When to use tire covers?

[drjjj]

I know many folks cover their tires on their rigs to prevent early tire damage due to the UV light. Obviously staying one or two days somewhere would not, IMHO, justify the trouble in covering them. How long would you stay in one place to justify the benefit of covering the tires?

[bigskyjimmy]

For myself personally I never cover mine because I live and travel in the NW and West coast and Even when we travel down South I do not either because my Slides always block any Sun from the tires,BUT if I lived down South or spent more than a couple months there I would cover them for sure

[mlh]

I replace tires every 5 years regardless of wear except if they are wore out before that so I see no need to cover them.
Lynwood

[1retired06]

We cover if in one place more then 10 days or so. On our tires now here in Florida for the winter, almost every seasonal, fiver, tagalong, MH have tire covers in place.

[RKassl]

We cover tires if we don't move for a week, and now that the Montana is stored the tired are all of the ground on planks and fully covered for the winter. Have done this for 10+ years and it has worked for us.

[Art-n-Marge]

Whenever we get to our location, after manually leveling the rig side to side, and installing the X-chocks, my wife applies the covers immediately. This is before the slides are out, so we don't have to crawl under the slides.

The covers are starting to peel real bad so I can only imagine what the sidewalls would have been going through if we hadn't been doing that. We will probably be buying some new ones in about another year (12th year of having them), but I feel they are worth the money and the longer we keep them, the more valuable they become. Sure, we replace the tires about every 6 years, but hope this habit helps the tires be safer during the time we have them.

I guess you can say we've gotten our money's worth since we full time and use them just about every time the rig is NOT in transit. We move a couple dozen times a year, so do the math for how many days we use them to keep our tires covered, especially since we do mostly short trips so they aren't off but about a day per move.

[Starmaster]

We put covers on our tires for any stays great than about 10 days.

Dave

[WeBeFulltime]

Most of our full timing life is spent in the southeast and we never cover tires. The current Michelins are under slide ours on both sides and still look new after 5 1/2 years. If you are replacing tires when they should be why cover them? In my opinion just another thing for CW & others to sell.

[JandC]

All of our Montana experience involved full time except the last year. We never covered our tires because when the slides were out the tires were shaded on both sides. No storage....no tire covers. We use them now on the MH because it sits in storage for 2 or 3 months at a time with the slides in.

[timandsusan]

I agree with others--if in the shade--no need to cover. In my storage area, I cover the tires on both sides even though the passenger side is in the shade from the rig next to us and it is facing the southwest. And as others have said, at 5 years old--new tires. When traveling--I don't mess around with it.

[DQDick]

Since we spend winters in the west and summers in the midwest we cover ours whenever we're there for a week or more.

[RichR]

Almost always-never a time set

[BB_TX]

We don't use ours nearly as much as many of you. But we are in the TX heat. And I don't even have any covers. Tires are under the slides. And Monte is stored under cover, not enclosed. Michelin Ribs are 8 yrs old, but only about 25,000 miles, and still look virtually new (I know, I know. I am changing them this year).

[cpaulsen]

I cover mine anytime over a couple of days. Send a lot of time on the Oregon Coast and pretty much ruined a set of wheels on our car and did some serious spots on our other 5ver. Both sets were clear-coated and the salt air ate right thru it.

[bigskyjimmy]

We have Lived on the Wash Coast ( 1/4 mile from the beach) for about for 4 years now and I just clean my wheels every week or so and have not had any rust problems on my GMC chrome or Montana wheels,but if you do not want to do that then yeah put covers on them or you will get rust on the wheels and EVERYTHING else living on the Coast,living here you got to keep your rigs clean and I also keep a can Eastwood Anti-Rust to keep on top of any rust on the frame/pin box as well

quote:Originally posted by cpaulsen

I cover mine anytime over a couple of days. Send a lot of time on the Oregon Coast and pretty much ruined a set of wheels on our car and did some serious spots on our other 5ver. Both sets were clear-coated and the salt air ate right thru it.

[clarkandsheila]

When travelling day after day to cover miles I don't cover the tires. Once we stop for more than 3-4 days I cover the tires. Once in storage I cover the tires. Tires are costly and I do my best to do the best for them. I know they are not forever but they still can use some protection.

[Art-n-Marge]

WOW BB_TX! 8 years!! That goes against most recommendations for tires where 6-7 years is the maximum even for truck or passenger tires that still look good even with good lucking rubber from not being on the road much. Glad to hear you will be replacing them. I would imagine your 8 yeats of ownership on these tires did not mean the time was spent on the road.

Again, I believe that covers IMPROVE the life of tires, in that they prevent slow down or eliminate premature tire wear to keep them stronger while they are on a vehicle. In BB_TX's case, the rig is somewhat covered.

I've also wondered if the fact Texas is more humid than California helps the tires more than not. So I would think Arizona with its dry heat and no ocean has got to be really bad for tires long term.

[Mark N.]

If you are worried about UV damage, then it just all depends on where you are located, and what time of year. I store mine all winter in S.Utah, and the sun is so low in the sky all winter there IS no UV level to worry about. By May, that changes. For the same reason it take s a long, long time for me to get sunburned in the winter, tire damage takes a long, long time too.

[PSFORD99]

quote:Originally posted by Mark N.

If you are worried about UV damage, then it just all depends on where you are located, and what time of year. I store mine all winter in S.Utah, and the sun is so low in the sky all winter there IS no UV level to worry about. By May, that changes. For the same reason it take s a long, long time for me to get sunburned in the winter, tire damage takes a long, long time too.

I generally don't cover my tires here in northern Utah this time of year, but yes cover them in the spring ,and summer.

[twindman]

I live in Mesa, AZ. If I store the trailer for more than a few weeks I cover the tires. I usually wear them out on the trailer before they age out. However, I have a nice 1989 Olds that I put about 1500-2000 miles a year on. The tires looked good at 8 years, but upon closer inspection the sidewalls were starting to crack. Then I noticed a vibration (tire guy said they were separating) so I bought new ones.