Marabombs

[GreatWhite]

I contacted Goodyear about exchanging my Marathons for a better (G614?) tires. Customer service said they would contact a local shop for an exchange. I realize the cost would be more than the Marathons.

BUT, my question is..

How many of you have actually had a catastrophic failure with this tire. Forums generate a life of their own on threads.. sometimes leading to misinformation that gets promulgated.. whether it has merit or not... That's one of the reasons that "Snoops" exists.

If, in fact, there are really a lot of these failures.. I'm in to exchange. If however, a tire comes apart because someone has been driving on a flat w/o using a TPMS, I'm not sure it's necessary to make the change.

The tire company, a long time one that does passenger as well as commercial, is unaware of issues with the Marathons. He said he doesn't get anyone coming back with stories like this.

Thanks for any feedback

 

[RichR-MOC]

Third year on mine-no trouble so far.

 

[8.1al]

I would think the fact that Goodyear is willing to talk an exchange speaks volumes. If the Marathons had no issues would Goodyear be so accommodating?

 

[HOOK-MOC]

We had 4 failures in first year. GY was very helpful with upgrade to G614s.

 

[sreigle]

Bill, we had several problems with the Marathons, from a bubble on the sidewall to blowouts. Eventually we dumped those tires. Our next Montana had a different brand of tire, but still Chinese made. More problems, very similar to the Marathons. Tireco, the USA distributor, swapped out those Mission tires for the Freestar tires, which felt heavier to me but were still Chinese made. We had just one "catastrophic" incident with the tires, if you define that as doing serious damage, but that one was a Freestar tire. Very similar to the Marathon tires, though.

Here are a couple of pictures for you. The first is from a blowout of a Freestar tire. I had checked those tires not 50 miles prior and they were fine. Besides the body damage, this blowout blew debris across five lanes of heavy freeway traffic on Interstate 8 in San Diego. A CHP officer retrieved the debris. There fortunately were not accidents but this incident could have ended up with serious accidents on the freeway.

The next three are Marathons:

The next two are Mission tires, also Chinese and OEM on this Montana:

I think I have some more pictures but maybe these will get my point across. After the $2200 blowout (first picture) we went to the Goodyear G614 and have not put on just short of 20,000 miles on them without a single problem.

 

[bigred715]

Most any of us would have paid several hundred dollars more for our trailers to avoid the Chinese crap that are being put on our trailers. The RV industry still hasn't wised up to that fact yet. Don't buy or keep these inferior vtires on your rig. You are asking for trouble. I have Michelin tires on everything I own and have a average income.

 

[NCFischers]

Mine have been changed to Michelins. The Marathon had a sudden and complete tread separation. I have TPMS and all was ok until the blowout. $1800.00 damage to the trailer.

 

[WaltBennett]

We purchased our new/used '10 3665 three months ago and it came with Marathons. We'd had the same exact tire on our previous 10k max gross 27' TT and never had any problems up to when we traded it in (5 yrs. use, 7 yrs. tire age). After seeing the posts when maxed out weight-wise (new/old is 15.6k max gross and all 4 tires were 5 yrs. old), I got new Firestone tires on Friday (none more than 6 mos. old!). Only problem was the place that had the best price installed was a car joint and I had to bring the wheels in after jacking everything up. Not a terrible issue doing that, but it wasn't until I got everything back home late yesterday that I found the installer had removed the metal valve stems and put on rubber ones. When I've more time I may describe the fun of getting 80 lbs into those wiggly things. I'm waiting until Monday when my tempers down to call them.

 

[mamestra]

Had a blow out when our trailer was 5 months old, first ever for us. When it happen our tire pressure monitors, showed everything was OK, when the tire blew, it did about $1200.00 damage to the trailer, which Goodyear paid for it how ever it occurred in Canada and it took us about 5 months to get our money back. We have since gone to Michelins.

 

[dieselguy]

I ran the Marabombs as long as I dared ... all 4 got to where after about 50 miles down the road on each trip they looked like the old balloon tires on old model T's. They would swell up in the middle of the tread and for no better word be lumpy looking. After they sat overnight, they appeared normal till I got on the road again. I went with Michelins LT's for absolute peace of mind.

