How old are your tires?

[dthurston]

Long time viewer, second (or third?) time poster.... as the story goes.

Anyway, we bought a 94 Starcraft Stardust 1021 in June of this year (06).

Drug it about 50 miles to a beachy-campground, only to have to pack it in for rain reasons. (maiden voyage, one night planned, just to try things out) US highway most of the way, never top 60. No problems, really

Yeah, then we decided to get the bearings repacked as it had become more evident from overall conditions of things that it had likely been a long time since it was done.

So, friendly tire and auto care shop in town did that. And the bearings were in pieces once they pulled them out. $170 later, we had shiny new bearings and ties all checked out, spare aired up and all.

Drug it back to the same cg a week or two later, different site, stayed the whole weekend. At least as hot as the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but all right. Same road, nice and smooth, 55-60, no troubles, even handled the hill well.

We laid off for a while, and then I happened to have a work gig out of town. This time about 180 miles away (Gary, IN area). Wifey was keen to drag the pup and use it to hit Lake Michigan at Michigan City. Nice beach, not too crowded, etc.

So, after having a shop in town install the BIG tranny cooler for out Odyssey, done three hours after DW pulled into the place, I pull out with the pup and DS and am cruising up the I, running about 65...

Anyone want to guess what happened? Anyone?

Yep, blewie. Right side tire, tread separates fully, sidewalls are all but gone.

I saw some smoke-looking stuff in the mirrors, and the thing started rumbling a bit, but moved very smoothly, not at all like the time I lost a front tire in a car. Manged to get it to the side of the interstate and kept the rim on the asphalt by about 1 inch. whew

And of course, the wrench that will fit the lug nuts, yeah, it was in the bench storage. There's no top-down access. Good thinking, eh?

Well, salient bits are that we got someone to put my spare on, I drug it back to the shop (I was under 10 miles from home) and they put two new tires on and we later began our journey.

Was hoping to get onsite by 5 or 6, wound up being 9-9:30 and dark. Sigh.

So, we should have bought tires instead of just bearings, but figured they looked good despite being 8 years old.

New tires were quite warm when I stopped after a 1.5 hour run at 65 (still not going over that if I can help it, don't care if they're "rated" for 70+). but they held up fine and at least I have a bit of confidence in the rig now.

There were other things that made the drive fun, but we're all safe and they're all sleeping tonight.

Quite a trip.

Moral: Don't cheap out, replace those tires! Things only cost me $115 mounted. Plus the $40 roadside call. Gonna have to see about insurance reimbursement for that.

Doug

[chasd60]

I posted some tire info on another thread. My research indicates that trailer tires should be replaced every 3-7 years regardless of wear. The longer duration was for the tires that are used more often.
 
I have seen reference to a tire being used will actually give off lubricating properties by flexing and this preserves the tire. Tires that do not get used very often, do not do this therefore you see weather cracking on relatively new tires due to lack of use.
 
My truck is primarily used for towing and is parked all winter, after one winter the sidewalls exhibit slight weather cracking and my car that I use everyday and has much older tires does not have this.

[Recumbentman]

Glad everything worked out Ok for you guys. One of the things I learn from this form that I didn't know, was how inportant having the tires at the correct air pressure. Now I check before every outing. hope you have fun with your n2y PU.