American Tires

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Originally Posted by 09 harley

You are spreading old news that isn't true today. There were problems when they first went to China but those problems have been resolved. Goodyear has the same quality standards no matter where their products are made.
If everyone is so worried about quality then why does everyone shop primarily price?
If you want quality then use Michelin Ribs and don't worry about the price. They will never let you down and you will have one less thing to worry about as you go down the road. Only limited sizes though.
If Airstream uses Marathons as original equipment then that says something. Do you think that the best quality travel trailer would not make another decision if it was better. Of course price comes into play but to have Airstream and Northwood use Goodyear is a good recommendation.

Not old news at all and the same issues are happening now as when they went to China. Marathons are garbage. Period. Recent stories abound about them separating, getting bubbles between plies, and blowouts. Airstream is now owned by Thor like much of the rest of the mass produced Elkhart lines and I'm certain if they were still independent, they would use a quality tire. They are no longer the icon of quality they were long ago. Just different.

[justacummin]

There's only one USA made tire and that the Goodyear G614 other then that the next best would be Sailun 637 but they are China made tires.

[Big-Foot]

I have had six GY Marathons blow on my car trailer - all of them were two years old or less. The last one did a significant amount of damage and GY refused to even offer a replacement tire or even a discount on the replacement.
Here is a pic of the 5th one to go which we caught just before it would have blown. Suffice to say, you cannot give me a GY tire today... Yes they were all made in China and this picture is five years old now. I seriously doubt that they brought the manufacturing of these bombs back to the USA

Originally Posted by justacummin

There's only one USA made tire and that the Goodyear G614 other then that the next best would be Sailun 637 but they are China made tires.

For my fifth wheel I looked into all the options and weighed them carefully. Yes the GY 614 is made in the USA but given the track record I have had with GY, you can probably guess why I went with the next best rated tire I could find;
Sailun S637 from simpletire.com ... These tires in a 235/85 R16 are LT and rated for trailer use as it says on the sidewall. Their max inflation pressure is 110 PSI Cold as it it also stamped on the sidewall.
I have not yet pulled the original tires and mounted these yet so I can't give a comparison weight, but these Sailuns weigh in at 61# each and feel like they are fit for duty on a Semi...

[09 harley]

Originally Posted by Big-Foot

I have had six GY Marathons blow on my car trailer - all of them were two years old or less. The last one did a significant amount of damage and GY refused to even offer a replacement tire or even a discount on the replacement.
Here is a pic of the 5th one to go which we caught just before it would have blown. Suffice to say, you cannot give me a GY tire today... Yes they were all made in China and this picture is five years old now. I seriously doubt that they brought the manufacturing of these bombs back to the USA






For my fifth wheel I looked into all the options and weighed them carefully. Yes the GY 614 is made in the USA but given the track record I have had with GY, you can probably guess why I went with the next best rated tire I could find;
Sailun S637 from simpletire.com ... These tires in a 235/85 R16 are LT and rated for trailer use as it says on the sidewall. Their max inflation pressure is 110 PSI Cold as it it also stamped on the sidewall.
I have not yet pulled the original tires and mounted these yet so I can't give a comparison weight, but these Sailuns weigh in at 61# each and feel like they are fit for duty on a Semi...

Bammaman says ALL Chinese tires are junk so I wish you well. If my trailer would take Michelin ribs that would be my choice but they are not made in 225-75-15. No one likes flats or the damage they cause but to say that everything produced in China is garbage is crazy talk. Stay off the web to get a clear picture.
That would be like saying that everything made in Elkhart, In is garbage, well maybe there is some truth to that. Good luck with your choice and let us know how they work out.

