Goodyear Marathon tires are not good tires

[belfert]

I bought Maxxis trailer tires in 2010 for my trailer. I even went with one load range higher to be safe. In 2012 I had two sidewall punctures in 150 miles and my only option for two new tires were Goodyear Marathons.

One of those Goodyear Marathon tires failed badly yesterday. The tread was worn all funny and the tire had a large hole in it with the steel belts exposed. I have TPMS on the trailer tires so they never ran low on pressure and I stopped right away when the TPMS went off. The tire only has like 12,000 miles on it so the tread shouldn't be so worn. The three remaining Maxxis tires still look practically like new with twice the miles on them. I don't see anything wrong like a bent spindle, bad suspension, or hot hub that would cause the tire to wear funny.

I may have hit something, but still, the tire shouldn't look like the tread is nearly gone with the relatively low miles. I'll see if my road hazard will cover a new tires. If not, I will be getting another Maxxis trailer tire.

[Charles2222]

Ain't it funny ??????????

[kellertx5er]

myredracer wrote:
Another ST tire quality thread. Oh joy...

Without knowing the true and accurate history of external damage, towing under-inflated, towing in excess of 65 mph, etc, which is essentially impossible, there is no point in blaming the brand or place of manufacture. One problem is, when someone buys an RV with ST tires on it, nobody explains to them how they really need to be treated and it may not be until they go onto an RV forum that they find out.

AMEN! x3

I would really love to know how many tires fail when used only within their design ratings. Do all of the Marathon haters drive 65 mph or less? And please don't try to claim that GY rates them for higher speeds if you increase the pressure, they DON'T. From PSB #2014-01:

"Goodyear Marathon Special Trailer tires, with the “ST” size designation, are speed rated at 65 MPH (105 km/h) under normal inflation and load conditions.
• This speed rating is based on Tire and Rim Association loads and inflation pressures for ST trailer tires without a service description for speeds up through 65 mph. (ref: TRA 2013 Year Book)
• If Goodyear tires, with the ST designation, are used at speeds between 66 and 75 mph (106 km/h and 120 km/h), we recommend the cold inflation pressure be increased by 10 psi (70 kPa) above the recommended pressure based on the trailer placard for normal inflation and load conditions."

[myredracer]

goducks10 wrote:
According to those in the know, if you aren't towing with a dually and don't have LT tires on your trailer you're risking death or injury to everyone.

Totally... That's why I insist on using ST tires, and Marathons to boot. Only to prove the naysayers wrong. :R

One of the best, if not THE best source of info. on RV tires is the "RV tire safety dot com" blog by a experienced and now retired tire engineer. Tons of excellent info. on pretty much anything you want to know about RV tires. Regretfully, he was banned from RV.net (but he's perfectly fine on any other RV forum!).

Our TT would have come stock with Chinamaster LRC tires but we ordered the optional LRD Marathons. Asked our sales guy at our dealer why anyone would want to upgrade to LRD tires and his answer was "I don't know". A wealth of knowledge on ST tires...

[goducks10]

According to those in the know, if you aren't towing with a dually and don't have LT tires on your trailer you're risking death or injury to everyone.

[Fresno_Tundra_D]

4X4Dodger wrote:

ol Bombero-JC wrote:

4X4Dodger wrote:
Sorry but the idea that Goodyears are bad tires is just unsupportable.

There is altogether too much superstition, Myth, misinformation and personal bias to say nothing of the wild unsupportable anecdotal accusations like the OP's about ST tires.

Hmmmmmmm.....superstition, myth, personal bias, and wild
unsupportable anecdotal accusations were put to rest - a LONG time ago!

The misinformation was ruled to be from Goodyear and their expert witnesses! (Sounds like you could have been one of them!)

The tires in question included Marathons.
(see 5th paragraph, under "The Human Toll").

SP Times: "Goodyear Kept Tire Problems Quiet"

GY rep, Chuck Sinclair: "In every case customers were at fault, etc."

Former senior trial attorney for the NHTSA Alan Kam: "That's so absurd, etc.".

For personal experiences, the following is a great long-running thread, which began in 2006 to present - from the Airstream forums....

"Goodyear Marathon Failures"

Lots of folks with *supportable* accusations - or GY wouldn't be repairing damage caused by their tires (to avoid further legal actions)...:S

Kinda like Russian Roulette, (but) - if you like 'em - run 'em!..:C


~

You are a prime example of the misinformation I wrote about.

