Tire Age Question For My Neighbor

[timmac]

My neighbor keeping up with me bought a 2008 Fleetwood Southwind, it only has 11,000 miles and has been kept stored in a climate controlled storage and drove to RV park and back, has factory tires and date codes are week 10 2007, they have no dry rot what so ever, even some still have paper scan code not even wore off yet, he wants to know should he change now or wait till dry rot shows or ?.

Tires are the 22.5 size Michelin brand.

As for me I say change at 6 years but his does still look brand new..

[Gale_Hawkins]

Tires should be changed early if one is loosing sleep over it. 🙂

I agree usage history is important. I had rather a 9 year old tire that had seen 100 miles every month than a 4 year old tire that had not been moved since mounted. Setting fully loaded or over loaded for four years without moving is BAD in my book.

[traveylin]

six years or 50000 miles is my rule of thumb. I just never want to have a flat/blowout on the highway. I was even more conservative with the tires on my daughters car, and the wife's car had a tire change every two years. I also carry a spare for the motor home on long trips.

pops

[cjoseph]

It sounds like your neighbor has a pretty good history of these tires. Enough of a history to believe they were garaged, etc…

Have him find out how long they sat between exercise and what was the longest period of inactivity.

Then weigh that against the type of travel he intends to do.

If they sat for months at a time each year, I wouldn't waste money on a proper inspection. I'd just replace for safety sake.

At the very least, if all tires check out OK, I'd replace the front. That way he could spread the cost over at least a year, maybe more depending upon how next year's inspection would turn out.

Also, By the time you inspect this year and then next year, you've bought a tire and maybe part of a second.

[Snomas]

I change @ 6 yrs regardless. I have seen what damage a blow can cause. $$$$$$

[Alan_Hepburn]

olfarmer wrote:
...a rear blow out won't wreck you.

...but it MIGHT wreck your wallet. There's lots od "stuff" surrounding the rear wheel wells that can be torn up when a tire falls apart. things like body work, tanks, wiring, plumbing lines, etc. you can easily end up with $10K or more of damage when a rear tire blows...

[mci7]

Old tires that look new remind me of an egg.
An old rotten egg still looks great right up until you try to eat it.
Dave M

[rvis2005]

lunch surfer wrote:
I have posted this before!

I am sure some tires are too old. I am sure some are overloaded. I am sure some are underinflated.

Not sure any of this matters........
Had a blow out last month.
Michelin XZA3 275 80 22.5 LRH dot 4208
120 psi in it
128*F temp per TST TPMS
Fist size rupture on inside side wall passenger front, not warning what so ever.
No damage other than that
5500lbs on tire
22,000 miles on tire
Not going to change anything
Bought 2 new ZXA3 mounted and balance $1200
back on road
Going to see if Michelin will help with cost
Turning it over to God cause that what it seems like to me.

Be safe out there, can't be too careful!

ctc




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Isn't this more proof? Am I missing something? Tommy

[bigred1cav]

6 tires awaiting proper time to blow out.

[lunch_surfer]

I have posted this before!

I am sure some tires are too old. I am sure some are overloaded. I am sure some are underinflated.

Not sure any of this matters........
Had a blow out last month.
Michelin XZA3 275 80 22.5 LRH dot 4208
120 psi in it
128*F temp per TST TPMS
Fist size rupture on inside side wall passenger front, not warning what so ever.
No damage other than that
5500lbs on tire
22,000 miles on tire
Not going to change anything
Bought 2 new ZXA3 mounted and balance $1200
back on road
Going to see if Michelin will help with cost
Turning it over to God cause that what it seems like to me.

Be safe out there, can't be too careful!

ctc


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[wallynm]

we run pressure pro and have had valid alarms n0 problems including frog

Mr.Mark wrote:
Wally, that's all fine and dandy if you can find a TPMS that works. I bought one from TST 4 or 5 yrs. ago and I never had more trouble with losing air as when I had that system. TST replaced a couple of sensors under warranty but the whole system was quirky. I ended up giving it away. It was a pure waste of $599. I had the sensors for the toad too (antenna never worked).

I'm sure now those systems are a lot better but I just check my tires before every departure and that has worked fine. Is it perfect, no, I'm aware I could pick up a nail the minute I drive away. Those TST sensors drove me nuts.


MM.

[msmith1199]

The sky is falling!!! Everybody is going to die if you run your tires over five years!!

[et2]

msmith1199 wrote:
et2, you should replace your tires every year then. If every five years is safe then ever year must be safer so if you really love your family and don't want to kill, you should buy new tires every single year.

And you should never change yours. Just think of all the $$$ your gonna save. When they blow just let the insurance company worry about it. That's if your around to worry about it anymore.;)

[msmith1199]

et2, you should replace your tires every year then. If every five years is safe then ever year must be safer so if you really love your family and don't want to kill, you should buy new tires every single year.

[et2]

msmith1199 wrote:

et2 wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:

et2 wrote:
It sounds like your neighbor is interested and appreciates the good condition of the MH he's considering. Why jeopardize the whole thing on some (IMHO) very questionable tires. Why take the chance. Replace them and forget about it. If he's already trying to push the envelope on maintenance issues, maybe having a MH isn't the right thing for them.

Mine will be replaced after six years no matter what - sooner if needed.

Why take the chance? I can think of about 4000 good reasons ($$$) to take the chance.

Well they are within the recommended replacement time frame. My wife's life and mine are worth more than a few ($$$). I think there are many people that feel the same way. You push the envelope you push your luck. You can't spend the money if your dead.

If you don't have the money to maintain a MH you probably shouldn't own one. Manuals and maintenance intervals are there for a reason.

If you're going to crash your motorhome and kill everybody inside when a rear tire blows, maybe you shouldn't own one!

In case you didn't know there are more than one tire on MH's anybody owning one knows that too. Are we now strictly limiting blow outs to rear tires? Besides if the rear goes and it's the same age as the fronts chances are it'll go too ( and have and seriously injured or killed the passengers). For what it's worth, I have had multiple tires go bad at the same time - same day ( and aired properly & taken care of). I've read on this forum numerous times about people having more than one tire go on the same trip.

Not sure what point your trying to make but you have a false sense of security. You certainly can roll the dice with your family's lives. But when I get in mine I'm not worrying if I'm pushing the tire life too far.

I wonder what you would do if your inside rear tire blew and took out your air lines to the brakes and maybe sliced through some other stuff like power steering lines or electronics keeping the engine running. Or what if it was the outer and if flew off and hit the family in the car passing you causing them to lose control. Just because you thought you could get 10 years off them?

Good luck to you!