[FastEagle]

In the attached reference there is a photo of a tire off the rear axle of my dually. It’s a Goodyear tire and had 22,000 miles on it. We pulled into a rest area and on my walk around I found the bubble. Right rear outside tire. So, I replaced it with the spare and drove on to our next RV park. Once there I took the tire to a Goodyear dealer for evaluation and to get a replacement. Their initial assessment was curb damage, even though there was no external evidence of it. Once removed from the rim the bubble stayed inflated. There was no damage found on the inner liner to support curb damage. I wanted a new tire. They offered me a dollar value for the remaining tread thickness. I said I would agree to that only after a GY tire expert determined the cause of the failure. A few weeks later I got a check from GY for the full value of the replacement tire. A small piece of trash got between the inner liner and the belting when the tire was built. It was overlooked during the X-Ray process. A very uncommon event but they do happen. Had it blown the trash would never have been discovered. It did not warrant a recall because it was an isolated event.

So, what is all that about? Trailer tires are always loaded very close to their maximum capability. When they fail, owners just don’t take the time to figure out what happened. What most find out is they need tires with more load capacity or to lighten their load and pay better attention to their tire’s inflation pressures. Seldom, if ever, do we see that an owner with early tire failures provide any information about their trailers actual weight. Excess weight, under inflation and excess speed all heat tires. When heated they degrade much faster than normal and fail before their time is used-up.


FastEagle


http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=18103

[Big-Foot]

Originally Posted by FastEagle

In the attached reference there is a photo of a tire off the rear axle of my dually. It’s a Goodyear tire and had 22,000 miles on it. We pulled into a rest area and on my walk around I found the bubble. Right rear outside tire. So, I replaced it with the spare and drove on to our next RV park. Once there I took the tire to a Goodyear dealer for evaluation and to get a replacement. Their initial assessment was curb damage, even though there was no external evidence of it. Once removed from the rim the bubble stayed inflated. There was no damage found on the inner liner to support curb damage. I wanted a new tire. They offered me a dollar value for the remaining tread thickness. I said I would agree to that only after a GY tire expert determined the cause of the failure. A few weeks later I got a check from GY for the full value of the replacement tire. A small piece of trash got between the inner liner and the belting when the tire was built. It was overlooked during the X-Ray process. A very uncommon event but they do happen. Had it blown the trash would never have been discovered. It did not warrant a recall because it was an isolated event.

So, what is all that about? Trailer tires are always loaded very close to their maximum capability. When they fail, owners just don’t take the time to figure out what happened. What most find out is they need tires with more load capacity or to lighten their load and pay better attention to their tire’s inflation pressures. Seldom, if ever, do we see that an owner with early tire failures provide any information about their trailers actual weight. Excess weight, under inflation and excess speed all heat tires. When heated they degrade much faster than normal and fail before their time is used-up.


FastEagle


http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showfull.php?photo=18103

Good thing you caught that when you did! On my trailer tire issues, I can assure you that we took proper care to make sure the tires were inflated to the cold pressure marked on the sidewall each time the trailer was taken out (2-3x per month) for roughly 700 miles round trip.
I don't believe that the tires were ever abused or overloaded. While the trailer was certified to 10k, it rarely saw over 7k (according to CAT scales) and the weight was properly distributed. I did not cover my tires while in storage (parked on gravel lot) so there may have been some degree of UV degradation, but then my truck was parked right in front of it and suffererd in the same manner with no ill effect to the tires.
I am very happy to hear that Goodyear had made an exception for you and compensated you for the tire. You may have won the lotto on that one, because very few are able to make that claim.
One thing that's always bothered me about replacing one tire on a dually is the silght mismatch that invariably happens. I have only done it once but got lucky in that the circumference was within 1/4" difference at full inflation pressure.
Others have not been so lucky and have had the problem of the newer tire running at higher temps due to carrying more load than the older (smaller) tire.
Believe me - as a military veteran and proud American, I will go well out of my way to pay far more for American made products than those made oversees. However I draw the line at purchasing products from manufacturers who have made it a normal practice to turn a blind eye toward the safety of the purchaser and his family.

