Time for new tires?

[John612]

Tires manufactured Jan 2014, 8,000 miles on them, very good condition, no bubbles or uneven tread wear.
Bought rig Jan 2016, average one trip per month, so tires haven't sat for more than 30 days at a time, but rig has never been jacked up to take weight off tires.
303 applied every 3-4 months, tires always covered.
1,000 mile trip next month, would you replace tires before trip?

Thx
John

[Second Chance]

Opinions are like a certain part of the human anatomy... everybody has one. I probably would not replace the tires at this point. Three years is short of the usual five to six and, if a close inspection shows no cracking, bulges, or other issues, the tires should be good to go. It's your money and nervous system, though.

Rob

[Cate&Rob]

Hi John,

I followed the "conservative" recommendation to replace my tires at three years. I had about 11,000 miles on them. I carefully inspected the removed Westlakes, inside and out, and could find absolutely no evidence of any problems. I never covered then or applied any coatings and they were outdoors in the sun all that time. I did watch tire pressures very carefully with TPMS. When stored for an extended time, I do lift the weight off the tires. All this to say that I agree with Second Chance Rob that your tires should easily have another 1000 miles in them.

On the other hand . . . if the next thing to do when you get back is to buy new tires and you will sleep better knowing you are travelling on new tires, you are not likely going to wear out the new tires either .

(another) Rob

[WhittleBurner]

John, Our 2014 had great looking tires too with more than 10,000 miles on them. But upon close inspection last summer we found a sizeable split that would have turned into a disaster on the the road. The other 3 looked just fine but I always would have worried about the other 3 if we had replaced just the one tire so we replaced all the tires last summer. Now when we road trip we both feel more at ease knowing there's good tires on the rig.

Interesting side note, I had been bugging Gary last summer that maybe it was time to replace the tires ( I just had a "feeling" about the tires) and because they looked so good and had been wearing very well he did not agree that replacing was necessary. We did agree to take a close look at them and that's when we found the split.

We'll never know for sure if it were road hazard or tire defect that caused the tread to split and it surely would have seperated on the next roadtrip

Be sure if you don't replace them to lift all the tires off the ground and carefully inspect every inch of the tires. If your gut is telling you to replace the tires, do it and enjoy your road trip!

[TucsonJim]

Hi John,

Since your tires were manufactured before December 2014, they have the old 65mph speed rating. In one of the last weeks of 2014, Westlake tires were rebranded with a speed rating of "L" which is 75mph. I don't know if there was a manufacturing difference in the "L" vs. Non-"L" tires, or if it was simply a case of Westlake finally qualifying their tires at a higher rating.

I had one Westlake tire fail a couple of years ago when the tread separated and did quite a bit of damage to the trailer. The tire stayed inflated though. The root cause was never determined, but I decided I would not trust Westlake tires on my rigs. However with that said, a large majority of owners have had very good results with their tires and have put a lot of miles on them.

If you do decide to replace them, you'll need to figure out which brand to go with. There are more and more options showing up every day. I'm currently running Carlisle Radial HD tires on my trailer. Since I frequently run my trailer in the very high temperatures of the South West, I try to change my tires every 2-3 years. Goodyear just released a new American built ST tire called the Endurance. I'll switch to those next year if they develop a good reputation.

Jim

[Second Chance]

... and you will sleep better knowing you are travelling on new tires...

(another) Rob

Hopefully not behind the wheel!

[bertschb]

If they are Westlake tires - yes, I'd replace them. I replaced mine when they were new.

[Canyonlight]

John - tires, hitches, and grease......the three amigos which generate passionate forum discussion is amazing ! Until joining this forum and for more than four decades of pulling all kinds of trailers, I never was concerned about tires. Even with all the chatter (discounting China haters and self inflicted issues aside) the percentages of Westlake tire failures is an extremely small percentage possibly no worse or better than other top performers. When RickTulsa (a 3 or 4 decade tire expert) was active on the forum last year he shared considerable real world experience and facts about tires in general and Westlakes in particular. He cut through all the trash out there and reassured many of us and me that Westlakes produced in the last 7 or so years are good trailer tires.

W/O knowing the history of what your tires have been through on the road, I agree with SC Rob that you should have good life left in your tires. Ours will be five years old this fall and with the attention to correct air pressure, load, speed, and avoidance of road hazards with a high focus, I have no worries. Keeping an eye on them and inspecting as with all tires is important as shared by all posters.

Lastly, it is interesting that we have seen very few posts on 15" Westlakes tire failures on the forum.....the majority of posts have been with 16" & 17".

Dan

[John612]

Thanks for all the great advice and opinions, very much appreciated.
Going to my local tire store tomorrow and will take part in a detailed inspection.

Thanks again,

John

[John612]

Chickened out (or went the safe way ), ditched the Westlakes and bought 4 Goodyear Endurance 10 ply tires ($125 ea.), highly recommended by our tire guy.
He had a lot of trouble with the lug nuts, threads were boogered, had to run thread restorer on several of them.
Also found one wire hanging loose from the brake control, might have been one of the reasons I couldn't always get the brakes to lock up.

When I went to take off this morning, curbside landing gear wouldn't retract.
Opened front bay door and found broken bolt on shaft coming from drive motor on streetside gear.

Sorry for the sideways photo, the screw attached the shaft via a hole in the round shaft on the left.
Thought it was strange the bolt broke in two places and that it was threaded all the way through, seems like it would be stronger if threaded only on the end.
Definitely an item going on the pre-departure checklist.

John