Help this newby to understand tire wear.

[edmojenks]

I have owned a Montana 3150 for going on four years now. This is my first RV. I pull it with a Chevy Silverado 2500 HD.

I replaced those horrid factory issued tires after I had a blowout. Replaced them with Goodyear G614 - LT 235/85

I have about 5,000 miles on these new tires. Still have great tread, but I am begining to notice wear at a rate that I didn't expect. Then again, I am used to looking at tire wear on a vehicle. I bought tires for my truck soon after buying these and they almost look like the day I bought them. I assume tire wear on a 2 ton + vehicle would be excellerated, but maybe not. The tire wear is even and I watch my air pressure.

I guess the bottom line question is generally speaking, how many miles do you guys get out of quality tires?

[BB_TX]

I put Michelin XPS Ribs on mine in June '08. Have over 12,000 miles on them and I can hardly tell they are worn at all.

[8.1al]

With only 5,000 miles you shoudn't be able to see any wear

[edmojenks]

Wonder what could be causing the tire wear? I do watch the tire pressure and I limit my interstate speed to 60-65 mph. One friend suggested I go have the trailer tested to see if there was an alignment problem. Have no clue what that would cost or if that is a general practice.

[bncinwv]

I think the first thing I would recommend is to get under the rig and visually inspect the spring shackles and all associated parts of the suspension system. It may be a revealing look, however, the puzzling part is you state that the tires are wearing evenly, which I assume means all four tires. Check the tread depths manually across each tire, since sometimes uneven wear is not obvious to the eye. It may give you some clues as to how to proceed (toe-in, toe-out, etc.).
Bingo

[1retired06]

quote:Originally posted by 8.1al

With only 5,000 miles you shoudn't be able to see any wear

X2!

[Ozz]

Can you get some good pictures? (Try Tinypic's for sizing help)
Bingo's post has good info in it.

[DQDick]

Trailer tires should be replaced due to age, in most cases long before they wear out. One thing you might check is the torque on your U bolts. Should be 75# and seldom is from the factory.

[dieselguy]

About any trailer or axle and spring repair business will either direct you to a place to get your alignment and related components checked or will do it themselves. Don't waste time going to Sears, Tires Plus, NTB, or generally an automotive tire store ... they won't be able to take care of you. Some RV dealerships have the facilities, but darned few. Most just send your unit down the road to a business I mentioned earlier after you drop it off. As eluded to in earlier posts ... a properly aligned trailer tires tread will most definitely outlast the life cycle of the tire itself.

[RJI47]

I'm wondering if the wear in on all 4 tires or just 1 or 2? Front axle or rear?? I doubt speed has anything to do with it as those tires are rated for something like 100 mph. Is the wear on the center tred, or one of the out/inside treads? Just some questions to ponder.

[mhs4771]

Something is wrong. Had almost 20K on the 614s we put on our Montana when we traded it and they still looked almost new. Have 7K on the 614s on our SOB and no signs of wear on them at all.

[lasater]

A similar thing happened to me...unusual wear. I had an RV Doctor check it out and found that the axles were out of alignment by almost an inch. No idea how or why the misalignment occurred. But, after getting realigned, tread wear disappeared.

[Hooker]

I had one RV tire that was wearing badly...thought the axle was out of line. Turned out it was a bad Mission tire.

[edmojenks]

quote:Originally posted by RJI47

I'm wondering if the wear in on all 4 tires or just 1 or 2? Front axle or rear?? I doubt speed has anything to do with it as those tires are rated for something like 100 mph. Is the wear on the center tred, or one of the out/inside treads? Just some questions to ponder.

The wear is all 4 tires. The wear spans from the edge of the tire across the width of the tire.

I'm taking it in to get the alignment checked and I'm going to a specialty shop to do that.

[Art-n-Marge]

I recall costs in around the $200 to $300 to have this work done from posts in the past. I believe the cost includes the axle alignment.

While it sounds like a lot of money for an alignment, when you find out what they have to do to get the axles aligned, then you might understand why I think that doesn't sound like a bad price. It entails bending the axles with special machinery to create the alignment that's needed.

There's also a possibility than the spindles at the ends of the axles are the problem, then it gets more expensive because this might mean new axles and the labor to go with it.

Good luck with the alignment. I hope if they find something, it gets fixed as cheap as possible, but putting the problem behind you has got be be of some value too. Most things gotta be cheaper than replacing tires prematurely.