[JRTJH]

Goodyear made Marathon tires in it's Ohio plant for years. They came in every size that typical ST tires were sold. Then, in the late 80's, Goodyear shut down that line and moved it to China. The early 90's Marathons started having significant problems and in 1994 Goodyear had a recall to exchange all existing 14" and 15" Marathon tires with "upgraded" tires. That tire also had significant problems and Goodyear has still got a lot of "followers" who refuse to buy Marathon tires.

Last year Goodyear introduced the Endurance as the "evolution away from its Marathon brand" It's been on the market almost 9 months now. I can completely understand the rejection and reluctance that comes from experience with the old Marathon line.

Anyone who didn't know about the Marathon history or who never had them destroy the side of their trailer may think an "American manufactured ST tire from Goodyear" is a "great tire".... Those of us who sat in Las Vegas or Phoenix with the side torn off our Holiday Rambler when our Marathon ST tires exploded may not feel quite as "warm and fuzzy" with Goodyear's claims of improved tires.... They told us that when they recalled and replaced our defective tires with tires that were no darned better than what we originally had.

Time will tell, but I won't be their "test bed". I'll stick with Carlisle or Maxxis until there's enough history with the new Goodyear line to document that it's not a "Marathon with a different tread design"....... Goodyear burned me once with bad ST tires, they won't get another opportunity to use me to test their "new stuff".