Goodyear Marathon Source

[Jabba]

I found this online dealer that beat the local tire shop by $30 (C-range) and $47 (D-range) Goodyear Marathons. Shipping is only $30 on them for me. Worth a look, first link is sizes and prices, second one is specs.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes....arathon+Radial

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...arathon+Radial

[femuse]

We thought about it too, and in the end we went to Sam's Club.

I priced the tires on 2/27/03 from Tire Rack:
shipping where we are was $38.12, 4 tires $284 , total $322.12
cost per tire $80.53
The local garage was charging us $15 ea to install them: $95.53 each

At SC, we paid $368.28 for 4 , plus tax : $384.85 or $96.21 ea installed

Why we thought it was better deal?

1_ we bought SC's road hazzard warranty ($9 a tire)
2_ we could fit in their parking lot and the garage bay.

Warning for people who decide to have tires or battery installed at SC:
first they said NO. Their (new) policy mandate that the trailer be inside (it can stick out) and they were sure we could not fit. We did, with an A/C (see the PIX Close fit & Need new tires)

Other warning: they tried to charge us extra. The sign says something about Motor Homes and Duallies.
I saw the sign after we had the tires installed anyway, and I just stood my ground: just ask to talk to the manager to argue whether or not a TT is a MH. They gave up before that.

So final price was: $105.21 with a lifetime hazzard warranty, plus free rotation every I don't know when. Or $96.21 without.
Besides that, I thought the Tire Rack was not a bad deal either.

[pap]

Speaking of Sam's road hazzard warranty et al.:

*How many of us have had just a puncture flat and had it repaired?

*What is the recomended method? Plugs? boot? patch?

*Do you worry about the diminished reliability of that tire from then on?

*How far up the wall can the puncture be and still be safely patched?

*Does the road hazzard replace the tire if it is shredded or otherwise irrepairable?

*Will Wal-Mart honor the warranty if no Sam Club nearby?
+Does WalMart even stock or have quik access to the Marathon line?

*Are the tires cheaper at Sams if you just take them out? (no mounting)
*Did your Sams price include new valve stems?

[femuse]

*How many of us have had just a puncture flat and had it repaired?
We do some shows on fairground: murder for the tires (the ground is a landfill). One in ME, every year (this year: semi flat on the truck. a screw)

*What is the recomended method? Plugs? boot? patch?
standard,cheap: plug. patch is more work (they put a patch on the truck's. must take it off the rim, more $)

*Do you worry about the diminished reliability of that tire from then on?
Never noticed.

*How far up the wall can the puncture be and still be safely patched?
I think there is a problem when getting on side wall. Somebody must know more.

*Does the road hazzard replace the tire if it is shredded or otherwise irrepairable?
"if non repairable....refund....pro-rata...thread wear basis,..etc.. " In the first 2/32 of thread wear: all free.

*Will Wal-Mart honor the warranty if no Sam Club nearby?
+Does WalMart even stock or have quik access to the Marathon line?
NO

*Are the tires cheaper at Sams if you just take them out? (no mounting)
*Did your Sams price include new valve stems?
everything was free: valves, mounting, balancing.... Not balanced on the trailer I'm afraid.

When tires are originally mounted by SC: free lifetime balance, free rotation every 7500 miles (where do they read the odometer on the trailer?)
This points to the fact that rotation of tires is important in general, as they will be doing work for no $.

[59toaster]

I have been buying tires from Costco. I have a Sams Membership as well but sams is farther away. Costco has been trouncing the chains prices. I have not purcheced tires for our unit but will be soon. To give you an example of the sort of prices I have been getting here is tires I recently bought for my truck.
BFG 35x12.5x15 KM Mud tire.

The local NTB wanted $225 each Mounted and ballanced but $16 each for Roadhazard.

Costco $147 Each pul a $2 per tire disposal and tax. That includes mounting and ballancing, Road hazard, rotation.

