More Marathon tire failures

Originally Posted by Bill

I don't think we have had a single report of rim failure or axle failure, at least in my five years on this board. Tires? That's a different story.

Bill

Thanks Bill, that was what I was hoping to hear.

OK, here is the specs on the Hankook Euro tires.

http://www.hankooktireusa.com/product/RA08.pdf

I'm ready to send the test tires. I've narrowed our choices to Mastercraft, Kumho, or Hankook. Here is a brief explanation of my thinking and what it takes to get them to the test subjects.

I am biased towards Hankook from years of experience selling them. I do not have problems with their tires. Hankook is OE tire on Fords, Chevrolet, Volkswagon, Hyundai, Kia, and Suzuki. This particular tire is an OE application on some VW buses/vans. I can get the factory to drop ship them from their warehouse to the testers.

I do sell Mastercraft also, and don't have a problem with them. My distributor has them in stock, but I don't know how long they have had them. They may be older inventory. I have had this distributor ship me older tires before. I will have to get them shipped in to me and then ship them to the test volunteers.

The Kumho's are from Tire Rack. Here again, I can get them drop shipped directly from their warehouse to the test volunteers. I have no experience with Kumho. Tire Rack usually will not keep old stock for long. Their advantage is availability to the masses. All TrailManor owners would be able to get this tire real easy, based on our test verifications.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions? We could test 2 different brands if needed. Frenchy is already testing the Cooper/Mastercraft tires. Would it be a good idea to maybe test both the Kumho and Hankook tires thru our test volunteers? I'm like Gumby.......very flexible.

[Cateye]

Hi Bill,

Since you have experience with blow outs can you advise the proper procedure for stopping. My instincts would lead me to believe that any braking by the trailer could create an uneven drag on the tow vehicle causing it to swerve. I have Prodigy brake controller that can be turned off in the even of a blow out, allowing me to slow down using the vehicle brakes only...thanks in advance for your insight...

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Here's how to do it with the tire still mounted....

I'm correcting this post on the edit date. Keep in mind that I have 15" wheels on the 5000 lb Torflex (with 6 bolt holes on 5.5"). Upgrades from 14" rims, using a 5 bolt pattern, might not want to match my measurement.

Result (1): "Measure from the concrete up to the bottom of the piece of wood laid across the tire." 225mm

Result (a): "Now divide the answer by 2. This gives you the centerline of the rim and tire." 113mm

Result (2): "Place the tape measure through the middle of the tire/rim and measure the distance from ground to wheel mount face." 113-114mm. There is a widened "lip" inside of the measuring edge, so this is an approximation.

Result (b) "Take the backspace measurement and subtract the centerline measurement from step 1. Absolute value less than 1.5mm

3. If this works out to be a positive number, then that is the amount of positive offset you have. If it is a negative number, then that is the amount of negative offset you have. If it is zero, you have no offset. [U]The Offset on my wheels appears to be zero.[U]
BTW, wheel markings are:

DOT T15X6 JJ 09 05 MAX.2600LBS BW/JCA CHINA

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by Dagrip

I pulled the Marathons off our 2007 2720SL .... All three were way off and needed quite a bit of adjustment to bring them to balance.

My 15" wheels had no balancing weights either, and two of them needed a LOT of help. Should make braking a bit smoother, I think

Wheels are measured on the inside where the bead of the tire will ride, not to the outside of the rim. Balance of the tire should not affect braking.

[fcatwo]

On the 15"X6", 5 holes on 4-1/2" circle rims: All those I found in my internet tire wanderings were rated the same as the Marathon 15" load rance "C" tire -- which I believe is around 2100lbs. Since we are not exceeding the axles 3500lb rating it would seem there is no problem in putting higher rated tires on either the 14 or 15" rim.

[mjlaupp]

WMTire,
I live in Downsville and work at the WM paper mill. I am at the point of replacing the 14" tires on my '03 2027SL. They are approaching the 5 year limit. Was interested in upgrading to a 15" set. Can we work together to figure out the rim/tire combination. The TM is currently out of state and won't be back until June.
Mike
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Originally Posted by mjlaupp

WMTire,
I live in Downsville and work at the WM paper mill. I am at the point of replacing the 14" tires on my '03 2027SL. They are approaching the 5 year limit. Was interested in upgrading to a 15" set. Can we work together to figure out the rim/tire combination. The TM is currently out of state and won't be back until June.
Mike
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Certainly Mjlaupp, I had seen your location on a post about air conditioners and was going to contact you, being a local. Since you work at the mill, I'm just down Thomas Rd right beside Forest Kraft Credit Union, which you probably use, being a Riverwood employee. I usually go to Shreveport on Thursdays, but am in most of the rest of the week.

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by Freedom

Wheels are measured on the inside where the bead of the tire will ride, not to the outside of the rim.

Then 6" is the right number. Thanks!