Usable tires? Dry rot?
03-12-2016, 12:10 AM
#4
It's not the miles, it's the years and exposure to sun and weather. Actually, not running them much contributes to issues. The tires need to be used to release the chemicals that protect them.
03-12-2016, 12:18 PM
#6
Grumpy Old Man
I think it's time to replace the trailer tires. About 4 years is the max life of trailer tires, regardless of miles on the tires.
But don't buy just any trailer tire. Be sure they are ST (special trailer) tires. Or if they are 16" tires then you can replace them with any LT tire that is a commercial truck tire rated for trailer service or all-position service. But those are rare, so don't buy an LT tire for mounting on your trailer unless it is included on the commercial truck website for that brand and shown to be made for trailer or all-position service. The only ones I know of are the Michelin XPS and a similar tire from Goodyear. Here's the Michelin XPS:
http://www.michelintruck.com/tires-a...!/info/xps-rib
Note it is for "all wheel positions" which includes trailer position. You won't find any LT tires rated for all positions in wheel diameters off less than 16" and very few for 16" rims. I love the Michelin LTX tires for my pickup, but they are not designed to use on a trailer, so I run ST tires on my trailers that have 14"or 15" rims.
03-12-2016, 12:31 PM
#7
Senior Member
Remember that all tires have date codes indicating the age from manufacturing. That has to be taken into account too. It appears you have tires with a code of 4810 (?) which would indicate November of 2010, so they are almost 5 1/2 years old.
I never buy tires that are older than 6 months, usually less than 3 months. No sense paying for tire life that you won't get.
I never buy tires that are older than 6 months, usually less than 3 months. No sense paying for tire life that you won't get.
