What is the worst surface for long term parking?

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purple haze

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In regards to deterioration of the tires. I think that dirt is the worst, followed by concrete and then gravel. I had my toy hauler, that I recently departed with, parked on gravel for 4 years, but I had plywood under the tires. I’m not sure but I imagine there are parking pads available from RV stores?
 
Parked or rolling your tires are going over all the above. I don't think it's the surface as much as the lack of motion to keep the rubber pliable and the creation of a flat spot. Ideally you'd store on jackstands at max pressure, other than that it is what it is. If it was a pervasive problem it would be more apparent after a century and billions of tires made.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
I've read and come across that grass might be the worst service due to moisture. Anytime you can put something under your tires as a barrier from ground moisture, regardless of surface, it will prolong the life of your tires.

I put 2x6s under my tires on my concrete drive when I store my RV for the winter. I'll usually double-deck the boards. I have also read that steel would be the best ground insulator for the tires to park on, no transmission of ground moisture will penetrate through the steel. Plastic might be second best.
 
Some years ago, I attended a seminar on tire care that was given at an Escapade by an engineer from Goodyear tire company. One of the things that he addressed was parking for extended periods. He told us that the most important thing is proper tire inflation and second is avoiding constant moisture. He said that if totally dry, most any surface is fine for a properly inflated tire, but moisture can change that completely. In nearly all climates, concrete will pass moisture from under it up and into the area under the tires and that moisture will have acids that slowly penetrate the rubber compound and will destroy the steel belts found in most modern tires, making it the worst possible choice, but if you put something between the tire and the concrete it can quickly become the best choice. His suggestion was something plastic such as the inexpensive cutting boards found in housewares departments. The 1/2" or so of thickness will raise the tire tread to drain quickly and the plastic prevent the penetration of the acids from the concrete. He indicated that the use of some type of parking pads to keep the bottom of the tread dry is always best.
purple haze said:
I’m not sure but I imagine there are parking pads available from RV stores?
Click to expand...

You are correct and Amazon also has a lot of different choices of pad. With our last, single axle travel trailer I used a pair of these.
 
Kirk said:
that moisture will have acids that slowly penetrate the rubber compound
Click to expand...
I don't know the physics of the moisture transfer but it won't be acidic, concrete by composition is alkaline. Maybe that was stated to make a more general point about belt degradation. I've also read, and have observed, that concrete will wick whatever kind of solvent out of a new tire, leaving a spot. Clearly there's dynamics at play and maybe one method is better than another but in my lifetime of tire ownership the two major observations I've had are deterioration from age, and flat spots from long term storage. I think too there's a consequence to non-use - tires are made to be used and like batteries that languish, can go bad as much due to idle as in service.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
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Kirk's tire engineer report matches my own research and experience, but I am dubious of the significance of these facts. As Mark noted, tires are exposed to all sorts of surfaces and conditions, day-in and day-out. Yes they suffer for it, but they are designed to withstand all that and more. Any they do it quite well. I think if you compare "best practice" tire storage with "just park it", you will find the difference in a tire's useful life is negligible. Sure, avoid parking on recently poured concrete or muddy clay soils if you can, but don't lose sleep worrying the tread will rot away because conditions are less than ideal. And do keep the inflation pressure up - it's the air pressure that supports the load and keeps the tire round.
 
One more thing that seminar speaker pointed out is that parking surfaces matter most when the RV sits most of the time on the same surface for many months without moving. His remarks did agree with what Gary said about parking for short term. Modern tires are compounded to serve best when rolling down the roads frequently. He agreed that RVs that rarely sit for as much as a week need little concern about parking surfaces effect on tire life.
 
rvlifer beat me to it, I too have heard of a lot of RV'ers using the stall mats found at Tractor Supply and other outlets. I heard of a few folks who buy cheap plastic cutting boards at the Dollar (err, $1.25) Store to put under their tires.
 
Hmm...for the past 40+ years I've parked my trailers wherever there was room. It made no difference whatsoever if it was on gravel, dirt, asphalt, grass or wooden 2x8 planks.
My tires always aged out long before anything could affect them.
 
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