Ever wondered how a simple tire check could save your life and the lives of others on the road? That's just one of the golden nuggets you'll discover as Dan & I (Patti) deep-dive into the essentials of your motorhome tires. Joining us is Jeff Bown, the man behind the innovative mobile tire installation service for RVers, called Motorhome Tires. Save $50 by using code
Jeff, demystifies the 'five-year rule' for tire replacement, explaining how proper care can extend a tire's life, discussing how something as simple as checking DOT date codes and having a keen eye for visual inspections can avert potential disasters, and offers proven alternatives and advice, such as, tire pressure monitoring systems like Tire Minder, and how this will keep you safe on the road. Listen to this podcast for More on tire safety.
We also spoke about a revolutionary product called Rettroband Wheel Enhancement what the video to see the live saving technology if you should have a blowout.
Jeff is a volunteer pilot, for Angel MedFlight, whose heartwarming stories of transporting critical cancer patients will inspire you.
We also spoke about Flying Angels a service providing non emergency transport around the world.
We hope you never need these services but the people associated with these companies are truly angels in the sky.
Thank you for listening to this weeks podcast, we would love to hear from you, please leave us a comment or question here on the podcast or on our social media channels at
RV LIFE Podcast Instagram or RV LIFE Podcast Facebook
Special Discounts Codes: Click Link & Use Code
• Motorhome Tires: $50 discount FIND MY INSTALLER
•Thousand Trail Membership Call/Text Membership Specialist Warren & Sharon Lewis 804-366-0798
•CLEAR2O
• Open Road Fuel Card save on Diesel Fuel
•Open Roads Innovative Tolling Solutions
Toll pass, all 48 state & customer support
• Open Road Resorts Mention RV LIFE Podcast
• Harvest Hosts • Boondockers Welcome
Code: HUNT20 for 20% off
• AirSkirts
Receive $100 off any kit purchase. Use Discount Code: RVPOD
Sponsors
• National Indoor RV Centers
Ever wondered how a simple tire check could save your life and the lives of others on the road? That's just one of the golden nuggets you'll discover as Dan & I (Patti) deep-dive into the essentials of your motorhome tires. Joining us is Jeff Bown, the man behind the innovative mobile tire installation service for RVers, called Motorhome Tires. Save $50 by using code
Jeff, demystifies the 'five-year rule' for tire replacement, explaining how proper care can extend a tire's life, discussing how something as simple as checking DOT date codes and having a keen eye for visual inspections can avert potential disasters, and offers proven alternatives and advice, such as, tire pressure monitoring systems like Tire Minder, and how this will keep you safe on the road. Listen to this podcast for More on tire safety.
We also spoke about a revolutionary product called Rettroband Wheel Enhancement what the video to see the live saving technology if you should have a blowout.
Jeff is a volunteer pilot, for Angel MedFlight, whose heartwarming stories of transporting critical cancer patients will inspire you.
We also spoke about Flying Angels a service providing non emergency transport around the world.
We hope you never need these services but the people associated with these companies are truly angels in the sky.
Thank you for listening to this weeks podcast, we would love to hear from you, please leave us a comment or question here on the podcast or on our social media channels at
RV LIFE Podcast Instagram or RV LIFE Podcast Facebook
Special Discounts Codes: Click Link & Use Code
• Motorhome Tires: $50 discount FIND MY INSTALLER
•Thousand Trail Membership Call/Text Membership Specialist Warren & Sharon Lewis 804-366-0798
•CLEAR2O
• Open Road Fuel Card save on Diesel Fuel
•Open Roads Innovative Tolling Solutions
Toll pass, all 48 state & customer support
• Open Road Resorts Mention RV LIFE Podcast
• Harvest Hosts • Boondockers Welcome
Code: HUNT20 for 20% off
• AirSkirts
Receive $100 off any kit purchase. Use Discount Code: RVPOD
Sponsors
• National Indoor RV Centers
When was the last time you checked the dot dates on your motor home tires? This is the RV Live Podcast. I'm your host, dan Hunt, with my incredible wife, fattie Hunt, and today we have a special guest for you. He has solved your tire issue. This company comes to you and installs your new motor home tires, no matter where you are. You could be at the campground, you could be at your storage unit, you could be in your driveway. They'll come to you and they'll put new tires on your motor home.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's actually been three years since we've been on the road. It just boggles my mind that we started this journey three years ago and we started with the intention of inspiring people to get out, see the country, enjoy life, and I guess we're just. I just want to say how grateful we are to be starting our fourth year of full-time RV living. It's so exciting to say that.
Speaker 1:I want to be so grateful that we're starting our fourth year and we haven't had a tire blot.
Speaker 2:Okay, not cold wood or something Okay.
Speaker 1:Now that sounds mean it's time for today's Fun Fact. And Fun Fact is brought to you by Open Roads Resorts with four great locations Two in Montana, one in Idaho and one in Texas. Patty, your Fun Fact.
Speaker 2:The Fun Fact, which isn't such a fun fact. It's not so fun but it's. According to the latest statistics reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the tire blowouts caused 78,392 accidents. I know our guest is, we could see him and he's shaking his head. That's a staggering number of accidents.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll tell you one of my fears, and I don't have very many of them. I do a whole lecture on fear and I don't really believe in fear. But one of my biggest fears is having a blowout while I'm going down the road, and we've all seen pictures and we've all seen videos of bad blowouts and accidents that they cause. But good tires on our IV gives me peace of mind as we have driven across the country.
Speaker 2:Now the times Absolutely A lot of driving we've done. Now let's talk a little bit more about our sponsor, open Road Resorts, because we're so excited to announce their location called Red Rock RV Resort, and it is right outside the western gate of Yellowstone National Park. They now offer monthly sites and that lets you see Yellowstone, big Sky, the T-tons, for a lower price the longer you stay. John and I cannot wait to get to Yellowstone this summer. We're going this summer, can't wait.
Speaker 1:Can't wait. It's going to be a great, great time. Well, you know, when you're RVing, there are two things that are most important for you to deal with. One is your tires and the second is your water. And you can elevate your water quality with Clear2O's RV Universal Advanced Solid Carbon Water Filter.
Speaker 2:The innovative design uses a solid carbon block made from natural renewable coconut carbon, ensuring your water is not only clean but also eco-friendly.
Speaker 1:This powerful water filter reduces iron, magninies, fluorine and other chemicals. I know. I feel that I had to say that word wrong Magninies there it is, and other chemicals that make your water smell bad, that make sure water tastes bad. And I'll tell you what we love our water filter.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's perfect for RVs and it definitely improves taste. We actually this last week pulled into a campground. It was pouring and we didn't put the filter on, and boy that water smelled so bad. The filter's back on Took a day, so it just proves how well it works. It helps your water taste better, it reduces clogs, protects your appliances. Plus, it's cost effective with replacement features providing top notch water purification. It's going to be a day for just pennies a day. We already can't talk.
Speaker 1:Don't settle for less experience. The Clear2O difference now Clear, fresh water for your RV. It is just a click away. This is the RV Life Podcast, and I first met our guest today at the Florida RV Super Show a few years ago, and boy did he make an impression. He founded his business in his garage with just his pickup truck. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I remember somebody else that started their business in a garage and guess what? They turned out pretty well.
