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Tires for Your New Airstream
Topic Started: Jul 5 2012, 06:57 PM (67 Views)
redwoodguy
Administrator
New Airstreams like my 25' Flying Cloud are sold with Goodyear Marathon tires. I became aware through forums that many people were suffering blowouts on these tires when they were practically new. After a more research it was becoming clear that this was an inferior tire compared to the many other tires that could be mounted on an Airstream trailer. To understand this, Google "Goodyear Marathon Failures" or "Goodyear Marathon Blowout." And, read the following threads:
-Tire Failure Poll
-Tire Failure
-Michelin XLT Replacement
-Trailer Life Blog on Tires
-Failed Goodyears

THE PROBLEM
The Goodyear Marathon is a "trailer service only" tire, referred to as a type ST. These are not allowed to be used on cars or trucks - trailers only. It is apparent that these tires are made to a lower overall quality than either passenger or light truck tires. The kinds of failures happening are many.; Tread separation, sidewall failure and more. Worse yet, these tires fail in a way that often causes serious damage to the undercarriage or body. In one user report, a blown Marathon caused $4500 damage to the trailer.

The AS company has been using these tires for many years in spite of countless complaints. They don't budge, leaving owners to face unsafe driving conditions on trailers they just paid in excess of $50,000 to purchase.

THE SOLUTION
There are two paths to take. You can drive on the Marathon tires and take them to a Goodyear dealer when they blow. They will give you a new tire with a prorated replacement cost. The other solution is of course to replace the tires on your new AS before suffering any dangerous blowouts. This cost will be all on your own.

There are a lot of possible choices for replacement tires. This project is going to identify several of those tire solutions explicitly in the next few posts.
Edited by redwoodguy, Jul 5 2012, 06:58 PM.
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redwoodguy
Administrator
There are other tires which can be considered. At this moment, I have no specific reports of use for these tires. I will search for some reports. The tires are:

1) 225/70R15 Continental Vanco2
2) 225/70R15 Goodyear Cargo G26, both of which are rib, and have a 2470 pound load capacity.
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Collimare

I just had a full set Michelin LTX M/S2 235/75R/15 put on my new 2012 25FB. I went with Costco even though I had to bring the wheels in loose as they would not provide service outside their bay. I also explained that they were going on an old pickup truck I was restoring to answer their application question. I checked with some of the other local tire shops and they would put them on the trailer but did not have nitrogen. I only buy Michelins from Costco with nitrogen. To date we have not had a single tire leak down or lose pressure except one that was completely punctured. I believe the new Michelins with Nitrogen will illuminate all the future aggravations related to maintaining pressure (still check each time), and last a very long time with no constant fear of blowouts or damage. You can easily check the benefits of nitrogen filled tires on line. It is true from my experience.
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redwoodguy
Administrator
Thanks for your tire story Howard. As an aside, when I went to Sears to ask for a quote on the LTX they said they would NOT install them on my trailer. I then went to a local commercial tire operation and they will be doing the install.

My cost of the replacement tires out the door is $820.
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Collimare

I got them for $616.31 from Costco, mounted, balanced, nitrogen fill but I did have to take them in off the trailer. Costco runs a $70 off coupon on a set of Michelins all the time. In my area you just can not beat them on price and service.
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Bovk

Assuming this website is still alive:=) here is a contribution on tires for short trailers.

The situation for trailers 20' and less is different. The axle rating is 5000 lbs, and tires are D rated so the above described options do not apply - too low load rating.
On the other hand since these are single axle trailers they are more suitable for light truck tires (there are no extra forces on tires in turns compared to truck rear tires).
Depending on TV, the reliability of the single axle tires is more important compared to trailers with more axles.
Just for the reference I have 20' FC 2012, 27,000 MI, and loaded I estimate 5000 lbs weight and 800 lbs on the hitch. Today I took off Marathin tires and one had unbelievable separation of the thread and resulting bubble had worn out so much that the thread disappeared. Why it survived is a mystery. We just completed 2500 and 4000 MI trips so the finding was a shock plus I am getting ready for another trip that will be another 3000 MI at least. Here is what I did, comments needed!
I got new rims, steel, silver color, 3000 lbs, 80 lbs pressure rating. Original wheels are 0 offset, new are 1/2 " positive, they sit more inside the well.
I got Firestone Transforce HT tires, E rating at 80 lbs, speed limit over 70MI, made in Canada. The reason is that I have my own data for these tires, I made 250,000 MI being on 4th set, never lost a piece of thread, zero problems, average life > 70,000 MI. The front wheels inflation is 55, the rear 80 lbs as recommended for the truck so I know they do not heat up much under inflated.
I got nice brass valves.
I will use existing 15" Marathon spare.

To sum it up, I gained high speed, high inflation pressure, significant load improvement, and tires that with long history of no problems. For $500 but I would pay 300 for new tires anyway.
Comments!
Reused center hub covers from original rims.
Edited by Bovk, Jul 24 2012, 05:36 PM.
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