[Pahaska]

I had my first Marathon failure last week; however, I had made a turnaround through some rough surfaces a few miles earlier and I may well have damaged the sidewall then. I had just checked the tires with my IR thermometer 10 miles before the blowout and all were running cool and consistent.

I heard the blowout and stopped immediately. The tire was undamaged except at the spot it blew out. There were some gouges in the rubber that indicated to me that it was probably damaged when I turned around.

Along with many of my friends here, I replaced the blown tire with an E-rated Maxxis light truck tire inflated to 65# to match the Marathons. As I need tires in the future, I intend to migrate to the Maxxis. A lot of folks have made the change to Maxxis due to Marathon sidewall failures (there were about 10 Marathon failures among those who went to Salem last year). Since making the change to Maxxis, no one here has experienced a tire failure. My trailer is stored under roof and I don't need the extra UV resistance that the ST tires offer.