Speaker 1:Well, today Motorhome Tires has 35 team members, $4,000 at nearly 10,000 customers. The company provides on-site mobile installation of Motorhome Tires anywhere in the 48. Now, let's not say 48. Let's include Alaska and say 49, because it's connected to the rest of us. They'll do it in your home, they'll do it in your RV park, they'll do it in your storage facility, they'll do it anywhere. Now, jeff, he really impressed me because, as most of you know on the RV Life Podcast, I am a pilot, but he also volunteers as an angel flight. He sits right seat flying a Cessna Citation jet. In his volunteer role he helps transport counterpatient to and from MD Cancer Center in Texas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we want to welcome Jeff Bounds to the RV Life Podcast. Welcome, jeff.
Speaker 3:Well, patty, it is so nice to be here, and after that introduction, I need a bigger headset, I think.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, you do. But all of that, true, I mean, that's amazing volunteer work. And here on the RV Life Podcast, people know we'd like to get to know the people that we have on. And I'll be honest, as Dan was reading about your volunteer work, we were both sitting here tearing up, so that's just a true story. We don't have video on it. We should, but we were tearing up, so talk to us about some of that. Talk to us about your volunteer work.
Speaker 3:Well, I've been flying for 45 years. I got my pilot's license before my driver's license and I was at a fly-in a few years ago and someone flew in in their citations yet and there's like happened to park the jet next to where I was parked and we struck up a conversation, turned out he was an angel flight pilot and we wound up spending the entire afternoon together and I was just so enamored by him and he turns out he is the Guinness Book of World Record holder. He's typed in 109 airplanes.
Speaker 3:I was just fooled by his story and by his passion and his wanting to help others and we just connected. And the next thing I know, he called me a week later and he said Jeff, would you like to get your type rating and assess the citation? I can help you with that.
Speaker 1:No, no, we don't want to do that.
Speaker 3:So I'm already instrument rated, commercial rated, multi-engine rated. But I didn't have any jet time and he said I can help you get your type rating and the citation. Understand that you're going to spend this time and the resources to do that all to volunteer. And I was so moved by him and his vision and his mission to help and give back that I said you know what I'm in and from the first time we picked someone up and I can just say that we folks, if we've got good health and if we can sit down and talk with one another and break bread together and laugh and joke, god's been good to us.
Speaker 3:Because the people that we pick up, they are on death's door. They're undergoing some cancer treatment and their body isn't responding and they need to get to Andy Anderson for an experimental life saving because their body is not responding to normal protocols and without this experimental treatment they won't make it. Some of them don't make it anyway and it's very sad. We had a text here about a month ago of an eight-year-old boy who was undergoing experimental treatment and Andy Anderson made the horrible decision to take him off because his body wasn't responding and he's going to be passing in 90 days and appearance. That violates some kind of law of the universe for a parent to bury their eight-year-old child. Now there's great stories too, where the body does respond to experimental treatment.
Speaker 3:But all that said, we have so much to be thankful for and it really brings things back into perspective. We tend to get worked up some time about little personal things going on, but when something like this and you see it where the rubber meets the road to tie into our theme today it just brings things into perspective and it's very heartwarming. When we drop someone off or pick someone up, I'm going to start crying if I'm not careful. And they come up and they say these are the good things about America right here. This is a good moment right here, and we thank you for your service and for what you're doing, and I'm just thankful to be able to give back in that way.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, and so everybody knows. We're all crying at this point and again, I said this to Jeff and I know, dan, you have a question, but it's about getting to know the people we are talking to. We're going to talk about tires, but you're right, it's all about the perspective and nothing in our lives this week or month or this year. We have Dan, and I have five kids and nine grandkids, and that totally puts life in perspective when you say, oh, it's a crappy day. So thank you for that, but I'll let you go, dan, now with your question.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to say that it's so important in today's environment and in today's society, especially the things that are going on all over this country, for people like you, jeff, for our friend and he was a guest on the RV Life podcast, bob Batchelor from Flying Angels. He runs a company that takes people from anywhere in the world. If they get sick or hurt, he'll transport them back on a commercial flight.
Speaker 2:Right Very different. Non-emergency service Very different.
Speaker 1:You know people like you guys that do this work. It's so important and it means so much to the people and families that get that service. You just can't explain what happens to the people. I mean it's a life-saving situation. We interviewed one of Bob's patients that was in the Swiss Alps and he had a serious, serious skiing accident and they were just not equipped to handle that where he was and they actually flew him back to be with his mother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, and he now owns a food Trump. He's still truck, he still has a hard time getting around and doing some of the things, but at the same time, he's running a business, he's got his friends and family out there working with him and, and, and he's got a life that is just so important. So that's, that's why this work is so important, and you get to fly my second favorite plane of all time, all the time.
Speaker 2:There's that part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah I, I say my second favorite plane because my, my, one of my, my life's dreams is to have a Honda site, a Honda jet.
Speaker 3:I.
Speaker 1:Honda jet. We we were at the Reno air show, one of the last one yeah, it's closed down forever. We were there and and Honda was a big sponsor of that and they had a couple of their jets there. So they let me get in and they they even let me start it up. So I was a happy person, they let me start it because it had to be moved a little bit.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I'm gonna be the voice of reason here. Get this, I guess, a little bit on track you, because we can go down this road. But you know, most of our RVers, most of our listeners, are RVers with their tires on the road, not up in the air. So you, you said you started in your garage by yourself. What made you pick tires? I mean any of our listeners that you know classes. These tires are huge and heavy, so how did you even pick them up?
Speaker 3:Prior to that, I started a fuel card company. This is back in the early 90s and so we were. I was just we had. I grew that, we were working with trucking companies and Sold that. It was a small company that sold it and had not had a non-compete. But our three largest trucking companies came to me and said you know, we spent a lot of money on tires and if you can save us a dollar on our tires, we'll buy them from you. So I okay, I can, I can do that. It doesn't violate my non-compete, which, with the fuel card stuff, I can sell tires. So that's, that was the longest short of it. I started in the tire business selling semi tires, and we still sell tractor trailer tires.
Speaker 2:Motorhome and tractor trailer time.
Speaker 3:That is correct, yeah and so. But the motorhome tire side of it started about 25 years ago when a motorhome owner just called in and said I Want to get tires on my coach and I want you to figure out how to do it. You come recommended, you can make some money. Don't scout me, but I want to spend time with the grandkids and on the golf course. I don't want to be dealing with tires and how to figure out who. Who can I and who what? I don't want to mess with any of that. Set it up, you just handle it for me. Can you do that? Yeah, and that was the very first one and that was probably 25 years ago. And from there that he knew somebody, and then somebody else do somebody, and I saw, and now fast forward to today with our, you know, 10,000 customers and 4,000 commercial dollars. That's kind of the, that's kind of the backstory.
Speaker 2:No, that's a that's a great story.
Speaker 3:I feel like I made every mistake along the way you know it's. I guess that's how.
Speaker 2:What's business if we don't?
Speaker 3:failure can, can be our, our friend, if we allow it, and I think God has. We need failure to a point. We don't want catastrophic failure, but failure can serve us, it can teach us and.
