ALL trailer tires made in China?

That is what a local tire dealer just told me. He sells Goodyear Marathons and said they are all made in Chinese factories as well. Called another dealer and he wasn't as adamant, but said a lot were. I'm hoping to hear from wmtire who is our expert on all things tires.

I found Maxxis ST225/75R15 for $119 each (+ all the extra stuff including balance and steel valve stems) and have an appt to get those mounted on Sat. This is a load range D tire that is rated at 2540 lbs. Should be adequate for my 4240 lb 3124KB.

I can add this to our "Great Tire Experiment."

Comments pro and con welcome. I have a few days to change my mind.
Alan

Originally Posted by Al-n-Sue

That is what a local tire dealer just told me. He sells Goodyear Marathons and said they are all made in Chinese factories as well. Called another dealer and he wasn't as adamant, but said a lot were. I'm hoping to hear from wmtire who is our expert on all things tires.

I found Maxxis ST225/75R15 for $119 each (+ all the extra stuff including balance and steel valve stems) and have an appt to get those mounted on Sat. This is a load range D tire that is rated at 2540 lbs. Should be adequate for my 4240 lb 3124KB.

I can add this to our "Great Tire Experiment."

Comments pro and con welcome. I have a few days to change my mind.
Alan

I Bought My 15" Goodyear Marathons Last September Or So And They Were Made In The USA

This Thread Has The Sidewall Code And The Decoder WMTire Posted For Me To Find Out Where The Tire Was Made

[Bill]

I agree with GoCntry. Your local tire dealer - well, let's just say he is funnin' with you a bit. I'm not sure why. I gather that Goodyear has had a number of factory locations, and China was one - but not the only one. The last ones I bought were stamped "Made in New Zealand".

I hope Bobby (wmtire) chimes in with some real knowledge.

Bill

Howdy, sorry I'm late to the conversation.

Although a vast majority of trailer tires are made in China (as just about everything else), it seems the winds of change are upon us. Gocntry bought some marathons that were made in the U.S. of A.

A lot of U.S. tire manufacturers/distributors are currently moving production (or pulling out of China) due to the unannounced tire 'trade war' we are having.....which you probably didn't even know about.

Late last year, our president slapped a 35% tire tariff on many tires coming from Chinese factories. The tire companies, instead of just upping the chinese manufactured tire prices, chose to spread it out over their entire lines to average it. All tires went up anywhere from 12 -20 % pretty quick. Some companies decided to move the production facilities to other countries like Taiwan, etc. to get around this tariff....along with consolidating/shrinking tire lines. Many sister line brands have been shelved.......which was kinda already being planned due to global demand slowing. The tariff just sped it up some.

It also has kind of created a shortage in some tires (as they move the molds from China), which just drives prices up. What isn't been announced (cause it's not politically expedient) is that the Chinese are buying up a lot of the world materials that are used to produce tires (which we have to buy from them)........which drives prices up more.....not even figuring in that the price of oil keeps going up (another factor in tire production) Every time I order tires now, it seems like the price has moved up. Believe it or not, Goodyear (and it's subsidiaries like Kelly tires) are now one of cheaper priced tires in the American market.

Back on topic, even though a lot of trailer tires are produced in China, not all are........and even less may be due to the tariff.....if it holds up. This will only affect tires sold in the United States, but we are one of the biggest markets.

Just google the term "chinese tire tariff" if you have experienced sticker shock, when buying tires lately, and want to learn more. It's probably going to get worse.

Thanks Bobby - we can always count on you to provide up-todate information!

I've ordered my Maxxis tires from Discount Tire. They were actually cheaper there than the same size Marathon ($119 vs $125), although I found the Marathon at another local tire store for $100.

One link I followed in this thread lead me to believe that Maxxis is made in Taiwan. I'll document that for sure when I get the tires and can look at the codes. Will get them installed on Sat so will update with full info then.
Alan

As delivered, the Marathons on on ours were made in Alabama, according to the sidewall code.

As we have discussed several times, over many forums.....make sure to check the manufacture dates on your (supposedly) new tires. This goes for your trailer as well as your vehicles.

Just because you think you are paying for a new tire, doesn't mean you just got a newly manufactured tire. They can sit in warehouses, and/or dealer stock for years before being sold. A tire is similar to a battery, and the components start deteriating from day one.

With there being some shortages in some tire lines right now, with production being shifted, I am seeing more and more of these old tires making it to market. The manufacturers/distributors are selling anything they can get ahold of. A good example of this, is last week I was checking online inventory from one of my distributors and saw some tires on there that the manufacturer discontinued producing 3-4 years ago.........but they were selling these old tires at todays prices. Don't have any idea whose old warehouse they dug these out of, but I feel bad for whomever ends up with these.

Keep this in mind, and don't accept any old tires. Look at the manufacture date before allowing the tire dealer to mount them.......and definitely before you pay for them.

I am a little confused on DOT codes. When I looked at my 8 month old (since installation) Goodyear Marathon 14 inch tires all I could find was DOT OHHB VLHR. Based on what I have read there should be 4 numbers indicating the date of manufacture.
Am I looking at the wrong DOT code??
If not, what does the letters mean?

Originally Posted by RogerR

I am a little confused on DOT codes. When I looked at my 8 month old (since installation) Goodyear Marathon 14 inch tires all I could find was DOT OHHB VLHR. Based on what I have read there should be 4 numbers indicating the date of manufacture.
Am I looking at the wrong DOT code??
If not, what does the letters mean?

Hey Roger, check the other sidewall. The whole code will be there. The side you need to read, almost always get mounted on the inside, to make you crawl under the trailer/vehicle.

All of the letters are manufacture codes, which when decoded, tell the size, ply, size, etc of the tire. The first two (OH in your case is most likely the number zeroH, as the letters O,I, and Z are usually not used because they look like numbers, but they be running short of two digit combinations)) always tell what tire plant produced the tires. I'll check tomorrow with my book at the shop to see who made it.

[Harry Womack]

I replaced the blown out Marathons with Maxxis tires 2 years ago. I went with the ST225/75R15 Load range E. The load range E does not look low like the load range D did. I run 65-70 PSI in the tires. I would recommend the load range E on a 3124KB.
I replaced all 10 Marathons on our Troop trailers with the Maxxis tires also. On our summer camp trip last summer we had 5 Marathons separate.