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Old 07-19-2016, 05:21 AM   #1
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Tire Tread Life - Irrespective of Age

This is a question for those who actually wear tires out from use BEFORE they are worn out from age. I'm not interested in the typical back and forth banter about "old" tires.

How many miles do you get out of a set of tires before the tread is gone?

I'd like to compare:
  1. Rig weight
  2. Toad/No-Toad
  3. Tire specs
  4. Whether or not you rotate tires
  5. Expected mileage per set of tires


Here's where I'm at:
  1. 22,000
  2. No Toad
  3. Goodyear G670 on 19.5" rims
  4. No rotation yet
  5. Expect 30,000 miles
Right now we have about 20,000 on the tires (4 yrs old) and the duals are 2/3 worn while the fronts are about 1/3 worn. I had kind of thought that we would go through 2 sets of duals to 1 set of steer tires, so I never bothered to rotate... but it looks like it's probably not going to end up quite that ratio. Either the steer tires are wearing better than I thought, or the duals are not wearing as well as I had thought...



Also, the front of our motorhome seems awfully light. I have never had it weighed, but given how the thing drives (especially on gravel), I know it is. (I realize there is only 1 tire instead of 2... but I think the load per tire is less up front than in the rear) I kind of figured since the steer tires have a relatively light load on them compared to the duals, that it would be better to just leave them alone as opposed to rotating a rear dual to the front that has seen a lot of abuse from weight, heat, drive train forces, and general wear... where it could potentially be an issue. Maybe that's just a silly notion? What do you think?



Right now, the outer duals are worn slightly more than the inner... but not by much. I was thinking I would just rotate the duals inner to outer, and leave the steer tires where they're at. This would balance out the remainder of the tread life on the duals, leaving the best tires to remain in the very important steer positions. This method would also allow me to stagger the expense of new tires, as I could replace the 4 duals maybe a year or two before replacing the steer tires. Thoughts? How do you guys do it?



-cheers
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Old 07-19-2016, 05:37 AM   #2
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  1. 14,000 miles
  2. Toad
  3. SAILUN S637 225/70R19.5
  4. No rotate
  5. 40,000
Tires are about 3 years old, no signs of tire wear
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Old 07-19-2016, 07:27 AM   #3
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35,000 miles on now, still have 70% tread left
Tires are 3 years old
Should have 70,000 on them in 4 more years
Will replace at eight years

I just rotated the tag tires to the steer due to wear from poor alignment. Mostly tow a 12,000# trailer. Michelin XZE 295X80/22.5 LRH
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Old 07-19-2016, 07:42 AM   #4
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1. You really should get your rig weighed. 4 corner weight if possible but at least axel weights. Inflate your tires to the tire manufacturer inflation chart for those axel weights.

2. The wear you are seeing may be due to not having the proper inflation.

3. Miss alignment can also cause wear.

4. You also need the proper space between the dualies as recommended by the tire manufacturer.

5. A toad makes no difference in tire inflation for the motor home. A toad may cause additional wear on tires due to increased stopping distance but that would be negligible unless you are towing close to the maximum weight your hitch allows.

6. RV tires almost always "age out" before they wear out.
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Old 07-19-2016, 07:51 AM   #5
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1 31,000 +-
2 5,500 lb toad, all the time
3 Michelin xze2 275/80/22.5
4 No rotate
5 current 67,000 miles with at least 60% of tread remaining
6 Just inspected by Michelin dealer at 6+ years Good to use
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Old 07-19-2016, 08:08 AM   #6
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Is there a difference in the rate of wear between the big 22.5 semi truck type tires than the 19.5 tires on the lighter rv's? Are they possibly made from a more robust compound?

Does anyone ever get 70,000 miles out of a set of 19.5 tires? Even if my inflation was off a bit, it seems hard to believe I'd be off on my wear by 40k miles?

I know on some diesel dually pickups I've had... 30k was about the limit for miles on the rear tires, depending on use... Towing really seemed to chew them up, probably because I never let off the throttle...

I have a guess that the weights spec'd for our rv are screwy. The tag says it's a gvw of 20,000... And that unladen weight is 18,500... No way we're only carrying 1500 lbs of people and water and "stuff." Like I said before... I think the distribution is screwy front to back but the only way to know for sure is to have it weighed.

I'll have to find a place to have that done...

