Trailer tires- Expiration date?

[Water Romper]

I never gave this much thought but.....
I took the trailer in (tandem Competitive w/ surge breaks) for general service, flushed hydraulic fluid, pack wheel bearings, check breaks etc, no big deal.

Guy at the shop (Commercial Tire) tells me my tires are "past their due date and need to be replaced" these tires have 95+ tread left, no cracks, no splitting, no visible signs of anything negative, they actually look pretty new. I have no idea how old these tires are, I purchased the (used) boat/trailer last year so I don't know the history.
I mentioned I will be going to Havasu this Summer (Hallett's on Havasu) and he said "No way to trailer the boat that far, with the heat on these tires" I'm coming from Boise, ID.

Is this a real thing? My truck tires are usually replaced every 4 years or so, so I never have dealt with tires expiring.

 

[Runs2rch]

Look at the date on the tires. Tread means nothing with trailer or RV tires. Age does. Towing far I changed every 3 or 4 seasons. Now that it's 2 min to the ramp I go 5 or 6.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Every tire has a date code of manufacturer and has an "expiration date". I had a vehicle I wanted to take the existing tires off and mount them on new wheels for a spare set and the tire place refused because the tires had reached an age from the date code that they said they couldn't touch them.

Trailer tires are the same, just driven less. I got a boat that was about 7 years old with the trailer and I just swapped out the tires (that came on the trailer when it was built) because of age, not looks or mileage.

 

[outboard_256]

if my tires are over 5 years old I just replace them. After you repair damage from a blown tire that is just whipping your fenders or trailer until you pull over you will not want to do that again.

 

[aj923]

Hot asphalt and old tires don't mix. Take a look on the highways once it starts hitting 100 degrees outside. Chunks of tire everywhere. I tow from Phoenix to Havasu and I replace tires every 3 years on my trailers.

 

[Singleton]

Look on the tire you should see a 4 digit code.
example 4214 - are the codes on my boat trailer
that code Equals manufacturing date of 2014 week 42.

My trailer does Havasu to Carlsbad once a year and then 10 miles of in town driving when in Havasu.
I will be replacing this fall, unless the boat needs to go back to Carlsbad this summer (if that is needed, they will be replaced before that trip). I will replace all 7 (even though the spare has not touched the road). I also rotate the trailer trailer annually and usually replace the boat trailer tires every 5-6 years.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

5 years and they get replaced, foolish not to for what it costs and the cost of crashing or tearing up your trailer or RV

 

[grumpy88]

I just went through this a few months ago . My wife took our toy hauler in for new tires and when she got home i checked the date . 3 were almost 1 year old and one was 9 months . I talked to the manager and he said there is no law on how old a tire can be before they can not sell it . He replaced all 4 for me with out much hassle and will keep my buisness for now .

 

[Water Romper]

Well ill be darn, all these years buying tires etc and i never knew about an expiration date, ha- learn somthing new everyday, thanks gang!!

 

[farmo83]

My old man rolled around our old family jet boat on a single axle for 20 years without a spare and never had a problem. Some people are just lucky I guess.

I think I got 5 years out of my last set before one of them exploded on the way home from the lake last July 4th.

 

[Water Romper]

The fanciest boat on the water don't mean crap if the trailer/ tires grenade. Again, I always "looked" at tires, never paying attention to expiration dates. I'm going to look this weekend at the tires to see how bad off they really are (exp. wise) I might be rolling on a ticking time bomb. Had I known, I could have used this as a bargaining tool to knock a few extra bucks when I bought the boat. Looks like I'm spending another $400.00 to keep boating, Come on Biden, send me my check!

 

[Water Romper]

I just went through this a few months ago . My wife took our toy hauler in for new tires and when she got home i checked the date . 3 were almost 1 year old and one was 9 months . I talked to the manager and he said there is no law on how old a tire can be before they can not sell it . He replaced all 4 for me with out much hassle and will keep my business for now .

This is a good point (now that I am a tire expert) Go to the grocery store, I look at the exp. date on all perishables, milk as 3 days left of shelf life, put it back. Now when I buy tires, I'm going to hold firm that I want "new" tires with a long Exp date. The good thing is, the boat trailer, truck, wife's SUV are nothing special, we most likely have common tire sizes that are purchased by the general public often so inventory cycles on a regular basis. At least that's my hope

 

[HALLETT BOY]

Chinese made tires need replacing way sooner than any other manufacturer . ST tires have no minimum standards , or are extremely low , than passenger / light truck . I will never put ST tires back on again after blowing so many with most being only 3 years age . Good luck

 

[rivermobster]

Well ill be darn, all these years buying tires etc and i never knew about an expiration date, ha- learn somthing new everyday, thanks gang!!

https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11