My GY Marathon experience

[Whiskey_River]

I have always read the various debates & arguments over the Marathon tires and was mostly neutral and not sure what side of the fence to be on. That has changed.
I always kept the tires covered, psi at 80, and would move the rig a foot or so if sitting over 3 or 4 months & monitor with tpms when traveling. The 09 Keystone came with Marathon's and I had no problem with them. Changed them in 2013 with new Marathon's even though the originals showed no sigh of any ware. Probably 8/10k miles on them.
Left Pittsburgh on 12/21 heading to Fort Myers, Fl with temp at 21 degrees and tp at 80psi. Drove to Rock Hill, SC approx. 500 miles and no problem. Next morning the temp was 48 degrees and tmps said tp was 83/84, so I took gage and reduced all tires to 80psi and headed south. 350 miles later just inside the Fla line, running 60/62mph Boom... Right Rear exploded. Coach Net came and put spare on & was on my way. Now I am concerned as the spare is 9 years old and never been on the road before & was the RF tire compromised any when the rear blew. So I kept speed at 50mph and crossed rt 301 across Fla to get to I-75 south. Stopped for fuel about 150 miles from my destination and everything looked good, but I was still concerned about my 9 year old spare and the RF tire. Headed south and now about 8 o'clock and dark. At 8:15 running 50 mph in the granny lane another Boom. I thought the spare blew, but no, it was fine as was the right front that I was concerned about. It was the left front.
Different side and different axle. The 4 Marathons were just over 4 years old and probably 8/9k miles on them.
Called Coach Net again and they brought a tire & mounted it there along I-75 with traffic flying by like a freight train passing a bum and the rig rocking like a 2 ticket ride at the county fair. I then limped into a rest area and stayed till daylight & made it to Ft Myers next morning but was waiting all along for the next "shoe" to drop, talk about "gun shy". Tires have been shipped to Goodyear in Akron along with claim & estimate to fix fender on right side. Left side no damage as I was only running 50 max. So hope they step up and pay to fix it. They don't make Marathons anymore so I won't be making that mistake again.
Can't remember the last time I had a flat tire, and never had a "blow out", but had 2 in one day, so it can happen.
Just my story and not looking to start a tire war post...

[Whiskey_River]

parkmanaa you might be on to something.
My spare is almost 10 years old. Code date is 0308 and is a Mission Tire, not a GY Marathon. I have no clue who makes Mission tires. I bought the 5er new and never paid any attention to what brand it was, just assumed it was a Marathon as that was what was on it. I just added air if needed over the years as it was under the trailer and dark and enuf pain in the butt just to get air in the tire.
Keystone must of had a pile of mission tires in a warehouse somewhere and just used them as spares. Probably cheaper...
The tire they brought to replace my second blow out is an Advant. Never heard of them either. But along I-75 on a Friday night at 10 o'clock on a holiday weekend I would have taken a wooden wheel off of a Conestoga Wagon if it would fit.....

[Lynnmor]

The Goodyear Marathon tires were made in USA, then China, then USA again and then back to China. It would be interesting to know the country of origin of the various tires the OP used.

[parkmanaa]

Whiskey River, I feel your post supports a theory I have had for many years:
Most of this age, age, age rhetoric is ****, ****, ****. After 10 years....replace them.

Your 9-year-old tire is still running but the 4-year-old ones failed.
IMHO a major brand tire, with no more than normal amount of weather-chccking
is still safer after 9 years than many of the new tires on the market today.
I would not hesitate one bit to run it until I could decide on replacements for all the tires on the rig.
Having retired after 40 years in the tire industry, I go back to the original introduction of radial tires in America. Goodyear hurriedly caught onto the bandwagon in the 60's after Michelin introduced the radial tire and the American public realized immediately it was far superior to the bias-ply tire.

Goodyear has ALWAYS come back with the same statement, possibly beginning with their first truck radial, UNISTEEL. "yeah, we had a few problems with that line, but we have taken care of all that in this UNISTEEL II." (you can plug in any of their lines in the proper place).
Can't tell you how many times over that 40 years I have heard that same basic story ! Goodyear has always had a fantastic marketing Dept.

"40 years in the tire industry; seen it all and done most of it"

[larry_barnhart]

When we buy tires I tell the dealer what and when the tires have to been made. This has worked great for us. Bought a 2018 car and replaced the china tires in under 500 miles. Made sure the new tires were as I just said above. Buying tires on the road is not the best.

chevman

chevman

[1320Fastback]

I swear when my trailer is due for tires, more a spur of the moment thing than actually needing them I am going to LT tires. Forget these trailer bombs.

[Cummins12V98]

Put on a set of GY Endurance and don't look back!

[drsteve]

I got 12 years of service out of the set of GY Marathons that came on my 2003 Jayco. Replaced them due to checking in the tread.

[donn0128]

What can I say??