Replace tires?

This is perhaps the most popular subject or subject of concern on the forums.
The tire companies seem to like the idea of ambiguity in tire life expectancy.
Michelin says it won't resell tires over five years old yet there are Michelin and Goodyear tire recaps, over ten years on semi trailers. Perhaps the reason for so many gators on the road.
The Goodyear G670s were engineered for long life on a Mh and ten years was the figure they tossed out then went silent on.
Michelin says five years with the new "environmentally friendly" orange oil in the Mh tires.
However the Michelin 670s we pulled off 13 years after production, looked and felt as new inside and out. Michelin said they would destroy them. I bet they are on a semi trailer somewhere.
A lot of timess, in places like Indiana and farm country everywhere take offs from Mhs provide 50.00 tires for a lot of farm equipment that uses our type of ties. like trailers.
Our unit is stored indoors since 09. It has set, in the sun, of the Southwest for perhaps a total of a year in 11 years and about 10,000 miles in that heat.
So the answer is I don't know but I won't be changing tires at 5 years unless I detect something wrong.
I check the tires with a laser type heat gun when we stop.
The tires are inflated according to weight where we store it.
Only thing I need to do additionally is tire covers for when sitting at RV Parks regardless of temp.
I won't be pulling the tires off unless somthing happens to them in five years.

I owned a 78 Midas class C I inherited. My father had replaced the tires at discount tire and we had the lifetime warranty certificates.

It seemed like EVERY time we used it, it had a blowout somewhere on the trip. Discount tire replaced the blowouts free. After the 5th or 6th blowout with free replacement, I looked at the tires, discount tire, years ago, had put on tires that were the correct size but the wrong load rating. They were overloaded. I took it to discount tire, ask them to look up our record and told them the tires were the wrong load range and that's why the blowouts were occurring. All these tire problems were over a 5 year period. Discount changed all 7 with new correct tires and apologized.

Thanks for all your responses. I do have a tire blowout story of my own. We were driving in a rural part of New Mexico last year when we had an inside tire on our Winnebago class C blow out. An emergency roadside service tech came by, found us a tire, replaced it, and we were on our merry way. The next day on the interstate--boom!--lost the tire next to it. This time we used roadside assistance to find someone to replace it. Waited most of the day for the tire service to come and put on the new tire. Tire techs speculated the first tire that blew probably damaged the tire next to it. Other than that, we had no damage to our MH. We were either lucky or Winnebago makes a good product. When we got home we replaced all older tires.

PatrickA51 wrote:
A couple of years ago I had an inside dual blow out. The tires were 4 years old. We were on a trip on business. They say that you you should replace tires every 5 years well I am a believer in doing that. I am really thinking of getting new Tires for our RV in the next couple of weeks, the RV has been sitting for several years due to health problems. I don't want to get out in the desert or out on a highway and loose a tire again. I would replace them. Just my thoughts.
Good Luck and if you buy this RV enjoy it.

But if it blew out at 4 years old, shouldn't you replace your tires every 3 years?

10forty2 wrote:
Oh heck.... just drive 'em until they blow out, destroy your coach, maybe cause you to **** your pants, and then replace 'em....... hopefully you won't be pulled into the other lane of traffic in front of someone else, or be thrown down an embankment in the mountains running 65mph. No need to worry about the tires' age because even brand new ones will blow out.

We had perfect-looking tires that were checked for condition by a reputable tire shop when we bought my coach. The couple we bought it from assured me that they had replaced the tires 2 years before, so with all that, I had the tire shop air them up to proper pressure and took off on a 350 miles trip. Made it there, had a great time, headed out towards home feeling confidant in my first motorhome outing and about 40 miles from the campground on I-40, on a Sunday afternoon, towing an enclosed trailer with my Harley in it,........BOOOOMMM!!!! I limp onto the VERY narrow emergency lane, get out to see rubber spread out behind me and the inside of the fender well badly damaged. There we sat for the next 3 hours waiting for a service company to come replace the tire at a whopping cost of $1K for 2 tires and the service call. See, the inner dually blew out and took out the outer with it. Technician looks at all the other tires and says, you realize all these are 10 years old. The LOOK good, but in RV terms, they are old and that's what likely caused the blowout. Got home, replaced the remaining tires, all is looking good. Fast forward 2 months, we head out for a 400 mile trip. About 250 miles into it, .......you guessed it.... BOOOMMM! Brand...new...tire......... the tread came right off of it. Factory defect apparently, since Goodyear did make it right eventually. Also took out most of the components in the fender well when it blew. Wiring harness, tailpipe, generator exhaust, gas-filler neck,...oh, and, well, fortunately the propane line that was in the well survived. Another $800 for the only tire that could be found in the area....no labor because after the first blowout we got Good Sam Roadside Assistance. Spent the first day and a half of our vacation making repairs in the campground so we could actually get back home.

So yeah, moral of the story don't take tire condition OR AGE lightly. Of course, if you're comfortable doing it, then by all means, as I said at first.... just drive 'em till they blow! It definitely makes it interesting...kinda like gambling........