Speaker 3:You know not to go off at a too far retention, but this is where the academic road and the real world kind of take separate paths. In the academic world, when we don't learn the material, we fail right. We don't learn the stuff we test right. In the real world, when we fail we learn, and when we fail catastrophically we transform.
Speaker 2:So failure is right and and it's a great topic, as a matter of fact, march 6, the episode we had Gar on from fireside RV rentals and that's what we talked about. He talked about failing forward and facing your fear. So you know, I'm just gonna lead people to that episode as well. Now let's let's talk about, okay? So we interview a lot of people, both for the podcast and and also for our YouTube channel, exploring through our lens, and we love to ask people what is your, why?
Speaker 3:It's. I enjoy Watching others develop in a way that I never thought it would. It caught me completely off guard Watching other people gain confidence and do things that they said that they couldn't do. Is is becoming my why it's? It's it moves me, and Whether it's our as parents, you know, we see our children develop and there's a paternal thing I think that's true with me, at least with me in the, in the, in the business sense, where I see others develop and our teams develop, and I so enjoy when someone takes over a processes, it's a little clunky and mistakes are made, because we're human, we all make mistakes and over time they have become seasoned at doing that thing very well and I enjoy that. I just in a way, that I didn't expect that. It caught me completely off guard, but I enjoy that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will tell you that there is no greater feeling Then seeing somebody that you have trained to do their job, exceed in their job, and that look on that person's face when they realized that they can and they did it. It just really it turns you inside out. It it's, it's, it's a reason to keep going. We, we enjoy doing that and we see it all the time with. We do a lot of motivational speaking and and when we're up in front of a crowd and you can see Somebody in that crowd that you have turned around, yep, through what you're talking about or what you're doing, or like the time that we brought that girl up and we had her talk about fear, you know, I asked the whole crowd.
Speaker 1:Patty patty cringes every time I tell the story. What it, what is people's biggest fear? And the biggest fear is what Beaking in front of a large audience. So who has that fear? And then we had these people raise their hand and I will grow probably 20 rows back. He was ready to cry, just raising her hand, that she had the fear to speak. I had her come up on stage yeah, my microphone. And by the end of the time she got a. By the other time she was up on stage she had a standing ovation from the entire crowd, from people right yeah it was a.
Speaker 2:It's really a great and inspirational to be able to help people, be able to get people past where they are right now yeah, where they can be so what you know we're we're talking, and I was just bringing it back because One of the things I really wanted to make sure we get out here is, you know, talking about the tires, and this is something again, we have so much to talk about here. As you started the conversation, dan, they open up this show talking about those dot dates and you want to talk about fear. I think a lot of people live and Cringe if they know about a dot date. They live in, cringe about it if they don't know, we need them to know. So let's go down that road, explain what what I've even talking about, how people find yeah.
Speaker 3:In this country, the. The naming convention is the same. It's a four-digit code and the first two digits are the week of the year and the last two digits are the year itself. So a code like 1518 would mean that that tire was birthed on the 15th week of 2018. It's a little more confusing because the date codes are only on one side of the tire and the reason that that's the case is for plant efficiency, the, the.
Speaker 3:When they change the per the plates out, they only have to change out the plates on the bottom part of the press. They don't have to change the plates out on the top part and on the bottom part. So that little date code, they can just remove it from the bottom of the press and put the new one in Without having to change the top plate. So this keeps the plant moving at a higher efficiency and that's why the date codes are only on one side of the tire. But that creates some confusion in the marketplace. When someone says I can't find my date codes. Well, they might be on the other side of the inside of the tire in the case of the duals, if the date codes are put Facing each other and we can't get the date codes at all. So you know you're in there with a mirror and see it. But the naming convention is the same. The first two digits are the week and the second two digits are the year.
Speaker 2:Right now. Luckily I knew this and I'm glad we're sharing this with people, because Dan and I before we met you, unfortunately, before we met you we needed tires. So we we pulled into a Place and had tires, but on the motorhome we had to go there and we had to sit there and wait for them, which I don't ever want to do that again. But they went and put the tire on and I went, looked at it and said where are the date codes? And they said, oh, we put them backwards and I made them take them off. Luckily I knew about this. I'm so glad I made them take them off and turn the tire around so we could see those date codes.
Speaker 1:So this is very helpful information you know, we we had the opportunity this last week to tour the freight liner symbol oh my goodness yeah. Japanese, south Carolina, and I will tell you I was so impressed. One of the things. Just a little trivial piece of information here, but when they're building the, the frame Passy or a freight liner, they start upside down for the RV. The RV starts upside down and then, halfway down the line, they turn it over.
Speaker 2:You are so impressed with that. Really fun to see how excited he gets about.
Speaker 1:I mean, it probably was cool, but I was even more impressed as we're sitting there and we're watching them and and the whole tour is like ready to go on and I'm still there at the tires Because they're putting them on there upside down. At that point the chassis was upside down. When they're putting it on and and and I'm watching them, them do that, and a young kid is Bringing over the tire and he he dropped it so he picked it up, but when he picked it up, he picked it up the wrong way, so it had actually inverted itself. It turned around and one of the supervisors was watching the whole thing with me and he let him take that tire and put it up on the. What do you call?
Speaker 2:it. Yeah, the tire set on.
Speaker 1:The tire studs and he walked over to me. He said look, and he pointed out that that none of the writing was on the tire on the outside and then he made him turn it over and turn it the right way. I just was so impressed with that interaction. I kept the whole you know the whole tour and they're moving there like five stations beyond me and I'm still back Watching this, this assembly happen of tire and and it was so important and it's just nice to know that somebody's looking at all of that stuff, there's a supervisor overseeing all of that stuff.
Speaker 2:Right, and I'm gonna say that Now, that and again. Unfortunately, we met Jeff after we had our tires put on by, the more and you know Again, we've known you for over a year and the more that I've learned. First of all, we said it before you'll come out to me. I'm sitting in a campground right now, so you'd come out and just change the tires or if I go to Storage, you'll go change them there in front of my house. That is a great service and I'm sure they're gonna be put on correctly so I could see those.
Speaker 3:What? What our customers love it's. It's a couple of things. It's the convenience you know they're that if they're on a, they're at a campsite somewhere, they don't have to un, they don't have to get the coach ready to go, put the slides in, unpack, drive to an installer, sit in the showroom for four hours or five hours and can't watch the technicians do the work because the showroom they don't want people back in the in the shop area so they can't see what the work's being done. Then I got to drive the coach back, take the slides out, re hook it all back up. None and none. Our techs will come right out.
Speaker 3:There is super convenient and you can watch the work being done. You can watch what they're doing and While the tires are out that you can get up, look in the tubs, this the things look out of sorts. We got any leaks? What are the brakes look like? Then you can see the coach in ways that you can only see the coach with the wheels off. So right, it's very helpful, it's educational, it's informative and it's peace of mind that the coach owner can watch the work being done on the coach. And For those reasons the convenience factor and the educational factor customers just love the mobile installation.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh yeah now, like we usually do here on the Harvey live podcast, we kind of went down a different road from where we were. We always do that. Dates are really, really important. Explain to our listeners what the dot dates mean to them, sure, and why they should know about them.
