GYMs from China or not?

[mpsgolf]

How can i tell if my GYMs are made in China? Is it certain years? Is it on the tire?

All the horror stories have me a bit worried. I just traded for a new 2015 28' Intnl so the tires are new but....

[Rich Jenkins]

Mine (2016 build 27' FC) said 'Made in China' right on the side of the tire.

[AWCHIEF]

Google is your friend,

http://www.harriger.com/tires.htm

[BigAl]

Mine are one year old. Made in China. Have used Goodyears for 12 years now with only one flat. Picked up a 3inch long bolt. Not a tire failure.
Al

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by mpsgolf

How can i tell if my GYMs are made in China? Is it certain years? Is it on the tire?

All the horror stories have me a bit worried. I just traded for a new 2015 28' Intnl so the tires are new but....

All ST tires are made in China ,read your sidewall, gym since around 2005 or 6 I believe, good for 3 1/2- 4 years..

[Ray Eklund]

Like Big Al... my 15" Marathons on my 2014 International 25' had not given me any trouble. I might have put 4,000 miles on them. Under the 'N' of MarathoN you will find in small print Made in China. Since I plan to have my 25 foot International as my LAST Airstream trailer, if any trailer and am running 16" wheels and 16" LT Michelin tires. The tires will never get the 70,000 miles of use... as I will not be towing it that much. I am more confident that the Michelins will last and endure simple towing on paved roads.

Report in from time to time how they are doing.

My 2006 23 foot with 14" Marathons were made in New Zealand. They already had a grey coloring to them and the Airstream dealer 'painted' them with some black messy coloring to make them look better. They were the worst tires next to Hi Run, which are 300 mile tires from China.

[Mrjkq]

Have no idea if China or not, but they're bringing replaced, new AS with faulty tires, feel deceived by Airstream as I expected better on an expensive RV.

[AWCHIEF]

Always interesting when people post personal opinion as fact. Usually to just keep things fired up. 😱

[CapriRacer]

Just an FYI:

ALL tires will have a "made in" statement on the sidewall. It only needs to be on one side and it might be in small letters that are difficult to read, but it will be there.

Also, you can decode the DOT code. The first 2 or 3 digits are the plant code. The full code only needs to be on one side, but the plant code will be on both sides.

[woodfox45]

Yes China and I haven't seen any trailer service tires lately that are not .

[MacPDX]

Maxxis are made in Taiwan.

[tjdonahoe]

[QUOTE=MacPDX;1774085]Maxxis are made in Taiwan.[/


There is a difference?

[idroba]

From a post I made some time ago:

How to find where tires are made:

Look on the tire. Look at the molded in DOT code. The first two letters/numbers are the country of origin and the plant which made them.

Go to www.harriger.com/tires.htm to find the information based on the code.

This was published in Trailer Life Magazine.

[Rich W]

[QUOTE=tjdonahoe;1774095]

Originally Posted by MacPDX

Maxxis are made in Taiwan.[/


There is a difference?

Off topic but Taiwan is an island off the coast of China. Taiwanese consider themselves as independent from China. China considers them as a rebel region and wants to reunite them, by force if necessary, to mainland China.

I have written Goodyear and received a response that the GYMs made in China are exactly the same formula, process, components etc. as when they were made elsewhere. Goodyear says they have plants all over the world and shift production as necessary. Goodyear said that most tire failures are the result of under inflation. I asked them what their market share of ST tires was, thinking that if you make more STs than anyone else you're probably going to have more failures. They said that was proprietary and wouldn't tell me.

I have never had a problem with the GYMs on my boat nor the ones on my AS, which are now 6 years old. I will be replacing those this year and I will be buying more GYMs. I've had a LOT of blowouts on Carlisle tires, changed to GYMs. So far, so good.

As with anything else, your mileage may vary.

[cbrittan]

Our AS was delivered from the factory to CANAM with stock tires. On delivery we specified "Michelin HEAVY LOAD" P235/75 R15 LTX M/S with carry capacity at 50lbs (max) inflation of 2183 lbs. These tires have Michelin in white letters and are available from most if not all Michelin dealers in North America.

As we understand it, these tires carry a heavier load at a lower air pressure, which is said to improve the AS ride, stress on components and contents. We also hear these tires may have an improved ability to deal with "scrub" caused by turns.

In our opinion, these tires have a slightly different appearance, in that the sidewalls appear to be thicker. There will be other differences not known to ourselves, but we can say these tires have held 47 lbs air pressure without loss of even a single pound, over the past 8 months in Florida winter climate.

These tires are monitored for failure by USDOT and I have found no reported evidence as to failures. Needless to say, we are pleased so far with Michelin performance and enjoy not having to debate the merits of tire country of origin.

[Jacob D]

Originally Posted by mpsgolf

How can i tell if my GYMs are made in China? Is it certain years? Is it on the tire?

All the horror stories have me a bit worried. I just traded for a new 2015 28' Intnl so the tires are new but....

The "horror stories" are just that.....stories. I run nothing but Good Year tires on my TV and vintage AS. I once ran a set of Canadian made GYM's for 13 years with only one flat because of a nail. That'w what woke me to the age of the tires and I replaced them with a set of China tires which have been on for two years with no issues. I run them with 43 psi pressure on a tandem axle trailer which is the pressure indicated for the weight of my trailer on the Good Year chart.

You can buy spray treatment to prevent UV degradation and cracking which some folks call "dry rot".. I spray mine once a month with Armor All Tire Foam and keep them covered if idle for more than a month. Storage in my drive way is on pavement which I think helps. To find out the correct pressure to use, weigh your trailer one axle at a time and consult the manufacturer's weight chart. Better yet, weigh one wheel at a time and use the pressure indicated for the highest weight on all wheels.

[switz]

When reading the posts on tire life, look to see the vintage and model of the poster's trailer. The Vintage crowd are towing trailers that weigh substantially less than the newer wide body models of the same length. Weight does impact tire life.

[kleimanr]

I have had GYMs made in Canada, China, and USA. All junk. When I got the USA tires they told me everything has been fixed and not to worry. Still had tread separation. Don't tell me it was under inflation as I ran max pressure and had the pressure pro setup. Don't trust em.

[vanster]

I manufacture products in China and I spend about 2 months per year in there on average doing QC. All products made in China are required by law to state this.
US Customs will not allow any product that comes in from China that is to be resold
here not to have the Made in China or PRC or Taiwan etc. I have been in factories in China that make products that say Made in Taiwan. Most all the batteries in the world are made in China because US companies can pollute easier over there than here.
Not all products that come out of China are crap. Apple seems to do OK, however they are only assembled in China

[n2916s]

There I was, in Pensacola on my way to Yellowstone, when the second of the 2 year old Carlisles on my trailer failed catastrophically. I had lost one just south of Gainesville the previous day.

As time was of the essence, off to the Goodyear dealer as he was a) open on Sunday and b) had tires in my size ready to go. Aware of the many strongly held opinions here that Marathons are "junk", I figured I'd just eat the cost for four of them on the spot and then swap them out when I got back home in the Fall.

Well, that was four years and about 26000 miles ago. Never did get around to swapping them out. I do take care of them -- pressure checked every morning on "moving day", covered when we are parked all summer, TPMS.

Maybe I am just lucky, but when they "age out" next Fall, It will be hard to justify $1500 to upgrade the wheels to Sendel and tires to Michelin...

Mike