Tires on new 2013 Montana

[tdbrafford]

quote:Originally posted by vangoes

I have a new 2012 Montana and I have been debating the same question...change or not to change. With my previous SOB 5ver I ran the OEM Karrier Loadstars (china made) for five years and 18,000 miles without incidence. I changed them out because of cracking but tread was still good. Due to all of the horror stories on various forums, I also had the same paranoia with the tires on that rig. During that period all the forums was discussing the blowouts with Missions, Loadstars and other "China Bombs". I took the risk and kept running the tires and it worked out. So now my dilemma is should I take the risk again with the Marathons.

Do Not go anywhere on the marathons. I had a blow out on my 2010 Mountainner and it caused a lot of damage to the coach. Went to tire dealer on my spare and was told that the other three marathons were coming apart and would blow out at any moment. I installed G614 Goodyears (made in the USA)and no more problems. Your life is more important than the what it costs to get them off of your coach. I was lucky to get stopped without and accident.

 

[topjimmy]

I don't know for sure gang I've never had a problem with my Marathons I think it is because I do not overload my rig and I live in the NW where it never gets very hot I do not travel thousands of miles a year and I do not live in Arizona or Florida etc... where the roads get so freak'in hot it will melt the tread off, if I did I would buck up and change out to G614's .. Just say'in

 

[Rainer-MOC]

quote:Originally posted by bigskyjimmy

I don't know for sure gang I've never had a problem with my Marathons I think it is because I do not overload my rig and I live in the NW where it never gets very hot/. . .Just say'in

But living where you do, you'll have to make sure that your tires don't dissolve due to the precipitation....

 

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by bigskyjimmy

I don't know for sure gang I've never had a problem with my Marathons I think it is because I do not overload my rig and I live in the NW where it never gets very hot I do not travel thousands of miles a year and I do not live in Arizona or Florida etc... where the roads get so freak'in hot it will melt the tread off, if I did I would buck up and change out to G614's .. Just say'in

I hope you never have a problem but just being sure you're not overloaded isn't going to protect you. I have had weighings done at each individual wheel and we're not over on any of them. But I can show you plenty of pictures of problems with Marathon and other Chinese tires including the one I posted in another thread showing the $2200 damage from a blowout. There are several situations where I'd take the risk but as a fulltimer, I would not. Actually, I did. And I paid for it. But if I were a weekender and occasional vacationer and the rig is not overweight, etc., then I'd risk it. That's just me, though. By the way, we've had problems with those tires in winter weather, too. Blew one in Oklahoma in early January, for example.

In your situation I'd probably stay with the Marathons until they proved I need to do otherwise.

 

[F3fifty]

quote:Originally posted by bigskyjimmy

I don't know for sure gang I've never had a problem with my Marathons I think it is because I do not overload my rig and I live in the NW where it never gets very hot I do not travel thousands of miles a year and I do not live in Arizona or Florida etc... where the roads get so freak'in hot it will melt the tread off, if I did I would buck up and change out to G614's .. Just say'in

I sold the Marathons on my 2012 Montana right after I replaced them with the Bridgstone Durvais R250's. I too live in the NW, pack light, but still wasn't comfortable running the Marathons. Let's say it's a little piece of mind traveling at 65 mph on Interstate 84 Eastern Oregon in August with temps 100 degrees. Good luck with the Marathon's I hope they run well for you.

 

[bncinwv]

quote:Originally posted by bigskyjimmy

I don't know for sure gang I've never had a problem with my Marathons I think it is because I do not overload my rig and I live in the NW where it never gets very hot I do not travel thousands of miles a year and I do not live in Arizona or Florida etc... where the roads get so freak'in hot it will melt the tread off, if I did I would buck up and change out to G614's .. Just say'in

Careful there, I remember similar statements being made about Mission Tires a few years ago (myself included), then follow up posts from those very same proponents after they had failures. History seems to repeat itself with these Chinese made tires. Even though it is a Goodyear tire and apparently they do stand behind them, I have decided to minimize the chance on another tire failure by riding on rubber that has a stamp on the side "Made in USA." When the Chinese tires go, it is not usually a flat by the side of the road or when you are parked, it is catastrophic failure in the form of blow-outs. We have been fortunate that our failures happened at slow speeds and did not cause damage to the rig. Wish you the best since you are obviously a lot braver than I am.
Bingo

 

[topjimmy]

