Is it Time for New Tires? June 25, 2020, 10:44:22 pm I just took my 1998 Lazy Daze 26.5 mid-bath to Bogart RV in Las Cruces for a through check and to repair several little items. I've recovered rather well from my two hip replacements (09/28/19 and 12/30/19) and can even get into the over-the-cab bed where I much prefer to sleep. Living in the Desert Southwest, I store my Lazy Daze outside at a storage facility. Yes, it takes a beating in the desert sun but I can't see paying over $100.00/month to store it covered on three sides. I do put reflectix in all the windows, have a windshield cover, and cover all of the tires. I bought Michelin Defender tires in April 2015 (and I think they were manufactured 6-8 months earlier). However, the tires only have about 12,000 miles on them. I'm hoping I can "squeeze" by until next April, but I'm a pretty nervous Nellie when it come to road safety. Discount Tire said they could take them off the rims to check them for me to make sure. I do have a Pressure Pro TPMS, but I've never like the false readings I've consistently gotten AND it consistently doesn't give a signal to my rear tow car tires. (Yes, I've had several conversations with the company.)So, what do "the experts" think? When I buy new tires, I am going to invest in a different TPMS. However, when I venture out in August I don't think I'm going to tow my car as due to the pandemic I won't be visiting attractions, etc...Another question is how do you make sure you purchase tires that are more recently manufactured? Also, what is the "oldest" manufactured new tire that you would consider buying. Thanks in advance...
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #1 – June 25, 2020, 10:54:04 pm Cheryl,5 - 7 years is a reasonable lifespan for tires. If there is any cracking on the sidewalls, I'd say you are due for tires. On an RV or a trailer, tires tend to age out before they wear out.Our Lazy Daze is stored indoors and the tires are not exposed to the sun. None-the-less, two years ago I had a driver side rear inner tire explode on a mountain road while we were on a trip. The tire was slightly less than five years old, had lots of tread, and no cracking on the sidewalls. When I returned, I bought five more new tires to have them all about the same age and reduce the chance that another would fail on a trip.I ask the person at the tire shop to check the date stamp on the sidewall of the new tire and make sure they are less than three months old. I walked out of a shop once when they tried to sell me tires that were 9 months from manufacture.Harold 1 Likes
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #2 – June 25, 2020, 11:09:33 pm Without looking at the tires, I think you can make a case either way.If you read something like this: https://www.michelinrvtires.com/assets/pdf/rv-tires-whitepaper.pdf you would notice that Michelin talks about replacement after 10 years. Others talk about every 5-6 years. You could probably get another season if an inspection from the tire shop doesn't reveal any issues. On the other hand, blowout reports are fairly common here, and they can do a substantial amount of damage. It's very reasonable to replace the tires now with the idea that it could prevent $5000 or more of damage. Driving through a blowout can also be be a bad experience. If the inspection is free, I would start there and get some advice from a real 'expert'. I would probably replace them if there were any doubts. I wouldn't argue with someone who was willing to take the risk though. I recently bought new tires that had an older date code than I would have liked. I was told that Covid put a stop to the normal inventory rotation and everything sat in the warehouse for a while. Further, new production wasn't 100% back to normal depending on the brand and model. I took what they had and didn't worry about it. Your warranty starts from the day of installation and there isn't any real wear sitting unloaded in a climate controlled warehouse for a few months. Rich'03 MB in NC
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #3 – June 25, 2020, 11:11:08 pm Cheryl,As for TPMS signal errors, we have a Tire Minder TPMS that utilizes a signal booster to obtain the sensors mounted on the dually set or toad. When I first installed the system, I hadn’t mounted the booster and was getting several false warnings. After connecting the booster, the system worked flawlessly. Tire Minder has several models. Some use a smartphone as the monitor. Personally, I prefer a dedicated monitor. Our tires are going on 4 1/2 years and plan on replacing them sometime after they reach 5 years. Blowouts are sudden catastrophic occurrences and a TPMS will not warn you until it’s too late.All the best on you your choices.Kent 1 Likes
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #4 – June 25, 2020, 11:13:34 pm I just put a set of 7 Toyo tires on my LD. The previous owner had put a set of el cheapo chinese tires on it and I didnt want to take the risk of problems. The spare tire was a michelin from the factory and had never been used. It looked perfect and I was tempted not to replace it. But it was 17 years old and who knows if it would have been serviceable when needed. I had Discount tire order in the tires and told them to specify mfg date no more than 3 months prior. They had to search to find 7 tires with recent dates. A couple of the tires they brought in were 2 years old, so you need to check every tire before it is installed. 1 Likes
