Can you balance/drive out a flat spotted tire?

[FrankR]

The 76 Itasca project finally made its first roadtrip this past weekend. Among other problems, one was at least the front tires seemed to be really flat spotted. It was like riding a buckboard it was so rumbly. Eventually we will have to buy tires I know. These look like they were nearly new tread, but they are over 20 years old and it sat all that time. Would it even be worth trying to have them balanced? We drove it approx 60 miles round trip, but didn't get much better.

[Senior Chief]

Eventually we will have to buy tires I know.

The quick answer is 20 year old tires are really, truly an accident waiting to happen; and not too far in the future. This is way beyond the life expectancy of the rubber and has nothing to do with the tread. With passenger cars, you will wear out the tire tread long before the tire dies from old age, but its just the reverse with an RV.

In my opinion, it is false economy to run these tires, since you are risking damage to the entire rig with a blow-out.

[JMonroe]

Replace the tires, yesterday! Both your and my life may depend on it.

[John H...]

They probably should have been changed at least 3 times already. Change them, before you drive much farther than a few miles to the tire shop...

[whem2fish]

i bought my tires in arlington do you have 16 in tires i can get you a deal

[Superslif]

Replace replace replace.....

Years back, my brother bought a 77' pop-up with old tires and axles not being greased in 20 years. On the 2nd trip out tire blew and whole wheel hub came apart....The axle came out of the housing. All this happened on the freeway...

[FrankR]

Fair enough, we'll shop for tires then.

[JMonroe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrankR Fair enough, we'll shop for tires then.

No pressure though...

[whem2fish]

frankr on my first trip i didnt hane enough money to replace all tires so im off to sams club got 2 bf goodrich comercial ( 8 ply) back looked good anyway went to corpus cristy coming back into san antonio lost the inside pass rear i got lucky i have seen pictures where lots of damage (my refrigerator is above wheelwell) any way in arlington you can get 10 ply tires they are I.R.C. mounted and bal. for $107 unless they went up they wont remove from rv but if you went that way you pay for gas ill come over with my jack and stands load tires in my truck and get done
just a thought
dave

[Monacoach]

20 year old tires thats godda be a record. And they are square. Tires need to be round to roll Seriously I would not attempt a highway trip with those tires.

[wa8yxm]

I see others have commented on the age of the tires and the need to replace them, design life is like 5 years by the way.

As to can you balance/drive them out of a flat spot... NO, can't be done

But should you flat spot your new tires.... Some few tire centers do what is called tire TRUING.. This is where they.. Un-flat spot them... (Easiest way to say it) and make them perfectly round.. They do this by removing material from the rest of the tire (kind of like driving thousands of miles) but because they are doing it on a lathe, not on the road, no material is removed from the flat spot.

One would think this would "Age" the tire, and to some extent it might, but it seems that having them pefectly round extends the miles more than the wearing off of the "high spots" lowers it... But then I don't know, never did a side by side. I'm going on what my almost Father in law said (Alas his daughter and I decided NOT to get married.. but that is another story)

[pwf16129]

if your tires are in date and good tread depth on the rear you can rotate the flat spots 180 degrees from each other and this will work ,we do it for brake skids at work and have no problems .
but for sure replace your tires i had to replace the tires on my two axle trailer they started coming apart i cked and they were 10 years old looked great ,but started losing them,time flys when you're having fun.


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[4Knights]

Have to join the group, buy new ones yesterday! The damage to yourself not just the rig is worth getting on this NOW! Imagine all tires going at once or even worse going in sequence as your rolling 65 down the road or on a corner- seat belt would be the least of your worries.
No pressure though
Ron

Ron & Wendy 94 Pace Arrow 454

[RedneckExpress]

Sounds like your rig has old BIAS ply tires on them which were really prone to getting flat spots on them when they sat for a while.

I have a suspicion that you may want to check the rim size to see if they are 16.5"s. If they are, you'll also need to replace the rims as very few places make 16.5" rim tires anymore.