Long-term Parking - Tires On Plastic Or Wood?

[fagnaml]

I need help understanding the need to have tires on "something" while parked at an RV storage facility as long as the parking area is clean, well drained gravel, concrete or asphalt.   The chemical engineer in me says hard surfaces that do not have gasoline, diesel, lube oil, solvents or standing water (algae) that can come in contact with a tire should be OK.  If you think about our personal vehicles, their tires are in constant contact with concrete, asphalt, pavers, etc. all day every day and are subject to "stuff" on city streets and highways.  That "stuff" doesn't cause any unusual "chemicals/oils" related degradation of the tire's synthetic rubber.   It's easy to understand that a motorhome (or other vehicle) that is parked for a long time could cause tires to lose their shape as a tire very slowly loses air over that period hence the recommendations above to fully inflate each tire. 

[garyreed]

Thanks bill,

I have never given much thought to chemical migration. So the only product mentioned through out this post might be teflon, but if I remember science class teflon also comes from oil. That would leave only raw wood, nothing treated including plywood. As far as tire set, we were schooled many years that the manufaturing proccess and materials used produced little to no set at full inflation unlike their predecessors the bias ply. I might be able to see lifting some weight of with the jacks, but that might put undo hardship on the hydrualic system. Just wondering.

Gary

[wildebill308]

Gary, I think some of this is being overly cautious . However when you start spending $500.00+ for a tire that is only good for 7 years it doesn't seem as silly to try to do whatever you can to protect them and not shorten their lifespan. I have seen when something has sitting for a while on a concrete floor it had a damp spot under it when moved.  I wonder if painting would be a good sealer? On the subject of tire set, I try not to leave my coach setting in one place to long maybe 30 days max before I take it for a short run 50-60 miles. The road out of where I garage is so rough I could start with square tiers and not notice it. 

fagnaml, I think the difference between your coach and your personal vehicles are the length of time they are stored. You drive your personal vehicles most times daily. Your coach may set in one spot for a long time.

Bill

[garyreed]

You are right Bill, piece of mind carries a lot of weight. We do not let ours set much over a month if that at any given time. My piece of mind will come when these tires reach about 5 years old and I replace them and sell the old ones to a local company to run out on dirt trailers.

Gary

[jleamont]

Concrete draws the oils out of human skin and rubber products, probably other stuff also. If you have ever kneeled on concrete for a while or walked around bare footed you will notice your skin dries out, same happens to tires. Creating a barrier is an added level of protection to your tires. Tireman could explain it better than I can.

[kaypsmith]

On ‎5‎/‎30‎/‎2012 at 3:01 PM, Tireman9 said:

If you look at the statements from the tire mfg they basically do not want "stuff" that can harm the tire to move to the tire and hurt it.

Oil from asphalt or water from dirt/sand. It isn't the grass but the moisture that can migrate into the tire over time from the dirt or sand.

I would think that pavers would be reasonable. Personally I have some 2x10 that are large enough to support the complete footprint that I place over the gravel where I park for the winter.

Inflating the tires to their max is a good idea. If you can remove some of the load that would decrease the rubber "set" that can occur too.

Don't forget the white tire covers to protect against excess heat and UV and no electric motors or devices like ozone generators near the tires or in the same garage if indoors.

Here is a statement from tireman from 2012, quoted on this same thread. Personally, I also believe that if tires are sitting for a long time that they need to be on something that is weepless, therefore I also use rubber mats which I made from stall mats also. The problem with concrete that I recognize is that it is alkaline (PH-), just the opposite of acid (PH+), as Joe pointed out it will draw the oils from your skin and rubber. For that reason, I choose to let them sit for prolonged periods on something that will stop the weep process. Newspaper. A plastic bag under the tire except for the fact that it is easy to puncture, is better than nothing.

[05fleetwood]

Go to a Concrete Block manufacturing site. They usually have conveyor belts that they have replaced. I acquired some and cut them to fit under my tires. They are about 5/8" thick. Work great

[ceajgjr]

On 7/24/2017 at 1:02 PM, jleamont said:

I have the same under ours.

Great Idea, I'll try.

[tireman9]

A yes inflate the tires to the sidewall max if parking for more than a couple weeks. This will decrease "flat spotting (tire gets a permanent or semipermanent set.

