Aged Tires

[Joel Ashley]

Here's a link to an ABC broadcast (perhaps a couple years old) about the problem of aging tires.  Experienced RVers know the rule of thumb that the tires on our coaches should be changed around the 6-7 year mark regardless of wear.  The general public, however, isn't as educated about the tires on their cars and trucks.  Trying to find the money to re-tire multiple rigs in today's households can be daunting, esp. in this economy;  but we all should know how to find the manufacturing date, determine the true age of our tires, and decide whether spending the dough sooner than we figured might be prudent.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

Be patient - the site can be a slow load, and an ad at the beginning will have to be tolerated.

[Gerald Farris]

Joel, thank you for the link.

Even though the cost of replacing a set of tires on a coach or tow car can be fairly high, it is cheaper than repairing the damage that a blown tire can and often does do to the coach or tow car.

There is also the safety concern (that is hard to overstate) and the cost and inconvenience of having to change a blown tire on the road. And believe me when I say that if you do not take care of your tires, a blow-out is in your future.

Gerald    

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Real life experience as we blew two fronts before going to a larger tire on our current coach. Total damaages besides replacing tires was over $4000 http://www.rvsafety.com/ Has good information.

[Keith Moffett]

We live in a small town where few diesel RV rigs live.  Being new to long distance rv travel and diesel rigs in general, I took ours to Les Schwab to have the tires checked.  They passed though they were five years old.  There was no checking etc.
A few days later we drove to Bend Or. over Mt. Hood.  He had some work done at Coach Masters there and went home leaving the rig.  I got a call right away saying they checked the tires and they were nearly out of date (Michelin says 6-9 years depending).  They had found checking on the inboard sides and a nice two inch split in one sidewall that was new.  We returned in time to verify all of this and deal with the local Les Schwab.  We were lucky to make it to Bend especialy going over mt Hood.  This was a close call that went our way thank God!  Six new tires later we were on our way home.
FYI;  Beaver Coach Sales and Coachmasters both of Bend are each a great resource for good work and information.  Both are in Bend Or.

coachmasters.parts@bendcable.com
service@beavercoachsales.com