Tires after over 2 years sitting

[joebedford]

Today was the first time in over two years that our 5er moved. Normally, I'd do the wheel servicing but I decided that I'd rather pay somebody else to do it.

So today was a warm up for the hour long trip to the service centre in a week's time. All tires looked good but two of the six were down to 30lbs. The other 4 were down a bit to 65lbs which is what I'd expect.

I pumped them all up to 80lbs and will keep a close eye on the two leaky ones.

I'm pretty good at looking at a tire and being able to tell if it's down a bit but I think in this case the two other tires on each side were holding up the deinflated ones making them look normal.

The lesson I learned today is not to trust my eye - a gauge is the way to go. Also, I'm wondering why two of my six tires would go flat. Maybe in the rush to install them at the start of the pandemic they didn't get the rims clean?

The other thing we were trying today is DW's new trike and my bike - will they fit? I got them both in the toy hauler but I'm going to have to take the saddle bags and guards off my bike to account for sway going down the road.

[joebedford]

Grit dog wrote:
The only actual question is why were you "sheltering at home" for 2 years if you have a RV?

No place around here for an RV the size of mine. Even if I could get in a park, I don't want to be as close to people as always happens at an RV park. I'll take my chances when winter rolls around.

Today, I hauled the RV a little over 80km (50mi) to get the wheels serviced. Hit 110kmh at one point - no problems with the tires.

[HTElectrical]

Those tires are 110 PSI max pressure.

[RAS43]

joebedford wrote:
4 tires were down 15psi to 65psi; the other two were down 50psi to 30psi (over 2 years)

You stated they are Sailun tires. If so and they are 2 years old or close to that I'd check for leaks- as someone said, soapy water is your friend-, air them up and run them.

[valhalla360]

joebedford wrote:
4 tires were down 15psi to 65psi; the other two were down 50psi to 30psi (over 2 years)

You are talking about the difference between losing 0.021 PSI per day vs 0.068 PSI per day.

It's losing air at such a slow rate, that very minor variations in where the air is escaping, could explain the variation. Basically, you have magnified the static in the data.

If you were using them and checking them once a month, they would be within 1 PSI and most analog tire pressure gauges won't show that level of accuracy.

[Grit_dog]

joebedford wrote:
4 tires were down 15psi to 65psi; the other two were down 50psi to 30psi (over 2 years)

It's ok Joe, no need to drag this out. Your helpful observation has sparked yet another inane conversation amongst the rvnet coffee clutchers.
The only actual question is why were you "sheltering at home" for 2 years if you have a RV?

[Gdetrailer]

80 PSI tires, that still could be considered normal.

My flatbed trailer spare was down to 30 PSI after not checking it for several yrs. Splashed soapy water all over it, found no leaks. Aired it up and called it good..

Tires should be checked much more often that two yrs..

Heck, I have some new tires with innertubes for a 120 yr old car that take 60 PSI, those lose 4-5 PSI every month..

I would have just aired up and checked them in a week or two instead of just replacing.

You have a good chance that there was nothing wrong with the tires or could have had some dirt/rust on the seat of the rim or valve core or stem leak and replacing the tires solved the rim or valve stem issue..

When in doubt, pull the tire, run some soapy water around front and back beads and don't forget valve stem. If that fails to get bubbles then carefully check and inspect the treads for embedded nails, bolts and other road junk.. Nails, screws and small bolts can embed just enough to create a slow leak and can be often repaired.

I realize it is easier to just pull up to the tire shop and have them swap tires, but for 2-3 yr old tires, seems to be a bit wasteful approach.

[joebedford]

4 tires were down 15psi to 65psi; the other two were down 50psi to 30psi (over 2 years)

[valhalla360]

joebedford wrote:
They went down to 30lbs over two years. I moved the 5er forward only about 10 feet and then realized two tires were really low. I pumped them all up to 80 psi before taking the rig for a 3 mile test run. I checked the tire yesterday and it's still at 80 psi (but it's only been a few days).

Sounds pretty normal and no reason for the fear mongering by some.

No signs of damage and holding air...run with them.

PS: Regardless, I typically check the pressure before a days run. I'm convinced the vast majority of blow outs are improperly inflated, over loaded or road debris related. Being 2-3yrs old in the sun is not a risk.

[Gdetrailer]

joebedford wrote:
They went down to 30lbs over two years. I moved the 5er forward only about 10 feet and then realized two tires were really low. I pumped them all up to 80 psi before taking the rig for a 3 mile test run. I checked the tire yesterday and it's still at 80 psi (but it's only been a few days).

You do realize that it is normal for tires to lose 1 to 2 PSI PER MONTH?

At 2 PSI per month that is 12 PSI per yr or for two yrs 24 PSI!

30 PSI loss after two yrs sitting unattended and never checked is not out of the ordinary and would be considered normal loss..

I always fill my tires to max sidewall pressure in the fall when storing and in the spring, add a couple of PSI before starting my season.. The recheck and top off pressure each time before making a trip.

This thread has been entertaining to say the least :B

On edit..

Tires often do not lose air at the same rate, out of 4 tires I often see 4 different pressures.

Higher pressure tires often lose more pressure initially.

Air and tire temp and direct sun can affect the pressure you measure.

Often slow leak tires is not the fault of the tire or the rim. I have found many times the tire shop may not have fully tightened the valve core after they have mounted the tires on the bead (they remove the valve core to get a quick blast of air into the tire to "seat" the bead on the rim). Once bead is seated they will reinstall the valve core and sometimes it isn't installed tight enough..

Fair chance if you saw a big pressure difference in one or two tires, the valve core wasn't installed tight enough or could have been dirt/dust in the valve core seal.. Tire shops generally will replace valve stem and core when installing new tires which fixes the problem you had..

Soapy water is your friend..

[joebedford]

They went down to 30lbs over two years. I moved the 5er forward only about 10 feet and then realized two tires were really low. I pumped them all up to 80 psi before taking the rig for a 3 mile test run. I checked the tire yesterday and it's still at 80 psi (but it's only been a few days).

[pbeverly]

I have a horse trailer that mostly sits and does nothing. I try to take it out and drive down the interstate to get up to speed 4x a year for the sake of the tires.

[bucky]

TPMS systems won't save you on a blow out. They will alert you to a slow leak and avert a blow out. Hitting a piece of steel in the road? Nah, it's too late.

[bucky]

TPMS systems won't save you on a blow out. They will alert you to a slow leak and avert a blow out. Hitting a piece of steel in the road? Nah, it's too late.

[PButler96]

Boon Docker wrote:

joebedford wrote:

Boon Docker wrote:
Some of these tire threads are hilarious, good for a laugh once in a while.

What's hilarious about this thread?

Four remarks about replacing 3 yr old tires that have sat in the sun for 2 years. Now that is funny.

It's hilarious.

It makes we wonder what some dealers do when they have a new rig that did not sell and has sat on the lot for @ two years. I've seen that scenario a few times. Are they replacing the tires when sold? Some on these boards are batshit nuts.