New trailer sat for 5 years. Does it need new tires before a long trip?

Got this question:

"Good Afternoon Roger;  I have kind of a critical need for your expertise.  I've been a "Hardtopper" since 1970, and have always made every attempt to take good care of my travel trailers.  My latest and last, is a 2013 Flagstaff with of course dual axles.  I brought it home new after trading with a dealer, on August 31st, 2012.  Then the fun started !!  The tires are covered and are on wood planks, never having touched ground.  Rather than being able to realize a life-long dream of just once getting out of this horrible Winter climate, say to Florida for a season's stay, I was hit with the need for surgery and lengthy PT.  Each year since, I have been stricken with yet another number of surgery's for different reasons, and this past December fell on the ice at my home, breaking 3 ribs, thus cancelling once again, any hopes and dreams.  Now, after all that drama, I wonder if you might offer some "practical" advice on my tires.  I am a long ways from a rich man, barely getting by on my Social Security, so I'd really hate to have to replace the tires sitting unused as they have been after five years BUT, I would defer to your advisory.  I have read posts on RVTRavel.com and others have posted any number of articles in the past on tires, so I am a bit apprehensive, and sure to heck would appreciate your input.  Many Thanks in advance,  Grant M."

My reply:

"Sorry to hear about your situation, Grant. Your tires may be 2012 or even 2011 vintage (you can check the last 4 numbers of the DOT serial to confirm) but either way that's pretty old. How often did you check the air pressure? It should have been every month.  While they are covered and on boards, which is good, they were still under load without ever moving, which is bad, especially if they ever lost more than 5 to 10 psi.

If they are Radials there is a chance the steel belts may have lost some adhesion to the rubber due to moisture never being driven out of the tires with the warmth of being run down the road.

I would suggest you sell the tires to someone who has a utility trailer that only travels locally. If they have very little wear, you should get a reasonable price for them. You didn't say where you live but if you are thinking of travel from "North" to Florida I would recommend against the trip with a trailer that has just been sitting for 5 years. As a minimum you need to have bearings and brakes checked and yes, I am afraid new tires. You are just pushing the odds of having problems on the road that would be much more expensive to fix on the trip than confirming they are all OK before the trip.

Here are some of my posts on tire AGE from my RV Tire blog you might want to review."

Good luck.

##RVT804

When should you replace your tires?

Saw the following question on an RV forum from a motorhome owner.
"Does anyone ever just replace their front tires after 7 years? It seems that a tire failure on the front is much worse than the back. If the tires have a lot of tread and no sign of cracking, why replace the back ones?"

One reply correctly said, "There's more to consider than age. Were they properly inflated? Did you bang into curbs to damage the sidewalls? There are many failures due to improper operating conditions. Not just age."

I would first ask if you know the "life experience" of the tires:

Did the RV have a previous owner?
While they may claim they always checked inflation, can we be 100% certain?
Did you purchase the tires direct from a major tire company and know the complete use history?
Have you confirmed your load on all the tires from day one?
Did you ever discover one of your tires 20 or 30 psi low one time?

There are many things to consider, but if you are confident the tires have always been properly inflated for the actual load the following should help.

"Blowouts" (look at the picture at the top of my page), or more properly Run Low Sidewall Flex failures, happen because of running on low inflation. This can be avoided with the use of TPMS.

Belt separations, which are much less common on commercial grade tires, may occur after the rubber at the belt edges degrades due to cumulative damage from heat.

UV does not affect the internal structure of tires and external cracking is only one symptom of exposure to sunlight. I consider external cracking like having a person run a temperature. Having a temperature is just a symptom of some other illness, usually an infection. You can be seriously ill but not be running a temperature. Think of heart disease or cancer as two things that can kill you but don't cause you to run a temperature.

The suggestion on when to replace tires is only based on probability, as it is impossible to know just how much damage has been done to the components of a tire. The general suggestion is to have tires closely examined by a tire expert at 5 years and each year after that. Tires should be replaced at 10 years no matter what is visible on the surface of a tire.

I wrote a blog post on a suggested inspection and "step replacement" concept. A version of this suggestion could result in your keeping newer tires on the front, which in theory should improve your chances of not having a belt separation on the front. Of course also running TPMS will improve your chances of not having a Run Low Flex Failure too.

##RVT803