[road dogs]

I put Maxxis tires on my last 5th wheel and never had any issues with them. I have seen many who also have had good service from them. I will probably put Maxxis on our current 5th wheel when time and budget permit. So far, the marathons are holding up well but I take it easy and don't really trust them.

[FastEagle]

Originally Posted by Big-Foot

One thing that's always bothered me about replacing one tire on a dually is the silght mismatch that invariably happens. I have only done it once but got lucky in that the circumference was within 1/4" difference at full inflation pressure.

You are right about replacing both tires on the dual position. I also replaced the very old spare I had to use to get to where we were going and both new tires went on the right rear position. Eventually those two tires will go to the front when I replace the four older ones.

I've run Towmax tires on our trailer since 2005 without any major problems. I do change them every three years though. The newer Towmax STRs are a much better tire than those I was running on in 2005. Their warranty is much better than it used to be. I've never used their free roadside assistance.

Our axles GAWR totals 12K and we normally carry 11.5K - 11.7K on them. We work very hard at keeping those loads balanced across all four tire positions. We've been using our trailer since knew (2002) and have never bent an axle or had one go out of alignment. The trailer has over 70,000 miles on it.

CW

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One person's experience doesn't make a trend. That's the problem with forums. People get a few opinions and think they are informed. Dig deeper. Do you find more posts like FastEagle's or less. If you do your homework, it's easy to see who to discount and what the mass experience is...

[Kevinc2011]

Luckily, i traded my 2012 Alpine with 235/70R16 tires, for a 2015 Forest River Dynamax Trilogy 38RL. It is equipped with the 215/75R17.5H tires and factory equipped with 8,000 lb axles. They are 125 psi Goodyear G114 tires rated for 75 mph trailer and truck use. Hopefully i am out of the tire business for a while.

[sam60]

Not sure if they are American, but I put 4 Goodyear HMG-2020's on my heavy boat trailer in 2011 and they are like new. Goodyear makes them for Y'all-Haul who doesn't want tire troubles.

[sam60]

Originally Posted by sam60

Not sure if they are American, but I put 4 Goodyear HMG-2020's on my heavy boat trailer in 2011 and they are like new. Goodyear makes them for Y'all-Haul who doesn't want tire troubles.

[TheOldMan76]

I purchased a 1985 Alpenlight, which I'm in the process of refurbishing. Towed it home 80 miles and parked it. Felt like it had a wheel out of balance,
but smoothed out about halfway. While working on the interior, I happened to notice the rf tire has what looks like curb damage, and has raised a small bulge where it appears to have that damage. I'm getting close to having enough renovation done to take it on it's first trial run, about 50 miles round trip. I don't want to replace a set of tires until I assure that the unit is going to perform as expected. Will I have a problem only replacing that one tire for
that period of time? Can I put an LT tire on with the Goodyear trailer tires?
It's only a 25', but seems to be pretty heavy. I don't want to take a chance pulling it on that tire.

[caissiel]

I did use 2 LT tires on the front axle before installing LTs on the rear, I would say change both tires on one axles.
My 225-75-15 ST tires never lasted past 2 years and after replacing them with 235-75-15 tires I was trouble free for 7 years and traded the unit with them on with still lots of wear left after about 60k miles on them.

My Chinese Freestar LT LR G are now going on 8 years old and show no sign of needing replacement with about the same mileage on them.
I am sold on LTs because they have much more rubber on the thread and will stand road damage much better then ST tires. But they need and can stand more air to prevent tire drag compared to STs.

My previous unit tires except the Carlisle's that developed bulges after one year, were all GY and everyone was blown to pieces without any signs of failing. I always blamed the failures on road debris.
I caught a piece of heavy truck tire on one of my truck tire and the steel wires were inbeded in the tire surface. There are many parts of tires on the roads I travel and those pieces are like knives on a tire. When I see the tire debris I need to slow down when I can and try to steer clear of those.
Hope this helps someone towing their condos on wheels.