Visit our Popular Forums

Snaken49 · 01-21-2016, 06:23 AM

Folks,

The link is to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration latest report on Goodyear Marathon tire failures on all types of travel trailers. The report covers from 2000 - 2015 and 99 known reported failures.

These kind of stats makes me wonder why travel trailer manufactures continue to use Goodyear as a supplier.

I replaced my 2 year old Marathons after finding evidence of tread separation. I also upgraded to 16' Sendel rims, Centramatic balancers and Michelin XLT tires. It is well worth the expense considering the cost of an accident or damage to your trailer from a blow out.

Happy Camping!

GOODYEAR MARATHON | Safercar | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

dznf0g · 01-21-2016, 06:34 AM

Not enough people report.....there has to have been over 99 here on these forums over the years.

Lance M · 01-21-2016, 06:34 AM

$$$$$$
Well, Tire Rack sells the ST225/75R15 113/108L D Goodyear marathon for $95 each, so I would guess that RV manufacturers like Airstream are probably buying them for a good bit less than that. Probably $60-$70ish. For some boat and utility trailer manufacturers, installing the GYMs are an upgrade from the standard tire if you can believe that.
I don't use or recommend ST tires, but there are a few people that have never had an issue with GYMs.

CapriRacer · 01-21-2016, 06:40 AM

Just to put some numbers into this:

If 99 failures were reported over a 15 year timespan, and I assume a failure rate of 0.1% (1 out of 1,000, which was at one time was an acceptable rate), then Goodyear produced 6,600 tires a year - and that sounds EXTREMELY low. My guess is that Goodyear is producing more like 100,000 of these a year - which equates to a failure rate of 0.007%, 1 out of 15,000. That may be why no action has taken place.

And don't forget that trailer manufacturers do NOT see tire issues as their problem.

Snaken49 · 01-21-2016, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Not enough people report.....there has to have been over 99 here on these forums over the years.

I agree! I am sure there are many more failures that go unreported to NHSTA. As to GYM failures not being an issue for the trailer manufacturer that might be true if they did not install them as original equipment.

Mrjkq · 01-21-2016, 08:59 AM

Michelin will soon release its new Defender LTX M/S 235/75R 15 tire. This tire has a higher load rating than its current Defender and like its predecessor is a very good replacement tire for those wanting to keep their 15" wheels. Tire Rack is now taking orders and hopes to start shipping in March.

kscherzi · 01-21-2016, 09:02 AM

The Defender is a passenger car tire.

timmaah · 01-21-2016, 09:05 AM

Image that... the Michelin LTX M/S tires have 62 complaints. How could you even put those on your Airstream? Crazy.

MICHELIN LTX M/S | Safercar | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

dkottum · 01-21-2016, 09:42 AM

We replaced our Airstream's 15" GYM's with Michelin 16" LTX M/S based on reports and a poll taken on this forum because we are interested only how each has performed on Airstream trailers. Many GYM failures resulting in Airstream damage, no failures of Michelin 16" LTX.

Yes we know there are many more GYMs in use here, but still NO failures of the Michelins on Airstreams reported here and there are more Airstreamers making the switch every day. And the Airstream factory is now putting them on more models as standard equipment.

That's enough data for us to make the change for reliability and to protect our Airstream.

Dexterpix · 01-21-2016, 01:31 PM

AWESOME......another GYM thread. SWARM

Snaken49 · 02-28-2016, 04:53 AM

Flat spots on tire tread area, especially toward the edges is evidence belt separation. That is an urgent cause to replace the tire.

After seeing the damage caused by GYM failures posted in this forum I inspected mine and found belt separation flat spots on 2 out 4 tires. The symptoms were confirmed by Discount Tire and other online forums.

I replaced my 15' wheels with Sendel 16' T3s, Michelins and Centramatic balancers. Also added the Research Minder TPMS. There are links posted for those products in this forum as well as pictures of the belt separation symptoms.

I'm not sure why AS insists on installing GYMs, but at least now you have an option to order a new trailer with bigger wheels and Michelins from AS.

Good luck!

Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

paiceman · 02-28-2016, 06:05 AM

Airstream puts the 16" Michelin's on the Classic trailer. Someone in Jackson Center knows something I would suspect. We ordered the 16' Michelin's from the factory on our 30' FC, we had installed them on a previous 30' and previous 25'. So far 100% satisfied. Had separation starting on the GYM on the 25' after only 4,000 miles.

OTRA15 · 02-28-2016, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkottum

We replaced our Airstream's 15" GYM's with Michelin 16" LTX M/S . . .

Could you please post the full specs for the tires you used, including the load range, max psi, etc., and whether they were the new Defender series?

Thanks,

Peter

dkottum · 02-28-2016, 11:08 AM

We installed Michelin LTX M/S 225/75 16 from Discount Tire three years ago. I think the current destination is LTX M/S2.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tir...OSINT&pc=14048

OTRA15 · 02-28-2016, 11:57 AM

Thanks doug.

OTRA15 · 09-08-2016, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snaken49

. . .
After seeing the damage caused by GYM failures posted in this forum I inspected mine and found belt separation flat spots on 2 out 4 tires. The symptoms were confirmed by Discount Tire and other online forums.
. . .

Thanks for this thread and your observations. Did you happen to note the date of manufacture on your GYM tires?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...160811155954:s

One of the posters in the 20-footer thread just had a blow out on his brand new (to him) 2014 FC20, and we are comparing notes so that I can assess whether our tires are possibly from the same time period as his.

Thanks,

Peter

Snaken49 · 09-09-2016, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Thanks for this thread and your observations. Did you happen to note the date of manufacture on your GYM tires?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...160811155954:s

One of the posters in the 20-footer thread just had a blow out on his brand new (to him) 2014 FC20, and we are comparing notes so that I can assess whether our tires are possibly from the same time period as his.

Thanks,

Peter

Pete,

My GYM were made in 2010 and replaced on 2013. Please check my original post with pictures of what tread separation looks like.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...ar-105296.html

Best! joe

OTRA15 · 09-09-2016, 04:45 AM

Thanks Joe, our GYM tires are now 3 years old, so new tires went to the top of the list. Any experience with Nokians per this thread?

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f438...15-156339.html

We would like to stay with 15" but Michelin M&S inventory in load range E may be limited, due to rollout of new Defender series which are mainly 16" it appears.

Thanks

rodsterinfl · 09-09-2016, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Image that... the Michelin LTX M/S tires have 62 complaints. How could you even put those on your Airstream? Crazy.

Yes, currently the tires are M/S 2 and note that the issue was on LTX and M/S versions from 2010-2012 only.

One thing about tires is that there are several iterations. I have M/S 2 LTX Load E metric tires on my trailer but my truck came with M/S 2 LTX R or passenger rated tires according to the michelin charts- no load range E on those!

Rpatrick16 · 09-09-2016, 08:40 AM

I'll admit I only read two pages deep in the report but if my count is accurate the problems all involve 16" tires on multiple axle trailers. Does that say anything for GYM used on "single axle" trailers? Is "tire scrub" resulting from tight turns playing a role here?