The article you cited was all about LIGHT TRUCK TIRES not ST tires. They are completely different designs.

So lets put the article in true context:

According to the NHTSA there were 11,000 (Eleven thousand) accidents in the US caused by tire failure in any given year.

There were in 2012, 254639386 vehicles registered and on the roads. YES thats 254 MILLION plus.

That accident rate is infinitesimal as any kind of meaningful statistic and what it really shows is how good our tires really are.

In 2010 Goodyear sold 37.5% of those tires in the US and they are the dominant provider of OEM tires for new cars.

So tell me please, these are the facts...how can any intelligent person claim Goodyear tires are not good?

You are taking one case and trying to conflate it to an entire company over all of the product line in complete contradiction to the facts and the real world statistics.

Thats Misinformation. Thats unsupplortable myth.

4X4, you're running up against the same biases I ran into last year when I stated on here that I got nearly 13 years on my Goodyear Marathons before changing them. No tire product is perfect. A lot depends on how they are cared for. Just weed through the disinformation.

[cekkk]

Y'all are a couple drinks ahead of me at this party, but has anyone mentioned a NHTSA recall? As of a couple years ago it had received only 14 complaints. They came with my Eagle did fine, and I put a new set on after three and a half years anyway. STs aren't LTs or Ps. I don't expect them to perform like either of those types.

[4X4Dodger]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:

4X4Dodger wrote:
Sorry but the idea that Goodyears are bad tires is just unsupportable.

There is altogether too much superstition, Myth, misinformation and personal bias to say nothing of the wild unsupportable anecdotal accusations like the OP's about ST tires.

Hmmmmmmm.....superstition, myth, personal bias, and wild
unsupportable anecdotal accusations were put to rest - a LONG time ago!

The misinformation was ruled to be from Goodyear and their expert witnesses! (Sounds like you could have been one of them!)

The tires in question included Marathons.
(see 5th paragraph, under "The Human Toll").

SP Times: "Goodyear Kept Tire Problems Quiet"

GY rep, Chuck Sinclair: "In every case customers were at fault, etc."

Former senior trial attorney for the NHTSA Alan Kam: "That's so absurd, etc.".

For personal experiences, the following is a great long-running thread, which began in 2006 to present - from the Airstream forums....

"Goodyear Marathon Failures"

Lots of folks with *supportable* accusations - or GY wouldn't be repairing damage caused by their tires (to avoid further legal actions)...:S

Kinda like Russian Roulette, (but) - if you like 'em - run 'em!..:C


~

You are a prime example of the misinformation I wrote about.

The article you cited was all about LIGHT TRUCK TIRES not ST tires. They are completely different designs.

So lets put the article in true context:

According to the NHTSA there were 11,000 (Eleven thousand) accidents in the US caused by tire failure in any given year.

There were in 2012, 254639386 vehicles registered and on the roads. YES thats 254 MILLION plus.

That accident rate is infinitesimal as any kind of meaningful statistic and what it really shows is how good our tires really are.

In 2010 Goodyear sold 37.5% of those tires in the US and they are the dominant provider of OEM tires for new cars.

So tell me please, these are the facts...how can any intelligent person claim Goodyear tires are not good?

You are taking one case and trying to conflate it to an entire company over all of the product line in complete contradiction to the facts and the real world statistics.

Thats Misinformation. Thats unsupplortable myth.

[belfert]

tegu69 wrote:

I don't understand why you didn't get the other tires with the higher load range in 3 years. You had to get the GY in 2012. 3 other tires and 2 GY = 5 tires.

The required tires for this trailer are load range C. All of the tires on the trailer are load range D including both the Maxxis and Goodyear tires.

[Crabbypatty]

I had two sets on my Wilderness which we owned for 10 years. Up and down the east coast 5x's and many places in between. Never had a problem. I always check my TV and TT before I go. You could have hit something and not know it and your wheels may be out of alignment.

My new to me heavier TT has loadstar tires. Seem pretty beefy and I noticed going over the road so do a lot of Tractor Trailers. Going to replace them in the spring possibly with the same thin only do to age. They look like they have almost no miles on them but being 7 years old I can start seeing some cracks develop from being exposed to the outside.

[RedRocket204]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:
SP Times: "Goodyear Kept Tire Problems Quiet"

2006?

ol Bombero-JC wrote:
...For personal experiences, the following is a great long-running thread, which began in 2006 to present "Goodyear Marathon Failures"

Present = 2011?


