News Article about Tire Age Limits
Something we RVers know all to well, now "!!!EXPOSED!!!" in our ever vigilant media: ### American tire companies have helped to defeat proposed laws in eight states that would require inspection of ...
Forum Discussion
Well ..... most/all of the tire experts'/engineers' explanations above do not seem to account for cases such as that of our current (GMC) pickup:
The former set of Cooper tires on it were AT LEAST 12 YEARS OLD before I replaced them recently ... due only to not much tread depth left. Their sidewalls showed no cracking whatsoever and the truck set most of it's life out in the California sun. This situation closely duplicated that of an old Ford pickup we had for years before the GMC.
However, of course both pickups were rarely loaded with any weight to speak of in their beds. So .... I'm very close to coming to the conclusion that it's WEIGHT ON THE TIRES WHEN THEY'RE ROLLING that's the most damaging to their internal structure - especially the sidewalls. It's weight that distorts the sidewalls (bulging them). Think of doing this distortion hundreds (thousands?) of times per minute when going down the highway. This ultra-high flexing and the heat that it creates has got to be hard on the mechanical and chemical structures of any tire. Of course this amount of flexing and heating is way reduced in a lightly loaded pickup - hence, IMHO, the reason for RV tire sidewall cracking is ultimately due to the weight that they're carrying when in motion.
The former set of Cooper tires on it were AT LEAST 12 YEARS OLD before I replaced them recently ... due only to not much tread depth left. Their sidewalls showed no cracking whatsoever and the truck set most of it's life out in the California sun. This situation closely duplicated that of an old Ford pickup we had for years before the GMC.
However, of course both pickups were rarely loaded with any weight to speak of in their beds. So .... I'm very close to coming to the conclusion that it's WEIGHT ON THE TIRES WHEN THEY'RE ROLLING that's the most damaging to their internal structure - especially the sidewalls. It's weight that distorts the sidewalls (bulging them). Think of doing this distortion hundreds (thousands?) of times per minute when going down the highway. This ultra-high flexing and the heat that it creates has got to be hard on the mechanical and chemical structures of any tire. Of course this amount of flexing and heating is way reduced in a lightly loaded pickup - hence, IMHO, the reason for RV tire sidewall cracking is ultimately due to the weight that they're carrying when in motion.
