Brian,

My comment about ELT batteries was made to illustrate Peter does do certain things that are time related even though the product is far from "used up".

Our tires are as critical as an ELT battery.

I wrote to Michelin and posted their response, verbatim. I can't find the post but it is here somewhere on this forum. But I did read the Michelin warrany. To explain further your excellent analysis of what everybody offers for warrany, Michelin is very specific in saying motorhome tires have a warranty up to five years.

They explain a few things that may help explain why their posture on five years compared to seven for commercial applications. Look for their warranty. In it they state that waxes and emolients migrate to the surface of the tires via flexing (as in use) and those compounds will help prevent the drying and cracking of the sidewalls (my words). We of course fail on that point. Secondly in the warranty booklet they also point out that for storage we have to raise the tires from the floor and keep them in a cool dry environment. We likely fail on that point. If we were to do those two things I would support Peter's posture 100%.

I personally would rather was money to prevent the potential harm that could occur due to a failed tire. We cruise at highways speeds often only a few feet from other motorists. We do not exercise our tires regularly, and I doubt if anyone except Dale takes the weight from their tires. Should one of our tires fail the good news is that our only cost is a roadside service call. More likely we will tear something up, and potentially we can have an accident.

Everybody needs to decide what they want to do based on whatever information they can glean from all the sources.

But to compare our bus tires with plane tires or tires on cars is not realistic. I calculate my plane tires are compounded for resistance to aging and not tread wear, unlike our bus tires. My tires might get 600 to 1000 landings, and might get 1000 to 1500 miles out of them. But they do not seem affected by age.

My car tires do not age well because as they age they seem less quiet and they lose the soft ride they offer when new. But they don't show signs of age indicating they are formulated different than the bus or plane tires. My point is that I Michelin wanted to sell more tires they would claim tey lasted seven years or ten years instead of saying five years, knowing we will shop for the cheapest that will make it for five years without blowing out.