I don't know that I'm braver than you Bingo I just do not have the cash for G614's and yes of course I've heard all the stories about Marathons / Missions and feel bad for people that has happened too but like I said never had a problem in 5 years with my old Big Sky and my new 3402rl, when the time comes to replace my tires I will change out but I read stories about my 10 yr old Missions blew on me man! and I think COME ON! I think the newer Marathons are better than the old Missions.. at least Montana puts Goodyears on their trailers instead of some other no name tire brand that do not stand behind their product ...By the way Rainer that's FUNNY! Dissolve from the rain

 

[bigred715]

Bad choice by the RV industry and typical of tire manufactures and the reason why I will not buy a Goodyear tire ever again.

 

[sreigle]

Bigskyjimmy, as I said before, in your situation I'd also probably stay with the Marathons. I did, for many of the same reasons, and didn't have problems when we were low mileage campers. I just hope you won't assume that all the blowouts you read about are on 10-year old tires. I have yet to have a Chinese tire make it anywhere close to tread wearout. In fact, the one that blew off the side of our kitchen slide, that was a Freestar, a Chinese tire that's heavier than the Mission and Marathons we'd had before. Tireco, the USA distributor of those three brands, sent me five replacement tires because of the tire problems we'd had. They sent the Freestar tires. They were physically heavier tires and the sidewalls were a lot stiffer. I put them on at Jamaica Beach, TX, which is on Galveston Island, next to Houston. We went west from there and got as far as San Diego without a tire problem. But that's when we had the final straw blowout that did so much damage.

All I'm suggesting is that you be aware there have been a lot of problems with the Chinese tires and keep a very close eye on yours. With your short trips and low milees, you may well never have a problem.

By the way, someone commented about having been lucky they were going slow when they had the blowout. There's truth in that but I also have to say we've had several blowouts where we were traveling anywhere from 55 to 65 and never once was there even so much as a single sway of the trailer. A couple of times we didn't even know there was a tire problem until someone pulled up alongside and pointed back at the trailer. So I'm comfortable that blowing one of four tires back there is not going to cause handling problems.

 

[1retired06]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Lynwood, I've posted this picture numerous times, but, for your benefit, here's what a $2200 blowout of a Chinese tire can look like. Not to mention that the residue of the blowout was blown across five lanes of San Diego freeway (I-8, westbound, east of the Waring Road exit). Traffic was heavy. We were very fortunate there were no accidents caused by cars dodging the flying parts. A very helpful CHP officer retrieved all the broken parts off the freeway.

Pretty well sums it up!

This one is after the officer threw the pieces onto the shoulder. It shows the kind of traffic at the time the parts went flying. I happened to be looking in the mirror and saw it blow.

 

[ffaucheux]

http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/goodyear/Marathon_Special_Trailer_Applications.pdf

I will not buy any chinese product that i do not have to, but the sidewall markings on a tire that concern me more than where it is made, are the load and speed ratings at specified pressures.

So i say if you install ST tires on your trailer, you increase probability of failure, since the speed at which we drive on the interstate takes them too close to the limit, even with the max pressure +10, 75mph is max speed. still not enough buffer for me, even keeping it at 65 mph.

When a trailer tire is described as having stronger sidewalls, it is important to understand what they are being compared to. Stronger than a passenger tire, maybe,... stronger than a Light Truck tire with a 106 mph speed rating, probably not.

 

[topjimmy]

I hear ya sreigle,I do keep a close eye on them and I have a Tireminder I'm not saying they are the best tires in the world and would love to have G614's but for some people like me and others they work good for our situation and we do not want to freak people out and make them paranoid every time they go on a weekend trip that's all and I do wish Montana would put the G614's on the bigger rigs as standard issue

 

[richfaa]

On our lighter TT's and much lower use we had marathons and other Chinese tires and never had a problem. Our 06 3400 came with Missions we became long timers and traveled many miles per year. We kept the missions on for @10K miles and had no problems but did not want to tempt fate and changed over to USA tires. We sold the missions to a friend who put them on a boat trailer pulling a lighter boat and had no problems with them. We kept USA tires on the 06 3400 with no problems and have the G6 14's on the 2013 Big sky. These heavier 5th wheels need better tires particularly if you are doing high road miles like many of the full timers and long timers here. The manufactures do not equip these things with the high user in mind as we are in the minority. The average user uses these guys as the "recreational vehicle" that they are. When you live in them full time or for the majority of the year they are no longer recreational vehicles and need upgraded equipment. It would be nice if upgraded options were offered but that is time and money to the manufacturer. We who have seen the assembly line understand that it is primitive and building the RV like the auto and truck manufacturers would not be cost effective to the manufacturer not to mention the added cost to the consumer.

