Just to stir the tire pot....

[Eric Johnson]

Hello Scott,
I replaced our FC tires at 11-12 years old and they looked fine inside and out.
Everyone
tells me I was lucky not to have a failure on the road. Don't think I'll wait
that long next
time, but it is painful to throw away tires that still look like they have life
in them!

As you probably know, conventional wisdom is maximum use of 7-8 years before
replacement. We had a tire and wheel seminar at the Schulenburg rally and the
expert
said we could extend the usable life by running nitrogen rather than air in the
tires, but
wouldn't state any numbers. His logic for extending life was tires running
cooler and
reduced corrosion of the steel belts since oxygen isn't percolating out through
the tire
structure.
Regards, Eric in San Antonio
84FC35SBWL2

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Scott Forman" <sforman@...> wrote:
>
> The tires on my tag axle were replaced today. I did so because the DOT
> dates on them were 1994 (not 2004, 1994, as in 13 yers old). They
> showed no signs of age, cracking, anything, just old age. When they
> came off, the insides looked absolutely fine. The tire guys said that
> while they agreed that changing them out based on age was the "right"
> thing to do, if they viewed the tires without knowing the date, they
> would approve them for use without pause. Maybe the tags just don't
> get as much abuse and wear.
>
> Scott Forman
> 86 PT38
> Memphis
>