Conversation with Goodyear about Marathon tires

[bucky]

Our recent to us 5er has 1 Endurance and 3 Marathons mounted. I am well aware of the issues with Marathons and they will be replaced shortly.
2 of them are early 2016 and the other is late 2015 manufacture. I don't know if they were intended to be an "upgrade" at some point. The unit is a 2014 so not original. It's a FR product, I can't imagine that they used them as OEM but maybe.
I went out yesterday to get the DOTs and went on GY's website to see about any possible assistance. Their own website stated that the DOT numbers were not recognized as Goodyear products. I thought that was funny, so I called. No luck on the assistance, imagine that. I never stated that I had bought them nor was it asked.
Another weird thing was that in several places max pressure is listed as 65 psi when the tires themselves clearly state 80 psi. I wonder how many blowouts that caused when someone let it get any lower than that.

[bucky]

This unit was a trade in at a dealer so I didn't have have the experience of talking with the original owner and judging his maintenance experience.
Also, when we first looked at it the spare was in the left rear position and the fancy wheel and tire that used to live there was in the under storage and blown apart. Blown apart was putting it mildly. It didn't throw the tread, it exploded across the tread all the way around the tire but was still attached at the bead. I've never seen that before. I should have looked at that tire better but the dealer had replaced it with the single Endurance when we went back to negotiate. The plastic/cloth was gone above that position but spray undercoat and a piece of coroplast took care of that minor issue.
The spare in the storage area was very under inflated so I am doubting how often the other tires were checked and maybe they learned their lesson when they had to replace them when the unit was only 3 years old.
I'll feel better with new tires. Somebody out here in east booney NC will buy the Marathons for a trailer.

[Thermoguy]

bucky wrote:
Our recent to us 5er has 1 Endurance and 3 Marathons mounted. I am well aware of the issues with Marathons and they will be replaced shortly.
2 of them are early 2016 and the other is late 2015 manufacture. I don't know if they were intended to be an "upgrade" at some point. The unit is a 2014 so not original. It's a FR product, I can't imagine that they used them as OEM but maybe.
I went out yesterday to get the DOTs and went on GY's website to see about any possible assistance. Their own website stated that the DOT numbers were not recognized as Goodyear products. I thought that was funny, so I called. No luck on the assistance, imagine that. I never stated that I had bought them nor was it asked.
Another weird thing was that in several places max pressure is listed as 65 psi when the tires themselves clearly state 80 psi. I wonder how many blowouts that caused when someone let it get any lower than that.

You didn't say if there is anything wrong with your tires?

Marathon have a mixed bag of results, many with no issues and some with issues.

I have Marathon on my 5er, came with them. Probably should get them replaced, just looked and the DOT is 1513. That's about 7 years old... But they look really good, no cracking, no issues on the sidewall. Had a set of Uniroyal that were 11 years old on another trailer and finally replaced them as they were really cracking. But, those were LT tires.

[Grit_dog]

^Trailer tires is a fairly minor item in life to have convictions about, but to each their own....
GY Endurance are supposed to be very good tires, I wouldn’t let a GY prejudice stop me from buying them. And I had my share of Marathin blow outs back in the day.

[covered_wagon]

I won't be buying Goodyears any longer as any company that tries getting out of what they are responsible for has no business being in the tire business with folks lives on the highway. That's a fact.

[memtb]

bucky wrote:
Our recent to us 5er has 1 Endurance and 3 Marathons mounted. I am well aware of the issues with Marathons and they will be replaced shortly.
2 of them are early 2016 and the other is late 2015 manufacture. I don't know if they were intended to be an "upgrade" at some point. The unit is a 2014 so not original. It's a FR product, I can't imagine that they used them as OEM but maybe.
I went out yesterday to get the DOTs and went on GY's website to see about any possible assistance. Their own website stated that the DOT numbers were not recognized as Goodyear products. I thought that was funny, so I called. No luck on the assistance, imagine that. I never stated that I had bought them nor was it asked.
Another weird thing was that in several places max pressure is listed as 65 psi when the tires themselves clearly state 80 psi. I wonder how many blowouts that caused when someone let it get any lower than that.

It’s not surprising that Goodyear denied any knowledge of producing the Marathon tires! :B memtb

[mkirsch]

So the solution to a defective Goodyear product is to buy... another... Goodyear(!?!) product? Sounds like they got you coming and going.

If I had such a bad experience with Goodyear Marathons, I would not give Goodyear another dime of my money, that's for sure.

Ford/Chevy/Dodge guys turn against their favorite truck brands over a LOT less.

[C_Schomer]

My years in Az. broke me of ever buying another ST tire. The last set made it 2 year and all 6 seperated at the same time. Craig

[1320Fastback]

China would never do that. I mean they did 100% copy the BMW X series SUV and Land Rovers... but tires? No way.


/s

[rexlion]

If GY doesn'trecognize the DOT numbers, I wonder if your tires are not genuine Goodyear tires (fakes, knockoffs)? Those far east factories are known to do that with many items. Stick a brand name on a product that doesn't meet the brand's specs, sell it for more money than it's worth, buyer gets the brown end of the stick.

[rwess]

My 1996 Nomad, my 1999 Innsbruck and my 2000 Fleetwood Terry all came with Goodyear Marathons. They were great tires. Never had any problems with any of them. Checked pressure regularly, but not before every trip. Never had a blowout or flat. I do not know what happened to them after that. I heard that manufacture of them shifted to China, but because of quality that GY brought them back for manufacturing in the US. I have had two blowouts on Chinese tires on some of my newer campers. Just put GY Endurance on my current camper last year. So far so good.

[Cummins12V98]

Do your self a favor and get the GY ENDURANCE installed ASAP!!!

[Lantley]

bucky wrote:

Another weird thing was that in several places max pressure is listed as 65 psi when the tires themselves clearly state 80 psi. I wonder how many blowouts that caused when someone let it get any lower than that.

Max PSI is based on load rating. A load range D is 65 PSI while a E rated tire is 80 PSI.
Tires can be the same brand and type but have different load rating

[SweetLou]

bucky wrote:
Our recent to us 5er has 1 Endurance and 3 Marathons mounted. I am well aware of the issues with Marathons and they will be replaced shortly.
2 of them are early 2016 and the other is late 2015 manufacture. I don't know if they were intended to be an "upgrade" at some point. The unit is a 2014 so not original. It's a FR product, I can't imagine that they used them as OEM but maybe.
I went out yesterday to get the DOTs and went on GY's website to see about any possible assistance. Their own website stated that the DOT numbers were not recognized as Goodyear products. I thought that was funny, so I called. No luck on the assistance, imagine that. I never stated that I had bought them nor was it asked.
Another weird thing was that in several places max pressure is listed as 65 psi when the tires themselves clearly state 80 psi. I wonder how many blowouts that caused when someone let it get any lower than that.

I was on a trip from Calif to Wash early April with my Wells Cargo trailer. Total weight was about 6500 lbs. I had the trailer built and it came with 5 marathons, one a spare. The trailer is 3 years old, and had about 4000 miles on it so the tires are new and stored covered when not in use. I had a tire separate about 500 mi into my trip North. Had to put the spare on and it turns out these tires are 4 year from manufacture date. I have no confidence on the others. In layton UT I purchased a GY Endurance 10 ply and put that on the ground and got to Wash. I will be buying the other 3 soon. Maybe the spare as well. I never called Gy on the issue because I just don't want to get my blood pressure up.