Why do GY Marathons have such a bad reputation?

[Atlee]

I don't want to start another tire war, but I'm still trying to wrap my hands and head around a vexing, to me, question.

First some background information. I've had 3 TT's in my life, and they were bought used, but the 1st 2 were keep only 1 year each. All three came with GY Marathons. The 1st had Canadian built Marathons. They were several years old, when I got the trailer, and I had no problems with them the year I owned the trailer.

The 2nd trailer was a 2009 model HiLo. Two of the Marathons that were on the ground were American made, and two were Chinese made. Again, I had no trouble with any of the tires. I did several Richmond, VA to Orlando runs down I-95 with the trailer.

I just traded the HiLo in on a 2012 Koala in my sig. The Koala also came with Marathons, all built in China. These tires were built in late 2010. The reason I want to change out tires now is in the next year, I will be putting about 14-15 thousand miles on the tires, and I'd like to have brand new tires when I start the grand adventure. The grand adventure including 8 or more college football games this fall (including a trip to Atlanta in two weeks), and a cross country trek beginning February 2014.

Now the question. Why would Goodyear, a well known and long established tire company here in the US, ruin its reputation by intentionally putting garbage Chinese junk on the American market.

With the proper quality control, I believe a good tire can be built in China. Wouldn't GY provide the proper quality control?

All this said, I have a little more than 1 week to get 4 new TT tires installed. My first choice would be Maxxis, but it will take nearly that long just to order and get the tires and then I'd still have to find a local tire dealer to install them. My 2nd choice would be Kumho 857 Radial in 195R14 size, if any local Kumho dealer has them in stock.

It seems as if the Marathons are my 3rd choice now, also assuming any local tire dealer actually has relatively new Marathons in stock.

Another question on the GY Marathons. Do Marathons have the extra nylon cap that Maxxis have, and the new style Carlisle have. I know TowMax have started using the nylon cap, but only for 15 & 16 inch tires. They don't use them for 14" tires yet.

I do know the stock 205/75R14 LR-C tires that are on my trailer give me plenty of margin since the combined weight rating of this size tire is over 7k pounds, and my trailer, even with max weight load is 4950#.

[NanciL]

I wouldn't have any thing but Good Year Marathons. but just the ones made in the US, (North Carolina)

Jack L

[kedanie]

FastEagle wrote:
The regulations for ST tires differ from car and truck tires. The car and truck tires MUST have load capacity reserves. That is a mandated DOT requirement. There is no such reserve requirement for ST tires.
FastEagle

Calvin, it looks like you are finally coming clean on this one. After all these years of denials you are admitting that LT tires carry a reserve capacity and ST tires don't!!!!!

This revelation would explain a whole bunch of tire failures.

Keith

[FastEagle]

The regulations for ST tires differ from car and truck tires. The car and truck tires MUST have load capacity reserves. That is a mandated DOT requirement. There is no such reserve requirement for ST tires.

Most RV trailer owners are not accustomed to checking their tire pressures every time they get underway with the trailer in tow. They don’t do it with the tow vehicle so why the trailer?

There are excuses upon excuses for early RV trailer tire failures. You can write about it for hours and end up right where you started.

If you want to have any chance at getting a normal life out of your trailer tires you’re just going to have to dig in and learn about the specific ST design. Once you learn all the parameters you’re going to have to practice applying them. And sometimes that may not be enough. Because of the tire fitment regulations for the RV trailer axles you may have a trailer that came with tires barely able to carry the loaded trailer. They are legal but wont last long even when meticulously maintained. They will degrade really fast and fail.

Here is an example. I’m not picking on Keystone here. The information is on public display. It’s just a fact that most trailer owners don’t know. In this 2012 reference all units get the same sized tires, from the smallest to the largest. As long as the tires provide enough load capacity to equal or exceed the vehicle’s certified GAWR they are legal.

Look Here!

FastEagle

[Atlee]

Yep all Marathons are from China. The Marathons on the 2003 Traillite by R-Vision were made in Canada.

The HiLo I just traded was a 2009. It had two Chinese Marathons and two American Marathons on the ground.

My current TT was built in April 2011 and has all Chinese Marathons built in 9/10.

Still Searchin' wrote:
Are ALL the marathons now built in China?? We've always had GY marathons, and never any problems going around the country 3x + Alaska BUT we have a TPMS on all our trailer tires AND we have had each tire individually weighed (at Rallys) and I check PSI (via TPMS system) prior to driving every driving day.
On our trailer below, 3 of my tires wore excessively on the inside on our first around the USA trip. Consensus was the axles were bowing even though we were just at the GAWR, and we had the axles upgraded from 3500# to 5000# and now the new tires are wearing much more evenly.

[full_mosey]

Atlee wrote:

...
And I will not put another 10 psi in any Marathons I own, in order to drive 75.

Plus 10psi to drive 66mph. 🙂

I know, picky, picky!

