Tire Covers - Evidence or just belief?
Whenever I find parked motorhomes, I find some of them with tire covers, presumably to protect the tires from the sun. Now, off the top of my head this sounds like one of those "common sense" thing...
Forum Discussion
Our 5th wheel sits in a storage lot on asphalt in southern California 6 miles from the ocean. It sits between two 36 and 40 ft RV's so the tires get about 4 hours of direct sunlight on most days.
We use the trailer one weekend per month on average for 200 to 300 mile round trips. The first set of tires were not covered during the first 5 years we had the set. The tires after 3 years began to develop cracks on the sidewalls. By the 5th years the cracks near the edge of the rim had opened to near 1/4 inch no belts showed so the cracks weren't very deep.
I replaced that set of tires and bought covers. We haven't had the cracking since and we are on our third set. The tires look brand new with lots of tread left but I end up replacing them due to age. The current set are Michelins and are nearly 3 years old with very little sign of use and no cracking. They have been covered any time we stop for more than 2 days.
We use the trailer one weekend per month on average for 200 to 300 mile round trips. The first set of tires were not covered during the first 5 years we had the set. The tires after 3 years began to develop cracks on the sidewalls. By the 5th years the cracks near the edge of the rim had opened to near 1/4 inch no belts showed so the cracks weren't very deep.
I replaced that set of tires and bought covers. We haven't had the cracking since and we are on our third set. The tires look brand new with lots of tread left but I end up replacing them due to age. The current set are Michelins and are nearly 3 years old with very little sign of use and no cracking. They have been covered any time we stop for more than 2 days.
