Looks like I need to get some new tires, I know we've talked about the numbers and letters meaning when the tires were made. the tires on my shorelander are st 215/75R14. Also some numbers I found on the tire are 1-tireT267249-bw1 the other DOTV08K2JJ41803. Both tires are goodyear marathons made in New Zealand, one has worn much worse then the other. Could someone tell me which numbers tell date of manufacture.

Those were manufactured during the 18th week of 2003 (May 2003).
The last 4 digits tell you that.
Time to change 'em.

Go to page 3 of this brochure:

http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rvbrochure.pdf

JDP

That one tire you report as "1-tireT267249-bw1 ". If you look at the other side of the tire, you'll find a number that starts with DOT and contains the date code. DOT codes should be printed on both sides, but the date code suffix is usually only printed on one side of the tire, usually the side meant to be mounted inboard.

And, yes, if the tires were made in May 2003, it's time to replace them.

Thanks for the help , I will be looking for tires for sure. Thier is alot of fall fishing coming up. Thanks again.

Kick,
Often, folks get too concerned about tire brands.
In reality, all that you need is a tire that is of the right size and of the correct load rating.
Too many tires fail because they are overloaded.
You can buy trailer tires, car tires, truck tires or ??
It really doesn't matter.
Before buying your next set of tires do two things:
1.Take your fully loaded rig, as if you were going on a long trip to a good scale and weigh your rig. Then divide by the number of tires on your trailer to determine the actual weight on the trailer. Only by weighing the complete loaded rig, will you actually know how much weight is being loaded on each tire.

2. Before going to the tire shop, take your trailer to a tire alignment shop and have your trailer aligned. If you have a worn tire, it is quite likely that you have a tire alignment problem or a possible bent axle.

If you do find that you have a severely bent axle, you might consider replacing your current axle with one that has a heavier load capacity.
It is pretty easy to have a trailer loaded too heavily.

Goog luck
REW

Rew, I agree with you.

I will take my boat & trailer to a public scale and I will choose my tires on my total weight and it's very possible that I will end-up putting some car tire and I won't be afraid going 65-70MPH.

I'm getting sick of those poorly build ST tires.

I have to disagree that it's just about load rating and brand doesn't matter. Of course you can't overload the boat/trailer, but I've personally witnessed in the past 4 months 5 Titan ST Radials (all less than 3 years old and less than 2,500 miles on them, virtually no tread wear) grenade resulting in lost time as well as the expense of new tires and in one case new boat trailer fenders. Neither of these rigs were within 500lbs of the combined load rating of the tires.

Based on the research I've done the best options if you're talking trailer tires seem to be Goodyear Marathons or Maxxis. I've never had an issue with Marathons including (crossing my fingers) the current set of "Made in China" ones that are 2.5 years old and have around 5,000-6,000 miles on them. If I had to recommend something right now given the issues some have had with the newer Goodyears, I'd say Maxxis.

Looks like the local tire shops have the Goodyear marathons (MADE IN USA) for around 125 each.So far they have all been within 20 dollars of each other for 2 tires mounted,and everything included.

I just checked the Sam's Club website and made in the USA Marathons in size 215/75R14 are priced at $102 per tire. You need only order online and they will be shipped to the Sam's Club nearest you.

The key thing is to get tires that are rated to handle the load.
If that means running 6,8, or 10 ply tires; so be it.

Sure ST tires are rated to prevent a bit of side sway.
However, if you can take a truck, or luxury auto that weighs in at 5000 lbs, and get 100,000 miles on each tire, I find it difficult to believe that auto or truck tires of the appropriate rating won;t carry your load just fine.

I have been running appropriately rated auto tires on my boat trailers for the last 15 years with no issues at all.

Good luck
REW

Re: REW's comment on ST tires being built differently to minimize side-sway.

Just my opinion, based on personal experience, but side-sway seems chiefly a problem in cargo and house trailers, where the axle is close to the fore-and-aft center of the trailer. Boat trailers, on the other hand, have the axle well behind the center point. The result is the trailer weight behind the axle of a boat trailer has less leverage to cause side-sway than one finds in typical cargo and house trailers. Among other things, this is why recommended tongue weight as a % of total trailer weight is lower in boat trailers (5-7%) than for cargo and house trailers (10%).

I'd expect ST-rated tires are less important on boat trailers from a side-sway point of view. On a cargo or house trailer, however, I'd stick to ST tires.

That said, I once had the experience of a large boat swaying behind my lighter tow vehicle- scary! I've never had a hint of sway with my 5000 lb Chevy vans or 6000 lb Suburban towing a 3500 lb boat/trailer rig.

Thanks for your help guys,heres what I did the spare has never seen the ground, so the spare is on the trailor with a new goodyear marathon and the best of the older as a spare. I hope this gets me thru the fall then next spring I will get a another new tire.