Tire age, when to change.

[trode]

Trying to get a good consensus for tire age from the "voice of experience". I bought my motor home last year, tires on there are just coming up on 5 years old based on date codes. I have Goodyear G670-RV on front and Goodyear G647-RSS on rear. Goodyear claims their RV tires have special compounds to fight the effects of ultra-violet rays on the tires. They all appear fine, when I bought I had them checked and balanced and dealer said they all were in great shape, no weather cracking and or apparent damage. He said one was slightly out of round and needed truing, did that. They ride just fine. no noise. no vibration, harsh but I think nature of this size tire.

Physical examination now shows no sign of checking or cracking, no unusual wear and no cuts or bulges, etc.. I know I will never wear them out, based on 6-7,000 miles a year, but I am of the thought that I can likely, safely, get another couple of years out of these tires. I store, on concrete, jacks down to get weight off tires, and cover the tires, wash after use and check pressure every departure.

I hear advice ranging from 5 years to 10 years, I believe I read one manufacturers web site the recommended 10 year service life.

Thoughts...

[RickO]

Always a tough question. I believe it is Michelin who recommends the ten year life... but I think they want them inspected annually after five years.

My personal trip wire is around seven years... assuming that they are still looking in good shape.

Rick

[Pigman1]

If it ain't broke....don't fix it. Continue to have them inspected and treat them carefully as you are now, and things will be fine. The more you run tires the longer they'll last as use moves the oils and other compounds around in the rubber and keeps them from deteriorating. I believe the 5-7 years you hear about and read about is a generalization for people who do not take care of their tires. I'd expect 10 years or a lot more on mine as we run a lot, but we also store in a covered, closed building. and don't expose the tires to sun for weeks, months or years on end.

[PyrateSilly]

I have seen anywhere from 5 years to 15 years. There are quite a few RVer's that will change them out at 5 yrs, 7 yrs or 10 yrs just because they want to.

[tedgard01]

This question may have many answers, and many variables. Do you park it inside or is it always exposed to the elements? It looks like you live in Wilmington, on the coast, versus inland like us, which means you may have other environmentally related issues than we would face. Tires that sit for long periods and not used can actually have more issues that tires that are used regularly. If you use tire covers versus not using them when parked can impact the aging of the tire. Tire rotation and balancing habits can impact the tire life. Etc, etc, etc...

I chose to just have them checked out by a reputable tire specialist at least once a year or so and change them when they say that they need to be changed.

[Snomas1]

Tire change seems to be what ever your risk tollerance is. I have seen the damage a blow out can cause to the MH costing thousands of $$$$$. I change mine every 6 yrs. You can have unseen internal damage to a tire from hitting curbs etc. I don't want to be stuck on the roadside due to a tire problem or risk MH damage because I want to gain several more years of tire wear.

[CampDaven]

If tires are $4000, the monthly cost over 7 years is about 48 bucks. Over 10 years it is about 33 bucks.

15 bucks a month can buy a lot of good feeling, and may save lots of damage, maybe even a life.

I prefer to spend the extra bit of pocket change.

[Sky_Boss]

Kinda depends a little on usage too. Most MH age out before they tread out. More miles (to a point) is better than low miles because driving the tires causes them to release oils that help keep the tire in better shape. Sitting in the sun, unprotected is the worse.

I think 7 years is getting long on the tooth for low mileage tires.

[Mike Canter]

The problem is who is qualified expert to inspect a tire? According to all the big tire makers the tire has to be pulled off the rim and checked inside as well as outside. So we are going to have some guy that works in a tire store of unknown expertise check something that my life and families life depends on. As already said the damage created by a tire coming apart is very expensive and very dangerous. Friends that I have that have experienced a tire coming apart have ripped air bags and wiring harness right out of their motorhomes. Since we don't have the expertise to check a tire or are going to pull them off the wheel and do the correct inspection I would highly recommend no more than seven years IF you take care of the tires and know the history of the tires from day one of first use. Yea, you hear people getting away with ten years but why would you want to risk it. And why would anyone tell somebody it is OK to run them for ten years or more. That is like somebody who never wears a seatbelt and has never had an accident telling somebody else you don't need seatbelts because they have never been hurt.

[Mike Canter]

Read this carefully below from Michelin. It says that any tire older than 5 years should be inspected by a "specialist". That is wide open for interpretation. Most workers at tire stores are NOT specialists and have zero training and do not know what to look for. We have had a retired tire engineer come on this forum in the past and he went through what it requires to be a specialist and check a tire. Like I said it requires being pulled off the wheel and looked at by somebody that is this specialist. The other thing is that even if being looked at by this specialist that they recommend not going over ten years. So given all that if you are now over six or seven years and you do not know the history of care and you haven't had them looked at by a specialist then it is time to change those tires.

[Ggrvusa]

I had my Goodyear 670's inspected by TCI after 5 years and they said they looked fine. Shortly after I had a right front blowout that caused a lot of damage. Fortunately no one was hurt.
Max 5 years for me. If I wanted to go any longer I would at least change my steer tires.

[Triker56]

My G670 275/70/22.5 are 8 years 5 months old now. They will be 9 on their next trip.
Only have 34,513 miles on them now. Probably will have around 40K when I replace. Keep them stored covered on jacks and 120 PSI in them. Plan on replacing May 2015 at 10 years old. Probably will replace with same.

All 6 do have some rivering but not bad and it causes no driving problem and they are a long way from getting to the ware bar.

Previous tires were Michelin XRV with a zipper blow outs at 4 years old & 6 years old.
Replaced all 6 at 6 years 9 months old at 50,606 miles.

[GaryKD]

Hi trode,
Because you have not had the tires their entire life, one can not assume they were not abused in some way. For me, I'd go with 7 year replacement on these tires. If you have the tires their entire life and correctly care for them, for me, I'd suggest a 10 year replacement cycle.

One can do the drive axle one year and the steer axle another year. This might lessen the shock to the budget.

[iawoody2]

My Goodyears where 12yrs old and had 70000 miles when I replaced them. They actually looked pretty good, I just decided to replace at the same time I was getting all new brakes. By the way the tires and brakes where the original ones.