Goodyear Marathons from 06 and 07 fail...

[norsea]

Last September 30th I posted a thread about a flat tire that we had and how pleased we were that our Pressure Pro monitoring system sounded the alarm and saved us a potential costly repair.

We had a similar occurrence last Wednesday as we were headed out of the camping area at the University of New Orleans as we were departing the Greater New Orleans area unit Mardi Gras rally. The alarm went off two block from our camping spot.

It turned out that the right front tire had suffered a tread separation. This is one of four 2007 manufactured tires; the fifth is from 2006. We were pointed to the nearest Goodyear dealer by a friendly constable where the defective tire was replaced, gratis.

Fast forward two days to Friday and we find ourselves at a rest stop on I10 between Houston and San Antonio. After lunch, we start the truck and the Pressure Pro sounds an alarm. Yikes, not again!

Turns out that it is the left front tire that has suffered a tread separation this time. We make the change for the spare and thanks to Good Sam's recovery hot line we determine the nearest Goodyear dealer is in San Marcos, Texas. Considering we were going to camp about 5 miles from San Marcos this was very good news.

Unfortunately the place they directed us to was no longer a Goodyear dealer. The next stop was an official Goodyear dealer about 1.5 miles away. Unfortunately they had no Marathons in stock. But, as luck would have it, a Goodyear dealer in the next town eight miles to the north had five in stock; and a good thing too as it turned out.

By the time we were through we had four new tires mounted and balanced as well as the new tire from New Orleans balanced; the New Orleanse balance machine was out of order when we got that one.

All of the tires we had showed signs of tread separation. The amazing one was the spare that had only been on the trailer for about 450 miles. Thee were all OEM tires and none of the tires came from Airstream with any balance weights on them which means that the factory does NOT balance tires. We asked to have the spare balanced and it took so much weight that they decided to look at the tire extra close.

So, in a period of two days all five of the tires on our 2008 30' Classic were replaced. It cost us $214. Not bad when you consider that $70 of this was for the balancing of all five tires. And, we had a bit more than 20,000 miles on four of the tires.

While we are not happy about the continued poor quality of Goodyear Marathon tires we are happy that they honor their warranty. Any time we can get a new set of five tires for the price of one tire we will take it.

Thanks again to the Pressure Pro which alerted us to these problems as the tires lost air pressure. This definitely saved us potential harm to the trailer itself. And, considering we are headed for Del Rio and on to Big Bend National Park we can now move on with some semblance of confidence that we should get there and back to civilization without problems.

Jim

PS: We also have an Onboard Tire & Wheel Balance System from Centramatic. I do notice a difference with the tires balanced.

[Silvertwinkie]

Wow Jim, you really dodged a bullet there. Glad to hear it all worked out with no injuries or damage.

It's stories like this that made me choose Maxxis this time around. Just too many questions about the Marathons.

[dmac]

How can you go forward with confidence when they were replaced with Marathon tires? With the spare dying in 450 miles... it may be time for another brand!

[Happycampers]

Jim, Looks like the Pressure Pro probably saved you a lot of damage to your trailer. I would tell Goodyear what they could do with their warranty and go buy a set of Yokohama tires. I have been real happy with mine.

Marvin

[moosetags]

We had a similar story with our OEM Goodyear Marathons two years ago. We had three blowouts on one trip. These tires had about 12,000 miles on them. We were so disgusted with the Marathons' performance that we decided to replace them all, including two that we had recently purchased as replacements, with Maxxis ten plys.

Based upon this experience, Lucy will never roll on anything Goodyear again.

[thecatsandi]

I have gone through three sets of Marathons with no "problems". I have had one flat due to a nail. During an inspection before I head east this fall one of my marathons had a bulge in the sidewall. We swapped out my Canada made Goodyear and had all the tires replaced at the factory during my repairs. I had steel valve stems install on the trailer this time around. Now the truck and the trailer all have steel valve stems. The tire pressures are holding better now.

[ArtStream]

Dito Michelle on the steel valve stems. The two flats I experienced on my tow vehicle were due to valve failure.

Since that occurrence I replaced all the TV and trailer valves with steel valves. I purchased some piece of mind and chucked the ST Goodyear tires for 16" Mitchlin LTX D range tires..

Michael

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by norsea

Last September 30th I posted a thread about a flat tire that we had and how pleased we were that our Pressure Pro monitoring system sounded the alarm and saved us a potential costly repair.

We had a similar occurrence last Wednesday as we were headed out of the camping area at the University of New Orleans as we were departing the Greater New Orleans area unit Mardi Gras rally. The alarm went off two block from our camping spot.

It turned out that the right front tire had suffered a tread separation. This is one of four 2007 manufactured tires; the fifth is from 2006. We were pointed to the nearest Goodyear dealer by a friendly constable where the defective tire was replaced, gratis.

