Sorry in advance. Tire age question post:)!

[Smitty77_7]

So, we have 07-011 week 2010 Michelin XZE* tires. No signs of cracking, and always properly PSI maintained. (We have 6 left, out of 8, as we had to replace two tires due to a 'Sudden Impact' with a California Pot Hole:)!, back in June of last year.)

 

Of these two, a tire with a broken band, was really in great shape on the inside. The other had a slight bulge from what the Michelin TCI dealer called a 'slipped, not broken, band'. He said if it had been his tires, he would have only replaced one of them... (And he stated, the XZE* was in his opinion, one of the most overkill tires used in RV application. Added meat to an already robust XZE design, he said in RV life, these things were like a tank in a tight parking space - cars either get out of your way, or are 'bumped' out of the way:)!)

 

I mention the condition, as I had always planned to, and have started to prepare to, replace these at age 6. But, I'm now wondering if I should stretch it to age 7. This way I will have two tires to replace, the steers in this case, about 18 months apart from the other 6. This allows some feathering of the costs over a two year budget.

 

So, you seasoned veterans of travel. Five, six , severn, other - what age do you replace your tires?

 

(Yeah, maybe I should have done a poll:)!)

 

Best to all,

Smitty

[Barbaraok]

We are replacing at 7 yrs. Stagger steer and drive tires by 2 years. Works for us.

 

Barb

[AFchap]

I am on my third set of tires at just over 100k miles. FIrst were Michelin, 2nd and 3rd Continental. I replace after I hit 7 years. Never had a failure, sidewall cracking, etc. I normally cover them if parked for more than a couple of nights, and park on pads on the concrete slab at home base. My fronts are two years ahead of the rears because one of the original Michelins had a "defect" that appeared at 5 years ...no failure but they gave me an adjustment and I replaced two at that point.

[wildmandmc]

well i had a set tires that were 14 yrs on rv. but i was pushing it a bit. best to every 7 yrs. heard to many horror stories, with 100 psi, when they blow. look out. going to make a huge hole. have replaced all .

The $ amount when they blow out weighs the cost of replacing. best to replace.

[Kirk W]

For me a lot depends upon the tire make/model and it's history. When I buy a used RV, I replace tires no later than 5 years no matter how good they appear to be, because I don't know how they have been maintained. With tires that I bought I very carefully maintain them according to the manufacturer's guidelines. I then keep them to the point of the manufacturer's warranty age limit. In the lower cost tires that is typically 5 to 7 years but the newer tires that are compounded specifically for use on an RV, that warranty is usually 10 years so you might be able to push them out to that limit, although I have never gone quite that far out.

 

On trailer tires, I usually stick with the 5 year limit, partly because those tires cost much less.

[Biker56]

I replaced my Goodyear G670's last September when they were 10 years 5 months old. With 6 more G670's

They had replaced OEM Michelin XRV's that were only 6 years 8 months old and had 2 zipper blow outs before that.

 

Did I say I love my G670's

[JRP]

Michelin recommends you begin annual professional inspection of the tires at 5 yrs age and mandatory replacement at 10 yrs age, regardless of condition (even an unused spare).

For high quality, heavy duty truck tires like the XZE, if I bought them new and they were under my care for their life, as long as they pass inspection, I have no problem going the 10 year span. My last set still looked like new at 10 yrs and provided flawless service for 10 yrs. If the tires came to me already used by someone else, then I only go 5 - 7 yrs. For trailer tires I only go 5 yrs, for Chineese tires I replace them in 1-2 yrs.

Its your wallet, your comfort level, and your knowledge of how well or how bad these tires were treated, that makes it your decision.

[budeneighe]

Almost everyone has a story about tires and those that don't, will. Yes, age is an important factor. So is consistently maintaining proper inflation, how long they sit at a time, at what load, and on what surface? Another factor is how overloaded the remaining tires may become when you lose one and drive on the remaining tires. A particularly nasty but invisible one is how the RV is leveled. Drive on levelers need to be under all tires of a set and carry equals amount of the load while parked. For instance, leveling up a set of duals by just running one tire up on the block, will cause unseen damages that may not manifest until months or years later, and usually at high speed.

 

I have been through a lot of blows and peels since 2003 on my RV (5). Most were on the original tires (or previous replacements). One was definitely a parking lot curb injury that happened on a new tire but took 5 years to fail. Often, the biggest culprit is from not fixing slow leaking valves or nails.

 

I have been very happy with the BFGoodrich LT tires since 2006. Before that, I had them on several trucks and was never disappointed so I used them on the 5th wheel when the time came.

 

The problems have usually started manifesting at about 6-8 years. This is pretty much in line with the recommendations by the major tire manufacturer. Michelin specifically says never over 10 years for one tire series.

 

Though balancing safety with cost is a significant factor, I also look at the potential damages to the RV and others that tire failures can cause. The RV construction of many units make it likely that any tire peel or flail will rip open storage compartments and/or damage RV body shell and parts.

 

I have been fortunate that my King of the Road RV has only had 1 body damage out of all of the tire flails that have happened. That damage was to the plastic fender bulge over the tires. They become brittle with age adn a piece of it was torn out. $346 for the part to replace it.

 

So, whether you are concerned more with safety, inconvenience or collateral damages, 5-6 years is about the rational limit and that can be very tire make and model dependent.

Hope this helps.

[AFchap]

I have been through a lot of blows and peels since 2003 on my RV (5).

Trailer tires do seem to fail more often/sooner than Class A tires.