Should I cover my tires?

Fresno Tundra Driver wrote:
Gdetrailer are you a retired petroleum engineer, chemist or tire manufacturer employee...?

No.

Kind of wish I did, I fell into a computer industry job.. But I did grow up helping my Dad in the oil fields of PA during my youth, my Grandad was a machinist as was my Great GrandDad (who even designed and built his own oilwell hit and miss engines) even had various patents on different oilwell related equipment.

Spent a lot of time working with my Dad learning who to repair vehicles mechanically and even sheetmetal body work.

My Dad also spent his entire work life working at a White oil refinery that is still existing today (my DW works there) making all kinds of food grade white oil based materials used in food, cosmetics and even pharmaceuticals. If you have ever used Vaseline Petroleum jelly or Chapstick and many more products that use Petrolatum, good chance that white oil based grease was refined near me..

White oil is one of the crude oil fractions leftover results from cracking raw crude oil into other usable products like gasoline, Diesel, ect.

My Dad was one very smart cookie with very little formal education as was his Dad and Grandad.. I have been blessed with the ability to pickup and learn things quickly whether by research and reading or doing things hands on.

Always have had a fascination with learning the nuts and bolts of how things are made or work whether it is electronic, mechanical or even chemical like tires (although I do not understand the math required behind the chemical thing).

If you want to learn how tires are made, there was a show called "How it's made" that featured tire building.. Fascinating to see how that is done.

Found that segment on Youtube..

HERE

Early tire building was all manual labor in dirty smelly plants, now days modern tires are down almost all by machines and robotics.. Although for the antique automobiles which are more a specialty item I suspect are more hand built than machine built.

Gdetrailer are you a retired petroleum engineer, chemist or tire manufacturer employee...?

Do you cover you car tires? They see the same sun.

cummins2014 wrote:

I too use 303 on my tires , mostly to make them look good, keeping them that nice black look , not a fan of dull looking tires on any vehicle or RV .

Tires when they come fresh out of the mold are dull black, they are not shiny. Granted they will be a deep black but it will not be shiny.

They will be the blackest they can be in the mold but the second they are ejected from the mold the rubber starts aging and will go back to less than black more of a grey black color and some may even get some browning over the life of the tire whether it is in full sun or tucked in a dark, dark cave for all it's life.

The black comes from Carbon black that is added to the natural latex and the synthetic rubbers as they mix together. Carbon black is what gives the black color but it add strength to the rubber. It also can be mixed in varying quantities to achieve specific characteristics like a harder rubber for high wear or softer rubber with high grip and low wear. Natural latex is a milky white when new but as it ages turns a narly ugly brown.

Adding things like 303 is more about making it pretty looking than anything else.

Dirt and mud happen to tires, I don't sweat that and heck over the yrs have relaxed about making sure my TT is washed before a trip.. All it takes is one summers night of driving and all that hard work you did is completely covered in bugs..

I get a kick out of seeing 50-60 yr old guys pulling into a car cruise then proceed to spend the next 4hrs of their lives wiping the dust, dirt and mud off of their vehicle at the cruise :h

I pull in and show it the way life is.

cummins2014 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Well said GDE. Bravo!

OP, winter, in PA? I wouldn't even consider it.

Summer in AZ? My answer would be exactly opposite.

What do you recommend for Utah , kind of in between PA ,and Arizona .:B

Take them off, then bring them into your house and put them in a soft bed for a long winters nap? :B

Grit dog wrote:
Well said GDE. Bravo!

OP, winter, in PA? I wouldn't even consider it.

Summer in AZ? My answer would be exactly opposite.

What do you recommend for Utah , kind of in between PA ,and Arizona .:B

NamMedevac 70 wrote:
For many years I covered the TT tires with cloth tire covers when setting outside on storage lots in very hot Texas sun and periodically applied 303 protectant to them. Never had any cracks or dry rot and towed the TT all over western states and Rockies. Except at the beginning with Goodyear tires I used Maxxis tires always.

The task of covering my tires took only a few minutes and applying 303 protectant was fun and satisfying to all the Jo's out there.

I too use 303 on my tires , mostly to make them look good, keeping them that nice black look , not a fan of dull looking tires on any vehicle or RV . Now as far as the old wife's tale as far as covering, probably , same as sitting batteries on cement . I don't really care one way or the other .

Here is the reason I cover my tires on my fifth wheel tires when not in use . If I happen to leave the covers off for a few days they start getting a brown tint to them, more on the side that gets the most exposure to the sun ,the other side is more shaded where I park my fifth wheel beside my house . So when I get home from a trip the tires ,and wheels are cleaned ,and covered, they remain nice ,and black , plus the wheels ,and the tires remain clean , one less thing to do as far getting ready to go on the next trip . So I keep them covered for that reason .

If I am at an RV park for any length of time , especially if its dirt or gravel , they get covered for the same reasons as above ,keeping them clean , and from not getting that brown tint to them .

wildtoad wrote:
Gdetrailor, we’ll I for one DO have lots of free time (isn’t that the idea behind retiring?), didn't mention blow outs, didn’t state or imply the Goodyear provided procedures were to be done every night, did not imply that all the steps were essential. If someone wants to extend the life of the tires on on their RV, following the advice of the manufacturer makes sense to me, especially considering the cost of new ones.

Spending an additional 10-15 minutes preparing my RV for storing it for months is time well spent, in addition to the time needed to winterize. Your mileage may vary.

I have retired, have lots of "free time" but I still do not wash my tires, put them to bed or put the trailer up on blocks.

Those are all outdated wives tales from a century ago when tires were not very good and made before carbon black was introduced to the tire building process.

The truth to tires is they are a "consumable" item.

Tires on RVs get a bad rap because folks forget just how old the tires are since they often age out before 1 or 2 32nds of an inch wears off the tread and they look like new after 10 yrs.

Put it another way, as an industry average vehicles are warranted in 12,000 mile/ 1 yr increments as an average daily driver.

Typical vehicle tire warranties are rated in miles due to tread wear. Typical warranties are 40K-80K.

80K warranty and you average 12K per yr means the tires will be 6.6 yrs old..

Reality is, I have never, ever seen more than 45K out of a set of vehicle tires.. Meaning I exchange my vehicle tires every 3.75 yrs at 12K..

But in the past, I typically drove 20K+ miles per yr for work meaning I was replacing vehicle tires every 2 yrs..

My vehicle tires never had a chance to age out, instead the tread was worn off before the tires had a chance to rot off.

Yes, it is a shame to trash 7-10yr tires that have 90% of the tread left, but the tire carcass has aged out and is no longer safe..

The best advise on RV tires is to air them up to sidewall pressure before storing for 6 months. They will lose 1 to 2 PSI per month on average.

That's it, nothing else needs to be done, replace them after 6 yrs regardless of how pretty they look..

After 40 yrs of owning and driving vehicles I have lost two vehicle tires and both of those were from unavoidable junk like nails and bolts on the road.

20 yrs of towing a trailer, have lost zero tires due to them rotting from sun damage.

Had 1 tire on my 10K flatbed trailer that broke a belt internally (sun doesn't shine were the belt broke)and that was most like due to multiple severe overloads last summer hauling 10+ loads 9K of firewood plus 4K in tractor plus the 2.4K of the trailer (15.4K lbs each load).

If it makes you feel good to put it on blocks, slather goopy stuff on them, cover them with covers and over pressure them by 25% then by all means go ahead.. But, it only makes you feel good and does not help the tires..

And I would question the overpressure by 25%.. That ultimately will over stress and stretch the tires and once stretched the rubber and belts strength will be compromised and never go back to their original state without damage.