Busting the Myth of 5 year tire life.
I sold tire pressure monitoring systems for 9 years and regularly presented lectures on tires. One of the most frequently heard statements was, "You should get new tires every 5 years." NOT SO! I ha...
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For 19.5 tires -- 5 years and done!!! LT tires are TRUCK tires. Design profile is 150-200k miles in a couple of years; recap for another 150-200 and scrap the tire. They rarely reach 5 years in service. Don't need compounds to make the sidewalls last longer, so don't get them.
At 5 years on the tires (Goodyear 19.5 G159's) of a MH I bought new and picked up at the factory I noticed a bubble on the inside of a front tire while servicing the grease fittings. Local dealer had installed a two year old tire before I caught it. Had it removed and went to another large high volume shop 100 miles away and replaced both fronts. Three weeks later a rear dual blew out the sidewall. No damage. Replaced the 4 duals. Tires were Goodyear. Replacements were the allegedly RV designed 670's. Goodyear was hit with a 5.6 million dollar judgement for a 2004 accident caused by a blowout of a MH front tire, and was forced to admit that the G159's were truck tires not suitable for an RV operating profile.
Five years and one month later the 670 Goodyear inside dual blew unwrapping the tread. Had little pieces of fine wire all over the toad and bikes on the rear of it. Took out the Banks Exhaust, the generator exhaust, air bag lines, and dented the drive shaft. Damage more than the price of a new set of tires. I was 70 miles from a Les Schwab dealer that I had planned to have replace the old tires. In both cases the tires had never been run under inflated, nor excessively hot. I carry an IR thermometer and check temps at each rest stop.
Blowouts can be benign or catastrophic. Couple of years ago I saw a new Super C on a Freightliner chassis that had blown a front tire. Took out the entire front: fancy chrome grill, a/c, radiator -- over 10K in damage, and several weeks waiting for parts.
At 5 years on the tires (Goodyear 19.5 G159's) of a MH I bought new and picked up at the factory I noticed a bubble on the inside of a front tire while servicing the grease fittings. Local dealer had installed a two year old tire before I caught it. Had it removed and went to another large high volume shop 100 miles away and replaced both fronts. Three weeks later a rear dual blew out the sidewall. No damage. Replaced the 4 duals. Tires were Goodyear. Replacements were the allegedly RV designed 670's. Goodyear was hit with a 5.6 million dollar judgement for a 2004 accident caused by a blowout of a MH front tire, and was forced to admit that the G159's were truck tires not suitable for an RV operating profile.
Five years and one month later the 670 Goodyear inside dual blew unwrapping the tread. Had little pieces of fine wire all over the toad and bikes on the rear of it. Took out the Banks Exhaust, the generator exhaust, air bag lines, and dented the drive shaft. Damage more than the price of a new set of tires. I was 70 miles from a Les Schwab dealer that I had planned to have replace the old tires. In both cases the tires had never been run under inflated, nor excessively hot. I carry an IR thermometer and check temps at each rest stop.
Blowouts can be benign or catastrophic. Couple of years ago I saw a new Super C on a Freightliner chassis that had blown a front tire. Took out the entire front: fancy chrome grill, a/c, radiator -- over 10K in damage, and several weeks waiting for parts.
