I had one tire issue last fall on the way home from Florida. So the first thing I did was to check my tires out this spring. The next two pictures show the problems I found on the right front tire. Can you see the red arrows pointing at the cuts? The belts are beginning to separate.
Fortunately the other three tires looked okay. Remember from the August post that one of the tires was replaced last fall. Can you see the difference on the tires below?
I headed over to Discount Tire this morning and they confirmed my diagnosis. They had to order a tire from their warehouse and said it would be in this afternoon between 2:30 and 5:00 PM so I headed back home with the RV. About 3:00 PM I headed back over to miss some of the Friday afternoon traffic as Discount Tire is in the Forum, a large strip mall. Just as I pulled over in the Kohl's parking lot right next door to Discount, my phone rang and Roy told me my tire was in. I said "Great, I'm here!" So he told me to come around the front of their lot and pull just beyond the last bay. I chocked my tires and jacked up the front of the RV so there wouldn't be any movement and then I sat in my truck with a book until it was my turn.
Corey arrived about 15 minutes later and quickly took off the wheel so he could remove the defective tire and put the new one on the rim.
It didn't take long to mount and balance it and then he was back outside to replace the wheel.
About 4:15 PM, I was headed back home. I wasn't really worried about the traffic. My biggest concern was that we will in a cul-de-sac and many of my neighbors angle park their cars out in the street instead of putting them all in their driveways which makes it rather difficult to make the wide sweeping turn so that I can back in to our driveway. Well, I lucked out and the worst offenders were not at home yet. Yes! The neighbors on either side of us stick out a little but are pulled most of the way into their drives so they are not a problem. No audience so I backed in almost all the way, hopped out to check the placement and backed in a few feet further. After that it was not long before I had the truck unhooked and pulled in next to the RV. Good thing as the longdogs were getting pretty excited watching me out the front window.
Be sure you check your tires! It's not hard and it is really important.
When you buy new tires do you check the date on them?
ReplyDeleteVery good point Susan. I should have addressed that. Generally, replacement of RV tires is generally based on age (and accompanying crazing and cracking of the sidewalls) rather than miles. Of course, if you are a full-timer putting a lot of miles on your RV, that may differ. So you should check the age of your existing tires. You should also check the age of new tires because you don't want to buy a "new" tire that has already sat in the warehouse for a couple of years. So how do you do that? Well, I had a nifty picture but it won't post here in comments so.....
DeleteDOT U2LL LMLR0413 Find a code like this on the tire.
The "U2LL" tells the code of the manufacturing plant. The "0413" tells you that the tire was manufactured in the 4th week of 2013
...in other words, the end of January 2013. It's based on weeks in the year not a specific date. Hope this helps.
Sure glad you found those problems with the tire before heading out. No more tire problems for you. I can just imagine the pups going nuts at the window. So cute. Our son's drive way is on a cul de sac also so I know exactly what you mean about the cars. Have fun.
ReplyDeleteGood catch on the tire. Tires are my biggest worry. Have had so much trouble with the inside dual tires over the years.
ReplyDeleteBet the long dogs are ready for a trip. See you soon.
Hardly anything more important than the tires. If they don't hold up you are not going any place. Good information on the date. I knew about a date but didn't know how to check. Good post
ReplyDeleteGood PM work Colleen! I so try my best to catch problems early; but the tire one did get me when I first got my rig. The tread looked good; but a blow out later (that thankfully only caused minor damage) and I had a hard lesson under my belt!
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