Goodyear Marathon Failures

[Sky]

Well, I may have just set the record for quickest Goodyear Marathom failure. Bought a new 30 foot 2007 in June and towed it home, about 20 miles. Towed it to Jackson Center Aug 20 for some warrenty work, about 120 miles round trip. Other then the 140 miles, the airstream has been sitting in my backyard. We were loading up the AS this evening preparing for our 1st real trip tomorrow, and I noticed the rear left was flat.

Too late and dark to remove it and examine it tonight. Ill put the spare on in the morning and see what I can find. Ill post tomorrow. We are taking a 6 week trip and should cover about 6000 miles. Why do I have this funny feeling this won't be my only tire failure this trip.

Marathon?? What a joke. Another fine quality product from China.

Woops, that slipped out, I should wait until I examine the tire tomorrow before laying blame.

Bummed
Dale

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Sky. Let us know what you find tommorrow on the flat tire. Possible valve stem problem, nail, or defective tire? Bad valve stems have left some people with flats. Or too much lead from China.

[Sky]

Originally Posted by Sky

............. Marathon?? What a joke. Another fine quality product from China.

My apologies to the country of China. The flat was caused by a small nail.

[markdoane]

Originally Posted by Sky

My apologies to the country of China. The flat was caused by a small nail.

They still make cheap tires.

Why, I remember when I was a kid we used to set nails up in the driveway just to see them get crushed flat by good old American tires.

You could make a nickel slug out of a 4 penny nail.

Chinese tires are just too soft.

[fr8tshaker]

I only have 2000 Miles on my unit and had a tire go flat on my last trip. I am thankful that I had Pressure Pro installed. It paid for itself by preventing the damage that would have occured. There was a separation in the sidewall. The tire was replaced by Goodyear after AS in Weatherford called.

[Ray Eklund]

I was a newbie trailer owner with my purchase of a 2006 Safari LS 23 foot in 2006. My first trip of 1200 miles, one Marathon tire developed a bulge on the sidewall. Replaced, adjusted price about $60.00 at Goodyear. The dealer said there was that much wear on the tire. This Spring on a dirt road, not rocky, traveling less than 35mph, I stop to take a break and notice one tire blown with only part of the tire left of the wheel. This Summer, two tires had gravel punctures through the four plies, non-repairable. Dealer in Rock Springs, WY sells me, after buying one replacement at a time, now four Hi Run replacement tires. They had not blown or been rock punctured, but while checking for tire wear I see that between the tread that the tire is... splitting on all but the newest replacement. These splits were about one inch long, appeared deep to the chords and for 360 degrees. Now the sweat begins. I drive from Green River, Wyoming (no trailer tires at the Plains Tire Co.) to Salt Lake City, Utah to Les Schwab and buy four Tow Max ST215/75R/14 tires (2 steel belts and 2 nylon) at a cost of $70.72 each.

After 2000 miles, no flats, blowouts, punctures.

I have been driving my trucks with Michelin tires for 42,000 to 50,000 miles and NEVER a tire failure since my first Toyota Land Cruiser in 1985. I do not drive to ruin my trailer, truck nor tires. I do not overload, hit curbs, drive over glass bottles or whatever to ruin a tire. I would never purchase a Marathon Goodyear tire again. I was a fool when I was replacing the Marthons with a worse tire, but the only ones Goodyear had to offer for my size- the Hi-Run (Chinese made tires). At $50.00 each, rated the same as the Marathons, and trusting a tire dealer I discovered those were poor tires.

I replaced my 2006 Tundra tires with Goodrich All Terrain Load Range D tires and have had NO trouble. If Michelin or Goodrich will build a trailer tire that is a Load Range D, for the undersized 14 inch rim on the 23 footer, I am a buyer. I have had more trouble with tires since buying an Airstream trailer with Goodyears. Have I all of a sudden lost any judgment, sense of abuse and enjoy wondering when the next tire failure will find me? No. All of my tire failures have happened from 15 to 35mph.

And if you will permit me. There are NO TWO TIRE GUAGES that will agree on tire pressure. Try checking your tire dealers pressure guage over yours. That would be my second polite tirade. As much as 10 pounds.

[Sean Michael]

I just suffered a Goodyear Marathon tire failure. The sidewall developed a bulge and split. The tire technician stated that it appeared to be a defective tire. Granted, the tire wasn't new...but it was reasonably low mileage.

I'm planning to take the tire to a Goodyear dealer and see what they say.

