Tires - When to Age Out

We just bought a 2015 Tiffin Open Road and it has just 10,200 miles on it. We just left the factory in Red Bay getting the house batteries replaced and I asked the tech to look over the tires (22.5"). He said no cracks, they looked fine. I know most references say replace at 7 years, but that's not carved in stone. I know that for the last 2 years it was in covered storage, so what do I look for? Other than cracking are there any other signs? They are Michelins at a horrible price so the longer they are safe the better.

7 years means 7 years. No exceptions.

I'd say to replace about 100 miles before one blows.

I replaced the 10 year old Michelin's on my coach when I bought it. They had very minor cracking. The dealer said don't think they won't on the road again soon. The tire company will sell those tires and they will likely see many years of service in Mexico.

I plan to have mine inspected by a tire professional when they start to show cracking. I don't believe in a fixed number of years.

From Popular Mechanics: "Even if there are no signs of rot, the industry standard is to swap out tires before they hit 10 years old, and some tire companies recommend replacement as early as six years after manufacture."

From TireRack: "Our experience has been that when properly stored and cared for, most street tires have a useful life in service of between six to ten years."

First of all, check the date codes on the tires. They may be older than you think. Exterior appearance is not an indication of overall tire condition. Many failures are due to deteriorating conditions inside the tire.  Sitting for two years unused will accelerate the deterioration. Tires are designed to roll not sit for extended times. Nothing will make your journey down the road more unpleasant than the failure of a perfectly good looking tire. There?s no way I would go more than five years on those tires if in fact they sat unused for two years. I had the unfortunate experience of trying to get ?one more trip? out of a set of perfectly good looking tires. Thankfully I managed to get safely off the road and the damage was light. Never again.

I was in Discount Tire the other day, and they had a banner on the floor that had a "safety scale" on it. There was no hard and fast date that said when you absolutely MUST replace tires due to age, but the scale started at about six years and went to ten years (IIRC) Of course, they're in business to sell you tires, but what they were saying was pretty much in sync with what I've heard tire-knowledgeable people say.

Our 22.5" Michelins were a little over seven years old, with only about 40,000 miles on them, when they started showing signs of sidewall cracking. Then one day, while fueling up out of state, an alert fuel station attendant showed me that some chunks of tread were missing from one of my drive axle tires. Needless to say, we had all the tires replaced soon thereafter.

Kev

I think tires are made better than they use to be.  I feel after 6-7 years, I start monitoring them a whole lot better than just air pressure.  I also feel that I can fairly easily change out a tire on my Travel Trailer, I carry a spare. Many of you guys with Motorhomes, not so much.  Your expense goes way up over mine. I think it depends on where you park.  Arizona sun, harder on rubber than Indiana sun.  That said, 10 years, is my tops.

In 1998 the temperatures in OKC were between 105-115 for 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks I had 3 Michelins blow out that were 3 years old with 40,000 miles on them. The local news said many tires stores were sold out due to the heat wave. Anything else that can cause excessive heat like overloaded tires, driving faster than recommended, bad roads, bad alignment, or tire damage like running over a curb can cause failures too.

http://www.startribune.com/extreme-heat-can-cause-tire-blowouts/49347922/

Depends if you are more of a stays out all night "Vegas" personality or a sits and reads a book personality.  Also your financial situation.  Of course if you let them go and you need a fix on the road you just sent the cost way up.  If you replace before they go then you spent unnecessary money.

Yep the only sure thing to do is to replace them a full 100 miles before they blow.

Michelin says 10 years is the outer limit and that they should be checked carefully by a specialist every year after 5.  Doing that properly requires removing eacht ire from the wheel to inspect the interior of the casing.  Visible surface cracking is rarely an indication of imminent failure - it is considered a cosmetic problem unless the cracks are wide and deep (see the Michelin RV Tire Guide at https://www.michelinb2b.com/wps/b2bcontent/PDF/RV_Tires_Brochure.pdf).

