Well, My time has come. Marathon issue

[polarlyse]

Well after reading and reading and reading here about Airstreamers with tire issues I was always one to report no tire issues. Had Maxxis on our former trailer and on this 2001 30'er I have GYM's. They were 1 year old when we got the trailer so on the 3rd. year now. I finally decided to spring the bucks and go for the 16" wheels with Michelins. Just ordered the wheels and tires and waiting for the wheels to arrive. Anyhow, in the meantime I planned to take my good lookin GYM off and put them on my son's flatbed utility trailer and am in the process of doing that today. Removed 2 from the AS yesterday and went back and took the other two off today. Surprise, surprise I found one of my GYM's has a longitudinal split about 8" long along the inside of the tread where it joins the sidewall. So I guess I just made it. We're planning a winter trip southward in February and wouldn't have noticed this had I not removed the wheel.

Luck was in my corner this time. A tire failure was imminent so add me to the GYM ( and others ) tire failure group.

[HowieE]

You are one of the lucky ones.

[polarlyse]

Thanks Howie. Yes I do feel very lucky on this one. I try to stay on top of things but this one would have bit me in the Butt for sure. And I was just under the trailer the other day draining the low points and they are right next to the tire. Shame on me for not being more observant. But, Lucky, Yes for sure.

How have you been. I met you last year when you showed my your Anderson Hitch.
Hope you have been well and your travels good also.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by polarlyse

Well after reading and reading and reading here about Airstreamers with tire issues I was always one to report no tire issues. Had Maxxis on our former trailer and on this 2001 30'er I have GYM's. They were 1 year old when we got the trailer so on the 3rd. year now.

My Marathon failure on the last trip of year 3. I went to E rated Maxxis and they failed during the first trip out of year 4. Marathon threw a piece of tread and the belt broke when backing into my drive. The Maxxis tires on the front axle experienced belt separation which allowed air to invade the area between the belt and tire tread. I caught this again after backing into the driveway.

I consider myself extremely lucky that the failure didn't cause blow outs on the road. Once of the reasons I went to the E rated Maxxis tires was the fact that they wrap the belts to minimize belt squirm and heat. I was told that the belt wrapping probably saved a blow out when belts separated from the tread and allowed the ballooning effect in the center of the tires.

I really believe that on the heavy Classics, 3 years is most likely end of life for ST rated tires.


Jack

[polarlyse]

Hi Jack. Mine also was on the forward axle, road side. I wonder if the fore-axle takes more stress than the rear one during sharp backing and may result in more failures on that axle. I don't know the answer just thinking out loud.

Now to re-pack bearings and check the brakes while I'm in the mood and weather is cooperative.

[barts]

Why run ST tires? There are better tires out there.

- Bart

[SuperTrouper]

Originally Posted by barts

Why run ST tires? There are better tires out there.

- Bart

What Bart said!

Brad

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by barts

Why run ST tires? There are better tires out there.

- Bart

Originally Posted by SuperTrouper

What Bart said!

Brad

Some of us are not allowed to recommend anything other than what the trailer came with.

[RLS]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Some of us are not allowed to recommend anything other than what the trailer came with.

??? That makes no sense.

[polarlyse]

You're right. There are better tires out there. That's the point here. I thought I was doing due diligence and watching mine closely but got caught with my drawers down. But luck was in my corner this time around. Better tires it will be. As we type.

[SuperTrouper]

Originally Posted by RLS

??? That makes no sense.

Yeah it does. Check Overlander's occupation. He can only smile knowingly.

I've been running BF Goodrich P235/75 R15 108T XL on my 27FB for 3 years now.. Probably 8-9,000 miles on them. They ride smoother (no more popped rivets and stuff seems to stay put in the trailer). 2183 LBS LOAD derated to 1985lb x 4 is still 7940lb and the trailer is rated at 7500. At the scales fully loaded we run about 6000 lb on the trailer tires so we are well within limits. We run them at 50 lbs and watching the TPMs the pressure usually varies about 8Lbs between 50 degrees (cold) and 90-100 degrees (operating on hot pavement). They don't vary in pressure or temps more than the TV tires while running. The rear TV tires get hotter and have the largest pressure rise. I changed the GYM's out based on the documented damage here in the forums. Whether the GYMs are good or not I can't say but they sure do a lot of damage when they fail spectacularly. -Brad