Goodyear Marathons

I know alot of you swear by these tires so here is my story. If you look back in the forums I had one blow apart last July and another one again last November. As I was looking over my boat preparing for a trip in Sept I noticed my spare looked odd. This tire is from 05 but has seen at tops 200 miles of road time only when I had to put it on cuz of the others blowing out. It did not look like that when I took it off so it had to seperate on the few times I am alone and have to step down on it to get out of the boat. If it cant take my weight how on earth can it take the boats? Im sorry but I will NEVER put these on anything I own again!

The first pic, Spare looking down.

It has some really bad wear on the inside, are you sure you are not over weight on the trailer. (bowing the axle) If that tire only had 200 miles on it there is something wacky. Maybe you got spare jacked?

Not trying to cut you or say you did anything wrong, just an observation. -Mark

Just by looking at your picture it appears that the tire was wearing uneven. I would have the axles checked to make sure they are not bent, or the trailer to see if it needs alignment. I am not trying to play down your bad luck, but it is way to odd to see 3 tires do this.

IF that is all your are getting out of them I would make sure and get the extra warranty on the next set. At least they didnt blow apart and mess up the trailer or boat like some guys have had with the Carlisle’s.

That make on the second photo is strange. Im sure stepping on it would not do that. Maybe it hit something.

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The first pic, Spare looking down.

It has some really bad wear on the inside, are you sure you are not over weight on the trailer. (bowing the axle) If that tire only had 200 miles on it there is something wacky. Maybe you got spare jacked?

Not trying to cut you or say you did anything wrong, just an observation. -Mark

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I dont know how it is overweight. Its the tires that were on from new. 17ft tiller boat on a 2800# trailer, which was 1 size bigger than recommended for that boat. It also is torsion ride so there is no axle.

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IF that is all your are getting out of them I would make sure and get the extra warranty on the next set. At least they didnt blow apart and mess up the trailer or boat like some guys have had with the Carlisle’s.

That make on the second photo is strange. Im sure stepping on it would not do that. Maybe it hit something.

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They did blow apart and took off a fender.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Product Service D805
Akron, Ohio 44316-0001
March 27, 2006
SUBJECT: Marathon Special Trailer Applications – General Information
Goodyear Marathon tires are widely used in a variety of towable trailer applications and are designed and branded
as “ST” (Special Trailer) tires.
This information is designed to help you obtain the best performance from tires with the ST (Special Trailer)
designation. Please review the following important points with your Goodyear Marathon customers.
· Industry standards dictate that tires with the ST designation are speed restricted to 65 MPH under normal
inflation and load conditions unless a different speed restriction is indicated on the sidewall of the tire.
· Based on industry standards, if tires with the ST designation are used at speeds between 66 and 75 mph, it is
necessary to increase the cold inflation pressures by 10 psi above the recommended pressure for the load.
o Do not exceed the maximum pressure for the wheel.
o If the maximum pressure for the wheel prohibits the increase of air pressure, then the
maximum speed must be restricted to 65 mph.
o The cold inflation pressure must not exceed 10 psi beyond the inflation specified for the maximum load of the tire.
· Drivers should always obey posted speed limits and reduce speeds when necessary based on vehicle, road,
weather or traffic conditions.
· Trailers tires should be operated at inflation pressures that are specified by the trailer manufacturer. The trailer
manufacturer’s inflation information can usually be found in the owner’s manual, tire information placard or
vehicle certification label, usually located on the forward left side of the trailer.
· Cold inflation pressures should be checked every morning during trips and monthly while in storage.
· Vehicles or trailers should not be overloaded. The tire information placard, vehicle certification labels or
owner’s manual should be checked for the maximum recommended load.
Vehicle speed, load and inflation pressures, all of which are within control of the driver, are critical factors for the safe and enjoyable operation of any vehicle.
Important tire care information and the load / inflation tables are available on Goodyear’s Recreational Vehicle web
site at http://www.goodyear.com/rv.

I have the pressures checked every 2 weeks by my buddy/mechanic. My old 97 pickup doesnt have the umph it used to so to reach 65 is a stretch with me. I have oulled trailers for 20 years and take good mechanical care on all that I own.

The first pic in your line up, is that the tire that WAS on the trailer and went bad. And you just took the pic after swaping the spare on?

Also how old are the tires, and how many estimated miles?

No that was the original spare. THe tire did not look like that when it was put back in the spare spot. The other 2 that went bad blew to pieces. It was only used when the other tires had blown out.

Here is a height recommendation

You know what NASCAR drivers say. For every Goodyear there is a bad one. Sorry couldn’t resist. I had the same thing happen with these tires on my tandom axle camper. The tire shop owner told me that he has replaced many many Marathons.

