Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: SteveB on August 19, 2017, 10:58:56 am

Title: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: SteveB on August 19, 2017, 10:58:56 am
I am experiencing some abnormal tire we on my coach's steer tires. These are Goodyear G399a 295/75r22.5 LRH tires and are about 3 years old with 25K-30K miles on them. The wear is in the 2nd rib, not the outside rib, and has a high/low wear pattern with a delta of 2/32" to 3/32". The tires were purchased from a NAC tire shop by the PO.
I have been running 115 psi and after checking the tp specs for this tire I see I probably should closer to 118 to 120 psi. Also, I see that Goodyear says this tire should be mounted on 9" rims and not the 8.25" rims the the original 275/80r22.5 tires were mounted on.
I called the tire shop and explained the unusual tire wear and asked if they had seen this before. They said no. I asked if they we comfortable installing tires that were not spec'd for this coach especially considering the rim width discrepancy and the store manager that they do this all the time on Foretravel coaches. He recommended just rotating the tires and maybe having the alignment checked.
Has anyone running 295/75r22.5 tires on their coach experienced any unusual tire wear, especially what I have described above?

Your feedback is appreciated.
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: Michelle on August 19, 2017, 11:08:10 am
I am experiencing some abnormal tire we on my coach's steer tires. These are Goodyear G399a 295/75r22.5 LRH tires and are about 3 years old with 25K-30K miles on them. The wear is in the 2nd rib, not the outside rib, and has a high/low wear pattern with a delta of 2/32" to 3/32".


There is some discussion on the forum where folks were having issues with front steer tires of certain sizes/brands (particularly that size) rubbing on the air bag plates during turns - you might want to check to see if this could be the situation.

(forum search on      tires air bag plates      for some of the discussion, here's one place to start Tires (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=30492.msg273008#msg273008) )
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: wolfe10 on August 19, 2017, 11:13:36 am
Do a search for "Goodyear rivering".
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: jcus on August 19, 2017, 12:37:26 pm
I am experiencing some abnormal tire we on my coach's steer tires. These are Goodyear G399a 295/75r22.5 LRH tires and are about 3 years old with 25K-30K miles on them. The wear is in the 2nd rib, not the outside rib, and has a high/low wear pattern with a delta of 2/32" to 3/32". The tires were purchased from a NAC tire shop by the PO.
I have been running 115 psi and after checking the tp specs for this tire I see I probably should closer to 118 to 120 psi. Also, I see that Goodyear says this tire should be mounted on 9" rims and not the 8.25" rims the the original 275/80r22.5 tires were mounted on.
I called the tire shop and explained the unusual tire wear and asked if they had seen this before. They said no. I asked if they we comfortable installing tires that were not spec'd for this coach especially considering the rim width discrepancy and the store manager that they do this all the time on Foretravel coaches. He recommended just rotating the tires and maybe having the alignment checked.
Has anyone running 295/75r22.5 tires on their coach experienced any unusual tire wear, especially what I have described above?

Your feedback is appreciated.

Have run 295/75r/22.5 399h's on two different Foretravels with no problems. Seems strange you need to run such high pressures. 120 psi should give you about 14000 lb capacity. Believe your coach has only 13800 lb front axle. I  have a 40 ft tag with full tile floor and only have about 12000 on front axle.
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: Mike Leary (RIP) on August 19, 2017, 12:45:53 pm
I had problems such as described with my Goodyears. It turned out to be two different things: the coach had not been weighed, and I was running too much pressure and my front end had never been aligned! Problems zero after that. The Peterbuilt guys, also found a loose wheel bearing, which could have contributed. and been fun down the road!  :-[
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: sedelange on August 19, 2017, 01:43:23 pm
8.25" & 9" width rims are both approved for 295/75R22.5 tires in accordance with the Goodyear Engineering Data book
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: SteveB on August 19, 2017, 02:09:10 pm
8.25" & 9" width rims are both approved for 295/75R22.5 tires in accordance with the Goodyear Engineering Data book

Steve, you are correct. I just re-read the chart and see that I misread it..

Thanks.
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: SteveB on August 19, 2017, 02:29:07 pm
Do a search for "Goodyear rivering".

Brett, I've looked at info regarding the well known rivering issues with earlier GY steer axle tires and have first hand experience with that on G159's. What I see has some similarities but on my tires only effects one inner rib.
Looking at the TMC Radial Tire Condition Analysis Guide it looks like my issue is more closely described as scalloping or cupping. Rivering was more of a tire engineering issue that showed up in certain application and could not be remedied by alignment, tp adjustment, etc. The G399a tires have been redesigned to eliminate that problem.......according  to GY☺

Thanks.
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: SteveB on August 19, 2017, 02:31:36 pm
I had problems such as described with my Goodyears. It turned out to be two different things: the coach had not been weighed, and I was running too much pressure and my front end had never been aligned! Problems zero after that. The Peterbuilt guys, also found a loose wheel bearing, which could have contributed. and been fun down the road!  :-[

Mike, looks like my next move is to have the alignment checked and have the steers rotated to the drive axle.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: SteveB on August 19, 2017, 02:34:43 pm
There is some discussion on the forum where folks were having issues with front steer tires of certain sizes/brands (particularly that size) rubbing on the air bag plates during turns - you might want to check to see if this could be the situation.

(forum search on      tires air bag plates      for some of the discussion, here's one place to start Tires (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=30492.msg273008#msg273008) )

Michelle, I've checked  closely for any rubbing or interference and have not found that to be an issue.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: Michelle on August 19, 2017, 02:45:02 pm
Mike, looks like my next move is to have the alignment checked and have the steers rotated to the drive axle.


Since you have a 42 footer, I would guess you have a tag - why not move them to the tag since they will go as a matched set (and the tag generally carries the least weight)?
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: SteveB on August 19, 2017, 03:57:40 pm
Since you have a 42 footer, I would guess you have a tag - why not move them to the tag since they will go as a matched set (and the tag generally carries the least weight)?

Michelle, great idea. I'll discuss with he folks that will be checking the alignment and front wheel bearing end play. Bonus because just bought 2 new tires for the tag when we were in Fairbanks 6 or 8 weeks ago.

Thanks,
Title: Re: Abnormal steer tire wear
Post by: amos.harrison on August 21, 2017, 09:17:50 pm
I run Bridgestones in that size on my tag and am seeing the same wear pattern.  Since I expect to age out the tires rather than wear them out, I'm not concerned.  BTW, I'm running 90psi in them.