tire covers, yea or nay

[obie311]

Since I am investing in new tires, I was wondering if the vinyl type tire covers help increase the useful life of the tires? My storage is outdoors, completely unprotected from UV and environmental factors. There is a busy interstate highway about a half a mile away.

My 8 y/o OE Goodyear 614's look good even though they haven't been covered but I'm replacing on basis of time, not appearance.

[thomasmnile]

I used them when our trailers were in the storage yard but not when traveling. Camco tire covers I believe they were. Apparently they took the bullet for the tires with sun exposure because they cracked and crumbled after 4 years. Same thing happened with the AC covers, but they were more for keeping mud daubers and paper wasps from setting up residence on the condenser coil and inside the AC housing.

[ssthrd]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I am in the sun basically 365 and never use a cover and never have had any cracking.

I was too. Face is a bit cracked, but always had a shirt on so my spare tire is fine.

I’m on the nay side.

[FlatBroke]

Our two 20 year pickups have never seen the inside of a garage and never had cracks.

[wa8yxm]

They look good. they do not improve tire life.
Now if you were to put say a sheet of quarter inch partical board in front of the tire and put the cover over that.. it MIGHT work to improve the tire life

But those covers are fairly transparent to the UV light that damages the tires.

[delwhjr]

If parked in sun, then yes use them. If just stopped for night or few hours, no.

[PA12DRVR]

Never used the covers when I was actively RV'ng since I parked out of the sun (3-wall carport), so FWIW:

- Lost 3 out of 4 tires on an ATV wagon due to sunchecking / dry rot even in Alaska. It only rolled about 2x per month between May - September and sat for the rest of the time (except for reposition to get out of the way for snowplowing). Lost the tires after about 4 years of that pattern...cheapo ATV type tires, FWIW.
- Several colleagues fly bush planes with high dollar (think $2,XXX per pair) tires on them. They always cover (even in Alaska, and even in the winter) when parked and most will take fabric covers (even though it adds a few pounds) when they fly into the backcountry and plan on the plane being parked for a few days.
- My airplane (with the above high dollar tires) sits in a hangar most of the time, but I take tire covers along when I fly out of town for more than 1 night. My 2-touchdown per landing skills will likely be what dooms my tires, but putting the covers on or off is worth it for whatever protection is provided.

[Cummins12V98]

I am in the sun basically 365 and never use a cover and never have had any cracking.

[Sagebrush]

White covers reduce the temperatures the tires experience sitting in the sun, it also reduces the UV exposure. The rubber does last a bit longer if they sit a lot in the sun. Doesn't matter if your moving it every week though.

I see much less weather cracks these days on my various tires I have on cars, trucks and trailers. I have a collection of stuff around the hobby farm. Many times the 4 year old trailer tires just fail suddenly while still looking okay on the outside.

[johnhicks]

https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/learn/tire-care-maintenance/dry-rot-tires

[smarty]

there is no nay

[BobsYourUncle]

Couple years ago I saw the coolest tire covers I've ever seen.

They had pieces of plywood that fit in there nicely against the wheels, and on that plywood was painted wheels to look identical to the rims and tires.
I really had to look twice when I saw it. What a great idea!

[BB_TX]

spoon059 wrote:
I'm not sure if it helps them last any longer or not. Its far better for the tires to be driven on a more regular basis. It sure won't HURT the tires to cover them.

Agree. But I replaced a set of Michelin after 8 years never covered and still looked practically new. No cracking at all. Me? I wouldn’t bother. Just one more thing to mess with.

[wildtoad]

If you plan to park a RV for several months where the sun shines, perhaps covers will provide benefit. But a frequently used RV benefits best from keeping the tires clean, and rolling down the road. Using a product like 303 adds a bit of UV protection which is good.

[Lwiddis]

Wouldn’t consider not using covers if parked for more than five days.