A plug should be concidered a temporary repair. You can buy a kit for $20 and do it yourself multiple times. I keep a kit in the vehicle when traveling long distances. Most of the time you can plug a tire without removing it. If you have a portable air compressor ($15 at Wallmart) you could plug a tire on the side of the road MUCH faster and safer, then changing it and be on your way to your destination. Worry about a patch later when you can get somewhere they honor the road hazard. .

The problem with plugs is they can often be ripped out. I have had it happen a couple of times. Once was on a spinning tire on snow. It caught pavement and out came the plug (that I didn't know was there, used truck). Big tire shops like Sams, Costco, NTB will dismount the tire and patch it from the inside. This is covered by the road hazard so should not be extra expence and I have never been asked to pay anything.

I also understand that a plug can let air into the belts and cause them to seperate.

Side walls are not repairable. The side wall is much thinner then the tread surface. As such it is more fragile and takes less to cause structural damage that would be a safety concern. The side wall is where most of the heat is generated as well so getting a patch to hold is difficult.

[femuse]

Great info.
It should be workable most of the time.

We are reluctant to put a plug ourselves, Mike has seen our local guy's apprentice butcher a tire on our car once with his attempt to put a plug.

The reason we are going to try to fit a spare for the trailer under our truck:
we have come back once from a drive to "town", leaving the trailer on the grounds, finding a very flat tire. It's not easy to find the hole in that case I suppose. (it must have leaked over a few days' stay, tire in the grass, on the road side. By then it was flat-flat)
And, we had a blow out on the van once, following several (nearly new) tires falling apart on highway over a few months. No plug could help (we had load E Goodyear subject to a "silent recall". We found out a long time later about that recall).
We had a tire on trailer fall apart once, a trucker told us on the CB. We were not aware of it.

I can see anyway why carrying plugs & air is a good idea: it's extra insurance which does not cost much in $ and cargo space.

The reason we got the SC membership in the first place:
we priced 4 tires for the van, the best price we found was $100 higher than SC (incl membership). The problem: we tried to get them while on the road. No way by phone to order & pick-up. Now, it's possible to do it on line & pick them up down the road. Not good for emergencies though.

[59toaster]

Chantal & Mike :

Ira Iburg, the PO of My Suburban and a member here, had a set up on his Excella to let you know if you had a flat. This only works on multi axle trailers like yours.

In the tow rig there is a light that was installed on the dash that says "Tires". At the umbilical there is a second plug with a 1/8 inch plug for the connection between the trailer and tow rig. On the axles at each wheel there is a rod and a micro switch set up. The way it works is if any tire loses air it would alow the normal position of the axle to change and turn on the light. Very simple set up and he indicated it worked great. The light would blink when going over bumps but on the hwy it stayed off.

I assume this is a kit of some sort. The indicator light is a quality peice. Sounds like a nice set up for multi axle trailers that you sometimes just can't tell when you have lost a tire. Maybe Ira is still checking in here and can tell us more about it. Might be worth Private messaging him and see if he has E-Mail alert activated.

[femuse]

Thanks for the info.

We have been following similar conversations on others forums and were already interested in this gizmo. It's always nice to hear feedback on them though.
I have heard too about similar devise that monitors the tires temperature.
On the same topic, there was a mention of State Police in VA starting to use a "gun" reading temp on truck tires, just driving by. And if I remember right, they were for now just experimenting with that, I thing on I-81, with idea to make it more widespread in the future.
So, the idea of a temperature gauge his a pretty good idea worth investigating too.

[59toaster]

Originally posted by femuse
Thanks for the info.

We have been following similar conversations on others forums and were already interested in this gizmo. It's always nice to hear feedback on them though.
I have heard too about similar devise that monitors the tires temperature.
On the same topic, there was a mention of State Police in VA starting to use a "gun" reading temp on truck tires, just driving by. And if I remember right, they were for now just experimenting with that, I thing on I-81, with idea to make it more widespread in the future.
So, the idea of a temperature gauge his a pretty good idea worth investigating too.

While I'm more of a conservative when it comes to being hassled by the law....I'm all for a way to try to check for flats on a drive by. In particular big rigs. My previous DD is a low slung sports car and hitting a balled up tread off a tractor trailer could do thousands in damage on that car.

