Old Tire Issues

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grashley

grashley

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2015
Posts
6,610
Location
Western Kentucky
On returning home from our last trip, one tire went down.  It took a week to go from 75 psi to absolutely flat.  I had been unable to find a date code on the tires, but had been told they were 3 years old by the previous owner.  When I got the tire to the shop, the date code was 3110 !!! :mad:  There was visible cracking between the treads.  THE LEAK WAS ACTUALLY COMING THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE TREAD!! There is still at least 7/32 remaining tread.  There are USA made Carlisle ST tires - NOT China bombs!  I get new Carlisle tires tomorrow.

THERE IS GOOD REASON WE CAUTION AGAINST OLD TIRES, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE OR HOW MUCH TREAD IS LEFT!

Thank God it went flat at home, not while on the road!
 
All tires have date codes. The problem is they are only on one side of the tire so it is possible that all four tires could have the date code facing in. In that case you have to get on the ground and crawl under the RV with a flashlight. RV inspectors are worth their weight in gold cause I don't have to do that.
 
That?s actually pretty strange. The weakest part of a tire is the sidewalls, which typically get more UV and ozone exposure than the tread. The tread part is made up of multiple layers of different types of rubber, depending on tire rating and what it?s designed for. (Endurance under load, smooth ride, high mileage, etc) To be leaking there from the treads is not normal, and I doubt it had anything to do with the age of the tire. At any rate, the tire was beyond its anticipated service life anyway and it?s good you replaced it.
 
I bought a used cargo van from my company for $100. Yep you read that right. It's not pretty, it's dinged up, has 240,000 miles on it, but it starts up and runs like a top. At the very least I figured I could scrap it for more than my $100. Anyways being that I didn't want to put anything into really I used it for 3 years on tires that were God only knows how old to begin with. My rear tires started developing slow leaks and when I went to have them plugged I was told that it was from the space I'm between the treads and that as soon as they put one plug in, another space would open up next to it. So I replaced the rears so that I could use it to haul some stuff to my cabin, and then it sat in storage for the winter. In the spring I took it out and as soon as I hit 55 mph it started shaking like a bearing was ready to come flying out. Took it to a shop who said all bearings and tie rods were perfectly fine but the front tires were so old and rotted they were basically throwing themselves out of round at speed. So I replaced those tires as well. Now I have 250,000 miles on it and it still runs good. Moral of the story is that tires can do anything and will drastically affect performance hahaha.
 
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