Do Tires on a Class A Rot with age?

Yes! On a previous MH I had wonderfully looking tires, 8 years old, I kept the tires covered, clean, etc. Only about 30K miles as we only went on vacations a total of about 6 weeks a year, adding up all the weekends and such. On a trip I blew the first tire in Colorado, an outside duel, and the companion tire blew coming home in Nevada. Probably because of the strain when we limped 30 miles on only one duel. I now change tires every 6 years, needed or not, just insurance to save my vacation travel time.
JMHO

I well know the cost of new tires for my National 2001 motorhome, I just replaced all six at a total price of $550 a tire including mounting and balancing. The tires replaced were original equipment and while not weatherchecked, I did not trust them do to their age, I was quoted $900 +freight per tire by Camping World at their new store in Blue Springs Mo. That price did not include sales tax or mounting and balancing.

I know, after I re-read it, that the phrasing on my post could have been better.

It was just that I have seen new very deluxe motorhomes that are way up there out of my reach at $400,000.

And there are the two year old versions at $350,000, still way out of budget.

Then I see a similar size unit that is several years old and the price is $75,000 to $100,000.

It just appears to me that at a certain age high end motorhomes continue take a disproportionate depreciation hit.

I thought having to buy all new tires might be a factor because they certainly cannot be cheap.

The rule of thumb is that when your tires get 5 years old, they need to be inspected annually. They absolutely dry rot. The only way to really know is to dismount the tire and inspect it on the inside. I just replaced my tires. They were 6 years old, had over 1/2 of the tread left, and looked fine on the outside. When we took them off, they were cracked inside and ready to fail. A blowout can cost you several thousand dollars.

In 2009, we purchased a '98 Class A very reasonably. Had around 40K miles on it. Look at the tires and see if they are cracked or dry rotted. We saw several MH's with tires that still had good tread, but they were cracking.

The one we purchased, we used for 2 yrs. Then one trip we had a blow out. We replaced ALL the tires at that point.

Look at the tires on a used unit, even if the owner says they recently put them on. Also check the things that are expensive to fix - make sure the genny runs, a/c's work, get up on the roof and look at the covers and seams/caulking around everything. See how the roof itself looks. Check the engine. Look for signs of water leaks and delamination. Make sure water heater and refrig work.

There is a lot of******to look through when you are looking at used. But there are also some gems out there that the owners truly took care of. It's all in what a person wants or can afford.

We found a nice one and we feel blessed to have it. I'd rather have an older MH, that is paid for than a newer one with a fat payment book to go with it.

Good luck.

You have two questions here.

1. (from the title of your post): Yes, mh tires do rot with age, just as any other tire does.

2. (from the question in the post): No, that is just the normal way of depreciation. The older it gets, the less it is worth. Granted, a mh 7 or 8 years old will need new tires if they are original, however, the cost of new tires is just a fraction of the cost of the mh itself.

Ron

Many factors go into pricing an RV, tires definately need to be changed at 8-10 years of age.