37chief

Well-known Member
Location
California
How many years do you keep the same tires on your vehicles? I have Michelin tires on the rear of my motorhome. Are Michelin tires over rated? last month about 2 miles from home one of my 5 year old tires blow out. Not a flat it just exploded. It's recommended to replace motorhome tires after 5 years. Now I have to make a decision to replace all the tires on the rear or just the bad one. The other tires have almost net tread. The fronts are 4 years old. I would think the tires should last more than 5-6 years. I keep them covered when not in use. My other vehicles, I never check the age just tire wear. I know my tractor hauling truck has tires close to 10 years old or more. It would be nice for tire companies to just put the month and year, not some code to find, and figure out. Stan
 
I don't know a lot about tires, but I know that the lifespan of a tire varies greatly according to how much UV light it's exposed to. Keeping yours covered should help extend the life.

I think there is some other emphasis on tires that sit unused for a long time with weight on them - flat spots. Takes a while of rolling and warming up to work those spots out.

And as for Michelin's, I have absolutely zero experience with them. Do you have P or LT tires on your RV? I run LT tires even on my 1/2-ton trucks. They don't cost much more (at least the ones I buy) yet the P's are 4-ply while the LT's are 10-ply. Like $40 per tire more last time I bought some.
 
I think tires that do not get used a lot should be replaced about every five years, they just seem to separate.
 
I don't know if it is a Michelin thing but the old XWR Michelins that came with my 97 Blazer still have a smooth and unbroken sidewall. Problem is they show some deep cracking in the treads. Obviously I'm not running them on the Blazer anymore but its just something I noticed. And they were indoors a lot. The Cooper Discoverer tires I replaced them with seemed better. No cracking anywhere on them and they must be at least 12 years old.
 
I don't know about the recommended age. There would be several factors to consider, UV exposure, sitting under inflated, just sitting would be worse than running.

I know I've run tires that were way more than 5 years old and didn't have problems. Some are on trailers that get no special care, exposed to the elements.

Sounds more like a defect or something cut it.

I am a believer in Michelin tires. I prefer them over all other brands for ride, quiet operation, and long life. But, things happen, no brand is immune to failure.
 
5 years is about right for RVs and trailers. They get exposed to a lot of UV light but don't get worked much to keep them pliable, and to top it off they are often operated right at their maximum load rating.

Tires just aren't as good as they used to be.

You should replace all four rears now, and plan on replacing the fronts next year. The other three rears are not far behind the first one as far as letting go.
 
I own a 36' 1999 Winnebago Chieftain and did a lot of research on tires.

On the RV forums it's pretty much universally accepted that tires should replaced at 5-6 years, no matter what the tread and or sidewalls look like.

Another thing that you will see on the RV forums is that the Michelin tires have a very poor reputation. Especially when warranty claims are involved.

Hankook tires seem to have a stellar reputation and when I replaced the tires on my RV I went with them and have been very happy. So much so, that when my Dakota 4x4 needed new tires, I put Hankooks on it as well. I highly recommend them.
 
Stan,

Tires have serial numbers. The tire guys by me say that 5 years is the legal limit that they can or will service them. I had a set on one of my trucks that I didn't realize was as old as they were, four years, but I was having something done to them and the tire guy told me how old they were from the serial numbers and that he could still do whatever I was having done. I bought them new from him as well. We were talking, he said five years and that's it. That's what I can offer.

Mark
 
(reply to post at 09:27:13 04/18/17)
It's actually quite easy to determine a tires age (this pertains to any tire designed for road use. Car, truck, trailer, RV etc...) Every tire has a DOT number stamped into the rubber, usually near the bead (where the tire and rim/wheel meet). The first digits (numbers, letters, or a combination of both) are for other identification purposes. It's the [b:4d5a1ccb52]last four [/b:4d5a1ccb52]that are the date the tire was manufactured. There last four digits will always be numbers. The first two denote the week of manufacture, the second two represent the year. For example, a tire with a DOT XXXX XXXX 2309 would indicate that it was made the 23rd week of 2009.

If you purchase tires for a vehicle, dont assume that they are "new". Some tires will sit in a warehouse for years before they are purchased by the end user. This is especially common with odd or uncommon sizes.

So the next time you buy tires, take a moment to look at the DOT numbers. Many tire retailers put this info on your sales reciept. If not, ask them to provide you with the DOT numbers. You may discover that your new tires aren't really new.
 
Your tire code is the week then the year. So a code of 1914 is the 19th week of the year 2014 the date of manufacturing.
 
A lot depends on if they are radial or bias tires. Radial tires don't seem to last but about five years where I've had the same bias tires on my jeep since 1998. I've had radial tires blow out while the vehicle was parked.
 
