Sanibel Goodyear Marathon Tires ST 235/80/R16 Load E

[BBBlue]

My Sanibel 3500 recently had a tire blowout where it appeared the failure occurred at the inner sidewall. Tires on my unit have approximately 7,000 miles on them, have a manufactured date 5111, have been maintained at proper pressure (80 psi), and inspected prior to each trip. I am concerned about the other three tires on the unit and investigating options such as changing to another brand or upgrading to a higher load range. Looking for input from other, as to their experience with these GY Marathon tires for reliability, issues, and actions taken to increase safety.

[wmcclay]

This is a much debated topic on the forum. I will not run st tires. Lost several and damaged unit. Changed to American made LT tires and have not had problems since. We use our unit a lot and run at 65 where legal.
It is very much a personal choice which tires to run. I put on bf Goodrich commercial radial ta's.

Good Luck

Wayne and Donna

[BBBlue]

Originally Posted by wmcclay

This is a much debated topic on the forum. I will not run st tires. Lost several and damaged unit. Changed to American made LT tires and have not had problems since. We use our unit a lot and run at 65 where legal.
It is very much a personal choice which tires to run. I put on bf Goodrich commercial radial ta's.

Good Luck

Wayne and Donna

Wayne, did you have to change out the wheel size?

[OldCoot]

BBBlue, that looks like the sidewall was cut, not a defect of the tire.

[BBBlue]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

BBBlue, that looks like the sidewall was cut, not a defect of the tire.

Interesting statement. The trailer was being transported from Va to Indiana by a transporter. Maybe he ran into road debris? Nevertheless, I am hearing of problems with blowouts with the GY Marathons.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by BBBlue

Interesting statement. The trailer was being transported from Va to Indiana by a transporter. Maybe he ran into road debris? Nevertheless, I am hearing of problems with blowouts with the GY Marathons.

Have run GY Marathons for 37 yrs on numerous rv and race car trailers and NEVER even had a flat. Your money, spend it as you choose.

[wmcclay]

As stated in previous post this a hot topic. No, I did not change wheels as the wheels on our Sanibel are rated for 110 psi.
LT tires usually haul passengers are overloaded regularly. I do not know if there are different specs or regulations for LT tires and passengers verses ST and no passengers. That MAY be the reason the are clearly marked trailer use only.
I try not to buy anything made in China as the quality control is very suspect. Many attorneys will not even try to litigate with a Chinese company for damages, too expensive and the Chinese company's can ignore US courts rulings.
Just one more reason to buy American.

[vinmaker]

Trailer tires are specifically designed to take the load and are also made with stiffer sidewalls to prevent sway and fishtailing around behind you due to lateral forces. There is a science to this. Passenger tires and LT tires are designed for other purposes that carrying a load. That is why there are so many different 15 inch tires. Very easy for a car maker to just use a tire on the market. But the engineers, for whatever reason, have the makers develop a special tire size. Pain in the butt when you are looking for alternatives.

There is nothing wrong with a trailer tire IMHO. As was stated, this is a HOTLY contested topic.

Vin.

[kdanie]

I recently had a blow out on my Sanibel 3500 with the factory GY marathon tires. Another had a cut in the side wall. They had about 15,000 miles on them. I replaced them all with some "Comodore ST" tires from a Big O tire store, that's all I could find at the time.

As I understand it ST tires are speed rated at 65mph while LT tires are obviously higher, that would be a huge benefit in my eyes as my '97 Dodge 3500 Cummins/auto prefers to tow at 72mph to be happy.

ken

[chiro]

15,000 miles is great for rv tires.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by chiro

15,000 miles is great for rv tires.

As ST tires go, you had a great run. A lot of other members here would be ecstatic to get even 2/3 that many miles!

[kdanie]

Really?? I was very disappointed as the tread wasn't even half gone!!

Next set will be LT's for sure.

ken

[Taranwanderer]

Originally Posted by kdanie

Really?? I was very disappointed as the tread wasn't even half gone!!

