Excessive Tire Wear?

[Keith Hughes]

We did a trip out west last fall from western PA, north of Pittsburgh, traversing around 4200 miles while towing our 2021 3121RL fifth wheel up and through the Big Horn mountains and the Rockies. The RV did well but noticed unusual and excessive tire wear on the outside and inside edges of the tires creating a groove there. Except for the distance covered this trip and some of the mountainous terrain, there was nothing unusual about the trip. We were carrying our usual amount of cargo and kept the tires inflated at 110 psi which is the pressure we’ve been keeping them at for all our other trips. Was wondering if anyone would have any thoughts concerning what might have caused this – tire age (just past four years now), wheel bearing issues, suspension/alignment issues???

We plan to replace the tries given this wear and their age of four years even though the mileage on them is just shy of 18,000 and the tread depth is still fine. We’re probably replacing them with the same brand that are currently on the RV – Sailuns S637, ST235/80R16, 14 ply, G rated ones. Also, do you think the tires are still safe in their current condition? Pictures and location of each tire are posted. TIA!

 

[C&P RV]

I have this exact "wavy" wear pattern on my OE tires with about 22k miles on them. The date codes on my tires are 3721 and 4221. I reached out to Sailun's USA distributor asking for an adjustment under their warranty and was told to get the tires inspected by a "truck tire" dealer. That's on my list to do in the next couple of weeks as my Montana is in storage and with the holidays I haven't found the time to pull a tire and take it to a dealer. I have more pics but this one is the best from a lighting perspective. There was another post recently that showed similar wear - https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91934
Personally I feel like the tire has some type of defect in the way the belts were placed in the casing during manufacturing but its my opinion without a tire professional coming to the same conclusion. In my case the two tires in question are on opposite sides and different axles. My other two tires were replaced very early in their lifetime by Treddit because they were out of round. The replacements aren't showing this irregular wear (~10k miles on the replacements.)

 

[LeftOverParts]

We have the same exact wear on 3 of our tires. There was a post on this topic within the last couple months. My take away was that it’s normal and a number of folks mentioned it’s from tighter turns where the wheels tilt rather significantly due to the axles being on different turning radii, causing the tires to scrub the pavement.

That being said, it’s odd to me in our case anyway that 3 tires have it. When I did a bearing repack a couple weeks ago, I made sure there was no play in the wheel when the axle nut is finger tightened and locked down with the D washer. I noticed the D washer can allow the nut to turn slightly if the tangs aren’t bent well enough. Speculating and might be totally wrong but I was wondering if a slight amount of bearing play, could cause this type of tire wear. (During the repack, I found the bearings looked good and nothing unusual with them or the races. Smooth turning afterwards and none of the wheels got hot during our recent 700 mile trip.)

 

[Keith Hughes]

Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback!!

 

[tractor-MOC]

I’ve got a 2 yo set of sailuns doing the same thing. The guy that posted about contacting warranty you get anything done. I bought mine online somewhere.

 

[Randy E]

I have a 2017 3791RD. Bought it brand new and my tires did exactly the same thing. I also live in western Oa. I took my trailer to Commercial Truck and Trailer in Giard Ohio. Right off of I-80. They checked the axles and found that the forward axle was 7/8” out of square. It was welded wrong. That made me a little anxious. He said they could remove the axle and strip it down then send it to their press and bent it straight so it would align once it was installed. Or they could cut the hangers off and rebuild that. I asked him what that might cost and he said to remove the axle and straighten it, then laser along it once installed it was about $400. I said go ahead and fix it. 3 hours and it was done. The tires wore perfect after that. So at a minimum I’d have it inspected to see if it’s straight.

 

[Rene T]

The one thing you should do is have your rv weighed. It could be overloaded.
The next thing is have the rv wheels and axles aligned. I had mine done several years ago and they were way out of alignment. I’m in Fl and I took mine to a place called Tampa Springs

 

[tractor-MOC]

Last 2 sets didn’t do that. Seems to be the sailuns doing it. It’s all 4 tires evenly so shouldn’t be an axle. ��*

 

[LarryG82]

We had very similar wear issues on our 2021 3120, with the same tires OP has. As many suggested here on MOC, took it to a commercial truck alignment shop in Mesa, AZ. Axels were substantially out of alignment. About a $550 fix here in AZ. New tires after the alignment and all seems good now.

 

[tractor-MOC]

All they can do is bend them. There is no alignment adjustment on these like semi trailers. I could see an axle if one or two tires wearing bad but all four wearing exactly the same hard to believe both axles out the same. ��*

 

[tractor-MOC]

Not over weight only 12,740 on trailer axles. Other than bending the axles there is no alignment adjustments.

 

[Rene T]

Not over weight only 12,740 on trailer axles. Other than bending the axles there is no alignment adjustments.

Whose weight is that the OP’s or your’s?
I had wear patterns pretty much like the OP’s and it was because the wheels were misaligned . Had they had to bend the axles to align them.

 

[tractor-MOC]

My weight. I’m well under my 14,000 on axels. Old tires had no wear like that. The sailuns started to scuff on the edges first trip out.

 

[C&P RV]

I’ve got a 2 yo set of sailuns doing the same thing. The guy that posted about contacting warranty you get anything done. I bought mine online somewhere.

Today I was finally able to take one of my two tires with the wavy edge wear pattern to a truck tire company that is a TBC Brands distributor. (TBC Brands is the importer / distributor for Sailun in the US.) Several tire techs and managers looked at the tire. None of them could give an explanation for the wavy wear pattern, but they weren't willing to diagnose the tire as bad because the center of the tire shows no significant wear and they couldn't find any evidence of tread separation.

(Recap from my post above, on my rig the two tires are mounted front and rear on opposite sides of the RV. The other two tires were replaced by Treddit under their 1 yr warranty because the OE tires were out of round. The two newer tires are showing edge wear on the inside and outside edges, but no wavy pattern.)

I just ordered 2 new tires and I'll run the trailer to an alignment shop for a check before we hit the road in the spring.

 

[Derby6]

See my similar issue.
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82083&highlight=Tire

My wear evening out—so much so I couldn’t remember if it was the front or the back wearing. LOL

Stayed west past 2 years with minimal mileage so it took 2-3 years to catch up wear from 1st year coast to coast and return trip. . My plan is to keep rotating and replace when I have too. I suspect I’ll get 5-6 years so I’ll just suck it up.

I am glad to see I am not alone. It’s a simple tire issue. No need to panic and start throwing away money on tire balancing, axle repairs and swaps, etc.

 

[kingdaddy]

I'm having the same wear pattern on my Sailuns. They are fairly recent date code and are always properly inflated and not overloaded.
The inside and outside "ribs" seem to be wearing more than the middle of the tire... no real idea why. I would have to take a closer look at the trailer to see if they are all exactly the same wear. I would like to check the alignment...by that I assume we are talking camber (i.e. vertical plane) as opposed to toe (horizontal, front to back alignment)? Hard to imagine this wear is due to tire scrub...either due to alignment OR to scrubbing in turns.

 

[scottz]

I have had similar wear on several sets of times; decided it is normal.
Unusual Tire Wear