Speaker 3:Six years is a maximum, regardless of what the tires look like. I mean, I would say six years, some people might say seven, that's your maximum. It's a funny thing though. In every case and I still talk to customers, but in the earlier days I was talking to all of them where if a customer talked about the age of the tire, in the same sentence, in the same breath, they would say have, the tires look fine. My tires are seven years old, but they look fine. Those two aren't connected. How a tire looks has nothing to do with the integrity of the belt package inside the tire. Those two elements are not connected. Now, keeping the tires covered, keeping the amount of the sun, keeping the temperature controlled, that helps the cosmetics of the tire, but it doesn't in any way affect the belt package which is buried inside the tire. And after six years those belts are done. They've just lived their life.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I have a couple of things I want to clarify here. When I learned the hard way about what the belt kind of looks like and that is because Dan and I literally dragged the Jeep that's our tow car For however long it was we dragged it We'll talk more about this. We're going to take a short break, but we'll talk more about it but so we dragged it and we burned out all four tires, and so I saw what the belt looks like, and you don't want to rub your hand across there because you'll rip your hand off.
Speaker 2:So that's number one. So people can't see the belt, it just starts to deteriorate. But what I also heard you say was covering them is great and helps the cosmetics of the tire. It's not necessarily if you say, well, I kept my tires covered every single day, but it's not going to make them last 79 plus years just for the cosmetics on it.
Speaker 3:Okay, the belts are still holding back 110 pounds PSI or whatever they put in the tire, depending on the tire size. It's 22 and a half inch tire. About 110 PSI is a good down the road. So my point is that the belts are holding back 110 PSI, which has nothing to do with having covers on the tire. Those two issues are not connected.
Speaker 2:Good to know. Good to know. We're going to come back and talk a little more about what you said, but yeah, let's take this break.
Speaker 1:Quick break here Now, as we make our plans for this coming year. We have found a company that has not won, but products that are we travelers will make your traveling easier and save you money.
Speaker 2:So when you talk about easier, open roads, innovative tolling transponder, this is a toll pass that covers all 48 states. When I tell that to people, they're shocked. They tell me there's covers 18 states or 35 states. All 48 states are covered with this transponder. It's only $24 a year and the best part is their concierge service. If you should have like a violation or you get that email that says your toll transponder or something didn't work, their concierge service will help to navigate you through that process. So you won't be paying those toll fines anymore. You'll pay your toll pass, whatever that was, and that is it. We are really excited about the open roads innovative tolling transponder.
Speaker 1:Now, because Jeff left his fuel card company in the dust for the tire company. The open roads fuel card with a free signup has saved us hundreds of dollars this year alone and it allows us to buy diesel fuel at truck stops and utilize the power of group purchases to save us the RVer money.
Speaker 2:Yes, and what's nice is we're driving down the road, we know how much gas we have, we know where we might want to stop and I, just, sitting in my comfy recliner seat in our Class A, I pull up the open roads app and I find a gas station that is in the area we want to be in and has the best price. It is so simple.
Speaker 1:Now the only problem with you doing that is you're not looking at our tire minor pressure monitoring system.
Speaker 2:You're on your phone yes, listen, I've got it all. I've got everything as the co-pilot, I've got it all under control.
Speaker 1:But if you like saving money and making your travel easier and safer, you can't afford to not have the open roads fuel card and the open roads. Innovative tolling transponder Links are in the show notes.
Speaker 2:They absolutely are and if you want, that is openroadscom and the links are in the show notes For those of you driving while you're listening to the podcast. Okay, so we want to get back to tires, tire safety, because it is big and people heard in the beginning the number of accidents because of tire issues. So if we ignore those date codes and we just keep going and going and going, a tire blowout is definitely a possibility. Right, can we talk about?
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely. And I'm reminded of something that happened recently with a customer who was driving his 45 foot coach. He's on the phone and I'm happy to be talking to him, so he's wearing his headset, driving his 45 foot coach at 65 miles an hour on a six-lane road, three lanes on each side, just straight. He's on a straight section of road. While he's talking to me and ordering tires, his steer tire blows out. His right front steer tire blew out.
Speaker 3:It sounded like a hand grenade went off inside the coach and the tone of the conversation we were having a very professional tone and all of a sudden he was like I, just I, why, why, why, why. And his coach went. Because it's a six-lane road, three lanes on each side, and he's in the left lane, on the driver's side. The blowout. You're on his coach over to the center lane and then into the right lane and then into the shoulder. Before he finally got it stopped about two feet from the concrete barrier.
Speaker 3:Now, had he been on a two-lane road or on a turn or in the rain, his 45 foot coach would went into the ditch at 65 miles an hour and his wife would be dead. So, by the hand of God, he just happened to be on the right piece of road, at a straight section of the road, and nobody was next to him in two lanes over and that's why he and his wife lived. So and when I did not know and Patty were talking about 78,000 accidents, I had no idea of the enormity of that number. I had no idea.
Speaker 3:And the sad thing is, you got to believe that nearly all of them could have been prevented if they just checked the date codes and kept fresher tires on the coach. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is really really, really, really really, really, really, really, really really. In your description there you used the pilot term that the coach yawed over to the right. And Patty had a look on her face like what the hell is he talking about?
Speaker 2:Yawed over. I got the. I got the I got the.
Speaker 1:I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got the idea we're mixing, flying and driving an RV. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it just pulled the coach over to the right and he's fighting it and couldn't fight that yaw and wound up in the corner and thankfully lived to tell about it.
Speaker 2:Right Now. There are other things that people could do to avoid problems if there is a blowout. You know, obviously the date code is important in making sure that you're budgeting to make sure you can replace those tires because they're not cheap. I mean, a lot of people will go longer because they're not cheap, but that's just part of the expense. But one of the things we've learned about is a protocol retro band and if and we we've seen videos now National Endure RV Centers is the exclusive dealer for retro band.
Speaker 1:Well, brett Brett invented the owner of RV. Yeah, he invented retro band Right.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but I'm going to let Jeff again you're the expert. We could certainly talk about what we know about retro band. We are going to have them installed as soon as we get a new RV. Can you talk about those types of products explained to our listeners? You got to really paint the picture here for them of what they are and what they look like and how they work.
Speaker 3:Retro band and I have to be blessed to be able to call both. There's really two great products as the Tyron system and retro band, and they're both excellent products I'm blessed to be able to call Now. Brett Davis is a personal friend and the owner of Tyron, chuck Thatcher, is a personal friend. They're both outstanding products. Either one will save your life. Just put them, get. Get one of those products upfront and get a TPMS system. Monitor that tire pressure. Get a TPMS system. Tpms so you know as you're driving down the road what the tire pressure is in real time. It's a dynamic testing system. It's a dynamic monitoring system. So, but that that patty back to your yeah, retro band is outstanding product and if you need it, it's like a parachute. You know when you need it. It's going to save your life. Okay, and retro band is is if you need it, it's because it's going to save your life.
Speaker 2:Can you?
Speaker 3:explain to our listeners.
Speaker 2:oh, I just want to be clear what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's use the example of your client who has a blot was on the phone of you. Yeah, Retro band unit in is steertires. This is where we're putting ours. We're putting two in the steertires. That's yeah where they tell us the difference of that experience if you would add a retro band in there.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, well, in the, in the case of the gentleman I was talking to, when he, when he had a blowout, when he's on a phone, the coach would not have yawned, to use a pilot term. He would have a full directional control of the coach. It wouldn't have pulled one way or another and the retro band can take the weight of the coach, so that now, now the weight of the coach isn't on the wheel, the weight of the coach is on the retro band, so the retro band just immediately takes over because it's inside the wheel anyway.
