How long do trailer tires last?
20 years ago tires lasted much longer than they do today. I remember my parent’s boat trailer and travel trailer tires lasting 10 years or more with no issues at all. Today that is not the case; as a general rule of thumb trailer tires will start to separate and fail after they are roughly four years old. Sure if you keep them out of the sun you may get up to six years out of them. The sad thing about trailer tires is that when they fail they often do serious damage to the trailer fender and anything else in the area. They don’t just go flat, you will generally hear a loud pop or bang as they become completely shredded causing damage to anything the shredded mass comes in contact with. So read the date DOT date code that is branded into the tire on one side or the other. The DOT information is Alfa numeric production information followed by a four digit numeric date branded into the tire. The first two digits indicate the week of the year followed by the last two digits that indicate the year the tire was made. For example a four digit code reading 3914 would indicate that the tire was made in the 39th week of 2014. So pay attention to the age of your trailer tires and if one comes apart; chances are the rest are ready to do the same.