Tire safety

[larryCooley0426@gmail.com]

I have a 33 ft Mallard TT, that we bought new in 2020. Due to COVID we have only taken one significant trip with it, putting on about 4000 miles. We are getting ready to go again now and will be putting on over 6000 miles this summer. Although these tires still look new, it’s been sitting for a year. Should I replace, or are they still as good as they look? 

[hermanmullins]

Larry, Welcome to the Forum.

Two year old RV would have  two year old tires, three at the most. They should be good to go. 

Herman

[rayin]

Make sure they are inflated to sidewall listed pressure, and do not tow over the maximum sustained speed limit.

Edited May 23, 2022 by rayin

[wildebill308]

Well Larry, Welcome to the Forum.

Good advise so far. If they look good and no cracking I would feel like they should be ok. The trailer guys I know usually go 5 - 6 years.

Where are you located?

Bill Cooley

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by wildebill308

[elkhartjim]

If your trailer came equipped with the so called "China Bombs", I would replace before leaving for your trip.  Should you have a blowout, the damage can cause you to cancel your trip. 

https://drivinvibin.com/2021/09/03/rv-china-bomb-tires/

 

[wildebill308]

Jim S, That is a good explanation on trailer tires.

Bill

[tireman9]

On 5/22/2022 at 1:06 PM, larryCooley0426@gmail.com said:

I have a 33 ft Mallard TT, that we bought new in 2020. Due to COVID we have only taken one significant trip with it, putting on about 4000 miles. We are getting ready to go again now and will be putting on over 6000 miles this summer. Although these tires still look new, it’s been sitting for a year. Should I replace, or are they still as good as they look? 

When you say they "Look Good" I bet you are just referring to having good tread. You can review tire inspection on this site.

https://www.rvtiresafety.net/2014/08/how-do-i-inspect-my-tires.html

Some related info.

Herman is correct that the tires may be 2020 but you should have the complete DOT serial for each tire recorded as they may not all be the same.

Have you been on a truck scale when the RV is fully loaded to the heaviest you ever expect to be? This is important as it is well documented that over half of the RVs on the road have a tire or axle in overload.  I also cover load and inflation in many posts on my blog.

[tireman9]

On 5/24/2022 at 8:00 AM, elkhartjim said:

If your trailer came equipped with the so called "China Bombs", I would replace before leaving for your trip.  Should you have a blowout, the damage can cause you to cancel your trip. 

https://drivinvibin.com/2021/09/03/rv-china-bomb-tires/

 

Comment:

As with many such articles many people simply collect information from various sources on the internet and write a post for publication. This is a source of income for many. The problem is that some times the authors have no personal knowledge on the topic so do not always do a good job of separating the "wheat from the chaff". One telling comment for the drivinvibin site is when they said ST stood for "Special Tire" when in reality ST stands for Special Trailer.

'China Bomb" is a popular but incorrect "title" given to many tires that come on RV trailers. This "reputation" was developed when RV companies focused on buying the cheapest and lowest capacity tires possible and we ended up with almost all trailers coming with tires made in China,. Couple this fact with the reality that most RV trailers are overloading their tires, so when there was a tire failure for any reason (overload, high-speed, under-inflation or even a nail) the RV owner simply decided that it must be the tire's fault and since all tires were coming from China all tire failures occurred on tires made in China, the reason must be because the tires were made in China, Even the punctures or overloaded or under-inflated tires as certainly the RV owner can not be expected to be responsible for any of those conditions.

I could just as easily blame the city of Elkhart, Indiana for making poor quality RVs because almost every problem is on an RV that was made in Elkhart Indiana. So should we all boycott RVs made in Elkhart?

I also found the article a bit racist as the authors managed to find a picture of a man who is descended from Asia ancestors selling tires in an effort to support their unsupported contention that tires made in china are almost all junk.

[jleamont]

On 6/7/2022 at 12:17 PM, tireman9 said:

I also found the article a bit racist as the authors managed to find a picture of a man who is descended from Asia ancestors selling tires in an effort to support their unsupported contention that tires made in china are almost all junk.

That’s sad. I have ran many Chinese tires commercially over the years, between over the road, construction, utilities and refuse. Never had any failures where the root cause was a defect of the tire, not one! 
every time I read “China bomb tires” I laugh, that phrase equates to higher than recommended speeds, improper pressures and overload tires or my favorite, P or LT tires in an application where ST should be. 99.9 percent of the time, driver over compensating for something, trying to impress the passenger and traffic, racing down the road, creeping up to three digits on the speedometer and BOOM, “China Bombs fault” 😂.

Edited June 16, 2022 by jleamont

[rayin]

I agree Joe. many tire owners simply do not/cannot follow directions. For example, if a tire owner follows directions and registers their tires with the mfgr., owners will be notified by mail of all recalls pertaining to the tires - by  USDOT number.

An example of tire recalls, this one is for Continental and Goodyear Tires:  https://recallinfo.ustires.org/TireRecallSearch/ListRecalls/12

I wonder how many FMCA members who bought tires through the program bothered to register their new tires?

Edited June 18, 2022 by rayin

[aztec7fan]

i agree with several of the last comments, that articles like that make good headlines,but are lacking on good solid information.  The first time i saw the phrase "china bomb" tires,it was an article posted on social media, and was talking about "RV tires", but took me 2/3rds of the way through the article before it specified it was talking about trailer tires.it probably uneccesarily scared a few motorhome owners with its content.