Tire Question

stenzack

Advanced Member
Joined
May 22, 2015
Posts
34
Location
Mechanicsburg
Last winter I parked my Melbourne Class C on a storage lot, the surface of which was gravel. Needless to say, I put blocks of 2 x 10 lumber under each tire to create a smooth surface. This year, my MH is parked on a nice, flat surface of smooth blacktop. I would assume that there is no reason to put those blocks under the tires this winter. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Tires on ??

Frankly, perhaps because I parked a variety of vehicles - RV, ATV, trucks, etc., for extended periods of time in Alaska, prefer gravel. In cold weather, tires tend to flatten on the bottoms creating a flat area that takes, sometimes quite a few miles (depending on how long they'd been sitting and outside temp) to "round out". Additionally, I've had, because of rain, snow, then low temps, the flatter surfaces freeze to the tire causing chunks of rubber to stick to those flat surfaces, separate from the tire and eventually "chunk off" the tire, obviously reducing tire integrity. Reasonably course gravel precludes that because the tire isn't freezing to an even flat surface; the gravel's uneven surface allows water to drain and reduce freezing surface. Mechanicsburg's winter temps may ameliorate that condition, but I see no reason I can think of (other than a storage facility's requirement) to store your RV on a completely flat surface.
 
Not saying it's right or wrong, but I park mine right on my blacktop driveway. Haven't had any issues thus far. Would prefer a carport or barn with concrete floor but that'll have to wait another year or two...
 
I park mine on a gravel driveway I added behind my house. I have several trailers back there including a heavy boat, car hauler and a large enclosed trailer. None have exhibited any negative effect from being parked on gravel.
 
In my experience this is just a personal preference sort of thing. I don't think there is any hard evidence that one type of surface is any better or worse than another for long term storage.
 
Mine is just parked on the sandy clay soil (and sand burrs and other weeds) of the vacant lot next door that we bought so we had a place to put a storage shed, and now it's parking for our TT as well. We plan to put gravel on that end of the lot next spring, and then the trailer will just rest on that.
 

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