Goodyear Marathon Blowout

Vet4jdc · 06-01-2017, 05:02 PM

We were coming home from our weekend trip to the Outer Banks of NC this past weekend when we had a blowout on our fifth wheel. Camper is a Montana Mountaineer 295RKD that weighs approximately 11,000 lbs loaded. The tires are four year old Goodyear Marathons. Rear tire on the passenger side blew out with no warning. Tread was still good and no sign of any dry rot or cracking of the sidewalls. The tires were properly inflated to 80 psi. I really expected my Load range E tires to last more than 4 years. I'm replacing 5 tires this weekend.

Anyone have any experience with the Goodyear Marathon tires?

Can anyone recommend a good, solid replacement tire that will hold up better?

Ken / Claudia · 06-01-2017, 06:54 PM

Only on boat trailers, the 3 work boats got new tires at the 5th year of date code. During my 9 years as led troop on the River patrol boats. My own boat trailer had them on it for 7 years. They were getting cracks in the side walls the last year. But, I only put about 10 miles or less on them that year. 1/4 mile to ramp.

**sourdough** · 06-01-2017, 08:09 PM

To me, 4 years for an 11k 5th wheel is stretching it.... a lot. And, you have Marathons; not much better that Towmax if I recall.

My suggestion, and others will chime in, would be go to another brand or at least the Goodyear Endurance.

kimbashaw · 06-03-2017, 06:54 AM

Sailun seem to get good reviews even though they are made in China. I just pulled the trigger and purchased 5 Sailun S637 ST235/85R16 tires and wheels from http://www.trailertiresandwheels.com/ I paid $$290 per tire delivered. They are one inch taller than the originals but Walmart mounted them and plenty of clearance. These hopefully give me many thousand miles of worry free pulling.

geobet · 06-03-2017, 09:10 AM

Carlisle Radial trail HD LRF - Paid $94 each for 5 tires at wally world. Dumped the china bomb LRE and in the process got some piece of mind.

jlarocca · 06-03-2017, 07:13 PM

I went all out and got the Goodyear G614s. My rims are rated for them though and I run 100lbs of pressure. After having two Marathon blow outs on one trip and causing 6.5K worth of damage to my unit I was very pleased with the service that Goodyear gave me. They paid for everything including reimbursing me for the tires I had to buy while on the road to get home. Granted, my Marabombs were just a year old when they went. I can't say others have had the same experience with Goodyear but after researching these G614s thoroughly they were worth the extra I paid for them.

CaptnJohn · 06-03-2017, 08:10 PM

I would not run Marathon tires farther than from picking up a new 5er to the tire dealer. I have been running Carlisle without problems. They would be my 1st choice, Sailun 2nd and Maxxis 3rd.

bsmith0404 · 06-04-2017, 05:06 AM

An LRE tire should be more than enough for your 11,000 lbs 5er, you probably only have about 8,500 on wheels. I would go with Carlisle or Maxxis. If you decide to step up a bit, the Carlisle LRF is a great choice, but make sure your wheels are rated for 95 psi before you do that.

Barbell · 06-04-2017, 05:45 AM

Our 2014 Montana came with the GY Marathons also. Ran them for little over two years and probably 30,000 miles with no trouble. However, when I made the decision to replace them, we found two were well along into tread separation and the other two were beginning to separate. We closely monitor pressure and tread wear and the separation show up as uneven tread wear. Going on two years with Sailuns now and they still look like new. We were just lucky I guess.

srvnt · 06-04-2017, 07:45 AM

My newer GY Endurance tires, made in the USA, still doing great.

Vet4jdc · 06-04-2017, 05:15 PM

Ordered five new Goodyear Endurance tires today.

ChuckS · 06-05-2017, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vet4jdc

Ordered five new Goodyear Endurance tires today.

Hope these will do better job for you.

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ctbruce · 06-05-2017, 02:32 PM

The Carlisle deal at Walmart is hard to top...

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SmittysRV · 06-07-2017, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlarocca

I went all out and got the Goodyear G614s. My rims are rated for them though and I run 100lbs of pressure. After having two Marathon blow outs on one trip and causing 6.5K worth of damage to my unit I was very pleased with the service that Goodyear gave me. They paid for everything including reimbursing me for the tires I had to buy while on the road to get home. Granted, my Marabombs were just a year old when they went. I can't say others have had the same experience with Goodyear but after researching these G614s thoroughly they were worth the extra I paid for them.

Same story here. $4500 in damage and 6 months of sealing with it with AAA and Good Year. We are finally done and I have to say between AAA and Good Year, they took care of everything!!! I now have 6 new wheels and tires on the Raptor and ready to hit the road!! I also went with Good Year G614s. I needed new wheels and one was damaged. Only time will tell how these HEAVY duty G614s hold up.

SmittysRV · 06-07-2017, 10:00 AM

Several blown MaraBombs!!!!!

New wheels and G614s

Dave W · 06-07-2017, 10:05 AM

I'm a believer in a good brand of LTs but Carlisle and Maxxis are way better then most of the Chinese made tires.

Only problem I have with the GY G614 and Sailun tires is that they require 110psig for full load capacity and the supplied Sandel wheels on our 5er are rated at only 80. Not sure why but it may just be that the original pull through valve stems are the limiting factor - but what do I know

gearhead · 06-07-2017, 10:25 AM

^^^valve stems...I've read that on the Q&A on eTrailer. But I called Sendel and they said do not inflate the tire above 80, the wheel will fail.
If I had 8 lug wheels it would be easier to upgrade to higher pressure wheels. Not many choices for 6 lug.

Dave W · 06-07-2017, 11:35 AM

I really doubt that a Sendel wheel will fail at 20-30 psig over its listed rating but Sendel reps do have to cover their corporate butts just in case .........

You would think that any stout 6 lug pickup truck wheel would work, and it will probably bolt in place with no problem but, as I found out with our long gone Titanium with Dexter Nevr-Lube hubs, offset/backspacing is important to bearing life. In that case 10mm (~3/8") was the difference between bearing capsule failure or happily rolling down the road.

SmittysRV · 06-08-2017, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave W

I'm a believer in a good brand of LTs but Carlisle and Maxxis are way better then most of the Chinese made tires.

Only problem I have with the GY G614 and Sailun tires is that they require 110psig for full load capacity and the supplied Sandel wheels on our 5er are rated at only 80. Not sure why but it may just be that the original pull through valve stems are the limiting factor - but what do I know

Quote:

Originally Posted by gearhead

^^^valve stems...I've read that on the Q&A on eTrailer. But I called Sendel and they said do not inflate the tire above 80, the wheel will fail.
If I had 8 lug wheels it would be easier to upgrade to higher pressure wheels. Not many choices for 6 lug.

Ya the 110psi rating is a must, the wheel rating should match the tire rating. The wheels that came on our Raptor were 110psi rated however one of them was damaged and I couldn't find just one. I ended up getting all new wheels for about the same price I was going to have to buy a pair to match. The new wheels are also sendels and look better IMO. The biggest issue I see with the higher rated tires is that the tire and sidewall themselves are so much more ridged and strong that there is way less tire flex. This puts a lot more stress on the trailer shackles and leaf springs when making those tight turns mostly when backing into tight spots. With three axles I try my best to limit jackknifing it when loaded down

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