Is it the same tires on the front axle as the rear? If so I would buy 2 new ones for your steer axle and put the old ones on the rear.
 
Blew 2 tires on 5th rv coming back from AZ this spring.They were only 5 years old and I keep them covered when not in use.Seems a waste of time to do so,these tires have no check marks,they just started to separate and then blew out.Both were on the rear axle so my theory is when you make a sharp turn especially on pavement they tend to roll under and maybe that's starts the tread from separating.Ron
 
I've almost gotten the good out of this set of tires. Don't worry about that tube showing on the tread area. There appears to still be lots of strength in the old cotton cording. I figure the next world war we have I can get some new surplus tires for the old chore truck then. If these have lasted since the 40's the next set will outlive me.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
a157726.jpg
 

This five or seven year thing is something new. I really believe the RV issue is sitting loaded. Would be interesting to try parking jacked up off the tires so they are not loaded and flexed at one point.

I've never worried about tire age.
 
Having had several steel belted radials blow, I started checking the dates. On car tires for me eight years is the max, I toss them when older than that. The cracking they all seem to get lets moisture in and rusts the steel belts. When they blow, its like an explosion, when you get stopped, not much left of the tire.
 
I have some old tires that I think will still be going strong long after the newer imported ones are gone. I don't think they are making tires near as good as they used to either. I'm seeing a lot of people sitting along the road with flats and lots of tire pieces laying on the roads too. More so now then back in the days of retreads falling apart. Retreads don't seem near as popular anymore.
 
So hard to tell anymore about tire quality but any car or truck tire should last at least that long. I stopped buying Michelin's years ago because they kept wearing out. They used to be great tires. All tire companies practice the bait and switch game -- where they lure you into liking a particular model, then cut the quality to boost profits before discontinuing that tire model altogether.
 
I don't think the age is as important as the pressure they get run at. I have tires on some of the semi trailers around here that must be more than 5 years old and some probably close to 10. I run 110 in all of them except my step and rgn trailers then I run 120 in them. The step is loaded to the max for the tires most of the time with a load range H on a 255-70 R22.5.
I think most of those motor home and camper tires are over loaded and under rated for the load they get. Especially with all the added things put in them like freezers and such. I would be curious just what some of those axles actually have for weight on them. Wouldn't be surprised if they were close to the 18,000 they are limited to.
 
(quoted from post at 11:10:00 04/19/17) I don't think the age is as important as the pressure they get run at. I have tires on some of the semi trailers around here that must be more than 5 years old and some probably close to 10. I run 110 in all of them except my step and rgn trailers then I run 120 in them. The step is loaded to the max for the tires most of the time with a load range H on a 255-70 R22.5.
I think most of those motor home and camper tires are over loaded and under rated for the load they get. Especially with all the added things put in them like freezers and such. I would be curious just what some of those axles actually have for weight on them. Wouldn't be surprised if they were close to the 18,000 they are limited to.
i would have to agree with your opinion. one reason that a lot of RV tires go bad is due to improper inflation. When an RV comes into my shop with a low or flat tire, more often than not it isnt a problem with the tire at all. Its the valve stem extensions, or the "flow through" valve caps. A lot of people don't have the proper pressure gauge to check the rear tires on an RV, so they add these accessories to make checking the pressure easier. Fact is, these extensions cause more problems than they fix. It is simply just one more place for air to slowly escape, causing a low tire, resulting in a very dangerous condition called a "zipper rupture". Never inflate a tire that has been run any distance at low pressure. Take it to a shop and have it checked out.
 

motorhome??

a motorhome with 22 inch rims or a motorhome with 16 inch rims...

HUGE difference... in capacity and tire design.

The 16 inch motorhomes... are almost always over loaded, and yes, 5 years is the limit and if overloaded.. the e rated michelins will fail as will lots of other tires fail and fail early...
Having the motorhome weighed on each axle with all the food, water, and supplies in it... will usually tell you that one axle, or more will be over the limit. Lots of motorhomes on 16 rims will barely pass only when EMPTY.

You can order g rated tires, about the only GOOD fix, redistribute the loading to properly and correctly load each corner.. and cut down on material, supplies and water you haul, to bring it back under the max weight for each corner and tire/s by moving and then re weighing the vehicle till you get each corner under the rated weight... iirc, most e rated tires are good for around 3360lbs per tire at 80lbs single and less weight as a dual. bihsst.

22 inch tire motorhomes have a lot more leeway and better and thicker tires and will usually more resistant to uv damage,, but they will start to give trouble after 8 years, 10 years is a bit long as they will rot as well... I have had mine start to go at 12 years.. but then they showed it so I was not surprised when they started going.
 

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