Killing trailer tires

[Mekanic]

I killed 2 tires on my vacation out west and started on a 3rd.
All of these tires were Goodyear Marathon trailer tires.
The GVWR of the trailer is 7499 lbe and the tires are 205/75R14 sized. THe tires came on the trailer in 2005 and had plenty of tread left. no crakes either.
in all fairness the first one was mostly my fault for sticking it back on when it had a plug repair in a bad area (Tread /sidewall transition area) I got flagged down on I-70 and when I pulled over it was just 2 sidewalls left on the wheel. that was in MO.
On the way back in Sayre OK When i was doing a walk around i saw a broken belt in the tread and a bald spot. It was getting bad and i knew it wasen't long before it would let go so I replaced it. They were not underinflated.

Now the last goodyear on it starting the same thing except It doen't look like it has a broken belt....yet.
I am planning on changing it out shortly.
Anybody else seen this sort of thing on one of these goodyears??

The rest of the tread has Very even wear. on the 2nd ite i replaced it looked just like that but it had the typical broken belt buldge next to the bald stripe.
The new cheapy triler tire I bought in sayre OK still has the nubs on the tread after 8oo miles or so!!
Its a real mystry to me. No cracks in any sidwalls or tread. Good tread. about 1/2 tread in fact. But Really I have lost all three goodyears on the trip I just didn't replace the last one yet. THe last one has no bulges like a broken belt but you can see its days are numberd.
When I was checking it on the road ALL 4 tires on the trailer were within 5 degrees of each other.
These goodyears on mine were made in the US (Made in 2005). THe new tire and the good used ones I bought on the trip were made in china.
Now for the bad news : I looked at the Goodyear Marathons now in stock on a recent trip to wally world (in the 14 inch size) and low and behold they are now from China.
I just found there are US made trailer tires
And they even have 10 ply rated tire in a 15 inch rime size!!
http://www.intercotire.com/tires.php?id=27&g=3

[OneRVer]

Have looked at the alignment of your trailer axle?

[wingnut60]

Is this on the trailer in your sig?
Joe

[Ray,IN]

That picture appears to be a broken belt also. The tires are/were 6 years old, you are lucky to get this far. As to inflation, all ST tire manufacturers say to keep them inflated to sidewall maximum, and a maximum speed rating of 65 MPH.
I had all four tires fail at the same time 2 years ago, ply separation. They were 3 years old.

You may buy 14" load range F (12 ply) tires if you wish to go that route.

[Mekanic]

That tire and the other one that did that, were fine in july No cracks on sidewalls, no buldges on sides or tread except for the last one that got replaced. THey were all wearing very evenly. All inflated to the 50psi for max load for the C load rating that they had.
I just think it is odd that they go to halftread and then they went to crap so fast.
RAy those ones you posted about fit 14.5 inch wheels. I have 14s

[SmokeyWren]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mekanic The GVWR of the trailer is 7499 lbe and the tires are 205/75R14 sized.

All the RV trailer manufacturers are guilty of the same crime: not enough tire for the load for high-speed cross-country highway travel.

Your trailer grosses up to 7499 without being overloaded, but your tires are rated for only 7040 pounds max weight. Granted, subtract 10 percent hitch weight from the 7499 and your tires are barely good enough for the wet and loaded axle weight of your trailer.

My fix is to upgrade the tires (and wheels if necessary to match the new tires) to get a much-bigger fudge factor between max tire capacity and max trailer load.

Your tires are ST205/75R14C rated for 1740 pounds max weight per tire.

Your best bet is to buy new wheels and tires in size ST225/75R15D (8-ply rating), or even better in load range E (10-ply rating). Rated for at least 10,000 pounds trailer weight. Maxxis makes the tires, available at Discount Tire and other places. Good inexpensive 15x6" trailer wheels are available from
Modular Trailer Wheels

But your trailer wheelwells may not have enough room for that much tire. If not, then your next-best option is go go with the strongest 14" trailer tire you can find,

One size up is ST215/75R14C with weight capacity of 1,870 per tire or 7480 for all 4 trailer tires. Those are available from my favorite - Maxxis - as well as from Goodyear Marathon and others. I have not found anyone that makes that size trailer tire in load range D or E.