Speaker 2:So it's inside the wheel and if the wheel blows out, tire blows out, the tire blows out right, right, right, Getting the right words there. This kind of takes over and from what I understand, you're still able to steer number one and one and number two. You wouldn't have that sound, that explosion.
Speaker 4:Sound, but he heard you still do Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm just trying to you know. Make sure I'm clear on this, okay.
Speaker 3:Well, there's a video, it kind of the science behind it all. If you, you think about a wheel, not talking about a wheel, a tire. Now we're talking about the wheel. Okay, right In the very center of the wheel is a valley and the whole point of that valley is to mount the tire on and off the wheel. If that valley wasn't there, they couldn't mount the tire Right. And if the valley is there to make room when they're mounting and dismounting the tire, well, what the retro band and Tyron products do is reoccupy that valley so the tire now can't come off. So they will put a tire on, then they compress one sidewall, so they basically bring the sidewalls of the tire together, which re-exposes that valley. Then, while the tire is on the rim, they put the Tyron or retro band product and it reoccupies that space that's in the valley and now the tire is not able to come off the rim.
Speaker 2:That makes it clear for me and hopefully for our listeners. But to your point in you were saying there's a video.
Speaker 1:There's a video where you know talk about putting your money where your mouth is or putting your life where your mouth is yeah, brett's driving a coach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, brett's driving a coach and now he is on a test track. So he is on a closed road, sure, but they actually blew his tire and they didn't tell him when they were going to do it. They actually put an explosive device on his tire and blew that tire out while he was driving down the road. And you see this video and you see how Brett was able to just keep having his conversation. He's just driving down the road. We will put the link to that video in the show notes because this is a product that you know, and I'm not being dramatic and I usually am very dramatic, but I'm not being very dramatic when I say that this product, it would be the difference between life and death 100% 100%.
Speaker 2:But for you and the people around you, because we saw videos that Brett showed us that the RV went into somebody else, so somebody unbeknownst to them, so the people around you as well. And again, a very heavy conversation today, but very important. So you did start talking about tire pressure monitoring. I want to go deeper into that. Ben and I have been doing research on them for a year or two and we did just have the tire minder installed Right and yeah.
Speaker 2:So we had them on the. We had Michael and Jamie on the show explaining tire pressure monitoring and the importance of it, so I'll link that in the show notes. But, jeff, talk a little bit more about what that is. You also installed these tire monitoring systems, so talk a little bit why it's important for people, what it does, all of that information.
Speaker 3:Sure. Well, sometimes someone can inadvertently hit a tire. You know they're curb a tire, they're. We're going in and out of truck stops, fuel it and stuff. And if a tire gets damaged, particularly an inside dual, and they're not checking that. Well, if we run low on an air pressure out air pressure on inside dual. Now the outside dual is in an overweight capacity. It's carrying over its design single max load, and without a TPMS system the coach owner is not even aware of that. He's in it now in a dangerous situation. But with TPMS tire pressure monitoring system it mounts on the dash, the cubes screw on to the bow stems to standard thread pattern and so the driver, the coach, has a real time dynamic tire pressure monitoring system right there in real time and they can see the tire pressure in their tires, the air pressure.
Speaker 1:Also, you know, I like the fact that they can see the temperature too.
Speaker 4:Yeah, in our case, when our Jeep.
Speaker 1:The wheels got locked up a certain way and that's what caused they were still turning around, but they weren't rolling right on the road, they were rolling by a bit of an angle. So as that happened, those tires got hot. Those tires got very, very hot. I would have been able to stop and know that I had a problem. I'm lucky that one of those tires on the tow car didn't blow out while we were driving down at 95. That's correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's another where there's been cases where the tow vehicle catches fire and that causes everything to catch fire, and again a TPMS system would alert you ahead of time. To your point, dan, you're absolutely correct.
Speaker 2:And not only that, but the $1,300 it costs to replace all four tires. And again we have a video on YouTube that showed the mistake we made, what happened, to help prevent other people from making the same mistake. I get messages all the time that said thank you, you just saved me from having to replace four tires. I wish I had a dollar for everyone who told me that we could replace the four tires, yeah we'd pay for the tires.
Speaker 2:So now we talked about covering the tires. You're saying the tire covers is surely more of a cosmetic thing, ice.
Speaker 3:Cosmetically. Yes, Go ahead. I didn't mean yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, okay yeah, because I always thought that you had to put them on. It's pouring rain out. I really don't want to put the tire covers on. That's usually my job, so it's really more cosmetic and I'm assuming spraying it with that shiny stuff and making the tires all shiny. It's a nice cosmetic thing, but really not as important.
Speaker 3:I am glad you brought that up in terms of what we, what do we put on tires. There's really a couple things that destroy rubber Heat UV, so the sun's ultraviolet, the ultraviolet light of the sun destroys the tire. So we do not want to use a product on rubber like a product like Armor All I mean it makes it nice and shiny but it soaks up the UV. We want to use a product like 303, because 303 shines in the tire but it also blocks out the UV. So we can use something nice and shiny inside the coach. It all is great for the interior, the seats, and it's excellent for that, but we don't want to use that on the tires because it soaks up the UV.
Speaker 3:And UV destroys rubber.
Speaker 2:Okay, that is great to know. Didn't know that. Dan, get rid of the stuff. We have some of that. So, and again, this is what we love about having experts on, because there's things that Dan and I thought we'd learned Now talking to an expert. You know, so many people use that Armor. All Again, great product, but not on the tires, okay, not correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, don't want to use Armor All on an exterior rubber surface. Use it inside the coach, it doesn't see the UV stuff. But outside use a product like and I mentioned 303, there's other products out there that have a UV block in them.
Speaker 1:Okay, you and I have been to many, many RV shows. We've been to quite a few of them together. Now tell me the products that you see when you're walking up and down. Protect your tires, do this to your tires, do this to your tires. You would recommend finding a product that works for you instead of just like buying something off of a yell or at a booth at an RV show.
Speaker 3:Well, you just want to be sure to ask the right questions. And just look at the fine print UV protected. That's really the big one. That's the big one. If it does that, I think it's okay. Okay, that's okay.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk a little bit more about safety and things that you should be doing your tires. You were pretty strong when we were doing our pre-interview about tire pressure monitoring. You must have it, sure, you must have it, you must have it.
Speaker 3:You must have it, yes.
Speaker 1:They're available for between $300 and $500.
Speaker 2:Something like that we talked about it. Jeff will even come put it on.
Speaker 3:We talked about this we have a pre-programmed the cubes, the pre-marked. All you do is just scroll, our techs will do that. Our techs will show up with the tires, whatever that someone needs, we'll have the cubes pre-programmed. If they're towing a vehicle, we'll have the TPMS pre-programmed with the cubes for the tow vehicle as well. Just put everything on and then, bam, there it is. Bam, right, right as Not to interrupt, but follow up on this, go ahead. Go ahead.
