Poll: Maximum tire life

flhtci2006 · 09-02-2017, 09:52 PM

After talking to Discount Tire, it made me wonder, what is reasonable tire life based on miles driven, NOT expired life based on born date.

(Wasn't sure of the best place for this so if any Admin has a better idea, please move it.)

youroo · 09-02-2017, 10:00 PM

What type tires and what type of Vehicle? Is it going to be Idle for Long periods of time,or are you going on a Tire Test Trip until they Wear out?

Youroo!!

flhtci2006 · 09-02-2017, 10:53 PM

Was trying to be "general". Have seen lots of threads with people getting low mileage (less than 5000 miles) attributed to alignment. So, assuming you put more miles on the tires versus more years due to sitting idle, how many miles until the tread is worn to recommended replacement depth. It's a tread life poll.

richp · 09-03-2017, 06:44 AM

Hi,

Are we talking about trailers or motorized vehicles in this poll?

Personally, every trailer tire I ever replaced had most of its tread left. It was age that made me replace them after 4-5 years.

FWIW.

Rich Phillips

Jim34RL · 09-03-2017, 09:37 AM

I do not know as of yet! My tires have not worn out, nor will they wear out by mileage. I have 14,000 miles on them now but will put another 2,000 miles on them this year. They will be replaced by the tire date if they are over four years old. Four years is the maximum time limit that I will keep a tire on a trailer. Trailer was purchased new in May of 2015.

MacDR · 09-03-2017, 12:03 PM

Replacing my ST tires With LT tires... I have about 25,000 miles on them and I purchased my 5ver in July 2013.. Just me being me .. the ST tires look like the day I brought my 340k home..

Oaklevel · 09-03-2017, 12:12 PM

I have NEVER worn the tread out on trailer tires and I can not tell you how many miles were on them. Always aged tires on trailers out before miles. When they are 5 years or dry rotted on the bigger trailers I think about replacement.

Last year had a small trailer traded tires that were put on in 1992 the tread looked new. Tires looked new.... It had been to Chicago, TN, VA, Wilmington NC all over the East Coast...........

Again trailer tires or vehicle tires??????????

OscarsMom2 · 09-03-2017, 04:37 PM

I assumed that you were referring to tires on an RV. It's been my experience that tires on our trailers have only lasted 5 years. We experienced two blowouts when our trailers were 5 years old, even though we had put very few miles on them.

BamaBob · 09-03-2017, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richp

Hi,

Are we talking about trailers or motorized vehicles in this poll?

Personally, every trailer tire I ever replaced had most of its tread left. It was age that made me replace them after 4-5 years.

FWIW.

Rich Phillips

I was thinking the same thing Rich - Motorhome owners (especially those of us with DPers) are gonna skew the poll - out tires are good for 7 years or - say - 150K miles or so

BamaBob · 09-03-2017, 04:57 PM

Now, having said that, and being a been there done that TT & 5er owner, the FIRST thing I would do when I bought a new rig was to pitch the POS stock tires and get Maxxis tires, metal valve stems, balance beads, AND bump them up a load rating.

JimMorrell · 09-03-2017, 05:40 PM

After a $7,000 blowout at 1,200 miles, I changed to Hercules Tires. Even with good tires, they say today that they should be replaced between 5 and 7 years. Most people will never change tires due to worn tread.

pgandw · 09-03-2017, 07:51 PM

My guess is that you could put at least 20,000 miles on an ST tire - if it lasted that long - before tread wear would be an issue. This assumes proper rotation, balancing, alignment, and air pressure.

As everybody has said, RV tires (and boat trailer tires) age out long before the tread wear warrants replacement.

Fred W

Jakieboy · 09-04-2017, 12:14 AM

Our experience in nearly 45 years of RV'ing is to replace trailer tires not based on mileage accrued, but on years of service and visual inspection of the condition of the tires. Before you drive off the lot with a new trailer, double check the manufacture date on all tires. If the date is more than two years old, do not accept them. Make the dealer install new tires. I plan to replace all tires on my 5th wheel within five years of the date of manufacture, regardless of the mileage accrued.

Oaklevel · 09-04-2017, 07:40 AM

Tires are different today than they were in say the 1980s
our 1988 camper came with "P" rated tires as our 1973 had the same. "ST tires were not made back then.

I have ran the tires that came on our campers 5 years or a little more I have 5 other trailers today (at least since 2000) the I go by the same time frame. All china made tires. I have never had a flat or blowout on the road.

