How to Make Your RV Tires Last a Long Time

If you’re like most people, your RV probably spends a lot more time parked than your car, increasing the risk of flat spotting or weather checking from being parked rather than rolling. When it comes to RV tires, the concern isn’t so much the mileage traveled or the treadwear rating; it’s the duty cycle – the amount of time spent in service vs being parked.

So, where do you start? What are the best practices for helping to ensure that your RV tires remain in good working condition without succumbing to the ravages of time before you’ve had the chance to get some real mileage out of them? We’ve put together a list of some of the best things you can do to keep your RV tires at peak operating condition.

Buy an RV Tire with a Long Warranty

Protective actions are one thing, but at the end of the day, one of the absolute best moves you can make for your RV tires is simply to make sure you’ve bought good ones to begin with, preferably with a long, comprehensive manufacturer warranty. One of the newest offerings on the market, the Sailun S637T trailer tire, has an industry-leading 8-year warranty. That’s an incredibly long time to have a set of tires on any vehicle, RV or not. This tire is constructed far more the way a transport truck tire is constructed vs the typical ST tire construction which is why it is able to utilize higher air pressure and carry increased loads.

The S637T is designed for RV trailers, as well as fifth-wheel, utility, and boat trailers. This tire has plenty of other selling points including multi-sipes for superior wet-weather traction and heat dissipation, a five-rib design for good water evacuation, solid shoulder for stability, and all-steel construction. All these attributes give the tire outstanding durability, strength, load capacity, and low rolling resistance. It’s one of the best offerings yet from a company that routinely exceeds the performance of some of the other, more established tire brands. Sailun Tire accomplishes this without compromising quality and performance at a remarkably competitive price.

Check the new Sailun S637T out for yourself at goSailun.com.

Keep Your RV Tires Topped Off, Especially While It’s Sitting

Tire flat-spotting can occur as a result of the layers of rubber and steel belts being compressed by the weight of the vehicle being parked for extended periods. Over time, a flat-spot in the steel belts and rubber can develop. Normally, this flat-spot will “work itself” out after the tire warms up and rolls down the road. In severe cases, it can become permanent.

Ensure your tires are properly inflated when sitting or storing your trailer. You can add 10-15 psi more pressure since, over time, the inflation will drop slightly. Make sure to check the inflation and adjust before you put your trailer back into use. If possible, put your trailer on jack stands to take the weight off the tires during those extended periods of non-use.

Move Your RV Regularly

Back to that flat-spotting condition described above: in addition to making sure your tires are topped off with air at all times, the best thing you can do to fight it off is make sure your RV is moving regularly, even if only over a short distance. The key is to ensure that your RV is coming to rest on a new patch of tire so that it doesn’t spend too long pressing any one patch against the pavement.

Park Your RV Inside, Or Cover It Up

Rubber is a durable material, but nothing on earth is immune to the elements, and all the rain, snow, frigid cold, baking heat from the sun, and solar rays can really do a number on your tires. Precipitation can actually hasten the process of your tire rubber losing its natural oils and drying out, pulling oil out of the rubber with time. UV rays from the sun can cause color fade, weather cracking and a loss of material strength.

Parking your RV indoors during the off-season can go a long way toward helping protect its tires from this environmental damage. Of course, not everyone has access to indoor storage so even covering your RV and/or tires with a good weather-resistant vehicle cover can help fight the elements and keep your tires looking and performing like new.

Of course, the best remedy is to take your RV for regular drives but, depending on the time of year – and where you live – that won’t always be an option. Making sure your tires roll over regularly is the most important part.

Use A High-Quality Tire Protectant



UV rays can really do some damage to your RV tires. In fact, it’s one of the number one causes of dry rot, breaking the rubber down and causing it to lose its integrity and crack. One of the best defenses? A good, high-quality UV tire protectant. Tire protectant is a water-based chemical concoction that rejects UV rays and fights dry rot – and it typically looks good doing it, as many tire protectant products out there also help restore the rubber back to black and give your tires a nice shine.

Lead photo by Pexels from Pixabay.com