So what you're saying is don't own or drive a motorhome that has tires because they may blow out and it's dangerous doesn't matter if they're brand new or not.

JaxDad wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:
Although I'm not a believer in the five year replacement, you can't compare farm and construction equipment tires with on the road tires. They are subjected to no where near the speed or heat.

It doesn't seem like you really read my post before responding there friend.

I clearly said, and even put it on a separate line to emphasize it;

JaxDad wrote:
None of them have any weather checking or other 'age' issues.

I was trying to point out that not all tires degrade from exposure and just sitting around.

And since you went there, I know a lot of fellow pilots who are running VERY old tires on their aircraft. They too sit outside and exposed then hit the runway, hopefully not too hard, at about 70 mph from a stand still.

Yes I went there, because it was relevant. Have you had the tires removed from all your construction equipment to have them safety checked? No, you haven't. Because you don't need to. You simply can't see any "visible" damage from the outside. That is not the test of when a tire used at freeway speeds has gone back. Like I said, there is a definite "age only" point where you should change tires regardless of what they look like. But it isn't five years.

A couple of years ago I had an inside dual blow out. The tires were 4 years old. We were on a trip on business. They say that you you should replace tires every 5 years well I am a believer in doing that. I am really thinking of getting new Tires for our RV in the next couple of weeks, the RV has been sitting for several years due to health problems. I don't want to get out in the desert or out on a highway and loose a tire again. I would replace them. Just my thoughts.
Good Luck and if you buy this RV enjoy it.

JaxDad wrote:
Self-serving planned obsolescence is more like it.

Well Dad,
Let me tell you a little story.

Did you hear about the space suits??

After NASA was was through with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, they passed a lot of stuff of to museums and such. With the perspective that the space suits were valuable (they did cost NASA about 250K$ each) Those that were displayed were to be displayed in climate controlled display cases. They should be there a long time, Right?

Wrong-O!
They are all falling apart. The adhesives and elastomers are aging out and failing spite of the care that they have received. This is NASA stuff. Does it happen other places?

Yes, an acquaintance picked up a classic car. It had been stored in a heated/cooled warehouse for 15 years before he managed to get it from the estate of the prior owner. The tires still had the mold tips in places. The car had been on blocks and the tires deflated. They aired them up and put it on the floor, put gas in it (it had been stored right) and drove it out of the warehouse. While maneuvering it to the car hauler to take it home, a tire blew out. We managed to get it on the car hauler, but another tire blew out while we were unloading it.

And on a very personal note. Sails used for racing boats are all laminated these days and have been for more than 20 years. There is a common saying in the fleets. "Eight years in the bag or on the boat." After that time, you can expect a catastrophic failure at any time. I have seen a sail turn back into loose panels.

So Dad, you don't have to believe it and it really does not matter to me if you do, but many others believe this as fact.

Matt

rk911 wrote:
the only thing that matters is your peace of mind. if it were me I'd replace them simply because I have no way of knowing how the tires were cared for, stored, etc. if you're of a like mind and if it gives you peace of mind to replace them then replace them regardless of the opinions you'll receive here.

X2

Oh heck.... just drive 'em until they blow out, destroy your coach, maybe cause you to **** your pants, and then replace 'em....... hopefully you won't be pulled into the other lane of traffic in front of someone else, or be thrown down an embankment in the mountains running 65mph. No need to worry about the tires' age because even brand new ones will blow out.

We had perfect-looking tires that were checked for condition by a reputable tire shop when we bought my coach. The couple we bought it from assured me that they had replaced the tires 2 years before, so with all that, I had the tire shop air them up to proper pressure and took off on a 350 miles trip. Made it there, had a great time, headed out towards home feeling confidant in my first motorhome outing and about 40 miles from the campground on I-40, on a Sunday afternoon, towing an enclosed trailer with my Harley in it,........BOOOOMMM!!!! I limp onto the VERY narrow emergency lane, get out to see rubber spread out behind me and the inside of the fender well badly damaged. There we sat for the next 3 hours waiting for a service company to come replace the tire at a whopping cost of $1K for 2 tires and the service call. See, the inner dually blew out and took out the outer with it. Technician looks at all the other tires and says, you realize all these are 10 years old. The LOOK good, but in RV terms, they are old and that's what likely caused the blowout. Got home, replaced the remaining tires, all is looking good. Fast forward 2 months, we head out for a 400 mile trip. About 250 miles into it, .......you guessed it.... BOOOMMM! Brand...new...tire......... the tread came right off of it. Factory defect apparently, since Goodyear did make it right eventually. Also took out most of the components in the fender well when it blew. Wiring harness, tailpipe, generator exhaust, gas-filler neck,...oh, and, well, fortunately the propane line that was in the well survived. Another $800 for the only tire that could be found in the area....no labor because after the first blowout we got Good Sam Roadside Assistance. Spent the first day and a half of our vacation making repairs in the campground so we could actually get back home.

So yeah, moral of the story don't take tire condition OR AGE lightly. Of course, if you're comfortable doing it, then by all means, as I said at first.... just drive 'em till they blow! It definitely makes it interesting...kinda like gambling........