15" Marathon blowout

[mgoblue911]

Blowout occured last Friday evening while driving at 60 mph on I-80 eastbound in Illinois, just west of the Indiana border. I felt a little wobble in the steering wheel of my Armada, looked back in the driver's sideview mirror and saw rubber flying off my street-side trailer tire. Seconds later, it was sparks flying as the trailer was now riding on the rim as I slowed down and tried to manuveur across three lanes of extremely heavy traffic. Most people are either very considerate, or simply have good self-preservation instincts. Others can be INCREDIBLY stupid/unaware. Fortunately, there was a paved shoulder in the area, and we made it there safely.

DW and I were able to get the tire changed in about 30 minutes of harrowing activity as cars and semis roared past at 70 mph only 5 feet behind me. The whole time I was thinking about wills and life insurance, but that is another story... Fortunately, my spare was in excellent shape and still properly inflated.

We had only been driving for about an hour and had only traveled about 50 miles. I checked the pressure (~63 psi) on both trailer tires prior to leaving home. My tires are original to my 2007 3023 and have about 9K miles on them. DOT markings indicate that they were manufactured in week 40 of 2006 (4006). I did not see anything in the road that could have hit prior to the blowout. I had both tires balanced prior to our trip to Yellowstone earlier this summer. (BTW, as predicted by many on this forum, this made a noticeable difference.)

I am now skeptical about the quality of the Marathon tires. I am extrely reluctant to buy a new one to replace the blow out. However, if I change brands, I would feel compelled to get two new ones so that I was running on a matched set.

I really resent how this incident has changed how we feel while towing the trailer. I do most of the driving, and have always driven with a heightened sense of awareness while towing. I was confident in my TV and the TM, and I didn't want to be the reason something went wrong. The DW had become very comfortable and relaxed, even while towing, in the passenger seat, which is exactly what I want. Now, relaxation seems impossible for her, and irresponsible for me. We both just seem to be continuously waiting for one of the tires to blow. I hate this feeling...

I am sure time will heal this, but if I never have to change a tire under those circumstances again, it will be too soon...

[wbmiller3]

I know exactly what you mean about waiting for the next shoe to drop / tire to blow. You might consider getting a tire pressure measuring system. Now I can just hit the button and get reassured that things are good in the tire world.

[Joseph]

I know how you feel about the tires. After so many reports of problems I purchased another rim and tire. Not a Marathon, so I now have two spares on long trips. I also purchased the Doran 360 TPMS. It answers the question of what are the tires doing????? Could have been the tire was damaged or picked up a puncture of some kind after your last check and slowly leaked. Believe me, I am not defending the Marathon. Just thinking out loud. At any rate the TPMS makes me feel a whole lot better about towing. Might help the DW feel better also?????

[grill-n-go]

We have two spares, everything is filled with nitrogen and just got sold on a Doran system (thanks Joseph & Melanie). We also carry one of those Ryobi 18V compressors and the emergency triangles which mandate a 50 yard walk. About the amount of time I need to "chill out" before getting on with the business of changing a tire.

[P and B]

Do blowouts happen instantaneously or can you really tell (fast enough) from a pressure monitoring system that you're about to have a blowout?

Phil

[mtnguy]

Do blowouts happen instantaneously or can you really tell (fast enough) from a pressure monitoring system that you're about to have a blowout?

Phil

I believe that a true blow out happens instantaneously......some members have actually heard the pop. But I also wonder if what some of people experience is a tire going low to the point that it overheats and blows, or that it just runs flat and then starts throwing rubber, thinking that it blew out. That is why I run a TMPS.

Hopefully Bobby will jump in here and comment.

Chap

[mtnguy]

Blowout occured last Friday evening while driving at 60 mph on I-80 eastbound in Illinois, just west of the Indiana border.
We had only been driving for about an hour and had only traveled about 50 miles. I checked the pressure (~63 psi) on both trailer tires prior to leaving home. My tires are original to my 2007 3023 and have about 9K miles on them. DOT markings indicate that they were manufactured in week 40 of 2006 (4006). I did not see anything in the road that could have hit prior to the blowout.


mgoblue911, you said that you checked the tire pressure @ 63 psi each, but if they were the orginal Marathons, aren't they rated at a max. 50 psi?? Just wondering if the extra pressure may have contributed to the blow out.

Chap

[mgoblue911]

My tires, and the sticker on my TM, say 65 PSI.

Grill-n-go, my wife did put out the triangles and even attempted to light the flares that are in our emergency kit. Apparently the matches in the kit are waterproof, but not breeze-proof. She never was able to get them lit.

A little more info that I forgot to mention in first note... The TM held up surprisingly well in the whole situation. The only permanent damage was to the "shroud" that covers half the tire, it is now missing a chunk. There was a surprising amount of tire shrapnel in the bathroom when we opened up. It got blown up between the shells during the incident. However, the heavy black plastic that lines the wheel-well did an excellent job of protecting the "innards" of the trailer. Thank goodness. Not what I was expecting after reading some of the horror stories posted here.

[PopBeavers]

I believe that a true blow out happens instantaneously......some members have actually heard the pop. But I also wonder if what some of people experience is a tire going low to the point that it overheats and blows, or that it just runs flat and then starts throwing rubber, thinking that it blew out. That is why I run a TMPS.


When our tire blew we all heard the pop. It was instantaneous.

I inflated all TM tires to the max pressure indicated on the Marathon sidewall.

Towing speed was 55 to 60, and very consistent because much of the time cruise control was on.

After 91 miles we made a rest stop. Because it was hot outside, 100+, I visually inspected both TM tires and felt them with my hand. They did not feel excessively hot to me.

80 miles later we hit a pot hole. Nothing unusual for California I5. It was not very big, but we did feel it. Not sure if this was a contributing factor.

112 miles later the curbside Marathon failed.There was enough rubber left to prevent the wheel from contacting the road surface.

TM was purchased new in April 2005. Tires were 6 months old at time of purchase. Tires had almost 10,000 miles on them when the failure occurred.

I check the TM tire pressure for every trip. The tires lose about 3 psi per month when parked in my garage. Otherwise, I have never had to add any air.

I do not think that a monitoring system would have helped at all.

[kempert]

I am reading the latest Consumers Report and there has been a recall of valve stems. The valve stems crack prematurely and can cause blow outs. Have we been looking at the wrong thing all along? It's so easy to overlook the basic problem. As a coach, I have to educate people that when their shins hurt, the root of the problem is actually in the feet.

[wbmiller3]

P and B,

When I had a dual blowout because of running over debris (it was apparently one or more of those black rubber tie downs with metal S hooks on them... the hooks got my tires) my TPMS alarm went off and I pulled over before the tires flew apart. They were still hissing when I walked back to look at them but were totally flat in (a guess here because I was pretty adrenalized) two more minutes.

One data point is not much but I credit the TPMS with preventing trailer damage at least in this scenario.

[ameridan]

I agree about the valve stems being the cause of some blowouts!! And that would explain why most blowouts occur at the higher speed, as there are exponentially more forces at the outer diameters of the rim as speed increases. In fact over the winter, both of mine had crumbled while parked to the point that the tires went flat. Now I've got the metal valve stems that are standard equipment for many trucks.