Tire life expectancy

[RoyBell]

We just had a blowout on one of our Westlakes that did a significant amount of damage. We are at the tail end of a trip that started last November. Our tires had maybe 20,000 miles on them. Four years old, tire covers when stored and good tread remaining.(I rotate my tires) I questioned myself as to the need to replace them because of age! The mileage was about 40,000 at termination and I think we either picked something up at a rest area 15 to 20 miles before or on the highway. Any way the tire shop replaced all four with Sailuns and asked if I wanted to keep the remaining three! In my experience and my opinion. Tire should last if they are cared for properly. And some things can't be avoided.Attachment 41566Attachment 41568

Dang that stinks. Were you running a TPMS?

[klobear]

No TPMS. Have never seen a need for it. Been doing this for 40 years and was also a truck driver most of my working life. I always check tire pressures and wheel torque on a regular basis. And when we stop for breaks I do a walk around to inspect my truck and trailer.

[huntindog]

Welll now you have seen the need.
You have been lucky up till now, and actually still are. Your damage is not that bad compared to what it could have been.

[RoyBell]

No TPMS. Have never seen a need for it. Been doing this for 40 years and was also a truck driver most of my working life. I always check tire pressures and wheel torque on a regular basis. And when we stop for breaks I do a walk around to inspect my truck and trailer.

I find that comment funny when you just stated that you had significant damage due to a blow out. When a tire blows on a camper/rv, there's a lot of stuff it can take out with it. When it blows on a semi, it just falls off for the most part. On a semi you have a lot more tires remaining to hold the load as well.

[klobear]

Not sure what you mean in your comment, so I will elaborate! If the tire picked something up while driving through the rest area, a TPMS would have alerted me to a slow leak! But as I said I walked around the trailer, thumped the tires did a visual inspection and checked with my hand for heat. Now if I picked up something on the road and it caused the tire to explode, the TPMS would have told me I had a failure. And the Northern roads of Ontario have very few places to pull off. So I still would have had to limp down the highway with a mangled tire to find a safe spot to make my repair! I still can't justify the cost of a TPMS. This trip alone has been 20,000 miles and only one issue! That is not luck!

[Hoopy Frood]

Just curious what the cost of the damage done is compared to the cost of a TPMS. Sometimes one occurrence is all it takes to cover the cost. I figure the cost of a TPMS is insurance: you may never need it, but it's very handy to have when you do.

[RoyBell]

Not sure what you mean in your comment, so I will elaborate! If the tire picked something up while driving through the rest area, a TPMS would have alerted me to a slow leak! But as I said I walked around the trailer, thumped the tires did a visual inspection and checked with my hand for heat. Now if I picked up something on the road and it caused the tire to explode, the TPMS would have told me I had a failure. And the Northern roads of Ontario have very few places to pull off. So I still would have had to limp down the highway with a mangled tire to find a safe spot to make my repair! I still can't justify the cost of a TPMS. This trip alone has been 20,000 miles and only one issue! That is not luck!

I meant if you had a TPMS the likelyhood of damage would had been far less. A modern sensor will read heat+pressure. It will display these items on a screen so you can monitor while you drive. You set your own alert parameters (heat rise/drop, pressure rise/drop) I have been running an older version of this TST for the last 8ish years: https://www.technorv.com/tst-cap-sys...RoCS04QAvD_BwE

I have had 1 camper tire blow out. As soon as I had a loss of pressure the system alerted me. All I felt was a small bump when the tire went. I was able to pull off the side of the road before it came apart and caused more damage. The system will not alert you before the blow out obviously, but it certainly let me know what was going on back there before any serious damage occurred by dragging a flat tire for miles.

That system is $360 US. Pretty cheap imo. The OEM Ram system was $445 and it came with 4x sensors that go inside the wheel (like a car tpms) and it links directly with the trucks dash system like an OEM TPMS would. Call me paranoid, but I think that is cheap insurance to know exactly what is going on with your tires at any given time. As stated previously, I also carry to spares for the camper and 2 spares for my Ram on longer trips.

[traveldawg]

I read that it's ideal to change trailer tires every 4 years. This year will be our 4th season on the G rated OEM Westlakes. 2019 Date codes. Approx 6K miles on them. The camper stays indoors/heated year round, except when camping. There is no cracking on the tires and the wear looks very good/minimal. I was going to pull the wheels and grease the bearings next week and put he TPS in the wheels as long as they were off. Got me to thinking how much longer I should run on these tires? What's everyone's thoughts on this? I usually error on the side of caution, but in this case I feel maybe I can extend the replacement due to the storage conditions. I realize most campers are exposed to the elements year round which significantly shortens the lifespan of tires.
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I'm not going to get in that TMPS debate - it always end up trashing a good thread.

Your question was - "...what's everyone's thoughts...". My short answer is that I generally run them 6 years (maybe 7 sometimes). BUT - I wouldn't run Westlakes at all. I took mine off when they were brand new and put a good set of Sailuns on; one size taller.

Michelin always said 7 years but some friends have told me lately that they are saying 10 years. My guess is that is only if they are covered and out of the sun all the time.

oh - like you, my rig is garaged when not in use.

[Overtaxed]

put a good set of Sailuns on; one size taller.

I just finished installing my Sailuns, also in /85 (one size taller). Thought I was alone in going bigger, seems like nearly everyone is going for the bigger tire. I know it handles a little more weight, primary driver for me was to get a little more height (I need clearance between my truck and trailer). Just surprised that everyone seems to be going up in size.

The the OP, for my other trailers, I generally run at least 7 years before changing them. For the RV, I just changed at around 3 years (Westlake G rated). But my situation is a little strange, I wanted the height and heft of the Saulins, but, I have another trailer that also uses 16's that I'm going to put my takeoffs from the RV on. If I didn't have a use for the 3 year old tires, I don't think I would have done this. I just knew I needed to buy 4 tires and figured I should get them for the RV vs the dump trailer (which is what actually needs new tires).

The Westlakes have been great for me, around 10K miles over the 3 years we've run them and not a single issue. And they still look brand new. Hoping I can get another 3-4 years out of them on my dump trailer, but, unlike the RV, if the blow on that trailer, it's an annoyance, not a 1000 or 10,000's of thousand dollar repair.

[RoyBell]

Why does everyone prefer the Sailuns over the Westlakes? They are both from China.

Sailun S637T ST235/85R16 G/14PLY= $205 ea
Westlake ST235/85R16 G/14PLY= $316 ea