Age of tires on your tow vehicle/ When to replace?

I acquired a '65 Coronet about 1985 and two tires wire original.
Still drove the tread off ;)

I go upto 6yrs max. Then swap.

My father actually had some tires age out on his passenger car. His vision was so bad that the 12 year old tires looked good to him - plenty of tread. They couldn't hold pressure because of the cracks in the sidewall leaking slowly.

He was 90 at the time and hadn't driven the car more than a couple thousand miles a year for close to 15 years (he really should not have driven at all - not the first battle I lost with him).

He did teach me a rule when I was young - 5-6 years max. I've never had passenger car, truck or trailer tires age out. Always wore them out.

Just an example:
2007 Dodge 3500.....towing 14K 5th wheel
Michelin At/2 tires
7 yrs FT traveling -------------2 sets/60K each set (still had decent thread but towing heavy so new tires)

azdryheat wrote:
My tires wore out before they aged out.

Yep. Every time, since I was 16 years old.

No general consensus. It's dependent on many factors.
However, if it's not fracked from dry rot I wouldn't be afraid to run them on a Tow vehicle with low tongue weight. Can't say the same of it was heavy 5ver pin weight or TC.
Also how close to load rating on the tires is the actual load?
I've seen tires that were 3 years old that I wouldn't trust to cross the street all cracked.
I have a set on my old jeep that are probably at least 20 years old and look like new.

My tires wore out before they aged out.

There are just too many variables to answer.

A lot of manufactures say 7 years.

Tires vary............A LOT! Even the same brand and make vary a lot.

Are the tires covered?
Do they sit a lot?
Are they a commercial tire?
Are they exposed to a lot of UV?
I could go on and on............................

We were towing a race car to the track once with my friends trailer and lost a tire cap. It still held air, just didn't have any tread on it. Those tires were 23 years old.

I had a tire on my TT and it was 15 YO. Finally wore it out.

We have tires on product trailers that I bet are 30+ years old and they are fine.

It just depends on a lot of things.

Age has not been the issue. Mileage has.