Next set will be LT's for sure.

ken

You really can't think about "tread" when you're talking about ST tires. You will almost never wear out the tread on an ST tire as you will a P or LT tire. Those tires have to deal with the forces of acceleration, turning, braking, and load. That's why you wear the tread down on a P or LT tire. ST tires only deal with load and some braking. The tire will almost always break down physically from age and UV exposure before you wear the tread off it. You gotta get out of that mindset when shopping for trailer tires.

[DocGTO]

I don't run ST tires. I've seen way to many people on the side of the road with blowouts, to include 3 personal friends of mine who take meticulous care of their trailers. One of them had 3 blowouts on his 2 week vacation..... Crap as far as I'm concerned.

I replace with commercial LT tires and I've never had an issue on any of my trailers.

If you want to stick with ST tires then do "new every 2" regardless of how good they look. I have one racing buddy that does this and he gets by well but to me that seems more expensive then just buying good LT tires.

[07 ThunderRoad]

I changed out the Goodyear "E" load rated Marathons for "F" load rated tires. The "E" load rated Marathon tires do not have the weight rating needed for the Sanibel's 7,000 lbs axles. All ST tires have there true max weight rating on the side wall. LT tires are required to have a minimum 20% safety margin built into the weight rating of the tire. The Sanibel 3500 and 3600 are delivered with tires that are at their weight limit with the coach empty. You need to upgrade all 5 of your tires.

[davel1971]

every time someone post a tire blow out pic, people want to place blame on something being run over, and not a tire failure. How come the tow vehicle tires never blow out? Running in the same tracks. If something was in the line of travel, the tow vehicle would almost always hit it first. You don't see those that make the switch to LT tires every post anything about blow outs

[jimmyt11664]

I am replacing and upgrading to the Goodyear G614 tires that are a J load 110 psi tire. I am replacing the Marathon tires. I think that they are over rated. I ha e been a automotive mechanic for over 38 years. I was looking into the Michelin Rib tire. They are same load range of the Marathon tire and twice the weight. And don't even rate the single load rating was 2860 for the Michelin Rib. We're the Marathon was rated for 3000 lbs. And the G614 is rated 750lbs more. I think they were over zealous in this specific rate of load. Also the G614 is
speed rated for 75 mph. The dealer said 85 mph

[LKicklight]

Our two year old Crusader 270RET has the same size wheels and tires, and yes, at 7K miles, the right rear tire lost its tread for no apparent reason other than a piece of the slide out on that side poled a hole in the tire, then it lost the tread. The same axle and tire location blew its tread off some 4K miles later. Stopped in Calgary and had a complete new set of 16" tires installed. Drove another 2800 miles home to Georgia with no problems with the tires.

Originally Posted by BBBlue

My Sanibel 3500 recently had a tire blowout where it appeared the failure occurred at the inner sidewall. Tires on my unit have approximately 7,000 miles on them, have a manufactured date 5111, have been maintained at proper pressure (80 psi), and inspected prior to each trip. I am concerned about the other three tires on the unit and investigating options such as changing to another brand or upgrading to a higher load range. Looking for input from other, as to their experience with these GY Marathon tires for reliability, issues, and actions taken to increase safety.

[Dave_Monica]

Originally Posted by BBBlue

My Sanibel 3500 recently had a tire blowout where it appeared the failure occurred at the inner sidewall. Tires on my unit have approximately 7,000 miles on them, have a manufactured date 5111, have been maintained at proper pressure (80 psi), and inspected prior to each trip. I am concerned about the other three tires on the unit and investigating options such as changing to another brand or upgrading to a higher load range. Looking for input from other, as to their experience with these GY Marathon tires for reliability, issues, and actions taken to increase safety.

For clarification, your axles are 7K, correct? The Goodyear Marathon 235/80R16 LR E are only rated at 3420# or does PT reduce the GVWR of the camper so that the tire rating isn't exceeded?

As LT tires, 235/85R16 LR E are rated lower (3042#), you'd need to go to a G rated tire like Goodyear G614's to have sufficient load capacity.

Dave

[whiteyh1]

65 mph is way to fast when you are towing. I see u guys with blowouts on the side of the hwy. Wonder why.