Tire Age

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

patngin

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Posts
72
Location
Spokane, WA
I just bought a 2002 Winnebago Adventurer 32V. I didn't read about tire age before I read alot of other things which I checked bout not that. I am sure the tires are original coach only had 14K miles and the guy that owned it passed away in 2006 and it just came on the market. Am I screwed now with the tires. They show no signs of cracking or wear. What do I do. I really can't afford to put out another $2000 on tires. I have read that 10 years is the max.
 
Welcome to the forum. I would be very leery going down the road with any tire over 8 years old. That said, when a tire blows it generally causes more damage than what it cost to replace a tire.
 
Not to cause alarm patngin, but it is normally recommended on the Forum not to go longer then about 7 years on tires no matter what the tread looks like. When we bought our used mh the tires looked great (that was one of the selling points) and we hadn't heard of date codes or ages of tires at that time. Our second trip to our favorite camp ground doing 60 on the freeway pulling our boat, we had a front blowout that just about took the whole maryanne off the freeway. I was able to gain control, but our eyes were the size of fried eggs sunny side up, and the piece of tire that came off damaged the onan generator fan housing which also had to be repaired. Long story short, we headed to the closest Less Schwabb and got 6 new tires. Our old ones did not show any signs such as cracking and probably had 80% tread left.
 
BUY NEW TIRES!!! Don't even risk it. We had one break a belt on rht front changed it other tire was checked and Ok'd. Went 5 miles down road  I told wife Steering starting to wobble like the last tire did. Before I could finish sentence the lft front BLEW out pulled us 5 feet into other lane at 70 mph. It ripped out a metal insert in the wheel well like it was buttter. I couldn't get the piece the rest of the way out even with a hammer so drove the last 400 mile with it in place. It never moved from it spot. The really scary part about that is right behind the mud flap was the 30 gallon propane tank which was FULL. It got some scratches from the steel cords but didn't get a hole. The tires were 7 years old and looked perfect no sidewall cracks held air perfectly.  I'm in the process of changing the tires on my new to me rig. I had one dually go flat on the way home. Then  I joined this group and LEARNED about tires and how to check them and found out some of mine were 9 years old. Needless to say it has not left the driveway I am taking the tires off and taking them to get changed. So far the fronts are done and the tag axle. Now waiting on tire shop to get the other 4 for the duallies. YEAH can't wait to take them off ;D. Now the tires are all 2011 and will be changed in 5-6 years no questions asked.
 
Fire departments now require replacing of tires after seven years.  No matter that fire trucks are generally stationed indoors, out of direct sunlight and weather and don't necessarily do a lot of miles.
 
I have had tire quotes from $4200 plus tax all the way down to 1200 out the door so shop around.  I'm not a huge proponent of getting RV specific tires, but find some tires that other people like that might not be the bid dollar big brands and go with it.  We are probably going to go with a set of Hancooks for around 1500 installed.

Jeff Brown
 
patngin said:
I just bought a 2002 Winnebago Adventurer 32V.

Your tires are probably originals, but before you assume that... check the DOT codes on the tire sidewalls.  The last 4 digits in the DOT number will tell you the month and year of manufacture.  Then you'll know for sure.
 
jeffbrown said:
I have had tire quotes from $4200 plus tax all the way down to 1200 out the door so shop around.  I'm not a huge proponent of getting RV specific tires, but find some tires that other people like that might not be the bid dollar big brands and go with it.  We are probably going to go with a set of Hancooks for around 1500 installed.

Jeff Brown
Jeff, I know someone who got the Hancooks and has been very happy with them.
 
The $1200 out the door tires are Duran tires.  I've never heard of that company but 1200 out the door is awfully tempting for 19.5 tires.  The facts are that I know I'm not going to put more than 5000 miles (Probably closer to 4000) on my rig per year.  At the 7 year mark I'm looking at 35,000 total miles and probably much less. 

So Hancook or Duran?

Jeff Brown
 
A friend of mine who is in the tire business says that Hankook has the best warranty, if that is a consideration.

Paul
 
scottydl is correct that you should look at the DOT code.  However the code does not tell you month and year, it tells you week and year of manufacture.

The quote below is from our library (look under maintenance items in the library) and explains how to read the code.

"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Tire Identification and Record Keeping Regulation, revised July 2, 2000 specifies a new 4-digit date code that must appear on all tires sold in the United States. The complete DOT (Department of Transportation) code is in the following format: DOT MMM SS TTT DDDD where MMM is a 3 digit manufacturer ID; SS is a tire size 2 digit code; TTT is an optional tire type code; and DDDD is the date of manufacture code where the first 2 digits indicate the week of manufacture and the second two digits are the year, i.e.: 2802 would indicate that the tire was manufactured the 28th week of 2002."

Hope you find that they are newer, but I suspect that they are not.

Good luck! 
 
Well I called the Michelin dealer and was told to bring it in and let them check the tires out. They said they might be ok to run since they look almost new.
 
Not to hijact the thread, but is this the "DOT" number and if I read it right, these were made in Nov 2005? So, they are/should be good through Nov 2012?

TIA,

Frank

 

Attachments

  • _MG_0912a.jpg
    _MG_0912a.jpg
    26.5 KB · Views: 75
When you drive it go slow, easy on corners and try to keep the weight down. Make sure your fresh water is empty.

Just remember you are doing the right thing hit hurts the wallet but if you have blow out it HURTS even worse. Fyi called tire shop my tires are in Fri I get to take the duallies in 2 at a time. This will take me a couple of hours but it is worth it to make sure family is safe.
 
Franhandsharon ;

its 51 week of year and 2005 is correct. Don't push your luck be thinking now about replacing either fall of 2012 or spring 2013.
 
Honest John said:
scottydl is correct that you should look at the DOT code.  However the code does not tell you month and year, it tells you week and year of manufacture.

100% correct!  Thanks for the correction there.

patngin said:
Well I called the Michelin dealer and was told to bring it in and let them check the tires out. They said they might be ok to run since they look almost new.

You better get that in writing, including their guarantee to pay for damage to your rig when one of those tires explodes.
 
patngin said:
Well I called the Michelin dealer and was told to bring it in and let them check the tires out. They said they might be ok to run since they look almost new.

Looks don't mean anything, and the key word in that statement is "might".
 
You are definitely at the end of the road with the tires if they are the original but check with the tire manufacturer and make sure you have the tire model and date code because both Goodyear and Michelin make RV specific tires and they have more Anti-Ozone stuff in the tires than others this makes them last longer. Anyhow for their RV tires Michelin says after 5 years have tires inspected yearly by dealer but discard tires at ten years. Goodyear is more vague but alludes to 5 or 7 years. I also hate to tell you this but even though your rig is 2002 your chassis and tires could be 2001 or older. Have you checked the date code on the tires? To find this look for DOT number, it will look like it is cast into the sidewall the last numbers will be four digits like 1202 in this example the 12 is the week of the year the tire was made and the 02 is the year another words 12th week of 2002. in the early 2000s the dot  number was only on one sidewall but now most are on both sides so if you don't see it on the outside look on the inside. In case of duals you probably will need a mirror to check inside but you should be able to read it. Good Luck
 
Back
Top Bottom