A tire story

[jimbo2013]

I bought my current rig in 2013, it had 5 new Hercules 902's 255/70 22.5's
stamped dated 2012.

has about 20,000, so in Dec headed NY to Fl on I95 a rear blows out, I put on a HanKook AH12, cost $245, coachnet picked up the service charge, look like a fair deal.

Realizing the 5 year mark is coming up I started looking for tires again, two days a go on short trip Driver front blows, can't match out the A12, only choice was this odd ball Crosswind tire???

this time the road service was not to fair $300, coachnet picked up the service which would have been $130.

I went on Simple tire's web site the Crosswinds are on there $175 so I got ripped off. ( need to check the date it was built tomorrow) If it's old I'll return it.

Anyway Simple tire has the AH12's I can get 5 of them delivered for $1199.

I keep the crosswind as a spare

Is it truse the old tires have value for retread purpose?

you feedback as always appreciated

[APhotoWizard]

The problem with most motorhome tires, is UV/oxygen damage. The tire contain a UV inhibitor and antioxidant that protects the tire from the sun and oxygen. When the tire rolls, the it flexes and moves new protectorate to the surface. When the RV sits without rolling, the protection gets used up and the rubber in the tire gets damaged. This is when cracks form.

Add to that all the abuse we drivers tend to give tire, hitting curbs, driving under inflated, and overloading etc., it is a wonder they last as long as they do. Below is the Mitchlen, and Goodyear replacement statements. Basically they say the more you use the tire at the proper inflation and reasonable load, the longer they last. Mitchlen wants them inspected by a tire expert ever year after 5 while Goodyear warranty only lasts 4 years.

http://www.michelintruck.com/assets/...e_RV_Tires.pdf

Tire Replacement Guidelines - Goodyear RV

It has been my experience that when I remove tires from a motorhome I have to pay to have them hauled off as they are too far gone to be recapped. The tires that are recapped are those that are only a year or so old and the rubber worn off. This seldom happens on a motorhome. In fact Mitchlen motorhome tires start with less tread than the equivalent truck tire to provide better handling.

It woud not hurt to ask at your tire dealer to see if a recap is possible, but I would not want to run on a recapped RV tire. It might have been abused by someone like me. :-)

I will also add that two years ago, I had two blowouts on tires that were less than two years old and looked perfectly good. Then I got smart and installed a tire pressure monitoring system, and quickly learned that the likely cause of my tire problem was running them under inflated. (It was the inside and outside dual on the same side) This year I installed a Crossfire pressure equalizer to keep both tires at the same pressure and with the tire pressure monitoring system, I don't expect any further tire problems.

[jimbo2013]

very interesting, thanks

I have a tire pressure monitoring system, but both times they just blew.

Right now getting on the road, the new tire which was inflated to 95, now in the cooler morning temp is reading 87, dropped 8lbs.

hope there's no issue, I'll air up before hitting the road.

[APhotoWizard]

That is my experience also. For that reason, I fill my tires in the cool of the morning before I start on the road. I see 10 lb or more pressure rise as I drive. According to all I read, you should never lower this high pressure as the tires are built to withstand it.

Even filling in the morning this way, my low pressure monitor will sometime go off in the middle of the night when the temp outside drops to 25 or 30 degrees F. I just turn off the monitor till morning and by 9:00 AM or so the pressure is right on the money again.

Safe travels

[TonyDi]

Originally Posted by jimbo2013

very interesting, thanks

I have a tire pressure monitoring system, but both times they just blew.

Right now getting on the road, the new tire which was inflated to 95, now in the cooler morning temp is reading 87, dropped 8lbs.

hope there's no issue, I'll air up before hitting the road.

A TPMS is good if you have a leak and the pressure gets low enough to cause a blow out. Even if it is a fast leak, you can get to the side of the road. A catastrophic blow out, it detects it as the blow out occurs. No help to you.

You can minimize the chance by having the tires inspected by a reputable dealer at the start of each year.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by jimbo2013

very interesting, thanks

I have a tire pressure monitoring system, but both times they just blew.

Right now getting on the road, the new tire which was inflated to 95, now in the cooler morning temp is reading 87, dropped 8lbs.

hope there's no issue, I'll air up before hitting the road.

When you said "they just blew" did you have failure in the mid sidewall like THIS tire?
or did you have a belt/tread separation failure more like THIS tire?

TPMS can only warn of a loss of air that can lead to the sidewall flex failure and not warn about separations.

How did you arrive at 87 as the correct Cold Inflation Pressure for your tires?
Cold is the only meaningful inflation number as hot is affected by load and speed.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by APhotoWizard

That is my experience also. For that reason, I fill my tires in the cool of the morning before I start on the road. I see 10 lb or more pressure rise as I drive. According to all I read, you should never lower this high pressure as the tires are built to withstand it.

Even filling in the morning this way, my low pressure monitor will sometime go off in the middle of the night when the temp outside drops to 25 or 30 degrees F. I just turn off the monitor till morning and by 9:00 AM or so the pressure is right on the money again.

Safe travels

You probably should change the warning settings on your TPMS. I covered this in a blog post last week HERE

[jimbo2013]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

When you said "they just blew" did you have failure in the mid sidewall like THIS tire?
or did you have a belt/tread separation failure more like THIS tire?

TPMS can only warn of a loss of air that can lead to the sidewall flex failure and not warn about separations.

How did you arrive at 87 as the correct Cold Inflation Pressure for your tires?
Cold is the only meaningful inflation number as hot is affected by load and speed.

I had tires that blew a hole in the side wall this one was like strands of hair totally blown in shreds.

87 wasn't the correct pressure 95 is.
I arrived at that pressure doing 4 corner weights

I aired the new tire up again now it's holding at 95 early AM

[APhotoWizard]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

You probably should change the warning settings on your TPMS. I covered this in a blog post last week HERE

Tireman - Thank you for the link. You have one of the most comprehensive discussions of tires I have ever seen. Everyone driving a vehicle with tires would be well advised to read your articles.

You explanations are most helpful. Had I read your site earlier I would have avoided my most recent blowout. It never dawned on me that when one dual blows, the other one needs to be carefully inspected as it has been run overloaded. In my case, my wife did not notice the blowout, and we drove over 100 miles with the tire overloaded. (This was before TPMS Installation). Clearly this damaged the tire and it needed to be replaced. Unfortunately for me, the replacement occurred on the side of the road on a holiday followed by repairs to the leveling jack, and other items near that wheel well. It would have been much cheeper to replace the tire before it blew.

This is much like the story of the rest of my life - Too soon old, too late smart.

Thanks again.

[bdpreece]

Originally Posted by jimbo2013

Is it truse the old tires have value for retread purpose?

Don't know about the run of the mill car tire shops but when I purchased six new tires from a truck tire dealer I got $65 each trade in. Truckers buy them to run on their trailers.