More Marathon tire failures

[Bill]

A week ago, we left our home in Scottsdale, AZ for a trip to Moab, Utah, to meet our grown kids and spend several days in Arches National Park. Our route took us up through the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. If you know “the rez”, as they call it, you know it is huge, almost as large as South Carolina, for example. Almost all of this is empty space, with dozens of miles between even the smallest of villages. No services of any kind, no cell phone service, very few cars on the road. Very pretty, and well worth seeing, but truly the empty quarter. In other words, not the place to get lost or break down.

We had just passed through Mexican Water, Arizona, a quiet community of a dozen or so people, when we blew a tire. Yup, a Goodyear Marathon. During the half hour it took to change the tire, not a single car passed by, but the day was nice, the temperature moderate, and the tools all at hand. Of course, once the tire is changed, you can’t just drive further into the rez with no spare, so we turned around and back tracked to Holbrook, AZ, which has a Goodyear store! They were quite willing to sell us a new Marathon – they sell a lot of ‘em, they say – but the store is locally owned and so they were quite unwilling to discuss warranty compensation.

This tire had perhaps 500 miles on it, and still had full tread depth. We had been religious about maintaining speed at 65 mph or less. Pressure checked that same morning. Cool day. Good road. We were traveling light, since we were going to be gone for only a few days. In other words, no reason for the failure other than the fact that it was a Goodyear Marathon.

At the Goodyear store, we realized that we still had ahead of us the majority of the ride through the rez. To ensure safe passage, my wife (aka The Worrier) insisted that we not only replace the blown tire so that we would have a spare, but that we buy a second wheel and tire, giving us a second spare. Good thing. On our way home yesterday, we went through Monument Valley, home of many John Wayne movies and another extraordinarily beautiful place. We had just gotten through Mexican Hat (a little smaller than Mexican Water, but otherwise similar) when another tire blew. Yes, another Marathon.

By this time, I’m getting pretty good at changing tires. I feel like Ralphie’s old man (played by Darrin McGavin) in A Christmas Story, who bets that he can change a flat on the old Oldsmobile in 8 minutes. Of course, my wife is getting pretty good at handing me all the tools just at the moment I need them. That helps a lot.

So anyway, same story on this tire. Nearly new tire, pressure checked earlier in the day, good road, cool day, moderate speed, weight well under the limit. But it is a Marathon. This time, of course, we didn’t have to stop to buy another tire, since we had that all-important second spare. I'll fight with the local Goodyear people tomorrow.

Interesting side note. When the first tire failed and we were waiting for the new ones to be mounted and balanced, I talked to the owner of the store. When he learned that I would never be back there again and he wasn’t sacrificing a sale, he opened up. It seems that Goodyear has had terrible trouble with the Marathons, both 14” and 15”. In an effort to solve the problems, they are closing the US/Canadian/New Zealand manufacturing plants, and are building a state-of-the-art plant in China for most of their tire manufacturing. Until that comes on line and they get some data on the new tires, the problems with Marathons will continue. When I asked if there are better tires, he said no, but there are worse ones. His advice – stay away from Carlisle, Nanking, and Denon. And don’t try to use an LT tire on a trailer. Other than that, we’re kind of stuck.

TRAIL MANOR, if you are listening, something has to be done about this situation. It is completely unacceptable. This is five tire failures in 5 years for me, the last four in the last 18 months. Please, either find a better tire (you wisely abandoned Carlisle a few years back), or tell us how to use bigger tires on our campers, even if they are Marathons, to gain a little load margin.

And by the way, I'm very pleased to say that once again, the TM handled perfectly through both of these failures. No swaying, bouncing, or other bad behavior of any kind. TM, if you could supply a tire that works as well as the rest of your design, it would be wonderful.

Bill