Age of tires on your tow vehicle/ When to replace?

If you are not traveling enough to wear the tires out then age is the determining factor. Most of what I have read on this forum suggests five years max. I replaced what I thought to be perfectly good U.S. made Marathons because they were five years old, I only had 6300 miles on them but I know for a fact they were run above the recommended 65 mph on several occasions on some of the hottest days of the year. This was before I learned about max speeds on trailer tires. I would rather spend the extra money changing tires before they really need to be rather than risk a blow out that can do considerable damage to the rig and possibly even cause an accident.

Not everyone can afford to change tires just because they are five years old. Everyone's situation is different and you, the OP, have to make your own decisions based on your cash position and the level of risk you are willing to take.

^The heavy duty GY Marathons may be better, but the light duty 14-15" ones pretty much all are the worst trailer tires out there imo.
In going on 30 years pulling, owning, or fleet maintaining trailers, there's one common thread between most tire failures I've seen that didn't have a direct cause (severe overload, very old or road hazard puncture).
That common thread is the word "Marathon" printed on the side of the tire.

A timely thread. Went to bring the rig home from storage last week and a tire was flat on the KarKaddy. The Goodyear Marathon flat tire had 1,400 miles on it since it was the spare I installed last May to replace some no name weird brand we got in a pinch when another Goodyear Marathon tread separated on I40 somewhere east of Santa Rosa five years ago. I hit it with a compressor and heard a loud hissing sound. Great, probably picked up a leak from a nail. Pulled the tire and found a 4 inch long by 2 inch wide clean tread separation hanging on in the middle of the tread of this new tire. Talk about lucky since I had not used the Kaddy since parking it after the trip in May. The local dealer who handles Goodyear looked at the tire and told me it was 6 years old and Goodyear only gives 3 years on trailer tires. Kiss off. Lesson learned and no more Goodyear trailer tires.

atreis wrote:
Vehicle tires dry rot too - 6-7 years from the date code if they're not worn out or showing signs of other problems before that.

Best answer so far

Vehicle tires dry rot too - 6-7 years from the date code if they're not worn out or showing signs of other problems before that.

CapriRacer wrote:
My take on aging of tires is that if you live in hot states (AZ, CA, NV, TX, and FL), the limit is 6 years. If you live in cold states (MN, WI, MT, ID, and ND), the limit is 10 years. And states in between are .... ah ...... in between.

Bit of a misconception on cold states there... Eastern MT and Western ND get darn hot in the summer, and cold in the winter! Look up a list of record temperatures by state it kind of interesting.

Any way, today's tires need to be carefully watched. I have some old ones hanging around here that are just fine. (Remember the Ford/Firestone deal from the late 80's - early 90's?)

My truck has 4 year old major name brand tiress on it, and they will not be traveling with me next summer! Cracked around the beads on all 4.

CapriRacer wrote:
My take on aging of tires is that if you live in hot states (AZ, CA, NV, TX, and FL), the limit is 6 years. If you live in cold states (MN, WI, MT, ID, and ND), the limit is 10 years. And states in between are .... ah ...... in between.

Good plan. Heat and UV light are the death of tires, if DRIVING your vehicle doesn't get to them first!

Before you do anything else, go to RV Tire Safety.
I doubt that you will find anything there that disagrees with Capri Racers, but at the FMCA rally Roger was very clear that the equation is age and temperature.

Did you hear about the NASA space suits that are on display in environment controlled cases and are FALLING APART? This is because the elastomers and adhesives age out. Think about tires.....

Matt

My take on aging of tires is that if you live in hot states (AZ, CA, NV, TX, and FL), the limit is 6 years. If you live in cold states (MN, WI, MT, ID, and ND), the limit is 10 years. And states in between are .... ah ...... in between.

I usually trade in before needing tires. I would consider a combination of Tread Wear and overall condition.....if you see the sidewall starting to show signs of cracking, need new regardless of wear