Self-Life and life-cycle of Motorhome Tires?

[npetersjr]

What is acceptable self-life of new tires being installed on a motorhome?

Yesterday, 24 May 2017, had six “new tires” (275/70R22.5) installed on my motorhome, tires made by a national company.  When I arrived home checked tires DOT made date and learned “new tires” were made 3415 making them already almost two years old.  Today upon investigation with two separate national tire manufactures I was told tires have a shelf-life of three years being held for sell in the national company warehouse and a life-cycle of ten years.  I feel that this is unsettling, as I had understood it best to keep tires on motorhome based on DOT date tires were made for five or six years. My old tires which were replaced were made in Oct or Nov of 2012, but not installed on motorhome until April 2013.  Comments/Guidance Desired Please.

[rickeieio]

The skeptic in me tends to think that tire dates are similar to putting a date code on bottles of water.  It tends to make people waste more product, increasing sales. That said, watch our for deterioration of your tires, and replace when you notice an issue.

[Biker56]

Both times I replaced all my 275/70/22.5 tires. I told the dealer I only wanted new tire DOT dates. Both times I got tires less then 3-4 months old. They were Goodyear G670's.

I run them 10 years before replaced. And they look like they could go a lot longer. Dealer probably sell my 10 year old ones to local farmers.

OH!! First replacement were 6 year old Michelin XRV 235/80/22.5 that I had 2 zipper blow outs on.
First one a 4 years.

[Dollytrolley]

Trust me.......you really don't want to know how many decades old the tire casings are on the airliner you last crammed yourself into.........you would be shocked.....

 

Drive on.......(how old is.....old)

[Pete Kildow]

We can thank Ford Motor Company for the date stuff. Before that, we ran tires longer. But after they used tires that had been sitting for years. Then putting lower rated tires then needed on SUV's. We now have Born dates to the month. I have tries on a couple of trailers. Those trailers are loaded heavy most  times. One of the trailers has tires that's 14 years old. Will be replacing those next week. But they have cracks starting to show up.

Bought a Gooseneck Dump trailer in March. That trailer was in South MI. 635 miles home. I was scared the old tires on it would blow. But pulled it back home, and all 8 tires was still up. When I pulled those 16.5 tires and wheels off. 6 of those tires were 1999. Or the year before we started having the born dates. That allows us to track tires better. Don't think they would hold up in July. Or with 10 tons of graven in the trailer.

Steer tires I'm not going to run over 7 years. Even if there looking like new. Drive tires I would go 10 on If and only if I'm loading them like we do. And there's no checking on those tires. On my Heartland, 5 years and there coming off. Then I will run those on a trailer for 5 or more years. But with the damage a blowout can do to our RV's. Its not worth the chance. Same as on a Steer axle.

And yes those tires you had pulled off. If you know of any loggers. They will and do pay good cash fro your good old tires. If I buy the Kenworth This weekend. The steer tires on it, will be changed out soon. And I will sell those to a local logger. As there 24.5's I can sell those faster then anything.

Sorry for rambling. 

Pete

[noteven]

In central and north Albirda we have a 3rd time system for tires - how many months of frozen/dark storage? It occurs from Nov 1 to April 30... so that's um, like... 6 months per calendar year... So you divide all these months by 12 to get the years, and then subtract the snowbird months divided by 12 south of Cedar City, UT and add those years to the dire consequences life span on the interweb to find out how long. All this calculating without an app gets quite confusing so you then look at the next motocycle fund and say "those trailer tires'll go another season..." 

[noteven]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

The skeptic in me tends to think that tire dates are similar to putting a date code on bottles of water.

what rick said ^

Before anyone spills their coffee to type me a thing or two - if you cruise the Hot Lands at 70 mph 12 months a year, then yes the volatile whatchamacallit compounds in the tire "rubber" do leave sooner than in the Cold Lands. 

[Pat & Pete]

1 hour ago, noteven said:

what rick said ^

Before anyone spills their coffee to type me a thing or two - if you cruise the Hot Lands at 70 mph 12 months a year, then yes the volatile whatchamacallit compounds in the tire "rubber" do leave sooner than in the Cold Lands. 

Don't forget to include in your calculations the dolts who run 70 MPH on 55 MPH rated tires .  

[Pete Kildow]

1 hour ago, Pat & Pete said:

Don't forget to include in your calculations the dolts who run 70 MPH on 55 MPH rated tires .  

That's the big issue there. Local tire shop, had a guy in there. His big horse trailer was blowing out tires every trip. I was in there getting new steer tires. And Asked the owner after hearing this. If he was buying the right speed rating tries? And he told me no the guy would not pay that much. 

Well I walked up to the guy. And told him I had seen the tire blow on his trailer. And him in the hammer lane. Running 85 MPH was the cause. He asked me how did I know how fast he was running. I told him I was running 70 MPH the speed limit on I-40 when he blew by me. After he cooled off, Paid up for High speed rating tires. And did not blow a tire again for over 3 years.

Speed = Heat and that kills tires fast.

Pete

[noteven]

my Bridgestone R250's are Q speed rated 99mph.  I have a heck of a time getting going that fast with my little Cummins - 'cept on the downgrades complete with tail wind.