New Tires

[NSRV]

from the perspective of a repair shop owner, a 5 yo tire is an opportunity to sell a profitable item & service. So that recommendation isn't surprising either.

Indeed true, off subject here on my part: from working in the automotive repair industry I can tell you, if I don't recommend stuff based on opportunity, I can't put bread on the table. Unfortunately working as a automobile technician is not all its cracked up to be. (While I enjoy working on cars, sometimes the pay is frustrating and not steady). As a technician, you only make money when you and the customer seize the opportunity together. (The following is excluding financial circumstances that prevent add-ons to initial concern) For example; your alternator went out and you bring it to me to replace the alternator. I can replace it and send you down the road, but while I'm in there I notice your drive belt is worn and that the alternator failure caused your battery to go flat. 50% of the customers will think I'm trying to hustle them by also recommending a drive belt and battery, they will refuse and return a few days later on the tow truck because the belt snapped or the battery died over night. The other 50% will gladly spend the extra money because of the honesty and care put forward to ensure they aren't left stranded after they leave. Take it how you want, but those "opportunities" to sell profitable items and services aren't always just a sham to get more money. Services are used to this extent just to generate revenue, but when done at the proper intervals, they prolong the service life of the various systems etc. Sorry for rambling, but you hit home with that comment, and I feel it because I despise shop owners who try to get recommendations to customers just for the sake of revenue.

I probably would not spend money to repair a 5 yo tire, but I would not discard it if it was performing ok on the vehicle. The heavy duty 22.5" tires on most Class A coaches can easily run 7 years as long as they aren't abused and I have personally stretched some to 8 years if the condition seemed favorable.

As far as tire repair goes, as long as the tire appears to be in good condition with tread depth above the wear bars on the tire and you've never used fix-a-flat or Slime or tire plugs, its perfectly fine to repair the tire with a patch. (Some patches can repair a slimed/fix-a-flat tire, but not all, that stuff makes it hard for the patch to adhere to the inner rubber and can also cause the inner rubber to deteriorate)

If the tire is 5+ years old and in good condition, the most that happens for me is a notation on the work order to notify customer that tires are over 5 years old, and I'll rate the condition of the tire based on a green/yellow/red scale, and then the ball is in the customer's court. I too have stretched tires past the 5 year mark on my own vehicles but they were good quality tires. I've also had tires that I've had to replace before the 5 year mark, being lower quality tires, they just deteriorated prematurely. Having lived in AZ for a long time, the heat and sand and sun were very hard on many things. Michellin tires can't even survive the AZ desert, sadly. Out there even Michellin tires dry rot quickly.

 

[sabodyan]

I am using Goodyear Unisteel G614 RST and am happy with these tires. They go smoothly, wear evenly and allow me to forget that they're back there working hard. They are expensive, but this is what you pay for.