HTH;
John

[Still_Searchin_]

Are ALL the marathons now built in China?? We've always had GY marathons, and never any problems going around the country 3x + Alaska BUT we have a TPMS on all our trailer tires AND we have had each tire individually weighed (at Rallys) and I check PSI (via TPMS system) prior to driving every driving day.
On our trailer below, 3 of my tires wore excessively on the inside on our first around the USA trip. Consensus was the axles were bowing even though we were just at the GAWR, and we had the axles upgraded from 3500# to 5000# and now the new tires are wearing much more evenly.

[Atlee]

Of course, I've never had any problem with Marathons. Canadian, American, or Chinese. But my "sample size" isn't very large. I only kept two of the trailers for one year, even though I put a fair number of miles on them each of those years. And they were several years old when I purchased the used trailers.

The full Chinese Marathons on my current "new" trailer were bult in 3810 which is sometime in September 2010 I believe. They were put on the trailer around April 2011. They are only about 3 years old now. Probably don't need to do any thing right now.

But between September 2013 and April 2014, I will have put about 14,000 miles on them if all goes according to plan.

I guess going across country in February 2014, I'd feel a little more comfortable in new tires.

Huntindog wrote:
I have owned 3 sets of Marathons. The factory issued LRC
, then LRDs, and finally LREs. I did make a couple of detours along the way to Es with different brands.(all STs)
Made no difference. All failed long before their 2nd birthday.

[Huntindog]

I have owned 3 sets of Marathons. The factory issued LRC
, then LRDs, and finally LREs. I did make a couple of detours along the way to Es with different brands.(all STs)
Made no difference. All failed long before their 2nd birthday.

[Jacksons]

agree totally with clubhouse

[coolbreeze01]

Goodyear is getting just what they are paying for from China. I have two sets of Toyos that were made in China on vehicles. No problems with thousands of miles and about 7 years on the oldest set.

[clubhouse]

Here is my purely un-scientific explination based on my observations...

Folks want to...

1) drive way to fast while towing. ST Tires are rated for 65 MPH, you shouldn't run anything at max all the time, let alone exceed the rating.
2) don't understand and check tire pressures like they should. This is almost epidemic and why the government felt TPMS shuold be mandatory on passenger vehicles.
3) don't understand their specific tire/RV weight limits and run them overloaded.
4) Look at tread life and equate that too tire life. Tires, especially ones that sit most of their life, need to be replaced ~5 years after MFG date regardless of miles they have been used.

I think its these primary reasons that RVs experience most tire issues. Now Goodyear appears to have the most market share, and therefore will experience the highest number of actual failures, but probably statistically insignifcant when compared at a % of actual failures.

I have been running "China Bomb" GY Marathons with no issues todate. Based on date code they are ~3 yrs old.

[samandtheduck]

I think trailer manufacturers put the cheapest tire and the closest to the load rating tire they can on their trailers. I think most of the failures are the 16" tires on fifth wheels. There is not enough reserve to allow for occasional overspeed or occasional under inflation. In my case I went from load range E (3500 lbs load) to load range F (3950 lbs load) and had 2 failures at just over 3 years. People said change them at 3-5 years and mine failed at the lower end. I chose to go 17.5" tires and rims so I can check the tires not the calender.
Brian

[goducks10]

I had USA GY marathons on my last TT and put close to 10,000 on them in 2-1/2 years. I now have china GY marathons on my new 5'er. I will run them till I need new ones. I'm not going to run out and buy new tires just because people don't like them and prefer Maxxis. IMO it's more about taking care of your tires and having the proper tire for the TT/5'er. I'm under my tires max load capacity by 33%. So I/m only using 2/3 the tires capacity. My tires are rated for a combined load of 10,160lbs and I have 6,800lbs on them. On the current 5'er I will have over 4000 miles on them by the end of the summer. I run 62-65mph when possible. As far as the USA/China thing goes I really doubt a USA based company that outsources work to china for a previously built tire tells the Chinese to just build some tires. The tire manufacturer's reputation is on the line and they are going to have the china plant build to the same specs as they were built in the USA. If I get 3 years and 12-14,000 out of theses tires then I will get GY's again. If they blow up before then I will buy another brand.

[Atlee]

Talked to a local tire dealer who sells Kumho tires. Unfortunately, he doesn't have, nor does his distributor have the Kumho Radial 857's that I would want.

He can get them, but I'd have to pay the inbound freight. The out the door price for 4 Kumho Radial 857 195R14's is $680. This includes mounting and balancing.

4 Marathons, which he has in stock, OTD is $540.

I'm going to call him back to see how much he will charge to mount and balance 4 Maxxis that I can order from DiscountTireDirect.

[robsouth]

I have used Goodyear Marathons for many years with no problems to report. BUT...I had Maxxis tires come on a boat trailer I bought a few years back. One separated with less than 2000 miles. Different strokes for different folks.