Maxxis failure

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by notanlines

“ Goodyear put a lot of work into the Endurance, and has a vested interest in making sure people are happy with it. ”
I wonder how this differs with their Marathon tire? Hmmmm? And they built it for years knowing how bad it was...

GY put a lot of engineering and forethought in the development of the Marathon ST tires. When they were introduced into the USA market they were built here in the USA. A few years later, GY opened a new plant in China which started building the Marathon ST tires. Because of all the failure reports, GY reviewed their ST manufacturing program. There were zero NHTSA recalls against the brand.

The GY Marathons are the primary reason I started researching ST tires in 2004. When we purchased our first and only full time trailer, it was a 38', 2003 Keystone Everest 5th wheel. It had 6000 axles and the Original Equipment tires were USA made GY Marathons. They were ST235/80R16 LRD, that's right LRD with a maximum load capacity of 3000# at 65 PSI. With those tires GY did not fail me, the governing body did. Within the first, year all OE tires had failed. GY inspected one of them and said I was overloading them. It was very easy to do with zero load capacity reserves and a 65 MPH speed restriction.

The GY endurance ST tires cannot be accurately compared with like sized tires of another brand. The GY may have taller treads, a nylon overlay and sidewall scuff guard sidewall inserts. All add weigh but do not add strength, just a little more durability.

The ST235/80R16 LRE tires have a serious fallacy, they have three distinct load capacity limits, all at 80 PSI. Their maximum load capacity can be 3420#, 3500# or 3520#.

[Northofu1]

I have never liked good year tires. Friends had them and complained about them.
I like Michelin for my vehicles, I miss the Sears brand Silverguard esprit made by Michelin, so cheap and a sweet ride with a Delta 88. Sears hasn't sold tires north of the border since the 90's. I do want to try the Sailun Terra Max for the truck when time comes to replace, unless I hear they start having issues. I do very much likes the Carlisle's

[Snoking]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

GY put a lot of engineering and forethought in the development of the Marathon ST tires. When they were introduced into the USA market they were built here in the USA. A few years later, GY opened a new plant in China which started building the Marathon ST tires. Because of all the failure reports, GY reviewed their ST manufacturing program. There were zero NHTSA recalls against the brand.

The GY Marathons are the primary reason I started researching ST tires in 2004. When we purchased our first and only full time trailer, it was a 38', 2003 Keystone Everest 5th wheel. It had 6000 axles and the Original Equipment tires were USA made GY Marathons. They were ST235/80R16 LRD, that's right LRD with a maximum load capacity of 3000# at 65 PSI. With those tires GY did not fail me, the governing body did. Within the first, year all OE tires had failed. GY inspected one of them and said I was overloading them. It was very easy to do with zero load capacity reserves and a 65 MPH speed restriction.

The GY endurance ST tires cannot be accurately compared with like sized tires of another brand. The GY may have taller treads, a nylon overlay and sidewall scuff guard sidewall inserts. All add weigh but do not add strength, just a little more durability.

The ST235/80R16 LRE tires have a serious fallacy, they have three distinct load capacity limits, all at 80 PSI. Their maximum load capacity can be 3420#, 3500# or 3520#.

I advised Cal to put Michelin XPS Ribs on his trailer way back then, however he chose to stay with ST tires, and had many failures with several brands, while I ran 7.5 years and around 40K+ miles on Ribs and then sold them for 200 bucks on CL. I then install Bridgestone Duravis R250's and ran them for another 4 years before selling the trailer.

[Bill-2020]

Well, it appears I'm a bit limited to manufacturers. Sailun doesn't make a tire my size, you know, a donut. 205/75R14. And it seems there's another couple of other brands that I've not see elsewhere. It's gonna be either Carlisle or GY. I've got some time, I'll sleep some more on this.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Snoking

I advised Cal to put Michelin XPS Ribs on his trailer way back then, however he chose to stay with ST tires, and had many failures with several brands, while I ran 7.5 years and around 40K+ miles on Ribs and then sold them for 200 bucks on CL. I then install Bridgestone Duravis R250's and ran them for another 4 years before selling the trailer.

Is this like a "my dog's bigger than your dog" moment, told you so or ???

Everyone makes a mistake - especially when the manufacturer misleads you; we all learn. I run only ST tires because that is what the manufacturer states. Until the last couple of years the manufacturers were shortchanging RV buyers with tires that weren't adequate for the RV. I was a victim of that and hundreds, probably thousands, of others. Cal was one of, if not, the first to call attention to the revised RVIA standards for load capacity on the tires and diligently tries to educate folks on tire safety.

