Switching from Marathons to other brands

We switched to the 195 Kuhmo and put 8,000 miles on this summer and they were great. We did keep the speed under 65 mph, I'm not sure what the speed rating is for that tire. One of the problems for the Marathon was the speed rating, I think I read it was 60. I think it is a rougher ride for the trailer because the pressure is 65 lbs. instead of 50. I found the grate from the stove popped out several times and that never happened before, but that may have been some of the rough roads we found this year. (especially in Canada)
Tom

Thanks Tom,
I just had the Kuhmo's mounted this past friday. I liked the feel over the marathons, the trailer seemed to be more stable and solid. The tires are certainly stiffer than the 50 psi marathons. I look forward to many miles/years of trouble free service.

If you don't mind me asking, what was the overall cost. I'm leaning towards those but my tires are only 18 months old.

I purchased three from discount tire at 90 dollars each with a 15 dollar mount and balance which included the bolt in high pressure stems. There were tire disposal charges etc but out the door was 342 which was about 10 dollars cheaper than ordering from tirerack (tires there are 83 but shipping for 3 to me is 35 dollars) and having another place install.

[jimair1548]

I have a 2004 3023 with Marathon tires(15") on it. don't know the mileage but we have used it a good bit. We live in Ga. and like to camp(in Ga., of course) in the north....Va. Pa. NY. Vt. Ma. etc. Never had any tire problems, but we are careful about pressures, generally run them at 50-55 psi, and never , repeat, never overload the trailer.
we do not "tank" (carry) water. Before this last trip we put new on Maxxis Radials, and had no problems.(2200 miles). As an added precaution, I made a couple of mud flaps to protect the outside plumbing and keep the dirt down to a "dull roar" I would have to say that the major problems with tires comes from either overloading, over or under inflating or high speed. Will let you know about the Maxxis tires as we put more miles and age on them.......Jim

We had our first tire failure this past Saturday on our '08 3124KB with 15" Marathons...we were fortunate that some good samaritan let us know we had a flat prior to the tread coming off (and it was on the curb side). After returning home I took the tire to a local tire center to get an adjustment and a new tire. Good news/bad news...it was the valve stem that failed...there is some degradation of the tread from driving on it flat...so now it is the spare. Following the advise from the forum...new metal "clamp on" valve stems were installed and tires balanced. This was a previously "loved" TM that we purchased 6 months new in '08...manufactured in June of '07...the tires were manufactured in Feb. of '06 nearly a year and a half before the trailer. So we will be keeping an eye on the forum to find the solution. Currently thinking of the Maxxis M8008 STRadial ST275/15E with 10 ply at 80 psi will handle 2850 lbs. at about $145 each mounted and balanced. The tire center guy recommended the Carlisle's.

[Bill]

NelAndKen -

Just as a matter of interest, why did you decide to abandon 15-inch Marathons if they gave you no trouble - the problem was the valve stem? We are collecting this kind of information on this board, as part of The Great Tire Experiment that you may have read about in one of wmtire's posts.

I think some members have had good luck with the Maxxis tires, so you should as well. I would be concerned that at 80 psi, the tires will be so rock-hard that they will pound your TM a bit, but the suspension will soak up a lot of it, especially if you stay on mostly good roads.

Some of our members (starting with me) have had good luck switching from 14-inch Marathons to 15-inch Marathons. I run them at 55-60 psi, which increases the load rating quite a bit over the 14-inch tires.

And you have probably read here that TM used Carlisle tires until about 2002, and then switched to Marathons because of the poor failure record of the Carlisles. Perhaps they have improved - I don't think that The Great Tire Experiment has collected any data on more recently-manufactured Carlisles.

Bill

We haven't abandoned them (the Marathons) yet...We have only logged about 5,000 miles on the TM since we purchased it in August of last year and I am not sure how many miles the previous owner had logged onto it. I was only considering the Maxxis (E's) because of the 10 ply belt and the ability for added weight if we chose to do so. I don't think I would max out the air pressure at 80 psi. it would be most certainly shake and rattle the TM more than needed. We run the TM pretty light maybe only adding an additional 300#'s of extras when we camp. So looking at future travels in the 3,000 to 6,000 mile range looking for the additional plys and weight as an advantage. We have five major trips planned for the next four years, two the east and southeast two the west and south west and Alaska...we have not yet figured out how to float it to the Islands of Hawaii yet (will accept any ideas...lol).

What is the tire size of the Kumho? I found 195/R14C. I believe there are 2 numbers missing? IE 215/75R14

[arniland]

Nancy,

It is 295/R14C. There is nothing missing. It is a different numbering system, European, I believe.

As I have stated before, we have put over 16,000 miles on ours since spring of 2008 with no problems. Yes, the 65 psi pressure gives a little harder ride for the trailer and found a few fasteners that worked lose. But these were easily fixed.

Arn