:S

[JIMNLIN]

op wrote:
The tire only has like 12,000 miles on it so the tread shouldn't be so worn.

Thats actually pretty good service miles for a ST tire. Like Carlisle says;
Time and the elements weaken a trailer tire.
– 3 to 5 years is the average life expectancy of a trailer tire,regardless of mileage.
– It is estimated that in approximately three years, roughly one-third of a tire's strength is gone
– After three years, depending upon storage and conditions of usage, consider replacing trailer tires even if they have tread depth remaining.

– After five years, trailer tires should be replaced in all cases.

I ran several sets of 15" Marathons on smaller enclosed trailers (tool trailers) and tri axles with 15" wheels. The treads on some went away in the 15k-18k mile range worn flat and smooth. Most simply came apart some where down the road well before 15k miles.
Finally upgraded to LT tires. No more tires coming apart and milage jumped into the 50k-55k range per set. 'course that was in a 12-14 month range but it sure beat the heck out of 3 sets of ST tires in the same time/miles frame.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

4X4Dodger wrote:
Sorry but the idea that Goodyears are bad tires is just unsupportable.

There is altogether too much superstition, Myth, misinformation and personal bias to say nothing of the wild unsupportable anecdotal accusations like the OP's about ST tires.

Hmmmmmmm.....superstition, myth, personal bias, and wild
unsupportable anecdotal accusations were put to rest - a LONG time ago!

The misinformation was ruled to be from Goodyear and their expert witnesses! (Sounds like you could have been one of them!)

The tires in question included Marathons.
(see 5th paragraph, under "The Human Toll").

SP Times: "Goodyear Kept Tire Problems Quiet"

GY rep, Chuck Sinclair: "In every case customers were at fault, etc."

Former senior trial attorney for the NHTSA Alan Kam: "That's so absurd, etc.".

For personal experiences, the following is a great long-running thread, which began in 2006 to present - from the Airstream forums....

"Goodyear Marathon Failures"

Lots of folks with *supportable* accusations - or GY wouldn't be repairing damage caused by their tires (to avoid further legal actions)...:S

Kinda like Russian Roulette, (but) - if you like 'em - run 'em!..:C


~

[tegu69]

belfert wrote:
I bought Maxxis trailer tires in 2010 for my trailer. I even went with one load range higher to be safe. In 2012 I had two sidewall punctures in 150 miles and my only option for two new tires were Goodyear Marathons.

One of those Goodyear Marathon tires failed badly yesterday. The tread was worn all funny and the tire had a large hole in it with the steel belts exposed. I have TPMS on the trailer tires so they never ran low on pressure and I stopped right away when the TPMS went off. The tire only has like 12,000 miles on it so the tread shouldn't be so worn. The three remaining Maxxis tires still look practically like new with twice the miles on them. I don't see anything wrong like a bent spindle, bad suspension, or hot hub that would cause the tire to wear funny.

I may have hit something, but still, the tire shouldn't look like the tread is nearly gone with the relatively low miles. I'll see if my road hazard will cover a new tires. If not, I will be getting another Maxxis trailer tire.

I don't understand why you didn't get the other tires with the higher load range in 3 years. You had to get the GY in 2012. 3 other tires and 2 GY = 5 tires.

[wilber1]

Grit dog wrote:
For those defending GY Marathon tires, you're solidly in the minority!
Marathons for some reason are about the shattiest tire you can put on your trailer. For years it was , age, dry rot, China bomb or us made, etc.
Turns out they just generally suck and are a good way to practice road side tire changes and trailer fender bodywork!
I've only had 5 de-lam on me to learn my lesson! I'm a quick learner though. 3 in the same week same trailer!
Same results with no less than 4 friends on their boat trailers too. More than a coincidence.
Odds are high that your Marathkn will de lam especially if it's a few years old, even if it's in otherwise new condition.

I don't know what you do with your tires or how close you are running them to their rated load but I can only go from my own experience. I got 9 years out my D rated US made Marathons that came on my 2002 Titanium. Not worn out, just old. In 2011 I changed them over to E rated Chinese Marathons. When I bought the rig in my sig, I switched them over because it came with 15" wheels and my old ones were 16's. 13 years with two sets of Marathons and no failures, US made or Chinese. Of course that could change but any tire can fail.