Even better would be 205R14D trailer tires with 2,271 weight capacity or over 9,000 pounds for all 4 tires. I've found those from only one manufacturer:
Kumho Radial 857

Quote:

THe tires came on the trailer in 2005 and had plenty of tread left. no crakes either.

Because of UV, trailer tires are good for 4 or 5 years, then should be replaced - even if they still look brand new. I would not want to take off on a cross-country trip with trailer tires that are 6 years old or older.

Quote:

These goodyears on mine were made in the US (Made in 2005). THe new tire and the good used ones I bought on the trip were made in china. Now for the bad news : I looked at the Goodyear Marathons now in stock on a recent trip to wally world (in the 14 inch size) and low and behold they are now from China.

Country of origin is overrated criteria for picking tires - or any other item. Goodyear (and all other manufacturers) have quality-control procedures that guarantee the quality of a Goodyear tire made in China will be just as good as one made in Indiana. So worry more about brand name than country of origin. When it comes to trailer tires, Kumho and Maxxis are better than Goodyear's Marathon - in my experience. But none of them are worth a flip if you don't have enough fudge factor in the weight capacity of the tire.

Quote:

I just found there are US made trailer tires. And they even have 10 ply rated tire in a 15 inch rime size!! http://www.intercotire.com/tires.php?id=27&g=3

The makers of SuperSwamper mudhole tires have been making decent tires for a long time. But are you sure they're still made in the USA? American unions have priced themselves out of business, so not many producers of Made in America products are still running union-operated manufacturing plants in the USA.

[wa8yxm]

Before I got into this class A I drive I had two small trailers, One a PUP one solid, Both liked to blow tires. Both were SINGLE AXLE (this is important) I measured and found the wheel well would accomidate the next larger tire (one or 2 inches, forget which) ie: Upgrade from a 12 to a 14.

Did so.

Since then I have had 4 flats.

The seriously over age tireon the hard-side blew on the way to the dealer to pick up this class A. (no problem, Put the spare on finished the trip and traded it in with a flat spare)

On the PUP, which I'd stripped down to a utility trailer I had 3 flats, 2 valve stem failures due to age and one rim bending pot hole.

That was the end of my flats.

The larger tires spin slower, generate less heat in the bearings and have a higher load rating. I'm not sure which of those did it.

[johnsmith12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mekanic I killed 2 tires on my vacation out west and started on a 3rd. All of these tires were Goodyear Marathon trailer tires. The GVWR of the trailer is 7499 lbe and the tires are 205/75R14 sized. THe tires came on the trailer in 2005 and had plenty of tread left. no crakes either. in all fairness the first one was mostly my fault for sticking it back on when it had a plug repair in a bad area (Tread /sidewall transition area) I got flagged down on I-70 and when I pulled over it was just 2 sidewalls left on the wheel. that was in MO. On the way back in Sayre OK When i was doing a walk around i saw a broken belt in the tread and a bald spot. It was getting bad and i knew it wasen't long before it would let go so I replaced it. They were not underinflated. Now the last goodyear on it starting the same thing except It doen't look like it has a broken belt....yet. I am planning on changing it out shortly. Anybody else seen this sort of thing on one of these goodyears?? The rest of the tread has Very even wear. on the 2nd ite i replaced it looked just like that but it had the typical broken belt buldge next to the bald stripe. The new cheapy triler tire I bought in sayre OK still has the nubs on the tread after 8oo miles or so!! Its a real mystry to me. No cracks in any sidwalls or tread. Good tread. about 1/2 tread in fact. But Really I have lost all three goodyears on the trip I just didn't replace the last one yet. THe last one has no bulges like a broken belt but you can see its days are numberd. When I was checking it on the road ALL 4 tires on the trailer were within 5 degrees of each other. These goodyears on mine were made in the US (Made in 2005). THe new tire and the good used ones I bought on the trip were made in china. Now for the bad news : I looked at the Goodyear Marathons now in stock on a recent trip to wally world (in the 14 inch size) and low and behold they are now from China. I just found there are US made trailer tires And they even have 10 ply rated tire in a 15 inch rime size!! http://www.intercotire.com/tires.php?id=27&g=3

