tire covers, yea or nay
Since I am investing in new tires, I was wondering if the vinyl type tire covers help increase the useful life of the tires? My storage is outdoors, completely unprotected from UV and environmental fa...
Forum Discussion
Never used the covers when I was actively RV'ng since I parked out of the sun (3-wall carport), so FWIW:
- Lost 3 out of 4 tires on an ATV wagon due to sunchecking / dry rot even in Alaska. It only rolled about 2x per month between May - September and sat for the rest of the time (except for reposition to get out of the way for snowplowing). Lost the tires after about 4 years of that pattern...cheapo ATV type tires, FWIW.
- Several colleagues fly bush planes with high dollar (think $2,XXX per pair) tires on them. They always cover (even in Alaska, and even in the winter) when parked and most will take fabric covers (even though it adds a few pounds) when they fly into the backcountry and plan on the plane being parked for a few days.
- My airplane (with the above high dollar tires) sits in a hangar most of the time, but I take tire covers along when I fly out of town for more than 1 night. My 2-touchdown per landing skills will likely be what dooms my tires, but putting the covers on or off is worth it for whatever protection is provided.
- Lost 3 out of 4 tires on an ATV wagon due to sunchecking / dry rot even in Alaska. It only rolled about 2x per month between May - September and sat for the rest of the time (except for reposition to get out of the way for snowplowing). Lost the tires after about 4 years of that pattern...cheapo ATV type tires, FWIW.
- Several colleagues fly bush planes with high dollar (think $2,XXX per pair) tires on them. They always cover (even in Alaska, and even in the winter) when parked and most will take fabric covers (even though it adds a few pounds) when they fly into the backcountry and plan on the plane being parked for a few days.
- My airplane (with the above high dollar tires) sits in a hangar most of the time, but I take tire covers along when I fly out of town for more than 1 night. My 2-touchdown per landing skills will likely be what dooms my tires, but putting the covers on or off is worth it for whatever protection is provided.
