Tire life

[b_pilot]

I have a fifth wheel with Goodyear G614 G rated tires. They still have very good tread and still look good but they were made in the 19th week of 2014. I read that you can go between 6 to ten years. I know there will be many different opinions on this but I would like to hear some. Thanks.

[Sagebrush]

I've had a few Chinese trailer tires fail before two years. So I'm more cautious of them, but my Crosswind set is actually doing good after two years. They were very cheap at the time, I decided to try them on a lightly used rig. Other Chinese brands that came on my trailers were done by year two, bad cracks and bulges. Had other Chinese trailer tires from Tractor Supply pre mounted go over five years or more though, so who knows why. Same size on my farm flat deck trailer went over 12 years, American made Coopers though. Been running Firestone Transforce LT tires lately and the Cooper / Master-craft brands also in LT, no early failures at all. Been getting better than 10 years on my utility trailers running American made LT tires, they never blow out. Its always my motorcycle hauler or RV trailers that blow tires and do damage!

[RambleOnNW]

A lot of all steel cased tires on here, Ribs and Duravis. Another Duravis fan, replaced my 8 year old M895s that are no longer made with Duravis R238s. Had used 303 on the M895s and stored out of the sun the entire time and drove at least monthly. They had lost the last of their rubbery smell at about 7 years so I took that as an end of life indicator also. No cracking or other issues on 6 of the tires. The 7th was the spare that I was rotating with the fronts that developed a very slight sidewall bulge. But that was some time after hitting a ski area sunken drain grate at too high of speed.

[DReisinger]

Thanks for the replies, the tire on the other side is fine. There were low pressure valve stems installed when mounted, tires are about 4 years old. Probably did run underinflated

[TXiceman]

If just the inside edge is worn, check the other side of the trailer. It may be an over loaded axle. Get your trailer weighed and see what your weights are.

Ken

[fj12ryder]

Trailer axles can definitely be out of line. That would cause a wheel to scrub, and wear unevenly.

[Thermoguy]

DReisinger wrote:
I had to pull my back left tire from my 5th wheel, bad valve stem, and noticed more wear on inside of tire. Can they be aligned or is rotation the only thing I can do?

I'm pretty sure you can not align trailer tires, only balance. You should also have metal stems, so have those changed if you want to do something preventative. Both of my trailers have metal valve stems.

[MFL]

Is there a possible reason for the inside wear on just this tire. Maybe repeated back-in, such as your driveway? Maybe run underinflated due to valve stem issues? How old/how many appx miles?

To answer question, yes the axle could be brought into alignment. A big rig truck/trailer shop a good place to inquire. Normally the tires would be wore out/aged out, before worrying about rotation.

Jerry

[DReisinger]

I had to pull my back left tire from my 5th wheel, bad valve stem, and noticed more wear on inside of tire. Can they be aligned or is rotation the only thing I can do?

[Endricken]

My 8 year old Michelin XPS Rib and Bridgestone Duravis 500 tires survived just over 900 miles of travel on America’s Interstate Highways and you probably realize those aren’t always the smoothest roads especially when KY warned of a Rough Road!
Maybe real infrastructure investment will improve things...

[b_pilot]

Thanks for the replies to my post about tire life. I made a trip to Branson on the tires after making the post. The tires held up fine and did not loose any air pressure even though we went over some really bad roads. If I had had time to replace the tires, I would have but it was a spur of the moment trip. I am pretty conservative so I will replace the almost 7 year old tires before the next trip.

[Endricken]

Well somehow on the Driver's side both my Bridgstone Duravis 500 and Michelin XPS Rib Tires have the same 342014 Build Dates despite different installation time (same year) and dealers!

The Bridgeston Duravis looks great (its slightly heavier dead weight than the XPS Rib) and still has a lot of molded "spikes" remaining on the tire sidewall.

The Michelin XPS Rib has a little sidewall age cracking and the Tread was very black compared to the dull gray sidewall so I took it to my tire dealer for an inspection and he confirmed the little cracks were superficial and did NOT want to sell me a new tire.

So next month's tow 900 miles from AL to IA to sit once again for several months or more may prove or disprove longevity....

Also, none of my Bridgestone Duravis or XPS ribs were down more than 3 lbs pressure after 9 months sitting in storage through last summer, Fall, and this winter...

But my Dually Truck rear outside Tire I tried to air up first, the Valve core failed as soon as I put the Pressure gauge on it!

Will Infrared Temp check each wheel on every travel stop and swivel my head to the mirrors every ten minutes to keep an eye on my tires - Probably should have gotten a TST system but I don't want to fool with it now...
Wish me luck!

[4x4ord]

My G614s still looked very good when the tread separated on one. That was at about 15 years. I got lucky ... no damage was done to the rv.

[joelc]

Just a word of warning. Not always the case, but beware of tires made in China. I have been advised by many sources that tires from this country tend to blow. In any tire, be sure your air pressure is correct and check tires at rest stops with your foot to be sure they have a degree of air in them and your hand to be sure they are not over heating.

[kennethwooster]

I’ve never blown a tire but I change tires 5-6 years and watch the air pressure. I’m also careful concerning the brand of tire I buy. Too I store my trailer in an enclosed structure. Keeping tires out of sunlight helps a lot.