[jcanavera]

Well my perfect record with Marathons just bit the dust today. I had just traveled about 240 miles from Branson to St. Louis and was backing the trailer into the drive. Patty noted that I had a low tire and by the time I finished the back in, the curbside front tire had gone flat. I had checked the tires prior to the trip and the last check of the tires was about 60 miles from St. Louis at a rest stop. All was well.

I pulled the tire and to my amazement I found a 12" missing slice of tread from the top of the sidewall into the first tire groove. I can only assume I lost that tread in the last 60 miles of the trip. Apparently the tire managed to continue holding air until I started the back in which I'm assuming finally put enough stress on the belts to cause them to separate. All I know is I'm one lucky dude, and I guess I go tire shopping tomorrow. No way I can trust the other 3 after this. The tires are ending their 4th season and were going to be replaced next spring. I'm think they have about 7,500 miles on them.

[thecatsandi]

Jack,
Ouch. It looks like you may have hit something?
I have over 23000 miles on mine and they are fine. I have had two punctures. on on each side. both in Florida!

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by thecatsandi

Jack,
Ouch. It looks like you may have hit something?
I have over 23000 miles on mine and they are fine. I have had two punctures. on on each side. both in Florida!

I wish I could say I hit something, but I don't remember a thing on the road. I'm not sure what happened here.

Jack

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, my trailer is just over three years old and I would guess about 16,000 miles on it with the original Marathons. Reading some of these stories keeps me on my toes about my trailer tires. I just returned from a trip from Southern California to Phoenix, Arizona to Payson, Arizona to The Grand Canyon and back to Lakewood, California; No problems. I set my tires to 65 lbs pressure cold just before leaveing home and the only checks they got was to look at them and kick them at every stop. On this trip we hit a high of 97 degrees and a low of 33 degrees outside temperature. I carry tire gauges, but didn't use them during this trip. I rarely go over 65 mph. I don't over load my trailer. And I hope I don't run over something that will damage my tires. At this rate, I'm just as concerned about my Navigator tires [also Goodyears] as much as I am with the trailer tires. Not because they are Goodyears, but because they are tires and things happen to tires. I think the tire pressure monitors could be a good idea, but I would rather have the sensors mounted inside of the tire like on newer cars. Anything that you screw onto the valve stem can come loose and cause you to lose pressure defeating the purpose of these type sensors. These sensors depress the valve stem core and the pressure is held only by these caps. Many years ago two of my friends bought these really neat valve caps that show green until the pressure drops and then they turn red. They installed these on their motorcycles. [Honda Gold Wings] One night later they each had two flat tires. These caps leaked. I think some people have created their own tire problems and other's were just unfortunate victims.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

Well my perfect record with Marathons just bit the dust today.

I strongly recommend going to E-rated tires as a large number of folks around here (including myself) have done. After a long series of Marathon failures, there has not been even one E-rated failure among any of us who have changed. With your slide, you have a very heavy trailer and the extra strength sure won't jurt.

I have the Maxxis and the first time I lifted one it was apparent that it is a lot more tire and the cost was about the same as the Marathons.

With the E-rated, I can carry a bit more pressure in hot weather which keeps the tire temperature down. I carry 5 more pounds in the Maxxis than I carried in the Marathons which doesn't affect the ride much, but sure helps temperature when it is over 100 degrees.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

I pulled the tire and to my amazement I found a 12" missing slice of tread from the top of the sidewall into the first tire groove.

With a chunk that size missing, so much for balanced running gear .
Did it leave any marks in the wheel well when it departed company?

[Silverhobby]

I just purchased my 2nd set of Marathon tires for the triple axle trailer. The tires had been installed since 2000 and had a few date codes going back to 1999. I sure hope these new tires rot in place as all the others have done. Just a reminder, the Goodyear retailer told me that Goodyear has manufacturing dacilities in 74 countries. China is just one of them. Good luck to all tire purchasers.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

With a chunk that size missing, so much for balanced running gear .
Did it leave any marks in the wheel well when it departed company?

Not that I can see. I'll look closer at it, but from what I can tell there is no exterior damage nor wheel well damage. The belts held together until we started backing into the drive. Literally I'm just missing a chunk of tire. My gut is that it came off probably in the last 5 miles of travel. I can't see the tire holding together that long at 60 mph.

I am so fortunate that it held together as long as is did.