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #5 – June 26, 2020, 03:38:23 am I replaced my seven tires in early March of this year (2020) just before the Morro Bay weekend at Discount Tire. The Michelins were just over six years old. I got Agilis. Four were made the first week of January (0120). One was from June of 2019, and one was from October 2019. Both were dusty and I thought possibly used.... They had already mounted them when I saw the dates. This was a Thursday; I complained, and they let me drive them home. They reordered four more tires and on Monday they swapped out one from the last week of December (5219), and another also the first week of January. Those were acceptable to me. They didn't complain (much). Most people with cars, the tires wear out, not time out. So I don't think it ocurred to them to check the ages. Or maybe they were hoping I wouldn't notice. The tires I have are the same 'E' load ratings the E450's use, but my old TK on the E350 chassis is lighter at 11,500. So I let the tires go an extra year, depending on condition. RonB 1 Likes
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #6 – June 26, 2020, 10:46:07 am Quote from: RonB - June 26, 2020, 03:38:23 amI replaced my seven tires in early March of this year (2020) just before the Morro Bay weekend at Discount Tire. The Michelins were just over six years old. I got Agilis. They reordered four more tires and on Monday they swapped out one from the last week of December (5219), and another also the first week of January. Those were acceptable to me. They didn't complain (much). Most people with cars, the tires wear out, not time out. So I don't think it occurred to them to check the ages. Or maybe they were hoping I wouldn't notice. RonBI've bought my tires at Discount Tire and the manager in Las Cruces has always taken very good care of me. I like buying from Discount Tire because of the network of stores, free air checks, etc... So I think I'll take recommendations and buy new Michelin Agilis tires and specify that they not be more than three months old from the date of manufacture. Living in the Desert Southwest and having outside RV storage (even though I cover the tires) is hard on my Lazy Daze. However, people that full-time never cover their RV. Thanks Ron for you input and suggestions.
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #7 – June 26, 2020, 10:47:11 am I'm a bit of "nervous Nelly" with regard to tires and have always been conservative by not going too long. Our rig is stored indoors and not subject to the SoCal sun but I still changed tires at the 6 year mark..I then gave those tires to Vince who put on his own rig....if mine were in the sun I probably wouldn't take the chance and I'd switch them out.I have a TireMinder TPMS that I still need to install (I posted about the booster location earlier that Kent gave gave me some great input)Bill
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #8 – June 26, 2020, 10:48:22 am Quote from: parussky - June 25, 2020, 11:13:34 pmI had Discount tire order in the tires and told them to specify mfg date no more than 3 months prior. They had to search to find 7 tires with recent dates. A couple of the tires they brought in were 2 years old, so you need to check every tire before it is installed.Thanks for your input and suggestions - it really helps!
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #9 – June 26, 2020, 10:55:57 am Quote from: pdl2win - June 26, 2020, 10:47:11 amI'm a bit of "nervous Nelly" with regard to tires and have always been conservative by not going too long. Our rig is stored indoors and not subject to the SoCal sun but I still changed tires at the 6 year mark..I then gave those tires to Vince who put on his own rig....if mine were in the sun I probably wouldn't take the chance and I'd switch them out.I have a TireMinder TPMS that I still need to install (I posted about the booster location earlier that Kent gave gave me some great input)BillI'm the "poster child" of being a "Nervous Nelly." When I bought my Lazy Daze from a previous owner the tires looked great. However, on the way back home from Puerto Penasco I had a blow-out just outside Why, AZ on the road to Tucson, AZ. I was lucky I wasn't driving very fast and heard a "pop." However, they sent road service from Tucson (which was about 100 miles away). I found out that the "good looking tire" was ten years old. 1 Likes
Re: Is it Time for New Tires? Reply #10 – June 26, 2020, 11:01:04 am Quote from: Kent Heckethorn - June 25, 2020, 11:11:08 pmAs for TPMS signal errors, we have a Tire Minder TPMS that utilizes a signal booster to obtain the sensors mounted on the dually set or toad. When I first installed the system, I hadn’t mounted the booster and was getting several false warnings. After connecting the booster, the system worked flawlessly. Our tires are going on 4 1/2 years and plan on replacing them sometime after they reach 5 years. Thanks so much for your input and suggestions Kent. It looks like it's time to swap out my tires. However, since it's sitting in storage I'm going to wait until just before I travel again. I'll also look into the Tire Minder TPMS with the booster. 1 Likes
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