Average life span for trailer tires?

If you buy an Open Range trailer, the tires only last maybe one year, if you're lucky! They buy their tires from Lions Head Tires. Lions Head only warranties the tires for one year and you have to go through hoops before they refuse to honor it. Then if you push it, Open Range will step up IF you're inside their two year warranties period. Lions Head used Discount Tire's study website PDF document saying trailer tires only last one year to give any warranty requests. Cheap tires are unfortunately put on almost all RVs. Ask me how I know...But, to answer your question, typically 5-7 years with good tires.

Terryallan wrote:


My GY Marathons were junk in less than 4 full years, one exploded and put me on the side of the road. When we took the others off. They were so deformed, that they rolled crooked across the garage floor, you could see the tread moving across the tire. That will be my last GY ever.

Seems they would be loosing their shirts financially if this was the typical experience. A quick check showed their last fiscal quarter was their highest profit and sales ever, maybe they lose money on trailer tire warranties but .... of course individual experience will vary and maintenance can be important.

horton333 wrote:
I don't recall which brand I had fine service out of for 10 years, they came with the trailer and were never a problem so didn't pay any attention to the brand.

I do tend to use Goodyear tires when buying tires, I have had very good service out of them on various vehicles and so they seem worth a few bucks extra. The engineer in me thought I would look at what a reputable manufacturer says to expect for lifetime of their product.

Goodyear warranty their RV tires for 5 years, and warranty against cracks (likely a larger issue on most moderate trailer usage setups) to 7 years. This would seem to indicate it is reasonable that 10 years was a very reasonable expectation given warranties tend to cover only the early life of a product. Everyone else seems to be posting they replace at like a third of that expectation, ..... maybe there should be a lot more Goodyears bought?

Goodyear info

My GY Marathons were junk in less than 4 full years, one exploded and put me on the side of the road. When we took the others off. They were so deformed, that they rolled crooked across the garage floor, you could see the tread moving across the tire. That will be my last GY ever.

Huntindog wrote:
I run Michelin XPS RIBS. I change them out at 5 years. They still look good, and I sell them fast on CL to help defray the cost of the new ones. Got 250.00 for the last set.
Since I am in Phoenix AZ, where the sun is brutal, I think that is as far as I want to push them. Probably only possible to get another year or so out of them before the dry rot starts appearing. At that point, they would be a hard sell.

You do tell the buyers that the tires are old, dried out, and no good don't you? You do tell them that the tires could pop any second?

Selling tires that you are scared of to an unsuspecting person is kind of well just (trying to be nice) a very wrong thing to do.

My TT had one year on the road (a couple short trips) then sat on blocks for 3 years in the shade with tires deflated to around 20psi. When I bought it I pumped them up to 50 and took a couple of short trips with no issues. The tires still look brand new, 100% tread left and not a single crack or sign of rot. They actually have less than 300 miles on them. That said, the date code shows they are now 6 years old so I'll be replacing them next week.

I don't recall which brand I had fine service out of for 10 years, they came with the trailer and were never a problem so didn't pay any attention to the brand.

I do tend to use Goodyear tires when buying tires, I have had very good service out of them on various vehicles and so they seem worth a few bucks extra. The engineer in me thought I would look at what a reputable manufacturer says to expect for lifetime of their product.

Goodyear warranty their RV tires for 5 years, and warranty against cracks (likely a larger issue on most moderate trailer usage setups) to 7 years. This would seem to indicate it is reasonable that 10 years was a very reasonable expectation given warranties tend to cover only the early life of a product. Everyone else seems to be posting they replace at like a third of that expectation, ..... maybe there should be a lot more Goodyears bought?

Goodyear info

After losing one in it's 5th year of service I now replace mine every 4 years.

Kevin O. wrote:
I was just wondering when I should start thinking about new tires for my 2012 Outback? What is the average life span for these tires? Obviously they don't have a ton of miles but this summer will be our 5th season with the trailer. I inspected for dry rot but haven't found any yet.

Kevin

4 years from the date code on the tire. Any longer and you risk a blow out no matter what they look like.

:) Hi, I have done it, and trailer tires should be good for 7 years, but you asked for the average and that would be 3 1/2 years. Total divided by 2.