Speaker 3:Sometimes and we see this on the coaches that are less than 10 years old, they have an internal TPMS system where the battery, the tire pressure monitoring system, is inside the wheel. Right, it's inside the tire, right. In those cases, I would say to our customers when the tire's off, that is the ideal time to change the battery in the internal TPMS system. Right, the internal TPMS system has on our Achilles heel, that's it. The only way to change the battery is to get the tire off. That's the perfect time to change the battery is when we're changing tires on an internal TPMS system, right, okay, that's good to know.
Speaker 1:Some of the new units do have that internal system. I noticed when we were at Freightliner a lot of the chassis that were coming down the line. They had the tire pressures of the tires right on the dashboard.
Speaker 3:That's something that Integrated into the dashboard. It's an internal system on the wheel. Yeah, it's a great system, it's just the only. The challenge again is that the only way to change that battery which is supposed to last for three or four years it's supposed to Right that batteries to get the tire off. That's the time to do it when someone has internal TPMS. If they're putting new tires on, always put on new batteries.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm going to do a public service announcement. If you're not ready for new tires, you can still buy a tire pressure monitoring system. Do it yourself, dan and I. The people from TireMinder. Tireminder came out and they showed us how to do it, but it is something that I could have done by myself in less than 30 minutes, not complicated. I don't want people to say, well, I'll get it done when I get the new tires. No, no, do it now. That is a now thing. Like you said, they cost like $300 to $500 somewhere in that range.
Speaker 1:Get it Now. It's not there at the time of this airing of this show, but I did do a video on installing a tire pressure monitoring system with Jamie. It will be up on our YouTube channel. We'll put a link to something up there and we'll get it up there and get going. Now I want to talk a little bit more about the safety. There's some things you should do A check the tire pressure in your coach. If you don't have a tire pressure monitoring system, the least you can do is get an air pressure gauge and go around your coach and check tires Every trip, every single trip, every single trip.
Speaker 1:Every time you do, it Valve stems leak.
Speaker 3:there are little grommets that seat around. That little grommet can go bad, which is why we replace the valve stems when we come out as part of our installation process. It isn't that the stem goes bad, it's a little 1-tenth of a quarter little rubber grommet that seats between the stem and the wheel. That little rubber piece just deteriorates over time. It starts to crack. If we got a tire that's 10 years old or what, that rubber has deteriorated and it doesn't always keep a seal. This is why, Dan, to your earlier point, check the tire pressure on every single tire before taking that trip.
Speaker 3:Every single trip, also on your tow vehicle, also on the tow vehicle. This is where TPMS is great, because it's already checked for you. Start to count the narrative right there. The tire minor system is right there on the dash and you know right there what the tire pressure is.
Speaker 1:If something's looking a little off. You know what it does it turns red and it gives you an audible warning that you have a problem, something that I have noticed just being out on the road, being a full-timer and watching people do things, something that has kind of gone to the wayside, something we did automatically 10 years ago. But a visual inspection of your tires.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, this is so great question. I'm glad you brought that up. So I've had the privilege of speaking at many RV rallies. Like I said, dan, you and I have met several. In every rally that I've spoken at, in the Q&A portion, somebody's going to come up and say well, what about tires that just blow out? I'm just driving down the road minding my own business, I'm on good pavement, it's a good day, it's smooth pavement, and that tire just blew for no reason at all, it just okay.
Speaker 3:There's more to that story than that. The background to that story is that at some point in the past that tire had an impact. It was curbed, somebody hit something, ran over a curb, ran over something in the road, and so they're driving along and they run over something. It's like, oh surprise, my tire didn't fail. Thank goodness the tire didn't blow. Well, the fact is, the tire is now wounded, that belt package has been bent and if we think about a steel cord which is what a belt package is, or steel and nylon, when a steel belt is in a flex position, meaning it's in a natural curved position, it'll flex in a natural curved position thousands and thousands and thousands of times without any issues because it's in a natural curved position and that natural curvature can distribute the movement of the flexation.
Speaker 3:But if that steel belt becomes bent, if it gets a 90 degree bend in it, the belt then stops its flexation and it flexes only at the bend. So if we think about a carpenter or an electrician that wants to break a wire, what do they do? They just start bending the wire back and forth. What happens to that wire? It breaks. This is what happens in a steel belt. Exactly the same thing happens the wire. If that tire has been impacted, now the steel belt is bent. So when it's flexing the flexation is at the bend. Now it's not a uniform flexation and that wire starts to bend back and forth at the break where it's bent. And what happens to the belt? It breaks.
Speaker 3:So to finish up this story about the person that says well, I was just driving along and the tire just blew out, what really happened is that at some point in the past the tire had an impact, it did not fail. And they're driving along and saying, oh, I'm so glad the tire didn't fail. Well, it's damaged, so they make it home. Coaches still find the tires, find it's holding there, they park it for the season or some extended period of time. Hey honey, let's take the coach out. You know we hadn't been driving in three or four months. The tire hasn't failed yet. It has not failed. It's wounded but it's not failed. So now they're driving after three or four months and they've long forgotten about the fact that they impacted something four months ago. And they're just driving along and road and bam, the tire blows. That's when the tire actually fails. That's the real story, but we tend to forget as humans, as we're all forgetful that oh yeah, that's right, I hit something six months ago and I forgot. So I wanted to just bring that up when. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a great point and great to think about. Now Let me ask this I'm driving down the road and we went to a campground and there were a bunch of potholes that were just horrible. We could potentially be doing damage to the tire, yeah.
Speaker 2:Now when I get back in the RV having the tire minder, the tire pressure monitoring system, that garnish that entirely does not stain on our tire. Stopuate, stop the Pass. Our有沒有 material 몰라 does not l, because then ending is you know it's a little too muchPrethank For watching. Is that going to warn me? If there's a problem, give me a heads up.
Speaker 3:A visual inspection would help. If the belt has been damaged, you'll see a bubble on the side of the tire. You'll see an impact wound. Of course, these are going to be an exterior side, but a visual inspection would really be helpful there. Look at the rim particularly and see if there's any sharpness on the rim. Just take a moment to look at the tires. Walk around the tire and look at them with a critical eye. Is there an impact wound here, anywhere on the shoulder of the tire, or on the rim itself? An impact wound? Okay, great.
Speaker 1:Jeff, you and I fly airplanes and the first thing that we do when we walk out to the field, we walk out to the tarmac, we look at the airplane. We don't do what most RVers do they get in their RV and go. What do you do before you start the engine of your airplane?
Speaker 3:A thorough visual inspection, a walk around of the entire airplane. I'm looking under the airplane. Is there any fluid? I mean I'm asking like some general basic questions Is there anything leaking? Do I see some oil? Do I see some hydraulic fluid? Do I see something that there's something is leaking somewhere? That visual inspection of all the control surfaces and I'm just somebody back into the plane. Somebody hit something. Are the windows okay? Is there a bird strike on the last flight, to your point, before I even get in the plane, standing about 20 feet away from the airplane, I'm doing a complete visual inspection, walking around the airplane, looking under the airplane.