I see so many cars driving down the road on half flat tires just a blow out possible at any time. Serious danger to anybody on the road around them.

My only worry is it will be yet another way that the law will use to hassle people and generate fines. As long as it's a "Hay you need to fix that car" deal and let them take care of it if it's a real danger and not an instant ticket I'm all for it. I would hate to see a person pick up a nail and 10 minutes later be getting a fine. Now a repeat offender...yeah a fine. Wake them up to the danger they pose to others.

[femuse]

I don't think that they have in mind to hassle cars with a flat. It's more to make sure trucks are not going to "litter" the highway with more dead tires. I-81 is notorious for that, a lot worse that I-95. That's were we lost one of our nearly new Goodyear one year.

I am sure they are checking at the same time for brakes over-heating.
Seing recently on RT-301 MD/VA bypass for DC, 2 auto transports from AL going south at over 65m on buzzy road, going through red lights, talking on their CB about one of them being out of brakes, and knowlngly going on (flat road at that.) This is the only case I remember us calling the cops. We were very happy to see them "grounded" at the next weigh station. Don't know if we helped, I suppose other people must have called.

If the cops have a way to check temperature of wheels and stop "murderers" of this type, I'm all for it. I'm glad we were on the right lane, stopped at that red light, when we saw them coming behind us in the left lane. I will always remember the look on the face of the pick-up truck driver, going at a green light, when he saw 2 trucks barelling down on him at close to 70mph, what looked to all at just few inches in front of him.
Maybe the threat of enforcement like that can be useful if it scares enough people for being so irresponsible.

[pap]

Im afraid that with self srvice stations and 50 cent to use, under powered air compressors so prevalent, that many amateur hiway users will never check the tires or other things that should be checked on their vehicles.

Speaking of truck tire carcasses on the hiway, how may of you have ever seen a Hiway Patrolman or sheriffs car drive right past one?
I guess the rule of thumb is to let some poor bloke knock it to the side of the road. That is one of those unknown stats...how many accidents and even deaths due to road debris.

BTW the tire monitors are sold in all the RV catalogs that I have seen. A bit pricey , but what's not if it has to do with an RV!?

also toasty did Ira leave the indicator in your suburban?
Did you get the other half from him as well?
I haven't seen him post in a while, wonder why?

[femuse]

self service stations and 50 cent to use, under powered air compressors so prevalent, that many amateur hiway users will never check the tires

It has been a while since we were able to use one of those anyway !!!
With the van already using 65psi, and towing a trailer, we had been using (free air) on turnpikes gas stations and places like Flying J. With the truck needing 100psi, the choice is of course made for us.
I think it's pretty rare (and not as deadly) when a Honda Civic shreds a tire on the highway. What has me most concerned are big trucks who are on a deadline. A small % of them are putting their pocket book before safety, and are not doing simple maintenance as required. (my "favorites": coal trucks paid by the load in WV. You bet some of them don't "waste" time checking their tires)

[59toaster]

Originally posted by pap
Im afraid that with self srvice stations and 50 cent to use, under powered air compressors so prevalent, that many amateur hiway users will never check the tires or other things that should be checked on their vehicles.

Speaking of truck tire carcasses on the hiway, how may of you have ever seen a Hiway Patrolman or sheriffs car drive right past one?
I guess the rule of thumb is to let some poor bloke knock it to the side of the road. That is one of those unknown stats...how many accidents and even deaths due to road debris.

BTW the tire monitors are sold in all the RV catalogs that I have seen. A bit pricey , but what's not if it has to do with an RV!?

also toasty did Ira leave the indicator in your suburban?
Did you get the other half from him as well?
I haven't seen him post in a while, wonder why?

I have the Suburban end of the system. Ira had sold his Excella already before he decided to sell the Suburban. Not sure if he plans to still visit the Forums or not.

Super nice man. Enjoyed talking to him and doing buisness with him. The Trailer end of the system is still on it as far as I know. There were some holes drilled in the dash of the Suburban so he left that in the vehicle when he sold it to me. I'm sure if he had the rest of the system he would have offered it to me. He provided me with many unexpected items with the truck including a factory Service manual and his traveling spare parts. I feel safe in assuming the rest of the system was still on the camper when he sold it.

