Goodyear Marathon Failures

[Beginner]

Andy
The problem is probally one shop in a hundred has a clue how to balance the running gear.
How long has it been since you heard about cam grinding brake shoes?
Beginner

[LI Pets]

Originally Posted by Beginner

one shop in a hundred has a clue how to balance the running gear.

Here's a clue, you don't any shop!

This will balance the running gear and tires Dyna Beads

• Wheel weights, regardless of type, are inefficient for balancing these tires, due to the distance from the outside of the tire to the rim, not to mention how it looks to have 3 lbs of wheel weights hanging on your rim.
• These aggressive, oversize tires change their balance requirements quickly throughout their life, making static balancing solutions like wheel weights and balance patches ineffective.
• Mud and snow collection can quickly affect wheel balance. Dyna Beads™ will quickly move to rebalance this temporary condition.
• Dyna Beads™ are the ideal balancing compound for your tires. Easy to install, extremely efficient, won't rust, perfectly round, solid ceramic, and always working to balance your tires every time you drive. If your tire slips on the rim, the beads will adjust and compensate automatically.

[68 Overlander]

More and more people are swearing by these Dyna Beads lately around town and I'm starting to wonder. They might be the answer but a few are skeptical. I can say I have not heard anything less than "They work" and would love to know more about them, Pro or Con. Their website is naturally all Pro. Any disadvantage at all?

[LI Pets]

Randy, maybe you should look into becoming a dealer.

I just ordered them for about $20 for 4 wheels.

I couldn't go to a local tire dealer and have a high speed balance done for that little money.

I'll be leaving NY for Fla and back the first of the year I'll let you know.

I did a search on RVnet and found very positive posts.

[john hd]

any replacement tires at the power company now get the beads. my current truck is still running on oem tires so i have no knowledge of running them personally.

a couple of the antique motorcycle forums i frequent have mentioned the use of the beads as well. they do mention the need for a filter on the valve stem.

john

[LI Pets]

Yes the valves are .99 each, the $20 includede them.

You just unscrew the inner valve stem and replace, the tire doesn't need to be removed from the rim.

Just deflat, add the beads, insert the valve stem, fill with air.

[John B]

Hi,
We have a 2006 Bambi Quicksilver. at less than 10,000 miles on the unit
we had a left tire go flat, unfortunately in a limited space road (Freeway
under construction in Ogden Utah) and had only a limited space emergency
turn-out. to stop and change the tire. Upon removing the tire, we found
the tire had split on the edge of the tread. We were told by our tire dealer
at home, not goodyear, that it was more of a hassel than it was worth,as
we would have to prove it was their fault. We were always very careful
about checking the tire pressure. Still running one Goodyear, and worried.

John

[GStephens]

I've always used Marathons and kept my tires, wheels and hubs balanced throughout the years. Recently, I installed a new set of Marathons and the facility had no way to balance anything more than the tire and wheel. They could not balance the hub assembly with the tire and wheel. Therefore, I installed a set of Centramatic balancers as I put on the tires. Yes Andy, some of us do listen concerning the need for constant balancing of the tires. I check air pressures, change tires at least every four years and HAVE NOT had any tire failures.
GStephens

[68 Overlander]

I sure will watch and look into them, thanks Bob. We've been testing Ride-On tire sealant as well as a compliment to pressure monitoring and they too have a HUGE testimonial following as a water based process that works and will not clog valve stems (not many can say that). As a distributor for PressurePro, many of our dealers want both so that got us receiving samples and testing.