Speaker 3:I would encourage the RVers to do the same thing. Do a complete walk around of your RV. Just ask some basic questions Is there anything leaking here? Do I see any fluid? Do the wheels look okay? Do the hubs look okay? Do the tires look okay? Is anything bulging on the tires? Is there anything on the coach that just looks out of whack? Do I have a windshield that's cracked or looks like you know that's not seating correctly? I never noticed that before. Look at the coach with a critical eye.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really good advice. I got to say early on in our RV adventure I would walk around the coach. I got to say I didn't know much of anything about RVs when we started. I'm going to just give a plug. When we get our RV, it's going to have a freight liner chassis. We're going to do freight camp, freight liner. We're going to spend time at New Mar and really know and understand, because as much now as we've had three years of experience in an RV, there's still stuff we don't know and need to know. These are things that are super important because early on I saw something on the RV. I didn't think to mention it. I forget what it was. It was way back in the beginning and then something broke and I said, oh, that looked funny.
Speaker 1:The exhaust pipe.
Speaker 2:Oh, was it the exhaust pipe? Nothing big, just the exhaust pipe. Well, these are things. Again, it's about being educated.
Speaker 1:It really is, I would agree.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to both your comments and I know, dan, we've been interjecting some flying comments here, but flying is basically a license to learn. I've been flying 45 years and we learn something every time.
Speaker 2:The.
Speaker 3:RV lifestyle is a license to learn. You want to enjoy the coach, but every time I think we would say that every time we drive a coach or go on a trip, we learn something. There is so much to learn.
Speaker 4:There you go, there you look at you.
Speaker 1:Get you out, all right.
Speaker 3:I recognize that. Yes, sir, yeah.
Speaker 2:Dan is showing his pilot license. Pilot license.
Speaker 1:Pilot license yes yes, show it to us. I'm going to take this one step further too, and it's something that I noticed that people just don't do. When we fly and we stop someplace and we get gas and then we go, I do that visual inspection again. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:Every time I take off, I've done an inspection. But in an RV, when we stop at a truck stop to go to the bathroom or do whatever get a drink or a snack what do we do? We get back in the RV and we just go on down the road. No, what you need to do is walk around the RV. Patty absolutely hates me for this because I make her walk one way and I walk the other way. What I don't see she will. You check everything on the RV. You check the doors, all of these things. Check the connection between you and your tow car. That thing takes up a beating going down the road.
Speaker 3:Yes, it does. Excellent comment. These are mechanical beasts and things break so absolutely, and it's even true on a brand new coach.
Speaker 2:Oh yes.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, Things happen. It's a dangerous assumption that, okay, it's brand new, According to every day, and that is so true. Every time you stop to restroom fuel, do a walk around, Take a critical eye and say is everything okay? Take the yes, 100% Great comment.
Speaker 1:Now, if everything is not okay, our next sponsor can take care of it for you, and they can do it in six locations around the United States National Indoor RV Centers. With over 1000 motor homes available across multiple locations, national Indoor RV Centers continues to provide an outstanding, hassle free motor home ownership experience. National Indoor is the number one New Mar dealer in the nation and also features brands like Integra, winnebago and much more. Visit NIRVCcom and become a part of the National Indoor RV Centers family.
Speaker 2:Well, dan and I are certainly incredibly grateful that we are a part of the National Indoor Centers family, and, jeff, we know you're part of the family as well. Can you tell us a little bit about why you like our NIRVC?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I just I want to give a plug to not only NIRVC but to the vision of Brett Davis. Brett is a personal friend of mine and he's made the world a better place. He's a man of incredible ethics. If Brett says this is what we're going to get done, it gets done. So for any of your listeners who are thinking, boy, you know, this RV is so much money, how do I know I can trust these people? I mean, you can trust NIRVC, okay, so they stand behind everything, they do everything, and I also I was not aware until just now that they're the number one NUMAR dealer in the country. We have a national agreement with NUMAR. I'm personal friends with a number of their directors. Numar is an outstanding company. I was at their national RV rally last year in Missouri and I was moved to tears at how NUMAR stressed his family and country and first responders and military. It's a great organization. Numar is a fantastic organization and NIRVC is a fantastic organization. Highest respect, wow.
Speaker 2:Thank you and our listeners are going to think we're paying you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not being paid to say that yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we absolutely failed. The same way about NIRVC and NUMAR. And again, Jeff, you connected with Dan a year ago. He over a year ago. He talked about you and the first thing is the integrity, the kind of person you were, the tires and the business at. Second, and I think that's what we're talking about here with NIRVC and Brett and his entire team. Now I do want to talk about an event that we spoke about. It is called the Music City Expo and it's going to be June 4th to the 7th.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nashville, for those reasons In Nashville, tennessee, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Come on Nashville, tennessee. Well, when you said that Brett decides to do something he is putting together, we were on the phone with him for probably an hour talking about this event that he is putting together, and I just want to share it with our listeners. Brett is the dealership and, as you said, he's got six locations, but he is bringing all of the Class A and Class C motor home, or most of the motor home manufacturers together for this event and everybody is going to be fed and entertained, some amazing entertainment and they get to drive the brand new 2025s. So Numar and Tiffin and Jaco and Integra will be out there and many, many more brands, and they'll be able to get to drive these brand new units. Be the first people to see these brand new units. So, dan and I will be there and you will be there as well, jeff. Yeah, we are really excited for this event.
Speaker 3:We're doing it and I talked to Brett about this a year ago. I'm honored that I'm going to be introducing Josh Turner and I'll also be introducing Diamond Rio, and those will be the two acts that will be performing and I'm just humbled that Brett has allowed me this opportunity to make the introduction of them on stage. But it just speaks to our friendship and again, I just want to say to your listeners if you have any, you can sleep well doing business with Brett Davis and IRBC. Okay, they stand behind everything they do, as does Numar.
Speaker 2:I agree, dan, and I agree with that one 110%.
Speaker 1:Now that sound means it's time for today's Question of the Week, which is brought to you by Open Roads. Innovative Tulling yes.
Speaker 2:Another really super product that we talked about, covering 48 states with this one 12 pass. So today's Question and, jeff, we're going to give this to you the expert. This question is from Kay Jones from Pompano Beach, florida, and he asked do I really need to get new tires when my date code is at five years? He's asking that's what the?
Speaker 4:recommendation is Because there's some talk out there of five years.
Speaker 2:So, Jeff, there's a question for you.
Speaker 3:That's a great question and that's kind of in the gray area and my follow-up if somebody asked me that, my follow-up question of them. Well, tell me about how the tires been. Has it been driving through rough roads? Has it gone off road? Has it been on road? You could probably go six years. I wouldn't say an edict of five years replaced After six edict it's time to get them replaced At five. If the tires have been maintained well, meaning that the pressure has been good, they've got a TPMS system and they've kept the proper air pressure in the tire, they probably go a year, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, you just saved people because there's a lot of our listeners now that five years has been thrown out there. You just saved people an extra year and we are going to tell people I'm going to tell people from my heart of hearts, if they are looking for new tires, motor home tires is the place to get their tires and they don't have to pack up. Like you said. Somebody will come out, they can install a tire pressure monitoring system. They'll put the new stems in, they'll take care of it, they'll show people everything and tell us you did mention when somebody buys tires from you. You said you send them the date codes correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we'll send the date codes prior to shipping the tires out, and that's something that if there's another company that's doing that, I'm not aware of it, we aren't either. Tell the customer. Inform the customer these are the date codes of the tires we are shipping you, and so it's very transparent with the customer and they know exactly what they're going to get. We will replace the valve stems. In terms of balancing, we use the bead bags and I'd like to talk just a moment about that. We used to use the powder 15 years ago. We changed 15 years ago to the ceramic beads. There's about a thousand beads that roll around inside the tire. It's a dynamic balance system. We've probably balanced upwards of 200,000 tires with the beads. They work great. The beads work fantastic. So our system includes guaranteed brand new date codes, brand new valve stems, the balancing beads. We take the old tires with us Again, the convenience of not having to drive into the showroom and wait. We can't watch what's being done on their coach. It's just an educational thing and it's a convenience thing?