I run what the manufacturer says to run on my trailer (generally higher load range) and figure that is what most folks do. My interest in the results of anyone running tires other than that stipulated by the builder just don't interest me nor do I think it's right to try to minimalize anyone that tried to follow the rules in the past....and share the negative results. JMO/YMMV

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Bill-2020

Well, it appears I'm a bit limited to manufacturers. Sailun doesn't make a tire my size, you know, a donut. 205/75R14. And it seems there's another couple of other brands that I've not see elsewhere. It's gonna be either Carlisle or GY. I've got some time, I'll sleep some more on this.

Bill I know the quandry you face. Don't know that I can help much but I will say this; when my TKs failed I went with Carlisle Radial HDs. Don't know that the Endurance was around (if you are looking at anything other than the Endurance...don't IMO). The Carlisles were robust, heavy tires that stood well by me with zero issues or concerns. My TK failures were in the spring of 15 approx. 15 mos. after buying the new trailer. All tires were replaced with the HDs. When I traded it in this March they were approx. 5 years old - too old I told myself...but they just wore so good. I watched them all the time; removed them to inspect them; they just worked...for me. This spring was to be the time to replace them regardless; and I did, with a new trailer.

The Endurance is probably a really good tire...but I'm still waiting another year or two. Even then they won't be my "top choice" but at least they will be a viable alternative.

[JRTJH]

To "piggyback" on Danny's comments:

I also had "issues with TK's. I won't claim to have coined the nickname china bomb, but I will freely admit that I've used it regularly and don't believe that TK's have avoided that name. Over and over again, I read comments from people who have suffered catastrophic damage to their towable RV, and invariably, when asked the brand of tire, TK comes up over and over.

As for Carlisle tires, I initially bought Radial Trail RH tires (3 months before the Radial Trail HD was introduced) as replacements for my china bombs. I bought them rather than Maxxis because of price. Carlisle tires in 225 75R15 LRE were $67 each at WalMart. Maxxis were over $100 for the same size tire.

Then along came Goodyear Endurance. Made in America and claimed to be "better than the competition. Are they??? I just don't know.

To date, since 2016 and the introduction of the Radial Trail HD, I have only heard of one tire failure on that brand. The cause of the failure was not determined, at least not reported, so it may have been a road hazard, a bad tire, a failure or misuse. I don't know. At any rate, I've heard of no "problematic failures" with Carlisle Radial Trail tires. They are currently $78 at WalMart. Goodyear Endurance, in the same size, are $134. That's $224 more than a set of Radial Trail HD tires.

I don't know how many people would not want to save $225 on tires by buying a comparable tire that has no history of failure... Now, if HD's were causing problems on a frequent basis, I'd say maybe the extra money for better tires is a sound investment. But HD's aren't failing, they are providing the same reliable service as Endurance tires, so why spend extra money for no extra service reliability???

Each person needs to do their own research and spend their money on what they believe is the best purchase for their situation....

That said, I bought Carlisle Radial Trail HD's for the second time (actually RH's the first time) and I've got well over 40K miles on these two sets with zero problems.... I also bought Sailun TerraMax tires for my truck rather than Michelin LTX-2's and have been very pleasantly surprised by the excellent service they have given me.

I am, more and more, coming to realize that spending the most money doesn't necessarily give you any better product than you'd get if you do your research and buy an equally reliable product for a significant savings...

Additionally, having been one of those who got caught up in the Goodyear Marathon debacle in the 90's, for me, the "jury is still out on Goodyear"....

[Bill-2020]

I appreciate your thoughts Danny and John. I was going to let the TKs stay on for the first year, then change them. Honestly, some of the posts (like this one) put a bit of a flame under me to make a move sooner than later. Besides, I might get a few more bucks on craigslist for them now rather than a year from now for someone's boat or lawn service trailer. I watch the pressures and temps closely when traveling (TPMS), but that doesn't mean one would give out at any moment. I am leaning toward the Carlisles, price is a consideration and given the experience you and others have had, it doesn't seem like I can go wrong with them.

[JRTJH]

These are photos of "My TK BOMBS" when I took them off our Cougar. They were 18 months old, the obvious carcass/tread separation was impossible to see or identify with the tires on the trailer and the tires aired up to 65 PSI, the maximum for D rated tires. So, there was no way for me to know that they were "literally about to explode at any moment"...

I thank my lucky stars that I had that "subconscious urge to get new tires"... Was it a hunch or some intervention that led me to order them from WalMart and tell my DW that we weren't towing the trailer again until I got new tires .... I don't know why, but I'm so thankful that we weren't in the middle of the Mackinac Bridge or barrelling down I-75 at 70MPH when they exploded, which was only a matter of time....

Decide for yourself if you think these were "safe tires for my family" ???

I'm not trying to "scare you into spending money" Just providing the scary situation I was in with TK tires and I didn't even know it was an impending disaster.