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IF that is all your are getting out of them I would make sure and get the extra warranty on the next set. At least they didnt blow apart and mess up the trailer or boat like some guys have had with the Carlisle’s.

Mike has a point here, sometimes the spare tire is mounted so low that your tire will hit objects.

That make on the second photo is strange. Im sure stepping on it would not do that. Maybe it hit something.

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I see what you are saying now. The tire cannot turn on the spare tire holder and the tears in the tire are on the top.

Red Lab,

Here is some food for thought. Rubber has a life time. 5 years for a tire sounds pretty good even if it only has 200 miles on it. AND this is assuming that it was actually manufactured in 2005. You would be surprised how long tires can sit on shelves. I had a dealer try to mount a 4 year old tire on my trailer and I wouldn’t have anything with it.

Don’t forget that tire is still exposed to the elements while mounted as a spare.

Something to think about.

FDR

After reading this a little more closely, I see you happen to have a Eazy Loader torsion axel trailer. Their was a bad batch of axels in the early 2004 year. I know, I had two of them under my trailer. The tires wore on the outside edge real quick. I replaced the axels under warranty and had no issues after that. The problem they ran into was a new jig for welding the spindels on the axels was manufactured wrong which caused the spindles to be bent down on the ends. There were a few trailers like this. if you have something like this turn it in for warranty even if the trailer is out of warranty. I believe they will cover it if it falls into the situation I am talking about.

I too had issues with my Marathons

Did some research on the web and seen others were having issues also

So I went with towmasters this time.

Hope they do better then the goodyears

Red Lab there is no way that tire in the picture has 200 miles on it. You must have a bad axle, are overloaded or got a bad set of rubber. I purchased good year marathons and drove 570 miles to MN. They are now 6 years old and still look excellent. Sorry about your luck.

I thought my Marathons just had a bad year, but I to am going to replace my trailer tires after just 7 months of use. They have worn terribly and one has already failed.

I guess the Marathons are just a poor tire. I’m glad I saw this before I replaced my tires.

I check my pressure and bearing before EVERY trip regardless of distance. So I know that’s not he problem. They are rated for the proper weight of boat, trailer and gear so that’s not the problem. I haven’t checked the trailer tracking straight but I’ve never had any concerns while towing it (trailer is a 2009 ShoreLand’r).

Trailer alignment makes a huge difference, not only in tire wear, but in gas mileage. Their are lot of veribles that contribute to tire wear. I must have had over 2000 miles on my tires after the axel replacement and they looked good.

Red lab,
If you obey the rules with Goodyear Marathons tires they will serve you just fine. What’s nice about those tires is that if you want to count on them they will stand by you as long as they are less than 5 years old (and not worn out, good tire pressure, and alignment). All RV’ers know this fact (if they are using Marathon tires). The odds of finding a recently built Marathon tire locally – based on the date code on the side of the tire is ZERO. You can talk to any local vendor and they will (usually) give you a song and a dance (I was lucky to run into an honest vendor who gave me the true story in Bloomington, IL – the scene of my last RV Marathon tire blowout). Note: I was no able to get a very new tire there, so I bought what they had and tossed it when I got home! If you want to get the newest Marathons you probably have to go online – I got my last set of Marathons (for my Airstream) from Tirerack.com (this is not a promo – they move more tires than any other vendor in the USA!). Those tires were less than three months old (to my door)! The trouble with other brands of tires is that there is little history or knowledge about them. We all know that trailer tires are not worn out before they need to be changed – they blow out, the tread separates, or whatever. Tires are a very HOT subject w/ RV’ers! These people put thousands of miles on their tires – riding on the max load rating for temperature and weight. They also like to talk about it (sorry)!

Just a thought,
Roger

So what is the procedure for checking a alignment on a trailer?

Some places that align cars with lasers do it. I have never attempted it myself, but I believe the alignment would have to be based off the tongue of the trailer. I know of a few guys that were having bearing and tire failure that had their trailers aligned in a Fargo shop and have had real good success.

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So what is the procedure for checking a alignment on a trailer?

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Mike, I aligned yours with the assistance of Karavan. There are hash marks on the frame that need to be in alignment. You can loosen shackles and move the frame components to line up for proper alignment. It worked great for me. They told me that’s how they do it at the factory..at Karavan anyway.

The question is: How much did you paid for your Marathon tires?

They are the tires that came on the trailer when I bought the boat.

Oh, used tires? Well there’s no way to determine if the flaw was from normal usage or from taking a blow from something else. Just speculating at this point. I myself, will always have the worst luck with previous owned purchases. So I’ve seen my share of dissappointment from tires from various makes.

The boat and trailer was brand new.