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Old 09-07-2009, 11:33 PM   #1
greentrail
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Default How to save my fender skirt next time?

Hi everyone,

I lost my passenger side 14 inch marathon tonight on my 2006 2720 the way home and it made quite a mess. The tire shredded and spew my fender skirt on the freeway and then proceeded to smear rubber and scratch the inside of the wall of the inside shell. Then to make things better there was a huge downpour and I had to drive through all that water without a fender skirt so the inside wall and nearest curtain got a washing with highway water! I was wondering if this is a common outcome when a blowout happens or is there something I could have done to save my skirt?

I'm kinda kicking myself right now because I was tempted to toss those marathons based on the reading I have done here recently but resisted because the tires looked so good. Guess looks can be deceiving for sure!

Well the good news is that the trailer is easy to control with only one good tire and I made it home before the other tire could ruin my plumbing!!

Thanks for letting me cry....now time to buy some new tires!!
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Old 09-08-2009, 12:23 AM   #2
greentrail
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Hey Bill,

I just saw you post (Another (1) tire failure). Sounds like I'm following in your footsteps (in this case unfortunately)
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Old 09-08-2009, 11:51 AM   #3
PopBeavers
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Do not trust the appearance of the tire. If it looks cracked it is bad. If it looks good then it is a maybe. Pay attention to the age of the tire. The date manufactured is on the sidewall.

One of our Marathon's blew at age 4 years. They had less than 10,000 miles on them. I am now running TowMaster.

From what I have been reading, Marathon's were originally made in the US, then moved to China and very recently have been moved back to the US. You can tell from the code on the tire where it was made. The rumor is that China had some quality problems.

Most of us are struggling to find a decent tire. It looks like it is very difficult to find a good ST (Special Trailer) tire. Some owners have switched to LT (Light Truck) tires, but that has its own set of problems.

There are a few threads around here on tires. I believe it is wmtire that is collecting information from several members here regarding real data form some testing. This being an ongoing test, I do not think there are any definitive results yet.

Others will likely post some helpful information here soon.
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Old 09-08-2009, 11:54 AM   #4
PopBeavers
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Since your TM is a 2006, it should have the rounded fender well, unlike older models that had the square fender well.

I am surprised that you had that much damage. Our tire shredded, but stay intact. In our case the tire never touched the wheel well at all.

In fact, had we not heard the POP, we probably would have driven form several miles before we knew there was a problem at all.
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Old 09-08-2009, 01:58 PM   #5
Bill
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The kind of damage caused by a failed tire probably depends on how the tire failed. Many failures are due to tread separation - the tread just peels off and shoots straight backward, where it takes out the plumbing if the failure is on the driver's side. It can also beat up the aluminum panel that makes up the underside of the TM floor. If you have the old-type square wheelwell, as PopBeavers mentioned, the tread can also wad up above the tire, and punch up through the wheel well liner and into the kitchen cabinets. The new round wheel wells seem to keep this from happening.

The other mode of tire failure seems to be a sidewall failure. In that case, the side of the tire blows out, and as the tire rotates, the ragged edges are carried upward and beat up the fender skirt. As you and I have both discovered, some of the pieces can also be carried upward outside the fender skirt, and they push into the space between the walls of the shells.

For tread failure, I have installed heavy mud flaps behind the tires, in hopes of deflecting some of the debris before it does much damage. I have't had a failure since I installed them (See?? They work!!) so I don't know if they will do the job.

I can't think of anything you could do to prevent damage from a sidewall failure. Fortunately, the damage is minor compared to the damage from a thrown thread. A new fender skirt can be had from the factory for a not-exorbitant sum. And some elbow grease and WD-40 removes the black streaks that accumulated.

A long-term solution to the whole question may be a switch to 15-inch tires, which have a lot more load margin. I love mine (thanks, Bobby!)

Bill
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Old 09-09-2009, 12:06 PM   #6
greentrail
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Thanks for the replies and comments guys. I ordered the parts from the factory yesterday and hope to have them before my next trip in two weeks...

I was fooled, the tires looked perfectly good...Not one crack at all...matter of fact I looked over the other tire when I got home and it looked just dandy. At this point it doesn't matter though it's off to be recycled. If I remember right my tires are of New Zeland origin, another reason I thought they might be just fine.

I have been looking for tires and I think the only choice for me is the 195 kuhmo 14 inchers. I think if I go to 15 inch or 205 14 kuhmo the trailer will be too tall to fit in my garage, it's really close right now as it is.

Once again, thanks for your help!
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