Your RV Tires.

[Lakota Wolf]

Whether its a trailer or a motor home,,, Your tires are right up there in the safety factor. I have come across several RV'ers who go screaming down the highway 75 mph 80 mph etc..In the last 3 trips from Waco to Padre Island, I have come across 3 RV'ers,, 1 motorhome and 2 travel trailers will tire failures.The motor home driver said his tires were only 11 yrs old and looked *fine. He was also fighting the lug nuts due to them being rusted on, (he bent his cheater bar on one lug nut).  Road service finally showed up and got it off with an air chisel. One RV trailer was less then 3 yrs old and after investigating the tire ratings, specifically tire rated speed. (the particular tire speed rating was 65 mph MAX.  The driver was cruising 75 plus. Hmmmmm,, No wonder he had tire failure.   When buying NEW tires,, get the approved *WEIGHT, SPEED and SIDE WALL rating... ( D and E's Are Heavy duty rated).

ALWAYS,, after storing the RV and before hitting the road,, Check the tire pressure,,, Under-inflated tires will overheat and blow the side walls out,, Over-inflated will blow out the tread. All in all, pretty much blow the tire apart either way. Which if you have ever had a highway speed blow out,, it does quite a number on the body panels and fender skirts.

 I am at times a little OVER cautious. I check my tires prior to the trip, and if I pull off for the night,,, the following morning I will take the 10 minutes to do a *walk around and re-check tire pressure before hitting the road again,,, This includes checking the lug nuts and any play in the wheel, ( checking for wheel bearing play).  Before each trip, this should be done, and don't forget to check your spare,, (condition and tire pressure). Nothing is more heart breaking then having a flat and getting your spare out and its in worse condition then the blown tire.

Another point,,,,,, While the RV is stored and you happen to notice a tire sitting low,,,,,,, Don't let it go,,, a deflating tire will crack along the side wall as it goes flat.

QUICK TIP *** Apply a good coat of WAX to your rims before storing,, will help keep rust from accumilating on the rims.And tire covers help.

Don't fall for the old gimmick,,,, to change the summer air for winter air and vice versa in your tires. Thats right up there with deluting your blinker fluid.

[Jimco_W001]

Lakota,I always buy tires made in America.Many of the tires coming from china are counterfeit.They use stolen molds and cheap materials.

[david craft]

When i first started repairing rvs i would saw a few michelins come apart. I thought man...these are cheap tires. I did not realize they werejust old. The way michelin layers the ply has something to do with it I believe. The cap section would just peel off the body of the tire. Later I had a customer in mileage competition with his son. He had an overdrive and mileage computer etcetera..he claimed he went from 15 down to 12 mpg with a swap from michelins to coopers. Im a believer in michelins now...just watch the older ones for separation cracks between the body and the cap area.

[Ralph Javins]

Good morning, Lakota Wolf; 

     Regarding "Always ask for new valve stems" with your new tires, that recommendation is true and valid with the "snap-in" rubber body valve stems that are found on so many cars and light duty trucks now. 

     Check the valve stems on your Motor Home RV wheels, which usually are truck tires and wheels.  If they are the all metal type with a metal nut and washer on the threaded part which clamps and seals two rubber washers (one inside the rim) to make an air tight seal around the base of the metal body valve stem assembly, then the recommendation to change the valve stem may not be applicable.  Also, the clamping type metal valve stems are much more expensive than the rubber body "snap-in" car tire type valve stems. 

     The passenger car type rubber body valve stems rely only on the internal compression of the rubber against the edge of the hole in the rim and the inside of the rim to make the air tight seal.  Yes, those valve stems do harden with age and will become less effective over time.  Furthermore, they are not rated for the air pressures that many motor home RV tires require. 

     Please check your tire rim valve stems to see what type they are, and use only the ones that are rated for your vehicle and its tires.  Do not rely on the quick advice of the 19 year old kid working in the tire shop who is used to dealing with passenger cars. 

     Yes, this problem with valve stems happened to me.  Several years ago, I had to go back to a tire shop and ask that they find and return to me my metal clamp-in valve stems after they had changed my 8.00 by 16.5 Load Range D tires that I normally ran at 70 PSI on the vehicle I had at that time.  They were not happy.  I was even less happy.  I went somewhere else to get the new rubber shoulder washers and flat washers so that my clamp-in valve stems could be properly reinstalled.

     Once they are installed properly, if they are not leaking air (You are checking your tire pressures, right?), you should not need to change the metal clamp-in type valve stems, unless something mechanical happens to them. 

          Enjoy; 

          Ralph 

          Latte Land, Washington 

          1987 Winnebago Elandan WCP31RT

         

[Russell E Johnson]

I like that, silverware falling on the floor. LOL

[Lakota Wolf]

I can't really knock Chinese brand tires. someone has to make em and yes some do make bad. but a majority have standards they have.to abide by. I put a set of NITTO'S on both my half tons and they are 200% chinese but have B/F Goodrich warrantee's. I did hear one knowledgable tire guy say. If you bounce the tire on the ground and if it sounds like silver wear falling on the floor. then its probably chinese Off brand. jus sayin.

[Russell E Johnson]

I don't remember the name of the auto magazine I was reading, but they had an article on Sailun tires.  They put the Sailuns head to head against Goodyear, Michelin, & BF Goodrich.  These tires are made in China but for the European and American markets.  They got a rave review from the 4 drivers for the magazine testing the tires.  It was after reading this article that I came across the tires for my MH made by them.  There were $220 each plus mounting and balancing at the tire shop.  We will have to see how they hold up, but I am pleased with them so far.  All this to say that not all Chinese tires are cheap knockoffs.

[Jim Stoltz]

I put 6 new tires on my Allegro when I got it on the road this past May. I got them at a local truck tire shop - "Wanli" brand (Chinese, but even the expensive ones are now made in China). Date codes were October 2013. So while not new-new, they were new enough. I put a 7th (the spare) in it a few months ago. I bought it from the same shop and it had the same October 2013 manufacture date.

I always check the air and lug nut torque before a trip. The truck shop put the lug nuts on at a bazillion ft. lbs. of torque. I had to use a big cheater bar to break them loose and torque them down properly. They had put way too much air in them, too. My Allegro manual has a chart with inflation pressures that varies depending on the position of the tire and each axle's weight rating. Having a blowout tops my list of worst fears in driving my RV so I keep an eye on the tires.

[Lakota Wolf]

He said a lot of service facilities try and charge customers for changing the air in their tires. They charge $2.50 a tire to put in a special blend of winter or summer air. When yo do purchase tires ALWAYS. request NEW VALVE STEMS. They do go bad.

[Lakota Wolf]

I have a couple guys at our Local Delta tire center who brought me up to date with tire dates and ratings etc. He showed me several *knock off brand tires that were labled as *New and the inside was already comming apart.. He strongly agreed that with a House on wheels take your tires very serious..

[Russell E Johnson]

Thanks Lakota for this good advice.  I put new shoes on our MH a year ago and checked the spare tire, it was the original Michelin tire (1986), tread looked great, totally dry rotted sidewalls.  Don't know what the PO would have done if he had a flat, I would never trust this tire.  I found a used one that was 3 years old.  Not great, but at least it will be more serviceable if we need to put it on the ground.  I upgraded from the original 8R19.5 tires to 245/70R19.5 tires, plenty of room and now we have better handling and it also rides better thanks to lower air pressure required--80 pounds vs. 110 pounds.

I have never heard of swapping winter air for summer air, ranks right up there with giving people land options in the Florida swamp.  LOL

David good reminder about date codes & warranties, too many people are sold tires that are a year or more old just because they do not know to look at the dates on them.