Jack

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

I strongly recommend going to E-rated tires as a large number of folks around here (including myself) have done. After a long series of Marathon failures, there has not been even one E-rated failure among any of us who have changed. With your slide, you have a very heavy trailer and the extra strength sure won't jurt.

I have the Maxxis and the first time I lifted one it was apparent that it is a lot more tire and the cost was about the same as the Marathons.

With the E-rated, I can carry a bit more pressure in hot weather which keeps the tire temperature down. I carry 5 more pounds in the Maxxis than I carried in the Marathons which doesn't affect the ride much, but sure helps temperature when it is over 100 degrees.

John, are you using the 8 ply rated ST Maxxis? I thought those were more costly than the Marathons. Sam's Club is quoting $105 for the 6 ply rated Marathon.

Jack

[Silvertwinkie]

I'm with John on this one....I know first hand that Jack follows ALL the best practices and drives very conservatively. Though I agree that there will be higher failure rates if you have more tires out there than anyone else, but 4 years 7500 miles. This is becoming far too common of a tale. Jack and I have gone round and round on this topic for months, going from Marathons, back to Marathons and just about everywhere in between. His coach, though different than mine, are almost the same age and have about the same mileage on them.

In spring, I can tell you first hand, after this one, Marathons are no longer on my list, I don't care how many years and miles some folks have on their Marathons...this one just forced Marathons off my replacement list. I'm leaning toward Maxxis. Even if they cost more, I shudder at what could have happened to Jack if he lost it while in transit.....

[uwe]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

Not that I can see. I'll look closer at it, but from what I can tell there is no exterior damage nor wheel well damage. The belts held together until we started backing into the drive. Literally I'm just missing a chunk of tire. My gut is that it came off probably in the last 5 miles of travel. I can't see the tire holding together that long at 60 mph.

I am so fortunate that it held together as long as is did.

Jack

So Jack, what's going to go on next? Marathons again? Your trailer is a good test bed for trailer tires. It's very heavy for a dual axle. Not meaning to exploit your misfortune, ( or is it luck) from your last trip.
My 4 Marathons are holding up well, so far. I certainly don't trust them very much any longer, and am checking them quite often while towing, and in the warehouse. My trailer is also much lighter than yours. My axle weight travel ready is about 4800lbs, carried by 4 D-rated tires inflated to 50lbs.

[sander17]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

John, are you using the 8 ply rated ST Maxxis? I thought those were more costly than the Marathons. Sam's Club is quoting $105 for the 6 ply rated Marathon.

Jack

Hi Jack,
Some more info: I paid roughly $95 per tire, installed on the rims for "D" rated Maxxis trailer radials at Discount Tire Co. The company HQ is in Taiwan and the factory is in Thailand.
That price was with me carrying them in. The store is on a super busy road and their parking lot was very trailer-unfriendly.
So far, so good. We are heading out for a long trip soon.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

I strongly recommend going to E-rated tires as a large number of folks around here (including myself) have done. After a long series of Marathon failures, there has not been even one E-rated failure among any of us who have changed. With your slide, you have a very heavy trailer and the extra strength sure won't jurt.

I have the Maxxis and the first time I lifted one it was apparent that it is a lot more tire and the cost was about the same as the Marathons.

With the E-rated, I can carry a bit more pressure in hot weather which keeps the tire temperature down. I carry 5 more pounds in the Maxxis than I carried in the Marathons which doesn't affect the ride much, but sure helps temperature when it is over 100 degrees.

Hey John!

Well I've pretty much can't find a local outlet for the tires. The place you gave me (I think it was you) said they were wholesale only and said they didn't handle trailer tires. I called Maxxis and all they could give me was some distributors in northern and western Missouri.

As it ends up my neighbor who is in sales is headquartered in Lebanon Missouri about 140 miles southwest of us. He ran into a fellow down there who coincidently has been round and round with Goodyear on the poor performance of his Marathons. This guy recommended Maxxis, and my neighbor knew I was looking.

Bottom line he's going to pick me up 4 tires from the local Maxxis dealer down there. Great prices for a set of 4, $340.83 for the D rated ST radials or $396.58 for the E rated ST radials. The dealer's suggestion based on my trailer weight was to go with the E's. According to the Maxxis inflation chart I technically could inflate anywhere from 65 to 80 psi. At 65 psi the tires are rated just like the D's at 2,540 lbs per tire. At 70 psi they rate at 2,620, 75 psi at 2720, 80 psi at 2830.

Jack