[eikel1we]

I'm sure and hope Inland Andy will have a reply to the Dyna Beads product and I'll be watching for it. I believe what he says about the running gear balance issue however, when we bought new Marathons in June '06, calls to numerous places and a visit to the Airstream dealer, Woodland Camper, in Grand Rapids, MI yielded exactly ZIP. Not even the dealer had a clue about "running gear balance" so I e-mailed them where to look at Inland with a request they let me know what they thought. No response. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT WHEN YOU SAY THE WORDS "BALANCE THE RUNNING GEAR". NO ONE. What are you supposed to do when there's no equipment for, or knowledge of, this process??? (The closest suggestion was putting sand bags inside the tires at a place servicing big commercial trucks. They actually knew what Ike ment, but all of their equipment was too large for our needs)
Sorry for the rant but it seems these issues are intertwined. Like everyone here, I don't want to wreck our AS and I certainly would like to avoid injury/death - ours or others- when there's a seemingly simple remedy
THAT NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT!

sue

[Beginner]

When I said one shop in a hundred I included all RV dealerships, commercial tire shops, the Firestone dealers at the mall and the local mom and pop tire dealers.
When you say ballance the brake drums they look at you like you are from a different planet. Then you run into this old guy who just gets this all knowing grin and tells you "we havent done that in 30 years or more. Dosen't mean they don't need it, just no body bothers because of the additional cost."
I could not afford the Centramatics last year because of the tire/wheel upgrade so I used the ballancing sand(sand bags). It was installed through the valve stem(all valve stems are the same) with a little machine they had and the special Schrader valves (cost me $1.00 each) were installed. The bags were I think $5.00 each.
Beginner

[Bob Thompson]

Brings to mind an interesting question, "Has anyone using Centramatic's had unwarranted or unreasonable failure from Marathons while using the Centramatics?" The Marathon failures I had were without Centramatics in use.

[flyfisher]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Faulting Marathons is OK.

But, how many of those blow outs, were caused by improper running gear balance?

Human nature is to always put the blame on some else, even though that person may have made a significant contribution to the problem.

Proper running gear balance is "NOT" a tale.


It's a fact. It "MUST" be done, or suffer the consequences, and/or bite the bullet.

Of all the Marathon failures that have been posted, not one person has claimed "proper running gear balance."

Hmmmm.

Andy

I had read your recommendation to do this before we bought our new Airstream in 2004, so that was one of the first things I did when we got our new trailer.

I found a local frame and alignment shop not far from our home here in SE PA with the knowledge and equipment to do this. It's a good sized facility that has been in business a long time that does most of its work with over the road tractor trailers.

The first thing they did was to true my tires (made them perfectly round by shaving off high spots) and then they balanced the running gear. They showed me where there were out-of-round spots in my Marathons before they shaved them off, and convinced me that was a good thing to do before balancing the running gear. (The guy said they could balance everything, but I'd still be rolling down the road on egg shaped tires otherwise.) We also discovered at that time that my tires had not even been balanced before leaving the factory and the wheel bearings had not been properly greased, but that's another story.

I've said this in past posts here, but it took 3 guys (including the shop owner) well over one hour and almost 1 pound of weights to balance one of my tire/wheel assemblies. Apparently the hub had not been cast/or machined properly, and they had one heck of a time getting the whole thing into balance.

Anyway, I've since had 3 cross country trips, iincluding 1 of which extended well into British Columbia, and haven't had any tire failures. I shudder to think what my experience would have been if I had not had my running gear balanced.

Thank you, Andy!

John

[classic67]

How easy are Marathons to get in most places, say if one were to blow out while on the road. I know tire matching is important. Also who has anyone actually had a tire go down on the road and what were your options/solutions for getting to a tire dealer? I'd hate to have to think about changing the tire along the interstate on the AS, especially on the road side. Our dealer said with the dual-axle we cound drive to the nearest tire center in most cases at a reduced speed, but at least far enough to exit a limited-access highway or reach a rest area.

[Bob Thompson]

In my case, my blowout was in the middle of nowhere in Utah about 70 miles south of Price. We put the spare on and drove cautiously to Price, but no replacements there, so we drove on to Provo and stopped at the first major RV dealer we saw. The dealer didn't carry tires, but the owner told me it was common to have problems with Marathons. He told me it was his experience that you couldn't trust Marathons after they were 30 months old whether they ever moved or not. He sent me across the street to a tire dealer who carried an off brand, Superstone (or something similar), which had been holding up well in normal use.