[Bill-2020]

18 months? WOW!

I showed the DW pictures of the burnt common wire on the A/C, hence a new A/C is on the way, again (literally an electrical fire, it was that apparent). I won't show her these, I'll just quietly order new ones and call it a night.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by Snoking

I advised Cal to put Michelin XPS Ribs on his trailer way back then, however he chose to stay with ST tires, and had many failures with several brands, while I ran 7.5 years and around 40K+ miles on Ribs and then sold them for 200 bucks on CL. I then install Bridgestone Duravis R250's and ran them for another 4 years before selling the trailer.

You neglect to tell the whole story. Your axles were 5200#, Mine were 6000#, the Michelin's provided 3042# of load capacity at 80 PSI leaving very little load capacity reserves for an evenly balance trailer which is hard to do with a full load.

We went with a 3520# load capacity tire. Early on the ST tires were not very reliable beyond the three year mark especially when stacking on the mileage and traveling at 65 MPH.

When I write about trailer tires I stick to the story of how it's supposed to be done. If I'm deviating, I'll say "in my opinion" (IMO).

Like a smart fish, I've learned to stay away from most of the baited statements others use. Once you get off topic the essence of that topic is lost.

[sonofcy]

Originally Posted by pakuma

I am very disappointed in the Maxxis tires I got for my 5er.
I went to pack the wheel bearings and discovered 3 tires out of round, upon further inspection they were delaminating.
I am leaving soon and I am putting a set of Carlisle tires on.
I have attached a picture of one of the tires all three looked like this. I initially thought that I had an alignment issue or bent axle not so.
They are just less than 4 years old and probably around 5,000 miles.

You have a serious alignment issue. Do NOT take it to an RV dealer, take it to an alignment specialist and/or someone who can fix the axles, springs, suspension. Then get Sailun or Goodyear G614's and a TPMS. Consider yourself lucky it will only cost thousands and not tens of thousands.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by sonofcy

You have a serious alignment issue. Do NOT take it to an RV dealer, take it to an alignment specialist and/or someone who can fix the axles, springs, suspension. Then get Sailun or Goodyear G614's and a TPMS. Consider yourself lucky it will only cost thousands and not tens of thousands.

The OP's tire size for his Cougar 279RKS is 225 75R15 LRD. Neither Sailun or Goodyear G614 produces an ST tire in that size.

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

The OP's tire size for his Cougar 279RKS is 225 75R15 LRD. Neither Sailun or Goodyear G614 produces an ST tire in that size.

There are ST225/75R15 LRF all steel tires on the market by at least 3 manufacturers. Their maximum load capacity is 3195# @ 95 PSI.

[Snoking]

Originally Posted by sonofcy

Then get Sailun or Goodyear G614's and a TPMS. .

To much tire for a trailer with a 10,200 gvwr. Rims most likely not rated for such a tire and are probably 15".

[bbells]

It is out of alignment. If you ever jacked it up with the jack on the axle that is definitely the problem. I have seen trailers less than a year old that need alignment. $250 for an alignment is an inexpensive fix. It will also pull better.

[CraigB]

Samson GL 285T. Great tire!

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by pakuma

I am very disappointed in the Maxxis tires I got for my 5er.
I went to pack the wheel bearings and discovered 3 tires out of round, upon further inspection they were delaminating.
I am leaving soon and I am putting a set of Carlisle tires on.
I have attached a picture of one of the tires all three looked like this. I initially thought that I had an alignment issue or bent axle not so.
They are just less than 4 years old and probably around 5,000 miles.

Sorry to hear about your problem. Have you sent a complaint to NHTSA? If people do not file complaints, there will never be investigations and if no investigations there is no threat of recall which is an incentive for tire companies to improve their tires. Be sure to get pictures of each tire. You can file a complaint for each tire too. You will need the FULL DOT serial from the tires and VIN of the RV

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

If those Maxxis tires do not have a speed letter or speed rating molded onto the tire sidewall, they are 65 MPH tires.

When tire treads start to separate from the carcass, they will grow. Here is a picture of two identical brand and designated sized tires. The taller one would have had a complete tread separation had it not been found before it could fail.

Attachment 28847

As a forensic tire engineer I agree with the description that the big tire most likely has failed.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by pakuma

The Maxxis' had a speed rating of 70 MPH.
When I am towing I am in no hurry and I keep my speed at 65 or less.
Even though the Carlisle's are rated to 80 I have no intention to change,besides I am on holiday and am in no rush.

You should realize that the "Speed Symbol" is just a measure of heat resistance. The load formula for ST type tires has not changed and the formula is based on a MAX of 65 mph. Not an average or only occasionally but the operating MAX.


I also wonder what your actual scale weight readings were for each tire.