Most people change at 7 years (give or take) simply to minimize risk. If the tire looks good externally and you know it has never been run soft (underinflated), you might stretch it out to 8 years or maybe even more. Depends on your gambling nature!  There are plenty of reports of 10 year old tires doing fine, but those have to be weighed against the reports of severe body damage caused by a sudden failure of a big tire at highway speeds.

In my opinion there is no good reason to replace with more expensive Michelins.  The 245/75R22.5 size can be substituted for the 235/80R22.5 and  Toyo, Hankook, Sumitomo, Yokohoma, Cooper and others make make excellent tires at prices that are often 25-40% less. 

I am in a similar position, my tires were made at the end of 2013, so coming up on the 6 year point within the next month or so.  They have about 35,000 miles of use, but of course have plenty of tread left.  My plan is to replace them before the first major trip after they reach the 7 year mark next year.  Meaning if they hit the 7 year mark in December 2020, and we don't go anywhere more than a half day drive from home, until September 2020, then I will replace them before the long trip in September.

This summer I replaced mine at about 5 years old (by the date stamped on the tires) with around 22K miles - mostly because I needed an alignment and figured "why only replace 2"?

And there you have the dichotomy:  one fellow is comfortable running his tires for 7 years or maybe a bit more, while another got uneasy at 5 years and spent his $$ earlier.

I haven't owned an RV for more than 3 years so am not sure what I will do if keep my '05 that long.  But considering the time and cost of having the tires inspected annually for 5 years, maybe it makes sense to just buy a new set.  I had Hankooks for 3 years on my old Aerbus and currently have Sumitomos on the Pace Arrow.  Both have been decent tires and significantly less than Michilens.  Current tires are only 2 1/2 years old so don't have to think about replacement tires for another few years.  If/when that happens, I'll look at replacements.  However, I'm not convinced that there isn't a certain amount of marketing fear factor and litigation mentality involved in the tire manufactures data.  But if money's not a problem, why take a chance?   

I would think if 10 year old tires were regularly used on large vehicles in Mexico and they had a significant failure rate, we would have heard about it.  Then again it's Mexico and I have no idea of what kind of consumer protection agencies they have. 

my OEM michelin blew right at 4 years...actually 4 years and a month I believe it was, dated code age... just shy of 3 years in service.  It sat on a dealer's lot a long time and soaked in some serious UV by the looks of them.  I have no idea of course what happened to them in all that time, could have been some under inflated test drives, but i know that I watched the pressures like a hawk and babied them.  I didn't cover them in storage though...

My replacements are right at 2 years 7 months in service and so I'm already starting to think about when... only because of my blow-out experience and because mine is a 31ft class C and so the tires are max loaded all the time...

While tires appear to be expensive at the store. They are much cheaper at the store than on the road during that special trip. Murphy will appear  at the most in opportune time.
Nothing worse than to be on the road heading out for a great vacation/trip and experience a blowout. What is your time worth, will you have to cancel a reservation, how long will it take to replace the tire, can you do it? Less time consuming and cheaper to change it between trips when you have time on your side. If that means I replace tires every 5 years, so be it. I factor the cost into regular maintenance and replace every 5 years.

I also replace after a flat. Sure they can fix the tire and it will hold air, but it now has a weak spot. I used to work in a tire service center, seen way too many tires that were well past their useful life. Also replaced many tires that were just repaired that blew out on the next long trip. Most times when you have a flat, you drive on a flat tire. Just because the outside doesn't show damage, it doesn't mean there isn't damage. If the outside or inside shows any damage, replace immediately. If the inside doesn't show damage, that doesn't mean there isn't any damage, only that you can't see it, yet. Separation within the tire creates hot spots and hot spots lead to blow outs on the road. As a matter of fact. I had a flat this season, tires are two years old. I discovered the flat in my driveway. Looked fine the week before when I parked the camper. however I picked up a nail on the way home. This tire will be moved to my spare tire this winter. If I get another flat, Ill replace all 5. Otherwise I'll wait until my 5 years is up and replace all five.
Cheaper to replace at home when you have time.