[Blu_Hwy_Lady]

Originally Posted by classic67

How easy are Marathons to get in most places, say if one were to blow out while on the road. I know tire matching is important. Also who has anyone actually had a tire go down on the road and what were your options/solutions for getting to a tire dealer? I'd hate to have to think about changing the tire along the interstate on the AS, especially on the road side. Our dealer said with the dual-axle we cound drive to the nearest tire center in most cases at a reduced speed, but at least far enough to exit a limited-access highway or reach a rest area.

As I've discussed before on this thread, our Marathon blew in the middle of nowhere in Montana, 40 miles from Kalispell. The Les Schwab tire place didn't have Marathons so we put on an off brand. As far as mis-matched tires, well I don't know how much worse it could be than the Marathons. The one that blew had less than 3500 miles on it. When it blew, we didn't even know it because the Airstream towed so well. And that was what was dangerous. The carcass really tore up the wheel well and even started to burn the plywood subfloor, filling the whole inside of the rig with smoke. So, if you plan on limping on three tires, take the dead one off first.

[LI Pets]

Have a happy holiday

[niknas]

Lost a Goodyear Marathon on my annual trip this year to Baja Sur. The tire was 2 years old with plenty of thread. My speed at the time was little over 50 mph which is my average speed in Mexico, the air temp was around 80. It was a right rear tire. Total failure, damage the wheel well, bent the LP gas lines and some minor body damage. The tire on the same side front is showing a nasty split running inside to out. I no longer trust this tire.

So here I am 1000 miles from the States looking for two replacement tires. So far all I have found are used Marathons of unknown age. This seems to be the only option for me, unless I change out all four tires with LT rated tires.

This is my second Marathon failure in 11 years of towing my Airstream. My third set of Marathons. The first failure was also a total failure with wheel well damage also and some minor body damage.

I would like to have a tire that if it fails, it would not be a total massive failure as have been the Marathons. I am now ready to try a differant brand.

Nik

[Silvertwinkie]

So if given the choice, what tire would you replace with now if not Marathons?

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by niknas

Lost a Goodyear Marathon on my annual trip this year to Baja Sur. The tire was 2 years old with plenty of thread.This is my second Marathon failure in 11 years of towing my Airstream. My third set of Marathons. The first failure was also a total failure with wheel well damage also and some minor body damage.

I would like to have a tire that if it fails, it would not be a total massive failure as have been the Marathons. I am now ready to try a different brand.

Nik

Well Nik when tires fail in many cases they do exactly what your Marathons do. It's a matter of the steel belts found in many radial tires that cause the damage.

I guess the real question comes as to why the tire failed. Obviously from the point of failure your speed and air temperature doesn't lend any contributing factors. The question with any tire failure is whether there were conditions that occurred before failure that could have caused this tire to become subject to future failure. Obviously things like low air pressure, excessive speed, overloading, UV deterioration, alignment or balance issues, road hazards, and driver induced damage can potentially plant the seed for a future failure.

This is what makes this thread so difficult to interpret for many of us. A tire that fails may have no issues prior to its immediate failure. The skeletons of the past in many cases may truly sow the seeds of the failure. So when you hit the curb on a tight turn, or hit that pothole, who knows if that's when the seeds of failure were sewn.

As noted in many threads that I have posted in, I've become a firm believer in not overloading, maintaining proper air pressures, maintaining speeds at or below the tires ratings, and regular replacement regardless of tire appearance or depth. With that in mind I've lost one tire in 28 years of towing and that was my fault due to under inflation where I broke the bead on the tire during a back in to my driveway.

Needless to say maybe I'm lucky, maybe I haven't hit that pothole yet. Bottom line as noted earlier we need to understand that the most recent towing experience may have nothing to do with the cause of a tire to fail.

Jack