tire virginity lost

[rdklein2]

Coming back from the WA. St. Samboree, my 3150 RL door side rear "MARABOMB"
Blew out @ 62 mph. This promptly took out the plastic fender bezel, wet bolt zerk on the suspension, and pulled out the hydraulic line on rear level up cylinder, and desroyed the rim. (Which I was told, they don't make anymore) This unit was 3 years, old the tires were dated to be only 3 years old. My GS emergency road service worked as advertised. GS Ins., not so much. Still waiting on parts from Keystone. I will NEVER own another Goodyear tire product again. The remaining tires all have minute hairline cracks at the base of the tread, & belt interface. The trailer was purchased in 2013 & and had less than 4000 miles on it. I read this forum religously, I have had 2 other 5th. Wheels prior to this unit.(SOB) Have NEVER had tire issues when I owned them. I have lived in this trailer for the past year, prior
To retirement. I am very glad I didn't have this happen, in an area where I was
Unfamiliar with the repair facilities around me. I knew I had to change tires prior to going on the road, away from the N.W. My experience has taught me this. The ONLY reason I would ever buy another Key stone product is not because of their Dealer network, factory parts, or customer service. It is this forum. Marathons should never have been installed on these units.

[mlh]

Almost all camper manufactures put ST tires on their units. I changed my ST tires before I even took possession of my High Country. There have been far to many post on this forum over the years not to.
Lynwood

[BB_TX]

If you frequent other RV forums you will find that SOBs have the same tire problems.

[Mark N.]

"I will NEVER own another Goodyear tire product again. " Wow....That excludes the G614, probably the most highly acclaimed tire people are using on these rigs! Trust me, the problems of Goodyear Marathons on these big rigs isn't limited to Goodyear tires. It's about enough tire, of any brand, to carry the weight safely.

[Dam Worker]

Firestone had their problems also. My truck had the driver side tire loose all the tread but I did not loose the air. A lot of Ford Explorers were rolled because of Firestone. I think most all of the manufacture's have had their share of producing a bad product occasionally. On my old 97 Vanguard build in Canada I had a blowout just after crossing the top of the Blue Mountains during 70 MPH in Oregon on I 84. Yes it was a goodyear if I remember correctly. I was lucky and basically had no damage to the Fifth Wheel. A quick stop to put on the spare and then another stop at Les Schwab for a new tire. Two and half hrs later I was home.
I think blowouts are doing more damage with the newer lighter, fancier units as their is more stuff to get destroyed when you have a tire blow out. I guess I would probably rather have a trailer tire go instead of one of my trucks tires.

Tom Marty

[Rondo]

No matter what brand of RV you look at, unless you specifically ask for a different brand and size of tire you will be getting an ST tire. It is just what the manufacturers do. The ST's are cheapest and they put the size tires on the unit as to E,F or whatever. It just the way they save money get away with the minimum tire they can put on the units. This Forum has been a prime spot to explain and tell you about the Marathon and other brands of tires that have been put on the fivers and what the problems have been with each of them. Keystone is no longer putting on Marathons but another brand and they are also made in China and that is why they are called Marabombs or Chinabombs. There have been many many problems with them and that is why the recommendations for Goodyear G614's have been the choice of many of us on our Montana's!

[DQDick]

I'll be staying with Keystone products and my 614's based on my previous experiences.

[1retired06]

After all the postings, should be clear, those who decide to stick with marathons are accepting potential risk and the resultant price to be paid.

[rames14]

Rdklein2, were you running TPMS? If so, did you get any indication of an issue?

[sambam]

quote:Originally posted by 1retired06

After all the postings, should be clear, those who decide to stick with marathons are accepting potential risk and the resultant price to be paid.

Agree. If you're still rolling on Marathons after 3 years, you're tempting fate. Good luck with your repairs.

[WeBeFulltime]

quote:Originally posted by sambam

Agree. If you're still rolling on Marathons after 3 years, you're tempting fate. Good luck with your repairs.

Another agreement here. There have been many, no... MANY, threads warning people about the Marathons. We did not pay and take possession of our Montana without their being replaced.

[jlb27537]

quote:Originally posted by rdklein2

Coming back from the WA. St. Samboree, my 3150 RL door side rear "MARABOMB"
Blew out @ 62 mph. This promptly took out the plastic fender bezel, wet bolt zerk on the suspension, and pulled out the hydraulic line on rear level up cylinder, and desroyed the rim. (Which I was told, they don't make anymore) This unit was 3 years, old the tires were dated to be only 3 years old. My GS emergency road service worked as advertised. GS Ins., not so much. Still waiting on parts from Keystone. I will NEVER own another Goodyear tire product again. The remaining tires all have minute hairline cracks at the base of the tread, & belt interface. The trailer was purchased in 2013 & and had less than 4000 miles on it. I read this forum religously, I have had 2 other 5th. Wheels prior to this unit.(SOB) Have NEVER had tire issues when I owned them. I have lived in this trailer for the past year, prior
To retirement. I am very glad I didn't have this happen, in an area where I was
Unfamiliar with the repair facilities around me. I knew I had to change tires prior to going on the road, away from the N.W. My experience has taught me this. The ONLY reason I would ever buy another Key stone product is not because of their Dealer network, factory parts, or customer service. It is this forum. Marathons should never have been installed on these units.