Isn't that something...not one radial trailer tire still made in the good ol' USA! Unreal! My family has been travelling together on annual fishing trips for the last 30 years. During this time, we've had about every trailer tire related issue known to man! My brother was smart and bought an AC/DC impact wrench which came in handy changing many trailer tires over the years! We've had about every brand trailer tire as well. As other posts have stated, we've had the best luck with radial tires....seems like they ride better and we get less trailer sway at interstate speeds.

[Yellowreef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mekanic I killed 2 tires on my vacation out west and started on a 3rd. All of these tires were Goodyear Marathon trailer tires. The GVWR of the trailer is 7499 lbe and the tires are 205/75R14 sized. THe tires came on the trailer in 2005 and had plenty of tread left. no crakes either. in all fairness the first one was mostly my fault for sticking it back on when it had a plug repair in a bad area (Tread /sidewall transition area) I got flagged down on I-70 and when I pulled over it was just 2 sidewalls left on the wheel. that was in MO. On the way back in Sayre OK When i was doing a walk around i saw a broken belt in the tread and a bald spot. It was getting bad and i knew it wasen't long before it would let go so I replaced it. They were not underinflated. Now the last goodyear on it starting the same thing except It doen't look like it has a broken belt....yet. I am planning on changing it out shortly. Anybody else seen this sort of thing on one of these goodyears??

What you are not co sidering in your calculations is that trailer tires at 6 years old are done regardless of miles. Nothing you did, nothing to do with US manufacture or brand, they just got old.

[donandmax]

I had the same thing happen on our trailer years ago only worse. After only 200 miles one of our tires had a big bulge on the top and sides. It happened 3 times in a row. Came to the conclusion it was axel alignment. Since there is no easy way to do axel alignment without undoing the welds we got rid of it.. Too bad otherwise it was a nice trailer..

[HD4Mark]

Here is my experience with trailer tires. Cargo trailer came with two China bomb tires. Blow out for no reason I could see with about 500 miles. We bought a used boat that the trailer had three Goodyear Marathons and one I forget the name China bomb. I have to assume something went wrong with the fourth Goodyear but have no way to tell. A puncture would not be the fault of the tire of course. The Chinese tire literally fell apart. The three not so new Marathons are still OK.

Not to start an argument here but if everyone in the U.S.A. had a union scale job we would have no problem affording American made products. Just think then we could make more stuff here and make more jobs and more people would have enough money to buy more American made products. See where that might go? Instead greedy corporations that pay their CEOs ridiculous amounts of money send our work overseas to sell us substandard products in the name of corporate profit. End of rant and thank you for listening

[OneRVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD4Mark Here is my experience with trailer tires. Cargo trailer came with two China bomb tires. Blow out for no reason I could see with about 500 miles. We bought a used boat that the trailer had three Goodyear Marathons and one I forget the name China bomb. I have to assume something went wrong with the fourth Goodyear but have no way to tell. A puncture would not be the fault of the tire of course. The Chinese tire literally fell apart. The three not so new Marathons are still OK. Not to start an argument here but if everyone in the U.S.A. had a union scale job we would have no problem affording American made products. Just think then we could make more stuff here and make more jobs and more people would have enough money to buy more American made products. See where that might go? Instead greedy corporations that pay their CEOs ridiculous amounts of money send our work overseas to sell us substandard products in the name of corporate profit. End of rant and thank you for listening

Be careful, you might get an email from the Man telling you he is going to delete your comment. I know. I have had a couple removed. Not suppose to talk about the condition of our country.

[Midniteoyl]

Thats because its complete bull....

[johnsmith12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellowreef What you are not co sidering in your calculations is that trailer tires at 6 years old are done regardless of miles. Nothing you did, nothing to do with US manufacture or brand, they just got old.

I agree with Yellowreef. Trailer tires can still have brand new tread and still blow. It's just as hard on them to sit as it is to be rolling down the road.