daBear
Brandon, MS, USA
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Joined: 01/04/2004
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I have used Marathons on two TT's and two 5ivers and never had a moments problem. You have a master dud for a dealer. Every tire has some stories about blowouts, especially Carlisle.
Leave bread crumbs along the way only if you want to come back down the same road.
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JIMNLIN
Big Cabin, OK
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Joined: 09/14/2003
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bfast54
very few tire dealers have good experience in the trailer tire area so if you find a good trailer/truck dealer better hang on to him. Do a search on Goodyears web about Marathons. According to their web they have only ten percent more capacity than a "P" rated tire with a narrower tread and a shallower tread depth. Their only rated 65 mph. That should ring a bell to folks that are towing a heavy trailer. My truck tire dealer gets feed back from a bunch of hotshot/transport drivers. ST and cheap LT tires are treated like the plague.
We use nothing but LT rated tires on all our trailers, over 6-7000 lbs, and don't have tire problems like we had when we used ST/cheap LT type tires.
I think your gettin' bad advise on threat/bash the dealer/manufactor. You start that and it will be months on any kind of settlement. That kind of tactic should be used as a last resort.
I would take the new tires. Then think seriously about upgrade to 16" LT rated
tire. We did about 8-9 years ago and have no tire problems on any of my trailers......JIM
"good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" Will Rogers
'03 2500 QC Dodge/Cummins HO 3.73 6 speed manual Jacobs Westach Linex
'97 Park Avanue 28' 5er with two slides 16" BFG Commercial LTs
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timrhunt
Northeast ,IL
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Joined: 09/13/2003
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The problem is that too many dealers do not have properly trained personnel when it comes to determining tire failure/warranty. With 25 years in the auto/lt truck repair and tire biz, We always had at least two Goodyear trained people on at all times.
Tireman said he NEVER had an unhappy customer. That's great but doubtful. Some customers you will NEVER make happy no matter what you do.
And when it comes to tire failure, 90 percent is caused by road hazard, improper inflation, improper care, or driving habits. Sure Goodyear's had some duds, but very far and few between. When a tire fails and shreds at 60 mph, Its tough to determine cause when there's just two bead bundles left. I had to balance making a customer happy and making Goodyear happy on warranty issues. I can't buy every customer new tires at my expense and stay in biz long. Especially the customers that complain the loudest about my ripoff tires going flat only to pull a pair of pliers, conduit, hot wheel cars, and god knows what else out over the years.
With sidewall bulges, the single most common cause was Impact. And its very easy to determine by dismounting the tire. With a trailer you would most likely never even feel it. It happens.
I agree this dealer didn't have a clue what he was doing and there's many that don't. But all flats and failures are not always the tires fault. Unless there Carlisle.
Tim
04 2500HD LT CREW SB 4x4 8.1/ALLISON 4.10
04 OPENROAD 357 RLDS-5
HH 18K SLIDER/PRODIGY
MY RIG PICS
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Turbo Diesel Dude
Green Mountain, NC
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Joined: 01/10/2005
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I will continue to use Maxxis 8008 radiala on ALL my trailers.
charles weidman
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Jack_Diane_Freedom
Milton Ontario, and Gulf Coast Florida
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Joined: 05/11/2005
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Had a similar bulge on my marathon and the dealer looked at it and just said that has to be changed and did it on the spot. No charge, no hassle.
Jack
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TRACTOR
Kamloops BC Canada
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Joined: 09/22/2003
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Your lucky you arent an indian because he would have told you that you had too much beer in the trailer!
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ChucKGibson
Foxworth MS
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Joined: 11/08/2002
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I had a Goodyear Marathon on my 98 TT that was about 1 year old blow out GY replaced all 5 tires and paid for $3500 damage to the trailer after 5 months and many phone calls . My 2001 5th wheel came with GY Wrangler LT tires on it one of them blew out it was 2 years old they would not replace it . I going to replace the GY tires with Michelin
XPS they are built like the tires that the 18 wheelers run I have them on my truck and have had good service out of them.
2004 Holiday Rambler Endeavor PDQ
2008 Jeep Liberty 4x4 auto
Chuck and Dianne my Darling wife
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kokopoko
southeastern Az
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Joined: 07/12/2004
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Like any tires people have good or bad luck with any brand of tires... I had the marathons on my last trailer and had good luck with them. maybe I was just lucky.
Ford f350 psd lariat dually 4x4 Grand Junction 34QRE
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ClydeSDale
Lakeland, MN
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Joined: 01/31/2005
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After buying a gently used '02 that had lost a tire to ply seperation on the way to the dealer, a second one after I bought it and put on ~150 miles, a third after another 200 miles and found the fourth tire still had nipples on it I was a bit upset about Marathons also.
Of the two I replaced I can only say good about dealer experience with GY (oh, with the exception of the regional tire "specialists" that said they would warranty it for full replacement cost). The first experience was with a privately owned shop in northern WI that went out of their way to take care of me on a Saturday morning. My local dealer said it would cost him money to do it, and he would, but if I would take it to a GY owned store they would adjust with a smile, which they did.
I now have four new Marathons operating at ~80% of capacity (CAT tickets to prove it). I monitor pressure religeously with a gauge when cold and a "thumper" during fuel and rest stops. I've driven semi's since the early 70's so I know how to make a corner.
I know there are a great many owners who have had consistantly great service from their Marathons, I know the ones lost were OE and carried 12/00 build dates ... so they were getting "long in the tooth" ... but if I lose one more the whole set is history and at this point will likely be replaced with load range E Denmans. A trusted friend in the tire business says he's never had a problem with Denmans and he has many sets out in service.
Call Goodyear and get the name of a company owned store in your area and deal with them. I believe I'd also let "the weasel" know why you won't be coming back to his place of business and follow up with "... oh, and by the way I'll be telling all my friends."
Roger
Clyde S Dale, my chestnut brown & tan 5th wheel workhorse
1984 F250HD XLT RCLB 4X2 8600 GVW
460 C6 Track-Lok 4.10's K&N in/DynoMax out
4 core HeatbusteR, dual OE plate tranny coolers
74,000 orig. miles & counting
2002 Hitchhiker II 26.5RL LS
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b ubblerboy64
946 Ashton Shippensburg Pa 17257
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Joined: 10/18/2004
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Would you folks agree that even the very best tires are really being worked pretty hard on the average 5th wheel. I contend that few trailers should have 15 inch wheels and very few 5th wheels. Just like every other part in a trailer they are built to a price. I have never understood from a liability perspective how these trailers can be let go with tires and wheels so substandard and so close to the "edge". I would up grade any trailer immediately with the best I could possible find. I am not certain what you need but you need better then what's on there, that we are all pretty certain of. Michelin tires seem like they get the best press on the web here. You only need to have tire problems once to really be more then a smidge paranoid about them. I too believe that age, and trauma are major factors on trailer tires. It's so easy to bounce a curb or run over a pot hole. Then there is the stress turning. Ever stand beside a trailer when a driver is maneuvering. I am not surprised these tires are problems. Buy the best whatever they are.
John Heckman
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