Tire suggestion

[J5Stream]

I have a '67 Caravel recently purchased. I am in mid-restoration and need a recommendation for tires. Lots of talk pro and con about Goodyear Marathons but I don't see many options.
I am also considering pulling and powder coating the wheels that came with the trailer.
Can anyone help a rookie owner ?

[LI Pets]

There are other tires, call tire dealers and see what type of ST tires they have.

You can have the wheels powder coated buy new ones are about $40.

Depending on condition you can wire brush and paint them with POR15 or rustolium.

Also look into the Dyna Beads to balance them.

[ArtStream]

Hi J5,


Hi have been very happy with "TOW MASTER ST" tires.
Distributed by "Green Ball tire" Made by Goodyear.

I put 50,000 on a set of 4 and they looked great. I have replaced them with Marathons and wish I hadn't.

The next set I will go back be "Tow Masters"

I also run Centermatics wheel balancers.



Michael

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by artlink

I put 50,000 on a set of 4 and they looked great. I have replaced them with Marathons and wish I hadn't.
Michael

Why?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by artlink

Hi J5,


Hi have been very happy with "TOW MASTER ST" tires.
Distributed by "Green Ball tire" Made by Goodyear.

I put 50,000 on a set of 4 and they looked great. I have replaced them with Marathons and wish I hadn't.

The next set I will go back be "Tow Masters"

I also run Centermatics wheel balancers.



Michael

Why would Airstream stay with the Goodyear Marathons all these years?

They usually have very good reasons behind their decisions.

Certainly, we all know they are not a cheap tire.

We also all know that "nothing" is perfect.

There are many circumstances to tire failures.

The biggest ones are, not balanced with the running gear, over inflation, under inflation, and old age.

Shopping around for a tire better than Airstream uses could be a losing proposition, and usually is.

Andy

[LI Pets]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Why would Airstream stay with the Goodyear Marathons all these years?

They usually have very good reasons behind their decisions.

But do you know what their basis is?

Or you just making an asumption?

Andy, ask them what kind of tires were on the A/S that did 122mph.

[Melody Ranch]

Marathon tires made in Canada...Tow Master. Same tire, same Company, etc, etc.
Now lets get into the "radial" vs "10 ply" go around. Andy will tell you that Airstream uses Radials...why argue? I agree.

Less expensive too.

Happy owner of Tow Masters (radials) and won't let the small stuff bother me anymore.

[ArtStream]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Why would Airstream stay with the Goodyear Marathons all these years?

They usually have very good reasons behind their decisions.

Certainly, we all know they are not a cheap tire.

We also all know that "nothing" is perfect.

There are many circumstances to tire failures.

The biggest ones are, not balanced with the running gear, over inflation, under inflation, and old age.

Shopping around for a tire better than Airstream uses could be a losing proposition, and usually is.

Andy

PLEASE NOTE: These observations are far from scientific, my personal observations are:
Both were inflated to 65lbs, balanced at time of install and Centermatics on all 4.

The Marathons seem to have more sidewall flex, I even noticed this while sitting still and moving around inside the trailer.

To the hand, the Marathons felt warmer.

I was impressed with the condition of the TOW MASTER tread and sidewall condition after 50,000 miles. Remember, Tow Masters are MADE by Goodyear!

Andy, while I bow to your experience and advice, don't you think it is just as scientific to speculate as to why Airstream has chosen Marathons for its trailers.



Price, availability, kick-back, good looking salesperson, deep discount for volume, a plasma TV, one can go back and forth on Airstream's reason forever. Unless the exact reason is given by the purchasing department at Jackson Center we can only speculate. (and I don't mean a press release)


To say that Airstream makes all its purchasing decisions purely on what is the best product is, well naïve.



Michael


PS, this is not to say the Marathons may or may not be a more dependable tire, this is just my sense of both tires

[S C Streamer]

Originally Posted by artlink

Price, availability, kick-back, good looking salesperson, deep discount for volume, a plasma TV, one can go back and forth on Airstream's reason forever. Unless the exact reason is given by the purchasing department at Jackson Center we can only speculate. (and I don't mean a press release)


To say that Airstream makes all its purchasing decisions purely on what is the best product is, well naïve.

VERY WELL put. Just think back a little... Ford and Firestone.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Anyone, can ask Airstream anything they wish, directly via e-mail or telephone.

Andy

[JimGolden]

Car and Driver magazine ran a very interesting test article on Firestone tires on Ford Exploreres. They could not get them to blow unless they let the pressure get really low.

What C&D came up with was a disconnect on the Explorer's door panel chart concerning tire pressure. The chart on the Ford said to put a lot less air in the tire than what Firestone would recommend. Ford's recommendation was at the very low end of the acceptable pressure range.

So what happened was guys would put this amount of air in (I don't recall exactly what it was, but I think it was like 28psi). Then, like most drivers, they wouldn't check it for two years. Ok, so the tires leaked off some pressure slowly over time. So now you have a tire that's under inflated, and probably marginal for the weight of the truck to start with. You run a heavy truck hard on a small tire that's underinflated and the tires get hot. The tread then separates, and kapow! There you go.

I'm not convinced there was every anything really wrong with the tires. But they sure got a black eye for it. I had Firestones on my Excursion and never had a bit of problem with them, even though there was a recall on them. I think the biggest problem was underinflation.

This just underscores the need to check our tire pressures regularly and keep them well in the proper pressure range.

[scottanlily]

I agree on the towmasters as well same tire ? doubt it . I talked to BIG O TIRE
the other day looking for a boat trailer tire, Towmaster ,the old tire was burnt
on the tread from the fender and the broken leaf spring ,non salt water trailer
anyway ,tire was sticky ,melted a bit on the tread ,but otherwise in great shape ,did not go flat and are 5 years old .towmaster does not offer that size anymore (A78-13) small boat trailer,so no luck ,but the salesman said they
have had excellent service with towmaster and no problems to speak of ,great tires .My experience also has been a good one with them .
The tire was a bias ply .
Scott

[bhayden]

Towmaster is the name the Greenball company uses for their trailer tires. Originally Greenball contracted with Cheng Shin, the parent company for the Maxxis brand. They used Goodyear as a supplier in the 90's but I think all of there tires are now contracted through other sources. About a year ago Goodyear made a major push to reduce the number of private label companies they produced tires for.

-Bernie