I do not understand, a guy says "I read this forum religously", everyone tells him to remove the Marathon's, replace with something else.

He has a blow-out and blames the who? the tire? They are ONLY 3 years old....

He says "I knew I had to change tires prior to going on the road". Where in the hell did the blow out occur @ 62 mph? in the RV Park?

Owned 2 other SOB? OK, what did they weigh? What tires did they have on them?

There is nothing wrong with Marathon tires, just the wrong tire for the application on a Montana. (however they are legal tires for the specs, Keystone does de-rate the 7K axles to 6,750 due to the tires) They are great boat trailer tires.

Sorry, I got no sympathy. You tell folks to remove the OEM Marathon's but they do not listen and then they get upset.

Jim

[Art-n-Marge]

I had Missions which I replaced early on with Marathons way back in 2008. Then joined the MOC soon after and learned I probably shouldn't have done that. However I did learn how to be meticulous with tire care and NEVER exceeded 65mph (tough to do on long downhills, but Towhaul mode helped a lot) and didn't jump curbs, things like that. Fortunately the rig was parked most of the time because the high price of fuel and availability of friends and family was limited and DW preferred to stay home. Fast forward to about 13 months ago, then we changed to fulltiming. DD lives in our house with her family and DW decided we should try fulltiming. The timing was right and we went ahead and swapped out the Marathons (over 6 years lucky) with Maxxis.

I bring this up, because I bought and used the Marathons myself and there was no history of prior towing of the rig by anyone else on them so they were not abused. The tires looked great when I traded them out and did well the whole time other than they required constant airing up upon checkup (2-3 psi) about every month or two even when just sitting on the driveway most of the time. I'm just glad I'm over with them and have Maxxis (mentioned and recommended by our resident MOC tire guy - wow, forgot his name). While I still remain meticulous, the Maxxis needed air the first few months, but no longer - they stay at 80 psi. They get the same care.

[JandC]

I'll have to give rdklein2 a little sympathy. I think even though someone may read this forum and see the information about OEM Marathon tires, it is still hard sometimes to believe that a manufacturer would sell new units with underrated tires on them.

I mean, sometimes it is still hard for me to believe it. Your whole life you have cars and trucks that generally come with properly rated tires. Then you spend $40,000 to $80,000 on a new RV only to find out that the tires are basically "temporary transport" tires.

There is a learning curve when it comes to educating yourself on RV tires, or any trailer tires for that matter. Some folks are just a little quicker to take the advise of others, then some of us decide to learn on our own.

[Mark N.]

I bought my Montana new, took one 700 mile trip (worrying about the tires the whole danged time, too!) parked it, and took the advice of this forum. I bought the G614s, and never looked back. Sold my Marabombs to someone esle.
If I can learn from someone else's misfortunes, it means I have used a bit of wisdom. If I ignore the warnings, and suffer the same fate, it means I'm a bit slow to learn. I never blame anyone or anything else for being slow to learn. Whether or not Keystone should be putting these Marathons on their trailers is one thing, but the thing that mattered to me, was whether or not I would suffer the same fate as others if I left them on, even after knowing what the consequences of doing so might bring.

[mlh]

I don't care what brand of ST tires you have they are still ST tires. You need to replace them. You are playing with fire if you don't.
Lynwood

[sambam]

I admit to being skeptical about the gloom and doom atmosphere on this forum when it came to the Marathons. I figured a few guys had problems, but if I kept them properly inflated and the speed down, I'd be ok. I tend to be stubborn and had to learn on my own. Luckily, my education came quickly and without a blowout or damage to the camper. Like JandC said, it is hard to believe these trailers would come with tires not up to the task. We all learn eventually.

[waynemoore]

I took my que from this forum and changed out the Trail Kings that came with my 2015 3582RL. Drove it 5 miles from the dealer to Discount Tires and had Bridgestone 250 LT tires put on. Discount gave me 75.00 trade in for the Trail Kings. I have not needed to add any air in the year I have had them.

[jlb27537]

quote:Originally posted by waynemoore

I took my que from this forum and changed out the Trail Kings that came with my 2015 3582RL. Drove it 5 miles from the dealer to Discount Tires and had Bridgestone 250 LT tires put on. Discount gave me 75.00 trade in for the Trail Kings. I have not needed to add any air in the year I have had them.

I rest my case.....

Jim