Brewhedd · 09-04-2017, 07:50 AM

Replaced the originals after 1 yr. with Carlisle radials. Those will be replaced when they are 3 yrs old. Cheap insurance.

spock123 · 09-04-2017, 11:51 AM

I have Goodyear G614 LT tires on my Cedar Creek and the camper is light too. I have at least forty thousand miles on camper and it's two years old. We plan next year a trip to Alaska and that's around fourteen thousand miles plus other trips we are thinking about taking. The tires look new but again the camper is not overloaded and the tires are checked daily, TPMS. We or I should say I like to go, not stay in one place to long, I guess it's the indian in me.

flhtci2006 · 09-04-2017, 01:34 PM

Okay, I guess I need to say more. I tend to be vague.

I understand timing out based on years for those that travel less. BUT, for those that change tires because of tread depth and not because of age, rotting, cracking, etc., how many miles do you get before the tread is at the recommended replacement wear depth? As for vehicles, I am mostly concerned about travel trailers/toy haulers. To further break that down, pull behind trailers, not 5ver's. And finally, primarily tandem axle trailers. This is not for class A and C's. RV Trailers only.

So, to wrap it up, for pull behind, tandem axle, properly loaded trailers/toy haulers that wear tires out based on tread depth and not time.

As for why> from much reading it would appear trailer manufacturers don't put much into axle placement, alignment, etc. I have read where many people change tires under 10K miles...way under 10K miles, because of improper tire wear. Sure, some could be from misuse (over loading), improper maintenance (air pressure), maybe some because of excessive heating due to a unique situation (overheated brake increasing the tires heat), etc. For me, I will probably average 10K to 15K per year. So far, I've done 1 trip, 4900 miles. I have another coming up shortly. It will be for about 6K miles. My toy haulers has been in the shop since June 6th. I bought it in April 2017. The tires were wearing on the outer edges. The trailer was properly loaded and was 1300 lbs under max weight. Tire pressure was checked frequently and was where it should be for those tires (load D 65psi). The alignment was checked and was out in toe and camber at all 4 tires. New axles are being installed however, Lippert doesn't seem to care much about toe and camber. My first set of axles were aligned by bending the axles to achieve proper toe and camber. Lippert said no and required I replace the axles. Once the axles are replaced, no toe or camber check will be done since there is no way to correct them, per Lippert. Therefore, per my experience over my 62 years, tires that are not aligned properly, to include toe and camber, will wear quicker than those that are aligned, all other basically being equal.
My assumption, trailer tires should get 25K to 45K miles before the tread is worn out. Obviously there are many variables that will effect the life, like tire quality.
Next axle change will be on my dime and will be Dexters.

If I could edit the poll heading I would.

TitanMike · 09-04-2017, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BamaBob

Now, having said that, and being a been there done that TT & 5er owner, the FIRST thing I would do when I bought a new rig was to pitch the POS stock tires and get Maxxis tires, metal valve stems, balance beads, AND bump them up a load rating.

If you are going to do that after buying a new trailer, why not make the Dealer do it if he wants to sell you the rig. Tell him what tires you want or no-deal.

He'll just sell the take off tires to offset the cost of the upgrade and you won't have to foot the extra expense.

BamaBob · 09-04-2017, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TitanMike

If you are going to do that after buying a new trailer, why not make the Dealer do it if he wants to sell you the rig. Tell him what tires you want or no-deal.

He'll just sell the take off tires to offset the cost of the upgrade and you won't have to foot the extra expense.

Because in every case when we asked, they said no. You have to remember that the trailer tires are "used" depending on where you are from the factory, they could already have 1,000+ miles on them. And in 99% of the cases the tires are ridden hard and put away wet - transporters only make money when they deliver RVs not while they are on the road, so it is almost a certainty that the tires were run 600+ miles a day at 70+MPH (and the dealer knows this too).

I got $20 apiece for my 4 trailer tires when I sold them to a used tire dealer.

Just the cost of doing business when you buy a new RV

Tom48 · 09-05-2017, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacDR

Replacing my ST tires With LT tires... I have about 25,000 miles on them and I purchased my 5ver in July 2013.. Just me being me .. the ST tires look like the day I brought my 340k home..

With that kind of success on ST's making them do just what the manufacturer says they should do, why in the name of God would you go to flexie side wall truck tires?

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