a year and knock on wood have never had a flat or blowout. Maybe cuz we're bout 2000 lbs under the GVWR when it's loaded, I don't know. Did have two of the Duro's get thread pealed off cuz the flimsy fender skirt brackets broke and got into the thread and pealed some thread off em but they never blew. Only balanced the replacement sets, never the OEM tires. Why? FWK's

[rhandyr99]

Have the same tire towmax on our 2011 fuzion, it is kept in a garage year round except when we travel to Myrtle Beach once a year... and we have about 1000 miles on our tires and had a flat on the way this year. When we took the tire in, we asked the tire dealer about the cause of a tire with such low milage to do this, and he showed us the date on the tire. It was date back to 2001 on a 2011 5th wheel. Thanks keysone for rotating you stock tires... all the other tires are dated 2010. even the spare but the one tire was 2001.

[CWtheMan]

Have the same tire towmax on our 2011 fuzion, it is kept in a garage year round except when we travel to Myrtle Beach once a year... and we have about 1000 miles on our tires and had a flat on the way this year. When we took the tire in, we asked the tire dealer about the cause of a tire with such low milage to do this, and he showed us the date on the tire. It was date back to 2001 on a 2011 5th wheel. Thanks keysone for rotating you stock tires... all the other tires are dated 2010. even the spare but the one tire was 2001.

If that TowMax tire has STR on it's sidewall, it was not made in 2001. Their STR tires have a nylon overlay which was produced about 2007.

On edit: Keystone is required by federal regulations to provide NHTSA with the tire serial numbers for your OE tires and keep that information in their files for 5 years.

[LittleJoe]

the tires not being balanced causes vibrations inside the trailer structure which causes all the wood screws to unscrew and the nuts and bolts on evert thing to loosen up like there doing on my Raptor 332TS. also shakes all the lights off the ceiling and walls.

And IMO if you put on tires that are too much overkill and stiff you will contribute to the above in a big way.

[linville66]

I have a 2013 335TG, it had the to max on it one on interstate the spare then started to separate on the rest of ride home. I installed the Goodyear 614RST G rated tires. Does anyone know what the aluminum wheel is rated at as far as air pressure. I have them set at 80psi and they look a lot better than stock , but can add more air if rims can take it.

[Exsailor]

FFirst of all stop whining about Chinese tires. Even Maxxis , which everyone is in love with is made in Thailand. They are all garbage and without changing them every couple of years were all on a wing and a prayer. Until we petition the govt and show there is a real danger we will continue to run on substandard tires.

[Desert185]

There is no data like there is with the Chinese made tires to substantiate that Maxxis tires are bad tires.

[JRTJH]

There is no data like there is with the Chinese made tires to substantiate that Maxxis tires are bad tires.

Where is the "compiled data" (in sufficient quantity) on Chinese tires, either by brand or by category? I'm not talking about individual horror stories, but actual data that give specifics on how/why the tire failed ? I've never seen any source of data that substantiates how many tires failed because of "component failure" vs low tire pressure, vs road hazard vs age vs wear? I believe that without that kind of data, there is no "case against Chinese tires" even though there's a "general feeling that they are substandard"...

I agree, there is a "volume of information" regarding "Chinese ST failure", but it's almost all from "general complaints" on forums like this or campfire conversation. Have you seen a source that has sufficient data to substantiate any action by the feds or even sufficient historical data that could be presented to Keystone as argument that their tire suppliers are providing "technically unsafe" (not opinions of unsafe) tires.

I think one of the problems with getting things changed is that there's no "compiled failure data" available to individuals so we can make "informed decisions" about ST tires. Finding a source for that information may give "interested people" the information they need to "lead a movement" against use of the tires. Is that data available anywhere for the "average consumer" ???

[Desert185]

Unfortunately, there is no "official" data on Chinese tires (that I know of)...and there is no data, official or otherwise to substantiate any negatives on Maxxis tires, which was my main point.

There is certainly enough anecdotal data/info in my mind to reasonably decide to not buy Chinese tires (excepting perhaps Sailuns). Maybe if notoriety in the realm of Firestones on Pintos were to happen, with lives lost, some federal agency would investigate and legislate. Personally, I don't need that to happen. There is enough "evidence" for me to make a personal decision.

Anyone want to buy four, Chinese takeoffs in 235/80-16 LRE? Lots of tread left. :cool:

[cathcartww]

My personal opinion is that the industry standard “ST” tire standard is inadequate for the service the ST tires are exposed to. My opinion is based only on my own personal experience, and anecdotal experience of others.
Back in the late 1970’s through the early 1980’s, I was a boat dealer, and we towed all kinds of boats – from 19 footers weighing 2500 lb on a single axle trailer, up to 15,000 lb 30 footers on triple axle trailers - up and down I95 between New Jersey and Florida. We always used the bias ply trailer tires that were available at the time. We would carry plenty of spares, but seldom, if ever, had a problem that could not be traced to a road hazard or axle-bearing-wheel-suspension problem.
Back in the day of cotton tire cords, tires were rated by how many plies they had – the more plies, the stronger the tire, and higher load range. If I remember correctly, 2 ply was A, 4 ply was B, 6 ply was C etc. When nylon and polyester came along to replace cotton, it was twice as strong, so a fewer number of plies was needed to make a tire of the same strength. We saw labels such as 2 ply/4 ply rating, 4 ply/8 ply rating, etc.
Still later, Michelin figured out how to make radial ply tires using steel belts, and that really changed things, but the industry stuck to the “ply rated” terminology even though bias plies were no longer used.
Somewhere during this, the overall quality of trailer tires seemed to deteriorate – I personally do not think a modern day load range “D” ST radial tire holds up anywhere as well as the 4 ply/8 ply rated bias trailer tires we used 40 years ago.
On the other hand, we do seem to ask more of our ST trailer tires as we do our car and truck tires. For instance, here are my three personal vehicles, using the maximum axle rating for each – I know none of them are really running at the maximum most of the time, but I bet the Ford and trailer are close when we are towing:
1995 Chevy G20 Van, front 3400lb, rear 3406lb, running 31x10.5R15LT LR C Tires rated 2270lb @ 50psi – they are loaded at about 75% capacity.
2002 VW Beetle, front 2183lb, rear 1588lb, running 205/55R16 91H tires rated 1356lb @ 44psi – they are loaded to about 80% capacity.
Ford E350 Van, front 4600lb, rear 5360lb, running LT285/75R16 LR E tires rated at 3750lbs @ 80psi – they are loaded to about 71% capacity.
2015 Outback 277RL, 4400 lb axles, came with ST225/75R15 LR D tires Chinese tires rated at 2540lbs @ 65psi – they were loaded to 86% capacity
We blew on of the LR D tires last winter – no obvious hazard, and pressures were OK 150 miles earlier – go figure. We replace them with Maaxis LR E rated at 2830lb @ 80psi, so they are loaded at about 77%, which is more in line with the other vehicles.
Hoping for the best, but sure wish there were more commercial trailer tires available in 15” !!