Issue with Goodyear Marathon Tires

[DoddsCP]

A few weeks after picking up my 36RE I took it to a tire center to have the wheels balanced. The folks at the tire center found three of the tires had bulges in the sidewall where the belt seam is. Two of the tires were on the rig and the third was the spare tire which has never been used. After finding multiple posts on the internet concerning this issue I went armed with this information to the Goodyear tire center. They are replacing the space with no prorated charges, but I have to pay minus the prorate portion for the remaining 2 tires even though I have only driven less then 500 miles on them. While at the Goodyear center I asked about upgrading to a G rated tire, which are the Goodyear G614RST tires. Unfortunatley your rims have to be rated for 110lbs psi for these upgraded tires and the aluminum wheels on the Redwoods are only rated for 80psi per Redwood. The steel rim used for the spare tire is however rated for 110psi. So if I want to upgrade the tires I have to purchase 4 new rims. I called Redwood and they told me this is the first time they have heard of any issues with the tires on their units. They gave me a name and the website where they purchase their rims and tires. The website is www.tredittire.com. There phone number is 574-293-0581. They are willing to give me a "good deal" on upgrading my tires and rims. Unfortunatley they are only located in the east and I live in California.

You may want to check your Goodyear Marathon tires and look at the sidewalls for bulges as Goodyear it willing to replace them if they are low mileage and less than 6 months old. Otherwise they will tell you the damage was caused by either overloading the trailer or you hit something thus damaging the sidewall.

[hoosierguy]

Charlie,



You bring up an interesting point.............I ordered our RW36RL with the Goodyear G rated tires, but, frankly I don't know what rims were supplied. I made an assumption that the correct rims matching the tires would have been supplied. I don't know, if in fact, that was the case. I would have guessed looking at them that they are aluminum rims.I will have to check this week end.



I had the dealer take the coach to a tire dealer nearby and balance all ofwheels which cost me $25. per wheel.When I took delivery of the coach, all of the wheels had tire pressureat 100 psiand the service manager at the RV dealer said they should be inflated to 110 psi.

[IPull]

Thanks for the info I ordered mine with the G rated, looking
at specs on the E rated it was almost maxed on the load range. I learned from
my old camper and had to upgrade. <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

[hoosierguy]

Charlie, Larry,



Do either of you know what type rims Redwood supplies with the Goodyear G614 tires? I just looked at the rims on my 36RL and they appear to be a polished aluminum rim. I could not see any identifying markings on the outside of the rim itself. I did not try sliding underneath to look at the inside of the rims.



The tires are marked as LT235/85R16 and on the sidewall indicate that they should only be used with rim pressure rating capable of a minimum of 110 PSI.

[IPull]

I don’t know but that is something that would be a good
thing to find out. I think there should be a marking on the inside of the rims. This is something to check because mine comming is going to have aluminum rims and G rated tires.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />


Edited by: IPull

[Hunter11]

There should be a marking on the inside of the rims that would indicate the max PSI.

[Flyfisher]

Hello all
I too ordered the G rated upgrade for our 36re . I sent an email to Redwood yesterday and asked them to verify whether or not the supplied rims were rated for the G rated tires and the 110 PSI recommended pressure.I haven't heard back from them yet but Will post their reply when I get it.

Best regards
Brett

[hoosierguy]

It will be interesting tosee what you hear from Redwood. I would hope that the correct rated rims would be supplied with the Goodyear G614 tires.



I took another look at the wheels on my 36RL.......crawled under the coach to look at the inside of the rims. I could not see any stamping or marking along the edge of any of the rims but could see some stamping on one of the rim spokes. I could not make out all of the marking as it was mostly obscured by the disk brake, so, not sure what it was. I am sure though that they are aluminum rims.

[Flyfisher]

I contacted Redwood and Doug Richards responed "Yes, the Goodyear “G� Tires come with a heavier rim that has a load rating of 3750LBS @ 110 ps". He also sent a photo but I don't know how to post it here. I would be happy to forward his email and photo to you if you want it.

[mhs4771]

We will be ordering a 36RL this summer for Fall delivery and the 614s will be on it. We upgraded from the Marathons to the 614s on our current Montana. Those Marathons are marginal on lighter rigs so I don't understand why Redwood is even putting them on. Just a problem waiting to happen.

[John317]

FYI, the new price list, dated 2/16/2012 shows that the price for G rated tires has gone fron $1650 to $2450. Things that make go hmmmmm.

[KR2011]

Maybe there running out of G rated tires

[mhs4771]

Probably getting a stock pile of Marathons with everyone ordering the G614s, so you increase the price of the option and some will think twice about the extra expense. But one failure of a Marathon that takes out part of the Skirting will cost more than the upgrade option.
Seems funny the Factory does see a problem, when even GoodYear while not admitting any fault is paying for repairs caused by Marathon blow-outs or giving full credit for the Marathons towards the G614s. In reality, the G614 should be the stock tire, with 17.5 H or J rated as the option. (just my unofficial opinion, but shared by many on any number of other RV Forums)

[John317]

Ditto

[KR2011]

You make a very valid point.