 

[steelpony5555]

This could go on and on and on, but this is enough for me to say whoooaaa I do not want that to happen to my rig. Gotta figure this is just the Montana forum, on some of the more general RV forums there are many, many more horror stories. Having a blow out on a trailer gets ugly in more ways then one. First it commonly destroys your trailer around the wheel. Second it is not like having a blowout on a vehicle where you just pull over. I mean sometimes there is not enough room to pull a house to the side of the road. Oh and third it ain't that easy to change a tire on these things...lol lol. So if changing to LT or the G614 helps in preventing this from happening then it is money well spent. Another search you can do is look for the same kind of tire failures for LT and the G614's.....I'll save you the time, there are none. I may have seen 1 or 2 posts where someone had a flat on those kinds of tires. On some of your higher end rigs where they are not so worried about the price of the rig they come from the factory with either LT's or G614's. Have to ask your self why would they put those kinds of tires on a $100K rig and not Marathons?????

 

[topjimmy]

Well said steelpony5555 I do not think the newer Marathons are Rotten tires, just not the right tool for the job on these Big rigs I will cross my fingers and keep a eye on my Tireminder till I can afford More Heavy Duty tires,I think I would rather have Goodyears than the no name crap they put on my buddies Grand Designs Solitude 5th

 

[DaveK-FRF]

We also had over $3000 dollars damage from a Marabomb failure last year. We have replaced all five with tires recommended by LonnieB (Durvis R500) on this web site. While a failure may still occur, we feel much more comfortable with the change (getting rid of the Chinese made tires).

 

[steelpony5555]

True, Marathons on most travel trailers do fine and you don't hear of blow outs and damage. But when you put them on a 10K lb plus rig that is a different story.

 

[HOOK-MOC]

Your Goodyear dealer will not be much help. You must deal with GY customer service.

 

[NCFischers]

And to their credit, they took care of the problem.

 

[GreatWhite]

Yes, you are right Jim.. There was a bit of a mix up when I called the dealer on Saturday. No one ( present) knew who CS talked to. I called CS this morning, gave them my 'file number'.. and she found the person to contact. I'll call them this morning after the shop opens. She said it's usually a one day thing... expecting they have the tires in stock.

I'm not all that smart about these tires.. Everyone is suggesting G614. Others have mentioned LT. Which tire and why? Thanks for your help

Edit.. I'm sure this RV is not nearly as heavy as some of yours..

Shipping weight is: 10137 #
Carrying Capacity : 4008 #
Pin Weight is: 2145 #

 

[bncinwv]

With your rig and a total rated capacity of a little over 14,000 pounds, you should be able to use LT-type tires instead of the 614's. This will save you a bunch of money also. The 614's have a carry capacity of 3750 pounds whereas most LT type tires are a little above 3,000. Our rig has a loaded capacity of just shy of 16,000 pounds, which is why we opted for the 614's. Using the specced pin-weight for your rig (which is probable on the light side), you would have 12,000 pounds riding on your four tires, the LT's will be marginal, but with a larger reserve capacity that is inherent with that type of tire, you would be fine. Choosing the brand is the more difficult aspect, as everyone has their own favorites. LonnieB (our MOC tire guru) has provided his listing of preferred LT tires, which you should be able to track down using the search function. Hope this helps, the other alternative is to e-mail or PM Lonnieb, he is very helpful and will give you his honest opinion.
Bingo

 

[steelpony5555]

You are well within the weight for LT truck tires. Many use Michelin Ribs while others use BFG's, Firestones and heck my last 5er came from the factory with GY Wranglers. I have used LT's on my past 2 trailers which both weighed in at 10,500 lbs dry with no tire problems at all. I would say any E rated truck tire would perform better then an ST tire. Oh and my trailer runs long distances and it is not a slow trailer even here in Texas heat....lol lol

 

[GreatWhite]

Called Lonnie.. Great guy.. He doesn't particularly care for the G614.. and besides they are too expensive and not readily . He did recommend a couple of non-Goodyear tires.. but, I'm sure Goodyear will only swap for Goodyear. So, he recommended any good 10 ply E rated highway tread tire. I have Goodyear Wranglers on my P/U.. I'll go with those. Just waiting for the area Goodyear manager to get in touch with the dealer...