Sent Katie an e-mail, her response is below w/her permission. I had asked some questions after hearing all the B.S./conjecture on line.

1. Interco is discontinuing 16.5" rim tire production? According to a 4WP salesman.

"It is unfortunate that someone from 4WP would give you such false information because they are a good distributor & it just may be that all of the 4WP people are not properly informed.We have more 16.5 rim size tires in various designs than anyone I know of & we are NOT discontinuing them. There have been some shortages because one of the factories we work with closed in March & this caused shortages. All of our molds have been moved to another factory & it takes time to get all of the production started in another factory. The reason it takes so long is the manufacturing of tires is complex & all the tires have to be recertified for production in that factory, but progress is being made."

2. All Interco tires are currently manufactured in China, there is no backlog of product sitting in a warehouse anywhere.

" Because of the closing of this factory, inventories have been drawn down but inventory is being replaced as fast as possible. At this time we do not have any light truck tires manufactured in China. We did have a few sizes in the LTB made in China because we could get them made there at the time. We are not sure, or if, we will move those molds but should know in the next few months".

3. Some distributors have been refunding $$ on Interco tires because there is no product.

" It is possible the distributors had to refund deposits or payments that were made in advance when tires became unavailable that were being manufactured in the factory that closed. We have a lot of the tires from that factory back in production but not all as of now. Some of what you have been hearing is coming from competitors who are spreading false rumors about their competition, but spreading rumors is not our game...all we do is try our best to bring the best tires to the off-road enthusisasts."

4. My rig needs new tires & I'm ready to spend the $$, will I be able to do so in a 16.5" tire size?

" If there is a tire you need you may contact us directly & we will let you know if they are available or about when they will be. We will get you taken care of.
We have heard all kinds of rumors since the factory closed but with the exception of some temporary shortages we are moving ahead in many directions."

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UTfball68 said:

^^^With as much as they charge for a tire, how in the hell can they be in any financial trouble. And I thought it was Denman that was the bankrupt one, who manufactured the majority of Interco tires, and since Denman has closed their doors it left Interco scrambling to find other manufacturers. So I guess, I thought Interco themselves were fine.

BTW Ken...good luck dealing with Interco, I had a set of 36x12.5 bias TSL's on Thunder and within 2000 miles, the tread started separating on two of the tires. The best Interco said they'd do is susidize half of one tire...which left me on the hook for a tire and a half. I ended up going back to where I bought the tires (long time friends, even worked for the guy a few times) and he gave me one and a discount on the other.

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taxreliever said:

I know that all too well.....have been fighting with that Katie chick for the last 6 months over my defective swampers! They're currently in bankruptcy (reorganization) in case anyone is wondering.

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FordF-SuperDuty said:

Do you have anything saying so? Everything I've seen is one of Interco's biggest manufactures went out of business but not the actual company.

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UTfball68 said:

^^^With as much as they charge for a tire, how in the hell can they be in any financial trouble. And I thought it was Denman that was the bankrupt one, who manufactured the majority of Interco tires, and since Denman has closed their doors it left Interco scrambling to find other manufacturers. So I guess, I thought Interco themselves were fine.

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