15" Marathons tread separation

I pulled one of the 15" Marathons from my TM because it was losing air (turned out it was a faulty valve stem). As I was rolling it into the tire shop, I noticed that there was a bulge on part of the tread. Not good. So I went back home and checked the other tire and spare. Turns out that one more of the tires also had tread that seemed to be separating.

These tires have maybe 7 or 8 thousand miles on them. One of them had been the spare and has only 3000 miles of wear. None of it in particularly hard or hot conditions.

I chatted with a friend who has a trailer rental place. He says that after troubles with Marathons and Carlisles, he switched all his stock to Westlakes and hasn't had any problems since. That's anecdotal data but all I have to work with. He sent me to his tire dealer and that's what I've put on the TM. A little heavier tire - Load range E, but load wasn't the problem. I suspect it was simply shoddy manufacturing.

[Barb&Tim]

Did you happen to note the date code on those tires?

Tim

[ELM-JLM]

LOL! I have three fourteen inch Marathons ( DOT Date Code 3006 ) on the wheels sitting in the garage! One nearly new spare and the other two might have a thousand miles on them! I switched to 15" Maxxis load range D for our trip to Alaska for peace of mind!

BTW My 08 2619 came with the 06 tires on it!

Originally Posted by Barb&Tim

Did you happen to note the date code on those tires?

Tim

Yep. 2807 - middle of 2007.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Note to self: another supporting data point to replace tires after 3 years.

Dave

There could be many causes for the tire issue discussed in this thread. I will be the first to admit that. But, and it could be just because we are focused on Marathons a little, I do not think that the Marathon brand is something I would want on my TM. We do not seem to be hearing much about other brands. Do not know if that is because there is not as many of them out there and in as high a number or what. But Marathon keeps "popping"... up on the forum.

[T and C]

Well,

I've got about 12,000 on my 15 inch Marathons. Trouble free so far. However, they were made in 2010 in the USA. I think the three year limit for replacement is a good idea though.

Tom

[scrubjaysnest]

with Dave, a four year old tire is suspect more than who made it. We have seen nothing abnormal with the 15 inch Marathons so far. Thats after a year and about 4 thousand miles. I have had to add only a couple of pounds of air once on this whole trip.

[scrubjaysnest]

Here is a pic of the 221 week old Marathon that blew out on us. The middle tire is the spare with maybe 50 miles on it and the bottom is the street side with some where between 10 to 12 k miles. The street side would lose a pound or two of air over 6 months. The curb side, which blew, would loose a pound or two about every 2 months. Before leaving Valley of the Fires I added about 4 psi to the curb side and 2 psi to the street side. At Socorro I checked the feel like temps of both tires and wheels. They were both above body temp but not hot. After leaving the Walmart the curb side blew about 5 miles from Magdalena so the tires had traveled about 120 miles with two stops. Air temps were still in the 60's and I heard the tire blow with the truck windows closed and at a speed of 60 MPH. I am not aware of hitting anything but with one failure on four year old tires we replaced all three. The new tires are Durun 10 ply E load range and were made on 0812 so they had been sitting only about 5 weeks. Time will tell as these are a cheap China made tire. wmtire has no experience with these and suggest inflating to the sidewall press of 80PSI. I'll watch tread were over the next few thousand miles. I have been unable to find an inflation table for these tires.

[thewayneo]

The original 14” Marathons from my 2006 are still going on my friends trailer even tho most of the tread was gone when he took them. I research big purchases until I go crazy and then make a decision. When I went to Discount Tire the guy told me that Goodyear had recently pulled production from China because of quality problems and Marathons were now made in the USA. I hate sending our money directly to foreign countries so I bought 'em. When I got home I was shocked to see MADE IN CHINA on the tires, so I took them back and now have the newer MADE IN USA 15” Marathons. I have to admit that I do have cheap china tires on my 5 X 8 utility trailer, but next time I will get ones made in USA.

wayneo