Aging/Outdated Tires

[monik7]

I just wanted to relate my recent experience. Coming home from dinner on Thanksgiving I got a flat tire on my car. The next day I went to the dealer to get a replacement. Installation took longer than expected and when it was finished, I was in a hurry to get to a doctor appointment. A week later I realized I hadn’t double checked the manufacture date on the “new” tire. I was astonished to find it was 3 years old. I knew this was a problem and decided to arm myself with some facts before going back to the dealer.

I learned that almost all car, truck, etc. manufacturers say to replace tires at 6 years regardless of wear. Aging starts immediately when the tire is exposed to oxygen, whether installed on a vehicle or sitting on a shelf in a store or warehouse. Oxidation affects the flexible components of the tire causing them to harden and become brittle.

I suspect when I walked into the dealer to get the original replacement, they saw me with a blinking red sign on my forehead that read “sucker.” You know - female, old, prime target. I was not only cheated by receiving a tire halfway through its age, but they charged me the full price of an actual new tire. No discount for the 50% loss of age. Of course, they haven’t admitted to any wrongdoing and since I’m still waiting for the replacement of the replacement, I’ve only slightly mentioned my displeasure and suspicion that they knew all along what was happening.

They pulled this on the wrong person and will soon find that out once I have the right tire. I’m posting this to urge everyone to be sure to check the age of any new tires you buy for any car, truck, RV, 5th wheel, trailer, etc. preferably before installation. You can find the age indicated by the last 4 digits in the DOT code on the sidewall. The first 2 digits indicate the week and the last 2 indicate the year of manufacture. That’s the date when the tire begins to age. I suspect this happens many times each day because people just don’t know to check. I’m thankful I learned about the manufacture codes long ago when I first joined the forum. Thank you Beth and WomenRV.com.
Sandi

[BarbaraRose]

That explains why my tires are older than my trailer.

[JudyJB]

I have spent a lifetime of buying new tires for cars and my motorhome. And it has only been recently (four years ago) that I learned that tires can be old when you buy them. And I do check the tires before they put them on by vehicle in spite of the last tire place getting insulted when I insisted on checking. The salesman said "We do NOT sell old tires!" Ha! Would like to go through all of his stock and check!!

We need to warn everyone we meet about this.

And while I am at it, get your pneumonia and shingles shots! I had a mild case of shingles this fall which would have been a lot worse had I not had the original shingles shot several years ago. Also, friend of mine (actually second one to have same experience) went to urgent care with a bad cold. Sent her home with antibiotics. Next day, she could not breathe and ended up in emergency room. Turns out she had one lung completely full of fluid from pneumonia. Other friend ended up in intensive care that same night after calling 911 because of trouble catching her breath. Neither had had pneumonia shot because they were afraid it might make them sick!!!

[MandysMom]

As to pneumonia, the shot does not protect against all bacteria that cause pneumonia and then there are virus as well. I mistrust the super vaccines with 8-13 different bacteria/virus involved.
Velda

[Bethers]

I was lucky to learn to read tire dates sooner... But it was AFTER my blow out. Funny that tire places look strange when I need to see the date but the last Ford dealer I took the rv to for an oil change included the date of the tires on the inspection form.

[Irmi]

Thanks to Beth and this forum for the reminder about the dates on tires. We bought tires for both our toad and motorhome in April, to make sure we'd be safe for our cross country trip. I did check the DOT date code on all the tires to make sure they were new. They were 3 months old but I accepted them.

[andyviv]

This is a very informative discussion!

In Nov I bought 4 new tires for my 2013 Durango (only had 42,000 miles on it, but was planning long road trip and guy who did oil change recommended new tires since my tires were “6” years old). Just went out to garage and will need to look in better light tomorrow,but seems now have “new 2018” tires on my vehicle.

[JudyJB]

So now you know more than the guy who did the oil change!!

I tend to wear my tires out before they get old, but this is important for people who only drive their vehicles a very few thousand miles each year. Tires get cracked with age, even if they still have a lot of tread on them. Having a blowout in a car is entirely different than a tire blowing on a vehicle that weighs almost 15,000 pounds! And a front tire blowout can cause you to lose control. My cousin drives a 44' Class A, and he had a front wheel tire blowout a year ago. Luckily, when the front tire blew, he swerved into a big semi truck, which prevented him from losing control and going into the median ditch. Cost of repairs to the whole side of his motorhome was $20,000! (The semi truck hit the ditch, but had little damage since those big vehicles are a lot more stable and heavy.) Cousin now has tire minders, and I went out and bought these also.

In your car, you probably have something that warns you when a tire is low. These are very rare in motorhomes, plus the rear tires are "duallies" which means you cannot see what the inner tires look like unless you lay down and have a flashlight with you!! My tire minder was about $350, but it has sensors on each of my six tires and shows me the tire pressure and how hot the tire is. If a tire is below or above parameters, it shrieks to warn you. Here is the one I bought, but there are several good ones: https://www.greatrvproducts.com/product ... TkQAvD_BwE

I also cannot easily check tire pressure as I get older, so before the monitor, I used to have to pull into a tire place and have them checked every couple of months. Just before I left Eugene, OR, on October 9, I had a truck tire place check all tires for cracking or bulges or whatever because I did not want to drive 2,400 miles to Ohio with a bad tire.

[andyviv]

Checked today with flashlight, on my knees, to see DOT numbers on my 4 new tires (bought nov, 2019). Here is what I bought: one 3218, one 0219, and two 0419.

If emergency ( like blow out tire), I think I will accept any tire date that the closest tire company or dealership has in stock to get me on my way.

That being said, if buying tires as part of normal maintenance in the future, what is age of tires to accept? Is it one year old, 6 months, 3 months?

[Bethers]

I want as new as possible, would accept within 1 year if necessary.

[andyviv]

In future, I think I will tell tire guys up front, that I want new tire that has a recent manufacture date! Will try to be as proactive as possible!

[OregonLuvr]

What I have been told is they should be made within a year. My tire center let me check the DOT when I bought mine. They were within 3-6 months so I was happy. I then checked them again when they put them on my car LOL

[andyviv]

Monik7– I replied to your original post about buying full price and getting 3 year old tires, because I can relate to experiences in my life similar to this.

What I hope to learn from ladies in this forum is to prevent as much of this stuff as possible. I will never be able to prevent every scam or being taken advantage of, but will try to be proactive.

[monik7]

Monik7– I replied to your original post about buying full price and getting 3 year old tires, because I can relate to experiences in my life similar to this.

What I hope to learn from ladies in this forum is to prevent as much of this stuff as possible. I will never be able to prevent every scam or being taken advantage of, but will try to be proactive.

That’s what’s great about this forum. The information exchanged here can help us to be better prepared for what comes up as we travel down the road and through life. There’s lots of information on how to manage various aspects of our RVs, and also other lessons we’ve learned at times regarding just about anything that we might feel would be helpful to pass along to others. So glad you’ve joined us.
Sandi