rotating trailer tires

[DClark]

I read this forum frequently and RV tires are a common topic. We all know that ST tires are generally not good and those of you who have RVs with 16" or larger wheels are changing to LT tires for better performance. I was thinking about my own RV tires (15" five hole wheel) and the fact that I don't have much choice without making a substantial investment in different axils and wheels. As I was thinking about my current tires, it occurred to me that when monitoring trailer tires, there are 5 tires on a trailer that need to be considered, not just 4. If your tires need to time out (over 7 years old) so is your spare. As I think about it, my spare is the original tire on a 1996 RV. That's 18 yrs and 2.5 times the tires have been replaced. How many of us remember the spare when we purchase new tires. I venture that we are lucky if we ck the air pressure. My spare is covered and looks good. Has about 50 miles on it, but it still is an 18 yr old tire. Might not last long if I had to use it for very many miles. That got me to thinking, does anyone rotate their RV tires like we do our vehicle tires? I don't recall anyone on this forum talking about that. If we were to rotate the tires and include the spare in the rotation so that when it is time to replace the tires, the spare has equal use and we are not throwing away a new unused tire that is too old and unsafe. On the other hand, maybe a new unused spare is batter insurance when we really need it. Either way, the spare is not immune to the march of time just like the other four tires. Just a thought.
DClark

 

[Dieselnerd]

I replaced my tires when they were 6 years old for "age" and had never been rotated. The tread was still good so I never bother to rotate. I put around 4000 mile a year on the trailer. The tires are the Goodyear G rated tires. My spare is still the original. The spare is a steel wheel and the rest are aluminum so rotating the spare would not look right unless the tire was removed from the rim.

I suppose if you tow enough to wear out the tires, rotating might be of some value.

 

[Killgore]

DClark, you are probably right and unfortunately I suspect the spare most likely gets neglected. On the other hand I don't run enough miles during the five-year replacement program that I'm on to worry about tread wear unless I have one that is wearing unevenly. This recently happened and it coincided with the five-year replacement. I bit the bullet and replaced all five. My personal opinion is that the tires should be balanced, tire pressures closely monitored, speed held to 65MPH or less, and when the camper is not being used, tire covers used to cut down on UVL exposure.

- Ed

 

[Larry Willard]

I replace the spare every time I replace the tires or the second time at the most. I just bought new tires a few months ago and the spare now is the tire I bought last May in Arizona after a blowout.
Larry

 

[crispyboy]

Dclark,
It's a good idea and i will probably do it this spring before I put the weight down on the tires. My trailer has torsion axles and I don't store for long periods with the weight on the axles and tires.
If you still using ST tires you really shouldn't be going past 5 years. According to Carlisle Tire website the ST can loose up to 1/3 of their strength by the third year.
I believe the age-out date is about 7 years on LT and P tires.

Getting back to your original topic I agree it would be a good idea to rotate as I believe the fronts experience a lot more scrubbing in the tight turns.

 

[TLane]

Every two years I buy two new tires for the camper. They go on the ground, the two year old tires stay on the ground where they are, and the four year old tires go on the spares. Yes, I carry two spares - a result of buying too many tires while on vacation. A second spare tire mount and an extra wheel isn't that much. Mine are all white painted steel wheels, so no problem getting matching wheels from Southwest wheel. By spreading it out like this I'm more apt to continue the program because it's not as painful as buying 4 or 5 or 6 tires all at once, and the oldest tires (on the spares) are six years old. And yes, I air the tires up on the ground before every trip and the spares at least once a year.

 

[Jim W]

I think it is more important for tire life to have them balance than rotating tires on a trailer. I rotated my tires after one year of ownership of my trailer. We bought the trailer new in 2010 with 16" tires on the trailer these were an option that year. On the way out west in NB I had a catastrophic tire failure on my trailer. This was the spare tire that failed as I had rotated this one to the LH front side of the trailer it had less than 300 miles on the tire when it failed. I replaced four of my tires with LT Michelin XPS Ribs and had them balance. I have since put on 20,000 miles on these and they still look new and I have not had any major issues with them.

I would recommend putting LT type tires on any trailer that will accept 16" or larger for piece of mind, but they must be balanced.

Jim W.

 

[DClark]

DClark, you are probably right and unfortunately I suspect the spare most likely gets neglected. On the other hand I don't run enough miles during the five-year replacement program that I'm on to worry about tread wear unless I have one that is wearing unevenly. This recently happened and it coincided with the five-year replacement. I bit the bullet and replaced all five. My personal opinion is that the tires should be balanced, tire pressures closely monitored, speed held to 65MPH or less, and when the camper is not being used, tire covers used to cut down on UVL exposure.


- Ed

I agree on the covers. Mine are covered also. Funny thing, I have 5 other trailers (2 boat, 1 ATV, 1 car hauler, 1 goose neck) and none of them have covers on the tires and the tires last longer then the RV tires. Not all are ST tires.
DClark

 

[Camperman]

Rotating & balancing RV tires is IMO, a good idea. I have replaced the original tires on our RV, about 4 years ago. On our last trip, the passenger side front RV tire blew out. Fortunately, no damage. I put the spare on, and then proceeded to the nearest Sams Club to purchase a new replacement tire. They had BF Goodrich Commercial T/A's on hand. Same kind that matched the other 3. Well, The spare got about 10 miles from place of blow out to repair place. The Spare had never been on the ground till then. I noticed small surface crack around the middle of the tire, all way around. Needless to say, the spare tire got replaced too, lesson learned. I keep the tires covered, unless traveling. I rotate the tires front to back, keeping them on the same side. I am fortunate that our RV takes 16" tires.