XRV tread depth

[CMcCardell]

Hi all -

I've been through all sorts of threads on tire replacement - age recommendations, fill procedures, balancing, tire recommendations, etc etc. I'm familiar with light truck, car and motorcycle tires, but not the XRV tires on my W22 chassis.

My tires are the factory installs, 5 years old, and show no sign of cracking. They've been outside most of their lives; my father had a blowout several years ago, but no damage was done. I don't know which one it was and can't find evidence of a repair. The tires now have about 48,000 miles on them.

My question is - assuming that they should be replaced in the next couple of years anyway due to age, what is the minimum tread depth beyond which Michelin recommends replacement? I can't find the answer anywhere online.

Thanks,

- Clay

[GaryKD]

Hi CMcCardell,
As best I know, Michelin does not provide a minimum tread depth replacement recommendation. The state you live in, most likely, has a law governing minimum tread depth. Michelin does recommend replacement based on age. After 5 years they recommend an annual inspection. They recommend replacement after ten years. There are caveats to these statements. Go to http://www.michelinrvtires.com/michelinrv/index.jsp and read all about it. Or go to http://www.michelinrvtires.com/miche...e-material.jsp and get right to the details.

[FleetMan]

Clay,
The rule of thumb I used when I was in the fleet maintenance business was to pull a tire when it got down to 4/32 or 5/32" tread remaining. Legal limit is 2/32" for any brand but experience showed my tire problems increased significantly whenever I tried to squeeze out just a few more thousand miles.

[speed racer]

XRV's have wear bars built into the tread. If you look closely you can see the bumps in the bottom of the tread. If your tires wear close to these they should be replaced if not before.

[J Walker]

At five years they are due to be replaced based on age. I had a blowout of an XRV at five years of age. Fortunately it was rear dual instead of a front tire and no damage occurred to the MH. Michelin may have improved the XRV an no doubt they have, but for several years in the past sidewall failure occurred due to rubber cracking and water getting to the steel reinforcing wires. They rusted and failed. One would fail and then the next. It is called the zipper failure. I do not believe that there is an inspection good enough to assure that moisture does not get to the the steel braid. It is very unfortunate that time becomes the factor on changing tires because there is usually a lot of good tread left. This is the first thread I have read that attempted to determine when to change a MH tire based on tread. Commercial trucks do wear tire tread out and usually don't reach the age limit, but MHs are a different story. Five years is the maximum age I will allow on my tires.

[CMcCardell]

Thanks all -

I agree with the age replacement, but I've seen opinions from 5 to 8 and even 10 years as being safe - I'm no expert and appreciate the opinions!

I hadn't seen the wear bars - I'll take another look. My tires are all between 9 and 10/32, so plenty of tread left, but as mentioned just on about 5 years old. I'll keep a close eye on them and may give them another year, probably -

My DW has an F150 - had a set of Firestones from the factory. In the first year and 25,000 miles she had it, she had 13 flats. Since replacing the tires 45,000 miles ago, none. The XRVs on my coach have already had one blowout when a year old, but IIRC my dad said it was a nail or something, not a failure.

Thanks for the info!

- Clay

[dirko]

Hi Ho: Most RV tires (at least the ones I know) are regroovable. That means that you can start with new tread when the first tread wears out just by having the tires grooved. I don't know anyone who has had this done. Do you? The tires will have the word regroovable stamped on them.
Dirk

[Gary RVRoamer]

5 years is a very conservative replacement age, 7 years is a compromise between cost and risk and 10 years is the outer limit under the best possible conditions. Only you can decide where you are comfortable on the age vs risk curve.

I recently had a Goodyear G670 on the front end develop a sidewall bulge at just over 5 years of age. No sign of road hazard damage or anything - it just started to fail, so I replaced it and its twin on the other side. I would have replaced them at 7 years in any case, but the decision was taken from my hands. I'm keeping the other 4 and still hoping to get 7 years from them without problems, but time will tell.

[Fred and Bonnie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Roamer [Gary] 5 years is a very conservative replacement age, 7 years is a compromise between cost and risk and 10 years is the outer limit under the best possible conditions. Only you can decide where you are comfortable on the age vs risk curve. I recently had a Goodyear G670 on the front end develop a sidewall bulge at just over 5 years of age. No sign of road hazard damage or anything - it just started to fail, so I replaced it and its twin on the other side. I would have replaced them at 7 years in any case, but the decision was taken from my hands. I'm keeping the other 4 and still hoping to get 7 years from them without problems, but time will tell.

I realize the front tires should be replaced in pairs, does this hold true with the rears. I have a 5yr old outer dual showing cracks and wondered if all four rear tire should be changed as a set?

Fred

[Gary RVRoamer]

You do not want two different sized tires together on one end of a dual axle. A worn tire can be somewhat smaller than a new one due to tread wear, so "best practice" is to change them both at once. If you have unmatched tires together on one end, there is a small risk that one tire pair will be slightly greater in diameter than the other and therefore carry more of the load. It's a judgment call as to how much difference is tolerable.

Similarly, if the pair on one end of the axle is slightly larger than the other end, it creates a slight imbalance in rotational speed that the differential gearing has to deal with, sort of like permanently making a slight turn toward the side with the larger tire. Big deal? Probably not, but the degree of the effect depends on how much difference there is and hard to judge without careful measurement.

[Fred and Bonnie]

Thanks for input Gary. I wasn't considering going to another tire size, just replacing with a like item. The only drawback, like you mentioned, would be having one side of duals with 20K miles and the other side new.

[bldrbob]

In my younger years I worked weekends at a trucking company checking trailor tires.I would stand two tires side by side and place a square across the top.If there was more than 1/4 inch different they would not go together.I was told a larger difference would cause one of the tires to drag due to the difference in circumference.So in addition to the larger tire carrying more weight the smaller tire is slipping trying to keep up and wearing faster getting smaller .
BOB

[Chickadee]

Hey, .... What's the difference between a Michelin XRV and a Michelin X ?? Steve

[J Walker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chickadee Hey, .... What's the difference between a Michelin XRV and a Michelin X ?? Steve

It is hard to say anything about the Michelin X because there isn't one at least on their RV tires that I checked. The is an X One XRV which is for the rear. It replaces two dual tires. A few have switched to the X One, but it costs about as much as two regular tires. I feel that a safety factor is lost also because one blowout and one side, rear goes flat unlike two duals.
By the way, it takes just one blowout to change thinking on the length of time you keep your tires.