Busting the Myth of 5 year tire life.

parkmanaa wrote:
OLDSPIRIT, you are addressing an area that has been near-and-dear to my heart for years. TIRE MARKETERS, not MANUFACTURERS, have been playing this age thing as a safety issue and it should be against the law. IMHO it is nothing but a gimmick to sell more tires, just like cereal makers, dairies and thousands of other industries started decades ago. They started by playing their message to kids and, being successful there, have also been somewhat successful in selling the same "theory" to adults.
People, seemingly especially RVers now see a blown tire on the side of highway, immediately assume "it was an old tire". I can tell you from many years in the tire industry, and many, many scrap tire analysis, you will find most blown-out tires are a)cheap, foreign made, b) obvious poor maint., with c)age coming in at a far distant third.
Again, IMHO OLDSPIRIT is doing exactly what smart RVers should do, and exactly as manufacturers such as MICHELIN recommend, AFTER 5 YEARS HAVE TIRES CHECKED ANNUALLY BY A QUALIFIED TIRE TECHNICIAN", REPLACE AT 10 YEARS AGE, REGARDLESS OF APPEARANCE"
This is the same basic message I have attempted on this forum for years. Take it or leave it, it's your money !

"40 years in the tire industry; seen it all and done most of it"

Tell us where you find a "qualified" Tire Technician. Does inspection require taking the rubber of the rim? If so, just how much do you think a qualified Tire shop would charge for dismounting 6 RV motorhome tires, remounting and then balancing? AND, knowing how RV'ers are loath to spend any money for this type thing, what rv'er would take the time and money to do such a thing every year after that 5 years? Doug