-cheers
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Old 07-19-2016, 08:16 AM   #7
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Piker, most truck stops have scales to weigh your unit for $7-10.00. You can put your front wheels on first, then all wheels, then the rear wheels. I weigh mine b/4 hitting the roads for long periods. Quite often, I have to switch weight one way or the other. Eddie Elk.
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Old 07-19-2016, 08:55 AM   #8
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WOW that is a lot of wear for the mileage in my opinion, the only rig I have owned with that much wear are 4x4's. I have 8-9000 on a new set and don't know how many miles the previous owner had on them, they look like they have yet to be on the road. The previous DP we replaced tires at age with 50000 on them and would have gone an EZ 100000, then 30000 on the new set that still looked new. Towed with both Rigs all but a very few miles, the DO with a trailer carrying the toad and the present 4 down.

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Old 07-19-2016, 09:48 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Piker View Post
This is a question for those who actually wear tires out from use BEFORE they are worn out from age. I'm not interested in the typical back and forth banter about "old" tires.

How many miles do you get out of a set of tires before the tread is gone?

Thoughts? How do you guys do it?
-cheers
Piker
As you may already know very few coach tires "wear out" before they "age out".
My coach is currently on the 3rd set of 6 tires.

The original set was replaced in 2003, at 7 years of age, (52,158 miles).

The second was put on in 2008 at 99,004 miles, (5 yrs / 46,846 mi later).

The current set was put on in 2014 at 140,848 miles, (6 yrs / 41,644 mi later).

(BTW none were "warn out" and none were ever "rotated").

Mel
'96 Safari, 148,427 miles, (2 yrs / 7,619 mi on the current tires)
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Old 07-19-2016, 10:23 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OLYLEN View Post
WOW that is a lot of wear for the mileage in my opinion

LEN
Well that's what I was thinking after hearing all the hubub about rv tires going bad from age long before wear. Maybe it's all the burnouts and wheelies I'm doing?

In all seriousness... I'm wondering what the deal is here. Again... is there a difference between 22.5 tires and 19.5 tires as far as wear? Bigger... less rotations to go the same distance... and maybe made from harder stuff? I don't know... if there was a way to get more miles out of mine... or if I need to change something I'm doing something terribly wrong... I'd do it!

-cheers
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Old 07-19-2016, 12:05 PM   #11
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FYI... Our duals are showing more wear on the outside edges of the tires than in the center. This would indicate under inflation if anything... yet I run the tires at their max rating of 95 psi cold.

They appear to squat too much with any less pressure than that...

Weird. Thoughts? I believe they tires are F rated... but I will check when I get home and report back with exact specs... and also the specs from the manual for tire pressure... which I am sure is less than 95...

Also... Freedomdream... The duals have plenty of space between them... IE, they do not touch. Is it possible to have too much space? I don't know how this could be adjusted... these are 6-lug wheels that use the heavy duty "bud-lugs" where the inner dual is bolted down to the studs, then the outer dual is bolted down to the inner dual lugs. Two sets of lug nuts per wheel set...


-cheers
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Old 07-19-2016, 01:15 PM   #12
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  1. Rig weight - 16,500-17,500 pounds
  2. Toad/No-Toad - Toad connected maybe 1/4 of our total travel miles.
  3. Tire specs - Kelley KSR 245/70R 19.5
  4. Whether or not you rotate tires - Do not rotate
  5. Expected mileage per set of tires - Currently at 37,000 miles on the tires and I would expect an easy 60,000 miles if not more. Even wear on all six tires. Have not measure treat depth but wear indicators still a good way down into the tread.
Coach weight checked each spring and first stop on route during summer vacation. Always under axle maximum by at least 500 pounds but my weight will vary depending on trip length and stuff packed into the coach. Have maintained air pressure to match axle maximum weight as recommended by tire manufacture, 80 PSI the lowest pressure on the chart. Tires have a higher load capacity then my axles.

Owned the coach since Apr 2011 and have not had the alignment changed or checked.
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Old 07-19-2016, 02:03 PM   #13
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Quote:
FYI... Our duals are showing more wear on the outside edges of the tires than in the center. This would indicate under inflation if anything... yet I run the tires at their max rating of 95 psi cold.

They appear to squat too much with any less pressure than that...
Imo, you need to have your rig weighed. You stated before that the front end seemed light. Now you're adding that the rear tires "squat" too much with anything but max pressure. Sure sounds there's a decent chance you're overloaded towards the rear.

On our lighter (15,000 lb gvwr) rig, i had our 19.5 Michelins replaced last year because of their 10+ year age. Almost 20,000 miles on them and the tread looked brand new. Have no doubt we'd have gotten at least 50,000 miles if their old age hadn't intervened.
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Old 07-19-2016, 03:06 PM   #14
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I have just over 50,000 miles on a set of 22.5" Michelins. They just barely show any signs of wear.

The OP's tire mileage seems to be excessive. Too much wear in too few miles.
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