Speaker 2:Wow, that sounds incredible.
Speaker 1:Now I have to put a little disclaimer in there, because normally we don't have anybody on our show that we haven't used their product and touched their product. Now Jeff and I have known each other for a couple of years. I've actually worked in his booth. His booth was right next to our booth, so I helped customers in his booth. Now one of the things that Jeff does is he brings in three or four motorhome tires and he puts them and he stacks them up in his booth and these things are humongous. I had to go over there and do a video. So what I do? I got inside the tires and I popped up out of the tires Of course you do.
Speaker 2:And again, for Dan and I, first it goes to the ownership of the company and the integrity and the kind of person you are, and there's certainly that we also as a team here on the RV Life Podcast, we have an executive producer, we have other people that are part of the team, so Patrick from RV Life has had tires put on and he was incredibly happy.
Speaker 2:So when we talked about this episode, he's like absolutely 100%. So there's that, and in five or six years we'll be coming to you to replace the tires on our new RV.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll tell you what. We just cut a deal for a new numar, A new to us numar.
Speaker 2:I thought we weren't talking about that yet. We weren't going to really talk about it, but I'm going to anyway, but we just cut that deal and one of the things that when we're out, we're looking at this thing and they let us come in.
Speaker 1:It's a freight liner owns this unit. It's a demo for freight line. So we walk around the unit and the first thing Patty does is she goes down and she's taking pictures that give me her phone. She takes picture of the tire codes on the tire. Sometimes when they're upside down, it's hard to read them, or whatever. Then she took a picture and we looked at the picture and she said, oh my, these tires are brand new. They're the 2023 tires.
Speaker 1:The unit's a five year old unit and the guy said, yeah, we just took some tires off the line and put brand new tires on this all the way around, so you would have new tires. We got brand new tires on this rig. And that just going to lead me right into Numar. We're going to talk about Numar for a second and I know, Jeff, you have a relationship with Numar and you kind of went out of ours. You talked about Numar already, but what an incredible company. We are speaking with them right now about becoming more involved with Numar Because we get our Numar. We got in this unit and I'm one of those people who likes to just get in and sit down on the couch and feel.
Speaker 2:For 20, 40, 60 minutes an hour in a hand.
Speaker 1:This is going to be my home for two full-timers, so I just sit in there and I will tell you.
Speaker 2:Sitting on that couch, across from that great big TV screen, it felt like home and that's how we were feeling before we made the choice, because we were deciding which unit we wanted. And when we were in Tampa and again Dan put me in every unit, every class A unit, and we said Numar was the brand for us. Because of that feel, because of the company feel, because of the things you talked about within the company, I mean that's what's so important to us.
Speaker 1:And then you look at the people of Numar. It's just incredible what they do and how they do it and so many people in that company that work in the factory that put these together. There are so many people that are second and third and fourth generation that work at that place. I've met quite a few of the people there. There's brothers and sisters working on the line together building these units and I don't know. Just to me it comes from the top. Casey Tubman is the president and CEO of Numar and the way that he runs that company is with class and integrity and that's what we look at all the time. And all the things that they do. They have the Country Club events, they have national rallies, they have dealer meetings, all the things that they do to ensure that. All of those things are to ensure that the customer experience number one. But to me it comes down to quality with Numar.
Speaker 2:So if you're in the market for a new RV, no matter where in the RVing journey you are, the name that has come to mind a lot is Numar.
Speaker 1:That is absolutely right. Numar's tagline is when you know the difference and when you see one of these, go and sit in one of these, like I do, and I'm saying, just sit in it, you feel the difference. I felt the difference and I was sold.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. There are so many luxurious touches in the construction, all through the lineup, the couch, the cabinets, the countertops it just feels like quality. And there's so many floor plans and custom options I could speak right. Each one is unique.
Speaker 1:Now I will tell you that, as we have been on this journey of looking for a new RV and trying to find a new RV, and we went up and found this RV and we looked at it and been inside Patty's number one thing that she wanted was for her coffee maker fit.
Speaker 2:It's a cappuccino machine, it's not just a coffee maker.
Speaker 1:It's a cappuccino machine.
Speaker 2:It's big.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, I'll tell you what that cappuccino machine. I'm looking at it right over there. It fits in the Numar Ventana, like it belongs there. So you can learn even more about Numar by reaching out to us or going on the www and go to newbirecom. That's Numar D-O-R-P.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we are so excited to share more about our experience with Numar firsthand. Just can't wait. Just can't wait. When traveling in your RV, how do you navigate? Do you use a paper mat, a GPS, or do you use Google Maps? Our sponsor, rv Trip Wizard, has the solution and it just works.
Speaker 1:It just works, and right now it is time to bring Patrick Buchanan on the show and have an RV Life Pro Tip of the Week.
Speaker 4:RV Life makes it easy to share your exciting RV trip with friends and family via the RV Life Trip Wizard. To share a trip with another Trip Wizard user, first open your trip, click on the wrench icon and choose share trip. Now click share trip with another Trip Wizard user and enter the email address that person uses for their own Trip Wizard account and click send. Your friend or family member will find your trip in their own Trip Wizard account under tentative trips, where they can view, copy or even change the trip according to their own needs. If you want to share a view of your trip, even to those without an RV Life Pro account, simply choose visitor view after clicking share trip and create a shareable link that allows others to see your RV journey just as you've planned it. I'm Pat Buchanan with your RV Life Pro Tip of the Week.
Speaker 2:Thank you, patrick Buchanan. Again to the theme of our conversation about safety. It's also a good safety feature to send somebody your trip so they know where you are and that you've arrived right. You know it's all about safety today. It has been an incredible time with you, brett, jeff, wow, dave's yes, it's just been incredible, and we've cried, we've laughed, we've learned. We don't want to learn the hard way, so we are very, very excited to keep our conversation. Now people can get to Motorhome Tires by going to MotorHomeTirescom. That's Tires with an S. I'll also put it in the show notes. If you have anybody that would love to give us feedback on this episode, you can either do it in the podcast under reviews or go to our social media and that is RV Life Podcast at Instagram or Facebook. Please let us know your thoughts, your comments, your questions. If there's questions for Jeff, we will make sure he gets them.
Speaker 3:You bet I'll answer every one of them.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I appreciate you being on the show. Thank you, Jeff, so much. We're so grateful to know you.
Speaker 3:It's been a privilege. Highest respect to both of you. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Dan Hunt, with my incredible wife, patty Hunt, and we'll be back with you next week at the same bat time, same bat station. Reminding you to have a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.