As I understand how this system works it would not work on a Single axle unit like our 59 Caravanner. As Ira explained to me the system works on multi axle units because if a tire looses air that axle will begin to run at a different hight. On a single axle if a tire looses air the trailer simply leanes. The distance from the axle to the floor would stay the same so nothing to trip the indicator unless the tire starts to violently shake.

[COArgosy78]

Hi everyone - I brought this thread back to ask about anyone who might have done tire business with Big O Tires . My husband swears by their tires for our Tahoe and we will be buying new tires for both the Tahoe and for our Argosy Minuet -single axle. They have the same $9. one time warranty deal as Sam's Club, but I don't know if they sell trailer tires. Another consideration was how nationwide they are? I'm going to check some of this with local store, but would still like your opinions. Thanks

[overlander63]

Originally posted by pap

*What is the recomended method? Plugs? boot? patch?

*Do you worry about the diminished reliability of that tire from then on?

*How far up the wall can the puncture be and still be safely patched?

Reccommended repair is an internal patch.
"V & Z" speed rated tires are not reccommended to be repaired at all, not a problem for our trailers. If we are going faster than 117mph towing, a patch on a tire will be the least of our problems...
A tire can be safely patched up to within 1/2" of the shoulder of the tire (where the tread ends at the sidewall).
Some tire shops say a patch will be okay up to within 1" of the bead, although I don't agree.
Terry

[wingfoot321]

A good tire shop will not repair a tire that has a puncture that is anywhere above the flat tread area. The steel belts in a tire are alway in a flat, parallel plane to the road. A patch in this area will have two body plies of nylon or polyester and two steel belts which gives you a strong reinforced area to repair. Even if a nail has damaged the body plies, you still have the steel belts to bridge over the damaged area. As soon as you move off the flat tread of the tire, you no longer have the belts to reinforce a damaged body ply.

Another issue to be aware of; when a nail penetrates the belts and stays there a while, it can cause abrasion to the wires which scrapes off the brass coating on the steel wire. Then moisture can start to penetrate the tread and cause rust. Rust will cause the rubber to lose adhesion to the brass coating on the wire. I alway take a tire with a puncture off of the front wheel position for the rest of its useful life.

I had a flat tire last Monday on my car returning from Ohio. I had it fixed in Georgetown, Ky. The tire dealer was "Martin Tire". They explained the different repair options and do not do the quick
outside repairs unless you tell them to. Very impressive dealer.

[COArgosy78]

I found out Big O Tires only sells Carlyle brand, but did discover that Discount Tires Stores sells the Marathons. They have stores pretty much over all states and include a road hazard warranty in price of tires. Also have an online store which could eliminate sales tax. Checking out best price (local store vs. online). Also, I called our Sam's Club and they said they don't sell trailer tires. Wonder if this is a new policy or if locale is a factor? Anyone got info?

[dtbw]

I recently blew a valve stem on our 2002 Bambi. Although I caught the incident within seconds and there was NO outward damage, the tire was ruin inside from the weight of the rim against it. I decided to just replace both tires as the cost was not that great. Discount Tires first talked me into Carlyle tires, but I simply did not like the idea of tires from China on my Airstream. I also discovered a BIG difference. The Carlyle tires are 6 ply RATED. They are in fact only 4 ply tires. The Goodyear Marathons are ACTUAL 6 ply tires. The Carlyle tires may be great, but I feel better with 6 real plys vs 4.


david

[COArgosy78]

David - what did you end up paying for Marathon's at Discount? I'm getting quite a price difference between the online store and local. Online dealer says they are owned by same entity, but are separate dealers????. Other than that I think local stores include all in price of tire, while online prices each thing separately (ie, tire, tire valve, road warranty).

[dtbw]

Leigh,
I paid $260.63. I did not shop for lower prices as I have dealt with Discount Tire for over 10 years and like their service.

david