Tires

Quote: AZDuffman

The way to check is check the pressure with the tire off the car then on. I've never seen a difference and that is what I am talking about.

I rotated the tires on my full size pickup yesterday. While all 4 wheels were off the ground I adjusted the air pressure. After lowering it the pressure in each front tire increased by 1 psi, no measurable difference on the rear.
Yes I rotate my tires myself. Yes there's probably something wrong with me.

Quote: JimRockford

Yes there's probably something wrong with me.

Only if you rotated the truck before putting the tires back on.

I was wondering if I should get a new spare tire for my RV due to its age
Its a 14 year old tire. That has me concerned. On the flip side, it hardly ever sees sunlight unless I have flat and have to use it.
I've blown out each RV tire so one is about 6 years old. The other just a year old so I am comfortable with those
The spare in on the back of the RV and has a cover to protect from sunlight. I also store the RV in my garage.
It seems to be in real good shape. It worked fine when my regular RV tire blew out last year
Due to age, should I change it?

Quote: terapined

I was wondering if I should get a new spare tire for my RV due to its age
Its a 14 year old tire. That has me concerned. On the flip side, it hardly ever sees sunlight unless I have flat and have to use it.
I've blown out each RV tire so one is about 6 years old. The other just a year old so I am comfortable with those
The spare in on the back of the RV and has a cover to protect from sunlight. I also store the RV in my garage.
It seems to be in real good shape. It worked fine when my regular RV tire blew out last year
Due to age, should I change it?

When you say you've had a blow out in each tire, were those catastrophic blow outs or just flats that may have went on to tear the tire to shreds? One axle or two?
I'm no expert, but have some experience with it. I like to deflate my tires occasionally if they have been on for a long time, because I can't see the weather checks in them when totally inflated? If that tire doesn't have cracks, I'd keep it, especially since it's a spare. imo

Another thing I do, is when the tires are off the rims, I have the valve stems changed out to steel valve stems that last forever. It sucks to lose a pretty good tire, because a stem blew out for lack of 3$. Prevents some accidents with stem damage from happening also. Sounds like you have respect for the might UV rays on your tires also. I have learned to put tire covers on my truck when not using it for more than a few days after going through 4 complete sets of truck tires in 70k miles from UV damage.

I also have a radial tire fix kit in each vehicle and have used them both several times over the years. Also a cheapo 12v air compressor that will reach the tire. I've had flats that I didn't have to remove from the vehicle by using that radial cord plug fix with glue, and just airing back up. Done that 3 times, while still on the vehicle. : )

Quote: petroglyph

When you say you've had a blow out in each tire, were those catastrophic blow outs or just flats that may have went on to tear the tire to shreds? One axle or two?
I'm no expert, but have some experience with it. I like to deflate my tires occasionally if they have been on for a long time, because I can't see the weather checks in them when totally inflated? If that tire doesn't have cracks, I'd keep it, especially since it's a spare. imo

Another thing I do, is when the tires are off the rims, I have the valve stems changed out to steel valve stems that last forever. It sucks to lose a pretty good tire, because a stem blew out for lack of 3$. Prevents some accidents with stem damage from happening also. Sounds like you have respect for the might UV rays on your tires also. I have learned to put tire covers on my truck when not using it for more than a few days after going through 4 complete sets of truck tires in 70k miles from UV damage.

I also have a radial tire fix kit in each vehicle and have used them both several times over the years. Also a cheapo 12v air compressor that will reach the tire. I've had flats that I didn't have to remove from the vehicle by using that radial cord plug fix with glue, and just airing back up. Done that 3 times, while still on the vehicle. : )

One axel
The tires are pretty small. Have a Fleetwood Timberlake popup. You can see the size of the tire in the below video
Diameter is 23 inches as opposed to my standard truck tires about 30 in
The 1st failure was about 6 years ago. A huge bubble formed on the tire
The 2nd failure last year, a 13 year old tire, it just totally shredded. Could have been a flat that I did not notice till it shredded but I think I noticed right away so probably total tire failure.
Both times, they failed on short trips. 2 to 3 hours of driving.
I took my camper from Tampa to Bonnaroo TN roundtrip once and had no problems but the camper tires was only a couple years old at the time.
Every time I take in the damaged tire, they take a look at the size and mention its an unusual size
They say no guarantee they will find my size as I leave the tire behind
yet
The always find my size the next day but not given any choices.
The 1st one I replaced at a Firestone auto repair shop
The 2nd one, I replaced at Costco.
The RV is stored in a garage so no sunlight on the tires
I'm considering replacing the spare due to 14yr age but it actually looks perfect.
Got a long tow this summer from Tampa to Virginia and just trying to cover all my bases.
Glad I got the bearings repacked with new grease
Here is the same model I own on youtube

Remember that rubber never cures. It always in the process of curing, so even age alone with no heat cycles or UV damage wears on a tire.

14yrs? I don't even run tires that old. And though mischievous in maintenance, much of that is allowed due to never really being more than 30mi from home.

FL to VA? It's like $40. Swap it.

Quote: Face

Remember that rubber never cures. It always in the process of curing, so even age alone with no heat cycles or UV damage wears on a tire.

14yrs? I don't even run tires that old. And though mischievous in maintenance, much of that is allowed due to never really being more than 30mi from home.

FL to VA? It's like $40. Swap it.

For sure, if in doubt, change it out. Can't be rolling with fear. I was thinking about it being a spare and inspecting it first. I wouldn't run on anything I didn't trust, after having had a few catastrophic failures under load.

Quote: petroglyph

For sure, if in doubt, change it out. Can't be rolling with fear. I was thinking about it being a spare and inspecting it first. I wouldn't run on anything I didn't trust, after having had a few catastrophic failures under load.

I took my perfectly looking 14 yr old spare off the back of the RV
Actually painted, 14 years old, on the tire. Just to be safe so nobody tries to resell it
Took it to Costco.
They told me they could see a shine on the tire showing its pretty old. They said old tires start to get shiny. Did not look very shiny to me but then I don't look at tires all day.
After checking the computer, they said they don't stock that size but can order it from a supplier.
Will take 2 weeks.
wow, 2 whole weeks
I get 2 flats on a trip, I'm screwed. May have to leave the camper behind for a couple weeks.

Tirerack.com
They have everything. You'll get it in a couple of days. They will drop ship it to an installer or to your house. Since you have a pickup it's probably easier to have it shipped to your home. Just take it to a tire shop and have it mounted and balanced.

Quote: JimRockford

Tirerack.com
They have everything. You'll get it in a couple of days. They will drop ship it to an installer or to your house. Since you have a pickup it's probably easier to have it shipped to your home. Just take it to a tire shop and have it mounted and balanced.

I was shocked the first time i ordered a tire from Tirerack. It was about 12 years ago for my daughters car. I got home from the office and the tire is just sitting on my porch. No box,no packing material, just a tire with a Fedex sticker on it. I don't think I have ever received anything else that didn't come in a box.