Fast forward two days to Friday and we find ourselves at a rest stop on I10 between Houston and San Antonio. After lunch, we start the truck and the Pressure Pro sounds an alarm. Yikes, not again!

Turns out that it is the left front tire that has suffered a tread separation this time. We make the change for the spare and thanks to Good Sam's recovery hot line we determine the nearest Goodyear dealer is in San Marcos, Texas. Considering we were going to camp about 5 miles from San Marcos this was very good news.

Unfortunately the place they directed us to was no longer a Goodyear dealer. The next stop was an official Goodyear dealer about 1.5 miles away. Unfortunately they had no Marathons in stock. But, as luck would have it, a Goodyear dealer in the next town eight miles to the north had five in stock; and a good thing too as it turned out.

By the time we were through we had four new tires mounted and balanced as well as the new tire from New Orleans balanced; the New Orleanse balance machine was out of order when we got that one.

All of the tires we had showed signs of tread separation. The amazing one was the spare that had only been on the trailer for about 450 miles. Thee were all OEM tires and none of the tires came from Airstream with any balance weights on them which means that the factory does NOT balance tires. We asked to have the spare balanced and it took so much weight that they decided to look at the tire extra close.

So, in a period of two days all five of the tires on our 2008 30' Classic were replaced. It cost us $214. Not bad when you consider that $70 of this was for the balancing of all five tires. And, we had a bit more than 20,000 miles on four of the tires.

While we are not happy about the continued poor quality of Goodyear Marathon tires we are happy that they honor their warranty. Any time we can get a new set of five tires for the price of one tire we will take it.

Thanks again to the Pressure Pro which alerted us to these problems as the tires lost air pressure. This definitely saved us potential harm to the trailer itself. And, considering we are headed for Del Rio and on to Big Bend National Park we can now move on with some semblance of confidence that we should get there and back to civilization without problems.

Jim

PS: We also have an Onboard Tire & Wheel Balance System from Centramatic. I do notice a difference with the tires balanced.

Could it be said, that since your tires were not balanced, that issue contributed to the tire failures?

We see tire failures all the time, especially when lack of any balancing was obvious.

We find the exact opposite, when proper running gear balance is in place.

Andy

[HowieE]

JIM

Michelle brings up an interesting point. There are over 6,000,000 defective valve stems in the system now with no record as to where they are.

My daughter lost 2 tires to defective valve stems. The first was a slow leak that I found and when I attempted to inflate the tire the stem broke off under the pressure of the air hose. I replaced that tire with the spare and the spare failed in less than 30 miles when the stem flew off just as we started over the Delaware Memorial bridge.

My point, while Goodyear has had a very bad history they may now be a victim of that influx of defective valves stems. The stems fail at the rubber flange just outside the wheel. The stems fail by cracking do to centrifugal force of high speed driving. If this failure is not detected the tire will run under inflated, because of a slow leak, and in time suffer tread separation, the historical failure mode for the Goodyear tires or any under inflated tire.

For those who may have a question if they are a victim of these latest import problem. Drive to your tire shop and while parked in their lot bend each stem side to side about 30 degrees. The defective stems will most like fail in your hand. Now you see why I mentioned testing at the tire dealer.

When I had my daughters tires replaced the dealer said the those defective stems cost the OEM $.06 each.

[startrekker2001]

I am editor of the Region 3 Newsletter. I had this article in the June 2008 issue. This may be of interest.

Vic Smith

Valve Stem Failures


By Bill Reilly as told to Frank Carson

I have owned my Bambi since the summer of 2004 and have had to replace the road side tire at least once a year and the curbside tire only once. Some people say that's not bad considering I have over 40,000 miles on the Bambi. I know why I had to replace the curb side tire, the dreaded nail at the edge of the tread and right into the side wall.

The problem I had with the road side was the tire always lost air quickly and I couldn't get off the road in time to save the tire. That's the problem with having a one axle trailer. Well the last time was a different story. After exchanging the tire for my spare, I examined it only to find now obvious damage to the tread area. After a through examination at the house, I found a bad valve stem. When the tire was removed from rim I did a little investigating. What I found was a very sharp edge on the inside of the vale stem hole. During the manufacturing of the rim they failed to de burr the hole after it was drilled.

Most Safari and International models have aluminum wheels that are made in China. After checking with some owners of these model trailers, they have lost tires due to valve stem damage.

[slowmover]

I went with YOKOHAMA RY-215 (Load Range C) as that was the closest I could find to oem spec for mine.

Also, had the tires balanced on a Hunter GSP-9700 (and worked the techs until the numbers came in below 25-oz per combo; the Mercedes/Lexus number I've been told).

Installed new steel valve stems, and the CENTRAMATIC balancers and new forged lug nuts.

Tried to find someone in Dallas-Fort Worth to do lug-centric balancing, but seven calls led nowhere.

New shock absorbers were also installed.

The balancing made a big difference, in several ways.