Trailer tires.

[Lou C]

I hope you bought new tires for her!

Agreed, 10 years is really the reasonable max time to use tires for, even if they look great outside, who knows what the inside looks like. I have a set of General Grabber AT2s on my oldest Jeep that are turning 10 years old, they probably have like 20K miles at most on them, they look like new, no cracks but still. So probably will go with another set of those. This is the second set of the same tire that I got 10 years out of, I had them on my 2007 Grand Cheorkee as well.

 

[bruceb58]

very few
the ramp is 3/4 of a mile from my house, the farthest I will tow it is to the 'glass shop who does work for me once in a while, he's down in Lindenhurst LI so round trip it's like 22 miles or something like that. I know, I can just stick with the bias ply Kenda Loadstar K550s I have always used. We are surrounded with water here on Long Island so not much of a reason for long distance towing.
The jack, impact gun etc, is because of the gravel/dirt lot at the beach, and the ramp itself, I like to be prepared! Ramp is a lot better than it used to be but still. That's one benefit of the bias ply tires I use, the sidewalls are stronger than the same size radial most of which only have a 2 ply polyester sidewall, whereas a Load Range D bias tire has 4.

I fail to see the reason you care a whole lot about tires. You could put the cheapest tires on there.

 

[bruceb58]

The guideline from most tire companies are to replace at 6 years from tire manufacture date. In the case of Michelin 10 years from manufacture date is is their absolute maximum.

 

[Pmt133]

I've noticed on vehicles around the 5 year mark the driving characteristics are severely changed from new. That's about as long as I get out of tires on my daily though. Start getting the "squeal" even on mild turns on off ramps. Last set went 130k miles though so doing them every 4-5 years isn't much a problem. The Corvette ages out though. And the 55 has tires older than me on it but not my car, not my money.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I've noticed on vehicles around the 5 year mark the driving characteristics are severely changed from new. That's about as long as I get out of tires on my daily though. Start getting the "squeal" even on mild turns on off ramps. Last set went 130k miles though so doing them every 4-5 years isn't much a problem. The Corvette ages out though. And the 55 has tires older than me on it but not my car, not my money.

What tires did you get 130k miles out of?

 

[Pmt133]

What tires did you get 130k miles out of?

Michelin defenders. Expensive but seem to be one of the few I get my money's worth out of. Had a set of hankook tires on my 04 that went 110k too. Religious about rotation every 10k or so and keep the alignment tight.

 

[Lou C]

I've noticed on vehicles around the 5 year mark the driving characteristics are severely changed from new. That's about as long as I get out of tires on my daily though. Start getting the "squeal" even on mild turns on off ramps. Last set went 130k miles though so doing them every 4-5 years isn't much a problem. The Corvette ages out though. And the 55 has tires older than me on it but not my car, not my money.

I think that's common, the rubber is starting to oxidize and dry out and becomes stiffer, so you lose grip. Especially noticeable in wet conditions.
Same thing with the bellows on an I/O boat, the rubber starts to get dry and stiff and then you start seeing the small cracks forming in the folds.

 

[Lou C]

I fail to see the reason you care a whole lot about tires. You could put the cheapest tires on there.

Even with only local driving, safety, esp with a single axle trailer. Yeah I know most people don't even think twice about any of this, they don't know that the trailer is overloaded, the brakes don't work, etc. Boating is stressful enough without having trailer problems to add to it. Funny thing the guys at the boat yard always comment on my trailer, because it's one of the few that they see where everything works, tires are relatively new, brakes work, all rollers are in good shape etc. The do a lot of bottom painting so they notice stuff like that.
The tires I'm using now and will probably continue to use are among the least expensive but not the cheapest. Kenda Loadstar K550 bias, about $140 each in 225/75-15. Each set I have used, I get about 6-8 years out of them before I start to see cracks. That's when I change them. Probably could use them longer though because bias tires are not as susceptible to tread separations as radials can be.