Tire Replacement Advice Needed

[Hansville]

Hello All,
I am a new RV owner, I have an 04 Diplomat that I purchased less than a year ago with 6000 miles on it. She is a real beauty that is just barely broken in. I was advised by another RV owner to replace tires after about four years regardless of miles driven. I am not sure what to do as we plan on going full time starting this summer and do not want a blow out with aging tires. I think one option is to get an air pressure monitoring device that will alert me to pull off of the road before a blow out happens. What are you guys doing related to tires? Do you guys think I should replace tires with plenty of tread and only 6000 miles on them? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Jim Stewart]

Both Michelin and Goodyear take the position that tires do not necessarily expire on a calendar schedule. Both state that between 8-10 years is a usfull life based on remaining tread and sidewall condition. It also depends on how they were stored and in what climate. Obviously, sunlight, ozone and humidity have an affect on lifespan.

You can search these threads and see stories of the people who had blowouts and swear that 5 years is the limit. You never here from the many who never had a problem. All that being said, most manufacturers recommend yearly inspections by a professional if you do not feel competent to do it yourself. Look for your tire date code it is in a little rectangle on the tire face that contains 4 numbers the first two are the week of the year they were made and the second two numbers are the year. If your MH is a 2004, it could have been made in 2003 and the tires could be as old as 2002. That could make them as old as 7 years right now.

If you are going fulltime you may want to replace all or just the fronts based on more severe outcomes from front wheel blowouts than rear.

[Richard and Babs and a Bob Tail Cat]

http://rvsafety.org/ Is one good place for Tire as is http://www.goodyear.com/rv

[GaryKD]

Hi Hansville,
If you have Michelin tires, call them at 800-847-3435. Ask for the book on RV tire maintenance. They will send one to you. Also ask for the side wall check template. It is a small guide, with pictures, that you can hold up to the side wall to help determine if any cracks need to be concerned about.

[moisheh]

Don' count on a TPM system to give you advance notice of a blowout. It will only show low pressure. If your tire has a bubble or crack the TPM will give you a warning at the moment the tire explodes. No sooner. Perhpas if your system has a temp. reading you might get some advance warning. I just had a RF tire blow on our other MH and was fortunate that I had a Steer Safe . I was able to keep the rig under control. Damage to the inner wheel well. If this had happended to our Monaco the damage would have been in the thousands. BTW : The only way to inspect the tires is to demount the tires from the rims. Michelin wants you to do this every year after a certain point ( 5 to 7 years I think). Personally I would not bother spending the $. I will replace at 6 years or sooner.

[Hansville]

Yes, probably the best thing to do is replace after six years regardless of mileage. Probably will check the date of manufacture on the tires and will not accecpt any tire older than a few monthes. Is there a tire pressure warning system that will alarm the driver of a leak in air pressure while in motion?

[Gary RVRoamer]

My rule of thumb is to replace at the beginning of the 7th year. At that point I feel the risk of a blowout has beceome greater than the cost savings of stretching the usage out further.

Note that Michelin does NOT claim that all tires will last 10 years. They also very emphatically state that tires must be inspected by a tire SPECIALIST every year starting at age 5. And a tire inspection involves dismounting the tire from the wheel so the inside can be seen. Looking at the outside proves very little.

Don't take my word or anyone else's for it - read the Michelin article here:

[paz]

Hansville, I agree with RV Roamer's advice and information. Four years is too new to replace tires unless they show signs of problems such as sidewall cracking, but 8 or 10 years is too long unless they are inspected in the correct manner by a specialist who knows what he is looking for.

I had the 4 corners of the rig weighed a while back and I keep the tires inflated according to the weights we got and according to the tire inflation chart for out tire size. I also check the tires frequently for unusual wear, bumps, sidewall cracks, and any other visible problems.

I will probably replace the rear tires at about 7 years as Gary suggests (unless some problem shows up sooner). The fronts had weather checking at 4 years of age, and were replaced under warranty by Michelin.

[historyljc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moisheh Don' count on a TPM system to give you advance notice of a blowout. It will only show low pressure. If your tire has a bubble or crack the TPM will give you a warning at the moment the tire explodes. No sooner. Perhpas if your system has a temp. reading you might get some advance warning. I just had a RF tire blow on our other MH and was fortunate that I had a Steer Safe . I was able to keep the rig under control. Damage to the inner wheel well. If this had happended to our Monaco the damage would have been in the thousands. BTW : The only way to inspect the tires is to demount the tires from the rims. Michelin wants you to do this every year after a certain point ( 5 to 7 years I think). Personally I would not bother spending the $. I will replace at 6 years or sooner.

I had the same experience on a tire less than 3 years old with 16,000 miles on it and monitored with the Pressure Pro system. The alarm went off when the tire exploded. No previous warning. Roughly $5,000 worth of damage and costs. What went wrong? Who knows?

[Jim Stewart]

The purpose of the TPMS Systems is to tell you if the tire is losing air, on some, if the tire is overheating. Tires have blowouts for several reasons, among them are damage from running under inflated, heat from overloading, road hazards such as nails/screws and catastrophic failure from cord or sidewall damage or deterioration.

TPMS are useful in many situations, but not typically catastrophic failures.

[Kazoo Tom]

I also bought our motorhome used a few years ago. The tires on the coach were Michelin and appeared to be in great condition. Only 18,000 miles on the coach when purchased. Last year I checked the tires again and they looked great. No visible problems on the outside of the tire. As the tires were then 10 years old I decided to replace them anyway. That, and a great deal on new goodyear's. When the old tires were unmounted we discovered small cracks on the INSIDE casing in ALL the tires. Clearly we were riding on borrowed time. We now have new tires and great peace of mind.

If your tires are only 4 years old and show no visible signs of problems you should be good to go for a bit. But check them regularly. If you are the least bit apprehensive, then replace them.