TSL Vampires

[awesomepossum66]

I have a 1996 Max IV i am thinking of putting TSL Vampires on it .Will these tires fit the Max ,or do i need spacers or some tub work to make them fit ?The tire store here says that he can get them now ,,so i guess that the tire company is making them again .Do these tires swim good ?,,,,,,,,The tire that i am running now are the Tru Power 26x12x12 but they will ,,JAR,, your bones lose but they swim very well .

[racerone3]

Mike put vampire asx's (I think) on a Max IV. It did require remolding of the tub and wheel spacers, but I'm not sure what size he got. Where are you getting them from??? I was told yesterday that there is a 2 month back order on the Interco tires that I ordered (got the same story from 6 different tire stores...)so I'm looking for another source.

[Noel Woods]

I have a 1996 Max IV i am thinking of putting TSL Vampires on it .Will these tires fit the Max ,or do i need spacers or some tub work to make them fit ?The tire store here says that he can get them now ,,so i guess that the tire company is making them again .Do these tires swim good ?,,,,,,,,The tire that i am running now are the Tru Power 26x12x12 but they will ,,JAR,, your bones lose but they swim very well .

Since the ASX tires are still hard to get, I think the regular vampires will be fine. I got a set by mistake when 4WDparts sent me the wrong set (I ordered ASXs) and I considered them. But the lack of tread on the side prompted me to return them. 4WDparts gave me a hard time on the return by the way even though they sent the wrong tires.
The regular vampires are a bit more aggressive and come in a wider range of sizes. Forum member Bonchrsr has a set on his Hustler 950, and its a very impressive machine. The one thing I've noted however is that when they start to dig in, they dig in fast and the lack of a sidewall is not a good thing.

[Noel Woods]

I posted some photos in the gallery of the regular Vampire tires by Interco. Once again, they are probably a fine tire, but I prefer the ASX Vampire.

[jpswift1]

The ASX is a wider tire (also better in my opinion as well) and it has that aggressive sidewall tread that helps in mud, and also with water propulsion.

[brushcutter]

Forum member Bonchrsr has a set on his Hustler 950, and its a very impressive machine.

There are some vids on the site pf Scott's machine in action, it seems to perform really well with the TSL tires, and swims pretty good also. My question is, has ANYONE heard anything from him recently? I've tried calling, and pm, and I don't get anything back, wonder what's up with that, he is a great guy, and I enjoyed the phone conversations we had, as well as his input here on the site. His profile lists his last activity in July of '09, just wondering. The last time we talked everything was good, then all of a sudden- nothing.

[racerone3]

I'm trying to get the regular tsl's not the asx, and still having trouble getting my hands on them

[hydromike]

I just called Interco themselves in Louisiana. The customer service rep said that "they are at the mercy of the delivery", basically saying that SHE had no idea when THEY would get the tire. Apparently, they do not make the tires at the facility I called, and she had no real idea of when they would be available.

"It could be a couple months", she said. My order has been in since Jan. 20, with no real sense if my tires will be mailed tomorrow, or some time in April. Nobody seems to have an answer with anything regarding orders there. It's very circular with vendors passing the buck to the supplier, and the supplier passing the buck to the factory. With my experience so far, there's very little sense of ownership when an issue arises.

~m

EDIT:: I won't edit the above text, but I'll add to it. After doing a little more research and self education, I read that Interco basically had two factories which provided them with their products. One of those factories, Denman Tire in Ohio, went out of business last March after nearly 91 years of being in business. I don't know who the other manufacturer is (yet), but the loss of Denman essentially cut Interco's supply line in half, and the backorders are piling up. After surfing a number of message boards, I see that they're still struggling to catch up and meet demand.

EDIT #2:: It seems that Specialty Tires of America additionally does some manufacturing for Interco...

[awesomepossum66]

Well thanks guys ,, but the tire man here say he can get them but he might be just trying to get me on his waiting list,,they do that some time and just keep handing off the buck to the next guy until the tires come in .I just called him at 3.42 pm and he is checking on the tires again to see when they are going to be in .I will not hand him a penny until they are here and i have one hand on them .

[Pophamrt1]

I've dealt with Interco before. Customer service reps there simply have to ask the operations/manufacturing guys the timing of resupply. Not a big deal, but they generally will not do it for customers unless there is a commercial order of some quantity. Most times they just say they don't know. Tire Retailers are just calling the same Interco 800 number when they get off the phone with you. They have more leverage, but if you know the tires aren't in the supply chain yet, they're just looking for a deposit to sit on to make a sale that may take 6 months, or never.

From what can be pieced together, when their primary manufacturer, Denman went out of business Interco went offsshore to India to make the tires. All the molds had to be transferred and processes re-tooled. No small matter. Apparently even though its been more than a year, manufacturing hasn't started again. Once a process goes into that kind of turmoil, tooling issues, etc., after that long it isn't likley to come back unless there are some pretty deep pockets throwing lots of money at it. Samples were supposed to be in by last July, with production no later than Fall '10. If stuff doesn't start rolling by Spring they're never coming.