In order of priority to avoid for what to park on

1. Oil based stuff

2 Stuff that holds or transfers moisture (dirt and sand fall in this category)

3 Concrete that was poured os set directly on wet sand/dirt and is not well drained.

Then much further down the list (not such a big deal) everything else like wood and such. My 'SHED" is open and the ground under it was wet sand. I had 4" or crushed concrete placed on top of the sand and I have 6 pieces of treated 2x8x12 boards that fully support the tires on my Class-C. I have never seen the boards appear wet so I am satisfied all is OK

We really do not need to make this such a big deal if we use some common sense.

[manholt]

Thought I would bring this up:  When I'm travelling around in the Spring, Summer and Fall, I don't carry rubber, wood or anything else to park on!  Would be skeptical if any of you did.  Now, if you live in a area where you have bad winters and store your coach for months at a time, You do need some kind of barrier!

In the Summer, I stay in one RV park in CO. for 6 weeks and I cover my tires, but I'm parked on gravel and yes, it rains and occasionally we get snow and sleet....I'm sitting on gravel.  Has not hurt my tires yet....I get new ones every 6/7 years, even if I don't see any cracks on side wall (it's the ones I don't see that I worry about)!

Let's be careful to not OVER THINK THIS !

[richard5933]

Since most of us are concerned about storing our vehicles through the cold winter months, I'm wondering how the temperature affect the different migration processes being discussed. If my high school science class learning still holds, chemical reactions and physical transitions all happen in slow motion in freezing temps.

We plan on parking our coach on gravel this winter. Not by choice - our driveway and parking area is gravel. My concern has always been more about the moisture (and varmints) migrating from the ground to the belly of the coach. That's why we won't be parking on the grass area, even though it would have been more convenient. I will cover the tires to avoid UV damage and make sure that the tires are fully inflated. During those few warm days each month that seem to sneak their way in, we will move the coach around our property a little to keep the fluids distributed and to avoid having the tires with the same side down all winter. Other than that, I won't be taking any special preservation steps

I might be poking the hornets nest here, but it strikes me as odd how much worry the RV community has over tires. I've lived in Wisconsin for a few decades, and we have many businesses here that have idle vehicles at times (especially through the winter). Some of them are idle through an entire season. I've yet to see one that jacked up their vehicles or parked on Teflon sheets. In my thinking, our tires are going to need to be replaced based on age long before mileage or any other type of issue takes them down if we follow a few very simple precautions - key among them is proper inflation when we're on the road. If I get seven years from my tires I'll consider it a good deal.

As my mother would have said about this, why waste a good worry?

[five]

The Michelin manual that came with my tires says, "Michelin recommends placing a barrier (cardboard, plastic or plywood) between the tire and the storage surface."

[wildebill308]

6 hours ago, richard5933 said:

As my mother would have said about this, why waste a good worry?

Well maybe I do worry/pay a little more attention as I just forked over in excess of $3,000 for new tires. That would buy over 1100 gal of diesel or 10,000 miles of travel

Now I don't regularly put any thing under them when traveling because we are not going someplace and just setting. The longest stop this summer was about 14 days. I don't think it is a big enough problem to get crazy about. 

Bill

 

[richard5933]

I would never encourage or suggest that anyone take actions which are contrary to the instructions of the manufacturer's. Everyone should do what they feel is best for their situation.

I was just pointing out that for me, I'll do what I can do reasonably and then be willing to suffer whatever the consequences are. Some years the winters here are pretty brutal, and I'll consider myself lucky just to start the engine and move the coach a couple of times through the winter. Some people have more ideal conditions to park on. Our situation with a gravel driveway on a slope is not ideal, and for me it's just not worth the extra challenge of trying to complicate an already difficult parking situation. Weeds are cut, gravel is solid and packed, air pressure is topped off, and the UV blocking tire covers will be in place. Anything beyond that is gravy.

I guess that I was trying to point out that we each do what we can reasonably do. This is supposed to be a fun thing, owning a motor home. For us, when the work and worries outweigh the joy and pleasure we have to decide what's most important for us to worry about.

[jleamont]

I ONLY park on the mats at home. With that being said our set up at home has two spots, the driveway or the RV parking pad. During the travel season it usually resides in the driveway, gets stored off season on its pad. The pad is gravel and the driveway is asphalt. Either way it goes on the rubber pads and the tire covers go on. 

No pads or tire covers while traveling. The longest we sit still is 5-7 days. If longer I would carry the tire covers. I do use tire UV protection spray. 303 or similar, mostly for appearance.