14" marathon blow outs

Trip to Va Beach I had 2 blow outs within 30 minutes on I-64. Luckily with a 3326 you have another axle to get yourself to a safe spot. My fault the TM is a 2005 and original tires. I thought I could get another year on them. The treads and tires looked good. I looked at another tire that didn't blow yet and while the tread looked good closer looking the tread would crumble in your hands. I heard of tires dry rotting but I thought 3 years is a short time to have problems. Is this normal? I'm sure TM doesn't know how long the tires sit before they put them on new TM's. Any way I have 4 new tires now.

[B_and_D]

We had another blowout on our trip last week going down that long, narrow, 2-lane stretch of Highway 46 that cuts between Highway 101 in Paso Robles, CA to I-5.

We bought two new Marathons in July, 2004 and a new spare Marathon in January, 2005. We were running the older one on the passenger's side and the newer tire on the plumbing side (I asked DH to switch it out last summer when I drove to Oregon), it was the 4 1/2 year old tire that blew.

For future reference, if you travel I-5 in CA, there is a 24 hour commercial tire repair shop at the southwest corner of Highway 46 and I-5. They carry Hercules tires (I think they're made by Cooper) and had a replacement tire for us that got us on our way.

We're going to look into the 195R14 Load Range D Euro tires that WMTire recommends. We'll keep our new Hercules tire as a spare. We'd like to find a way to carry another spare tire for longer trips.

Aonther note on Marathon problems. I am in the process of getting metal valve stems installed (for TPMS sensors), and balancing the tires and wheels of our new (non-Trailmanor) trailer. I have been told by 2 seperate tire balancing shops, that my spare Marathon is so out of round that it won't balance properly. Just want others to be aware of yet another possible problem with these tires.

Chap

I'm not sure I buy into the "replace them after 3 years." The tires on my regular cars often have 5 years continuous usage under harsh conditions and don't blow out. They sit in the sun, rain, snow, on rocks, sand, mud, pavement and survive. I believe the trailer blowouts are not related directly to age.

Poor quality, out of round (like Chap says), lack of balance, over loading, over speed, under inflation all causing over heating are real reasons to look at.

If you do the math, a TM with two full propane tanks, full water tank, AC, and average camping supplies is very close to the weight limit on the tires. If you have partially full holding tanks and toilet the other misc junk we all want to carry you are at or over the limit for the tires, therefore anything but perfect conditions, ( good tires, correct pressure, good roads, adequately greased bearings etc) will easily put you over the edge. My solution load up the TV which has more capacity in many cases.

[CAmark]

Originally Posted by larsdennert

I'm not sure I buy into the "replace them after 3 years." The tires on my regular cars often have 5 years continuous usage under harsh conditions and don't blow out. They sit in the sun, rain, snow, on rocks, sand, mud, pavement and survive. I believe the trailer blowouts are not related directly to age.

Lars -- I recall information from WMTire a while back that trailer tires are not of the same caliber as conventional auto/truck tires...something to do with aging/oxidizing at a higher rate and thus the problems. I do agree with you that the use/abuse factors contribute greatly to tire life as well.

This thread http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=8169 is also of interest to Marathon owners -- I haven't been to the storage lot to check my tires but intend to soon.

mark

I have been given a serious case of the 'willies' reading all of the tire horror stories the past couple of years. So last week I bit the bullet and bought a set of 15" Marathon Load Range D tires and wheels for our TM. They fit very easily without any modification and seem to work just fine. I have no idea if this was a good use of our meager funds, but now tires are seemingly one less thing I have to worry about... Additional note: I was told that the '09s come with 15" wheels. Can anyone confirm this?

[Bill]

Scott -

I think you'll be glad you did it. We certainly are. The "peace of mind" factor is worth a lot. So is the fact that they run stone-cold for hours on end.

Bill

Originally Posted by rumbleweed

If you do the math, a TM with two full propane tanks, full water tank, AC, and average camping supplies is very close to the weight limit on the tires.

I weighed mine once. It was fully loaded as the whole family would be gone for a week. There was no room left on the floor to stack anything else. I was trying to simulate the worst case load.

It weighed 3380 on the axle. So, I still had 120 pounds of capacity left on the axle, according to the TM specs. I did not read what the tire has as a limit and I did not weigh side to side.

Anyone with a TM 2720 heavier than that has the water AND holding tanks full and took a rock collection.

I was close, but not over. Normally, some of the stuff I carry is in the bed of the truck. I doubt I am that heavy in actual use.

Scott,

With the new tires and wheels that you now have, it begs the question of whether you could put your TM in the garage. I have appx a inch or so of clearance with the 14 inch stock wheels. So would like to know if it could be done. If not, then in the spring, I will go with the Kumho's.

Mike Anderson