 

[KathyandDave]

I remember being told that the marathons are intended to last 10,000 miles running within spec. Load range e is pretty minimal. We did like others: we stayed under speed and weighed our rig scrupulously, so we didn't suffer a blowout, but the tread peeled down to the steel belts in a single quick (not panic) stop in Kalamazoo . That was it. We put 110lb wheels and G614's on the Monty and we've never looked back. We also ditched the general ameritracs off the Sierra and installed Michelin ltx's. what a difference, all the way around.

 

[triplehorn]

I replaced my Marabombs with 614's after only one or two pulls based on info provided here. I have since added the TST TPMS system to my arsenal. I feel pretty secure with that setup. While I'm typing this I'm wondering how pulling with the Marabombs and a good TPMS system would fare. Maybe the TPMS would provide enough warning before a failure to get to the shoulder avoiding damage to the rig. Just wondering...

 

[azranger]

Anyone have any experience/problems/comments with/on the new Carlisle Radial Trail RH trailer tires? I am aware of the problems with the old Carlisles but my tire dealer says they have had no problems with the RH models since they came out a little over a year ago.

 

[oldelmer1]

Since we have the same camper, I will throw in my experience.

Here are my weights of my camper fully loaded with 1/3 tank of fresh water and all others empty.

Dodge 3500 weights without camper connected
Steer axle - 5,040
Drive axle - 3,940
TOTAL - 8,980

Dodge 3500 weights with camper connected
Steer axle - 5,080
Drive axle - 6,300
TOTAL - 11,380

Montana weights with camper connected to Dodge 3500:
Trailer axles – 10740

Pin weight on Dodge 3500 – 2,400 pounds

TOTAL Weight of the Montana 13,140


My tires were date coded 3909, 39th week of 2009. We towed with them for a good 10K miles without a problem. BUT, I was always Leary of them and just waiting for something to happen.

This past March 2013, we were getting ready to go to Myrtle beach, and I noticed flat spots on 2 of them, where they sat all winter. So, per the advice of Lonny B. on this forum, I replaced my tires the day before we left with BF Goodrich Commercial TA tires.

Here is the list of tires that I have saved that are recommended by the MOC folks and Lonny B.:

Bridgestone Duravis R250 weigh 59 lbs. All steel construction.
BF Goodrich Commercial T/A weigh 45 lbs.
Firestone Transforce HT weigh 40 lbs.
Goodyear G614 RST's weigh 58 lbs. All steel construction
Michelin XPS Rib weigh 56 lbs All steel construction

The best thing to do is load the camper up and go weigh it. Then you know which tires will be good for your camper. If your weights are close to mine, there is no need for the G614's or the XPS.

I feel I got my moneys worth out of the Marathons, but I was always waiting for the blowout to happen.

Of course, this is my opinion, and you know what opinions are like.... everyone's got one....

 

[Exnavydiver]

Our 08 Big Sky came with the infamous Mission tires, I delayed replacing them on our second trip and it cost about 3200 dollars is repairs to slides and bottom of rig. We were in Key West at the time and had to take what was available so we got Marathons. 18 months later we had the same tire throw it's tread and beat the same slide bottom to junk. Before we left for the winter last year we replaced everything including the spare with Goodyear G614s. So far no problems. We also reduced the overall weight of the rig by 1500 lbs by leaving stuff we hadn't used in 2 yrs at home..

 

[JimandLaurie]

After endless reading..it seems... and as a truck driver, I know how important tires and maintaining them is, I finally found who I wanted to do busness with locally.We have GY 614's ordered through Wingfoot Good Year in Fife, WA, just down the street from CW and the Montana dealer. The GY dealer said that they are backordered, but there is 2000 unit production run in progress, so we should get them in about 3 weeks. They are giving us a great allowance for the Mara-bombs.
When it is all said and done, I'll report how the dealer did, etc.

 

[topjimmy]

Thanx Jimandlaurie I live in Tumwater and bought my Montana at Tacoma Rv and would like to know what trade in allowance they gave you at wingfoot for your Marathons and the price you paid for the G614's... keep us updated