A year and a half ago I bought new Goodyear Marathons (14 inch "D" rated) for my 27 Foot Crossroads Sunset Trail TT. I took a couple of trips on them putting on around 8K. I recently took a trip to Idaho to visit family and the tires looked fine. I had kept them under cover and aired them up to the desired 50 psi. The trailer had also been stored up on jack stands. On my second day out I have a blow out on the left front of the travel trailer on I 80 near York, NE. I change it and go to my nearest Walmart to get a new tire. I have it changed and the next day north of Ogden, UT I have another blow out on the other side. I end up spending the night in the Walmart parking lot awaiting the opening of the tire shop the next day when I got all the tires replaced. I'm now riding on four new Good Year Marathons because that was the only trailer tire they carry. During my trip which is now over I have four lousy unsafe tires on my trailer. Before I take another long trip I will remove the Good Year Marathons, "D" rated trailer tires and replace then with either a truck tire or get a better quality "E" rated trailer tire. The tires came apart just like a cheap re-cap tire. Any ideas on what I should switch to?

Possibly under inflated ? D rated tires are recommended for 65 PSI.

Bad luck and hit something in the road?Once they blow, they can quickly shred and it looks bad.

I would say you underinflated your tires also. Here's the Goodyear inflation guide.http://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf

Check the date stamps on the tires, even "new" ones. They will give you any in stock, or possibly the oldest!I wouldn't take if over a year old! Walmart may exchange if yours are old.

The tires came apart like rubber peeling off a cheap re-cap. I didn't hit anything. The tire says to inflate to 50 psi which I did. Not going to buy the Goodyear brand again. The first blow out took off my plastic wheel cover but my second one didn't do any damage.

Road trip and two blow outs on Goodyear Marathons

SoundGuy
Explorer
Sep 17, 2017
Spade Cooley wrote:
A year and a half ago I bought new Goodyear Marathons (14 inch "D" rated) for my 27 Foot Crossroads Sunset Trail TT.

You haven't told us the specific size of your 14" Marathons but if they're 205/75 R14 then they would be Load Range C tires, not D. Secondly, the "new" Marathons you bought as replacements would in fact be old, unsold dealer stock as the Marathon is no longer manufactured, being replaced by the Goodyear Endurance which is made in the US, Alabama specifically. The Endurance in the 205/75 R14 is a Load Range D tire with a cold inflation of 65 p.s.i., with a FAR stiffer sidewall and overall FAR better construction than the previous Marathon and is the tire many of us are now putting on our own trailers. You can view Goodyear Endurance ST trailer tire specs here. Since the Endurance has only been on the market a short time it's too early to say but early reports, my own included, is that the Endurance is the tire we've been wanting in a reliable trailer tire with FAR better towing characteristics. No one wants to deal with blowouts but to simply say you'd never buy another Goodyear tire based on name alone, without knowing all the facts, is to cut your nose off to spite your face. :R
Vintage465
Nomad
Sep 17, 2017
It is interesting all the different issues with trailer tires. One thing is for sure. They have been historically bad in most cases. My trailer came with and still has Goodyear Marathons 205's in 14" with the "C" rating. I have pulled it some where around 20,000 miles and I'm having good success. I'm pretty religious about keeping the pressure at 50psig, but I do cook down the road at 65-75 mph depending on the speed limit. Looking at the spec's on the Maxxis, I'd say in a like for like size, in my case the 205-14's the Good year Endurance is going to win the comparison with me as it is a Load Range D and not C. Although, I have to say, I've read nothing but good print on the latest Maxxis. One thing I haven't done is tow at very high ambient temps. Most of my long distance driving has been in the fall and winter.
Vintage465
Nomad
Sep 17, 2017
Just realized I'm a Bozo! I have 205-15's on my Creek Side! That means I can go up to an E rating with 225-15' when I get new tires. This will be a more comfy feeling. I LIKE it!
atreis
Explorer
Sep 17, 2017
The 50 lb pressure would also seem to indicate that they were LR C tires, not D.

Not all tire issues are the result of the make/model tire. Aside from damage from overloading and driving faster than the tire is rated for, sometimes stranger things can happen. I got lucky this summer with a flat. Pulled into a gas station to get gas and noticed a tire on the trailer looked low. As I filled the car with gas, it got visibly lower. I figured I must have run over something while getting off the highway so finished filling and pulled to an out of the way location, swapped it for the spare, and continued on my trip. (Very lucky how it happened.) When I got back home after the trip I looked the tire over and couldn't find anything wrong with it aside from it not holding air. I took the tire to a local tire shop and it ends up it wasn't the tire - the rim had cracked. The tire was fine and is now serving as my spare, on a new rim.
Lynnmor
Explorer
Sep 17, 2017
Vintage465 wrote:
Just realized I'm a Bozo! I have 205-15's on my Creek Side! That means I can go up to an E rating with 225-15' when I get new tires. This will be a more comfy feeling. I LIKE it!

Make sure that the rim width is right for the larger tire. Also check the pressure rating for your wheels.

Since you have 15", I would sidestep the whole issue of ST tires and install Goodyear Wrangler LT215/75-15 tires.
JIMNLIN
Explorer III
Sep 17, 2017
For years Goodyear Marathons have had reliability issues as evident of 200-300 Marathon tire complaints on NHTSA.gov website. The issues you had are typical for this tire and have been since they hit the streets in the late '60s/'70s.

Goodyears new Endurance ST tire replaces the Marathons. They have been out for just over a year and seem popular however its going to be several years and 25k-35k miles of service to see how reliable they are.

Carlisle HD is another new gen ST tire and like the Endurance is popular but has no long track record.

Provider is another new gen M speed rated ST tire and has been on the market since the '10-'11 era with a excellent reliability record.
The above tires have the nylon cap under the tread which helps hold the tire together.

Maxxis ST are a bit dated. There still 65 mph speed rated and all sizes don't have the nylon cap. Maxxis 14" sizes don't have the cap.
With over 30 members reporting Maxxis ST8008 tire issues I would go with a better tire.
Maxxis does have a all position U-168 LT tire in several 14" sizes/C and D load ranges.

And the long time popular Kumho 857 comes in 14" D load range at 65 psi

The rest of the ST trailers tire brand herd ??? Not on my trailers.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Sep 17, 2017
"and aired them up to the desired 50 psi."

Could be out there but only 14 Ds I see are 65 psi. If 65, running them at 50 heated them up?
profdant139
Explorer II
Sep 17, 2017
Spade, I am glad that you didn't suffer a lot of damage -- what a drag when tires explode.

I am now running Endurance, load range D, on my little trailer. And crossing my fingers for luck.
Grodyman
Explorer
Sep 17, 2017
Kumho radial 857
drsteve
Explorer
Sep 17, 2017
I ran a set of Marathons for 12 years with no issues.