Trailer tires?

[L.Mickelson]

I have been running the Gooodyear Marathon trailer tires for quite a while now. I'm on my second full set. The problem I'm having is the last set all blew out with in 4 mo nths of each other. The boat is garaged so I don't think that is the problem. So what is it normal wear, par for the course or just my luck? I'm just blew one last week so I think I'm headed down the same road. So same tires or different brand. Thanks for your input.

[L.Mickelson]

Hey my first try at using icons, give me a break.

[edk91390]

In my opinion the Goodyear Marathon are the best. I think they are the most expensive as well. Four months seems premature unless you are doing a huge amount of towing. Do you have any idea of the mileage on them? Usually boat trailer tires will rot out before they wear out so something is not correct. Have you been running them at 50 lbs. of pressure? Anything less and they will wearout quickly and or blow. Have the tires scraped any curbs or any other objects? If they have this may cause them the thread to separate from the underlying belt or layer and cause them to blow. Are you driving in an area where you may be picking up nails? A slow leak will reduce the tire pressure.

Ed K

[Kelly Ripa]

If you have a Champion I have a shock for you ...That is the only tire there is for your trailer. I toss my tires every two years as the first one that blew at 65 mph cost me an arm and a leg and a bunch of time to get the damage to the trailer repaired. Luckily it missed the boat but it looked like an RPG had hit it. When I got out of my truck and looked at it the diamond plate was gone, the rim was toast, the wheel well I beat out with a hammer so I could put on the spare, no license plate and the lights were all funked up. I felt sorry for whoever was behind me when all that stuff came flying out of there. I feel it's a bad idea to put a steel belted small truck tire on a trailer as they never track perfect and that rock'n motion just sent my belt right through the sidewall and it came off in a nice donut that everyone was careening around. My boat isn't in the garage but based on the amount of miles you put on YOUR trailer if they look iffy....Toss'm

Rip

Now that you've tried the icons you'll love the edit key
and Ed they didn't blow after 4 months they blew within 4 months of one another if I understood this right.

[DL]

I have a 99' Nitro and have only put 2 new tires on the trailer and I am fortunate to not have blown or shredded a tire. I just put a new one on last month due to weird tire wear. The tire was coming apart... Check your trailer alignment...I find it hard to believe you are getting bad tire after bad tire. Check the date on the tires as well. If your mechanic/tire guy is putting old tires on your trailer this may be the problem, and check your psi, this has as much to do with heat and tire wear as anything.

One other thing, if you travel the 5 to Castaic often, the right 2 lanes of that road are terrible. If you hit a pothole hard enough you will tear up the tire that hits it...

[edk91390]

Kelly, I agree with you about tossing them if they look iffy. I have a Champion and have run Nankang (or something like that) for over two years, but will toss them when needed, usually from someone scraping something. They have cost me around $125 out the door a pair.

Ed K

[MCSPIN]

When I blow my Goodyear Marathon, it did'nt look right. so I took it to the tire shop that I bought it from and they sent it back to Goodyear. Goodyear refunded my money for the tire. I would take the tires back to the tire shop that you bought them from and ask them to send them to Goodyear so they can found out what went wrong.

Gary

[Ben M]

Maybe it's not the tire, but the rim. Check the bead where the tire seals, is it bent or rusted, or the rim maybe warped from bouncing off curbs on tight turns at the launch ramp and parking lot. If the rim is warped the tire will over heat.

If the Axle isn't true same same. You can check it with a string tied to the hitch and measure your axles at the axle next to the outside leave spring nut with the string on both sides of the trailer. (use braided line no stretch) If that's the case usually Tire wear will show early on, but check it.

Does your trailer sway at highway speeds? Is it level? A high hitch will put more weight on your trailer wheels and generate trailer sway. Trailer sway will heat your tires up quick....

Just my 3 thoughts on the subject.

[L.Mickelson]

Thanks guys for all the responses. I have been soooo busy at work I haven't been able to check. I have never checked the alignment on my trailer (guess I better do that). I did get a lot of miles on the first set but there were no visible signs of wear. I also took one of the blown tires to Goodyear and never heard back from them. When the first set blew out all within 4 months (you were right Kelly) it included a brand new spare. Also now I’ve only been doing local team stuff. I guess I will stick with them but I’ll trust them for only two years. It seems like they have a self destruct button.

[scottsweet]

There are two ratings for trailer tires...C and D. The standard Goodyear Marathon tire most of us use is a C rated tire. Look on the side wall and you will see the C. If you request them, you can get a Goodyear Marathon D rated tire.

If I remember correctly, a C rated tire is 8 ply and the D rated is 10 ply. They are about $20-30 more and usually have to be ordered. There are other brands that are D rated and actually cheaper and a better grade tire than the Goodyear..like the Continental. If you have the luxury of planning, order the D rated and you will save yourself some headaches.

Hope this helps.