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Topic: Motorhome Tires (Read 4040 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #20 –
Well stopped by Herman Power Tire this morning planning to purchase 6 tires.  Decided on the Toyo M177 that they had in stock (they fell under Brett's 3 month rule ;) I asked them in advance if they thought there was any problem with the tire hitting the front airbags.  They said no but that they were happy to mount one and find out.  Sure enough they slightly touched the airbag metal base plate so I decided to look elsewhere (other tires I was considering showed a DOT code older than 3 months).  So still hunting for some good tires that clear the front air bags in tight turns. I admit, I get confused trying to keep up with tread depth, tire width variances... therefore your help is very much appreciated. I do have a picture of the Toyo M177 hitting the front air bag of my coach during the experimental tire mounting if I can figure out how to upload it. Thanks to Herman Power Tire for their time and willingness to check it out together.

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #21 –
Yes, I have inspected other coaches where 295/75R22.5 were just enough wider to touch either the bag base steel plate or the drag link.

In most cases minor "polishing" rather than destructive.

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #22 –
The 295s don't touch the airbag, just the bottom plate in certain turns. It polishes ours but nothing more. It's NO BIG DEAL at least on ours.. I'll take the 7% added width anytime.

Here is the size comparison chart:

Pierce

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #23 –
Quote from: web –
Well stopped by Herman Power Tire this morning planning to purchase 6 tires.  Decided on the Toyo M177 that they had in stock (they fell under Brett's 3 month rule ;) I asked them in advance if they thought there was any problem with the tire hitting the front airbags.  They said no but that they were happy to mount one and find out.  Sure enough they slightly touched the airbag metal base plate so I decided to look elsewhere (other tires I was considering showed a DOT code older than 3 months).  So still hunting for some good tires that clear the front air bags in tight turns. I admit, I get confused trying to keep up with tread depth, tire width variances... therefore your help is very much appreciated. I do have a picture of the Toyo M177 hitting the front air bag of my coach during the experimental tire mounting if I can figure out how to upload it. Thanks to Herman Power Tire for their time and willingness to check it out together.
When MOT installed my new shocks and airbags last year. I asked them about this problem with my new Toyo's. Their answer was IT ISN'T A PROBLEM. They emphasized that. They said the tire only rubs the base (not the bag) and that only happens during a very sharp turn. So the wheel speed is low. If you turn sharp enough at highway speed to start rubbing that base.  You are either going to lose control or roll the coach. The rubbing would be the least of ones worries.

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #24 –
My 12 year old bridgestones are getting replaced with Toyo soon. I would not consider Michelins under any circumstance. The local commercial tire shop actually recommended a popular chinese truck tire they have been installling successfully for years. I might go that route but havent decided yet. He is trying to save me $$ and says out of the thousands they install on fleets the amount of defective tires they replace is extremely low (he said similar to any major brand) and they work well in much heavier duty service than a motorhome. It would be quite a bit of money saved, but of course thats all for nothing if they suck.

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #25 –
The Chinese car market is larger than the market in the U.S. with 20 percent of the world's vehicles and a third of the passenger cars made in the world. Mercedes among others has a factory there, some of our Buicks come from there and the Chinese own Volvo. I think it absurd to think they somehow make poor tires to fit to their cars. The huge tires on my Case tractor as well as some of our car tires are also from China. They have all given excellent service.

Uniroyal and General Tire are owned by Continental Tire, a German company and maker of our Conti Airbags. Firestone Tire and Rubber is owned by Bridgestone so our airbag choices are either Japanese or German.

Pierce

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #27 –
Knowing a lot of forum members dislike Michelin tires, I'll put in a plug for them, I have been very happy with our 5 year old Michelin XZE tires. After 40,000 plus miles and 5 years, no cracks or wear visible, smooth ride and trouble free. Too much $$$?  Maybe? But I will always purchase a name brand and I won't chance a off brand tire that has questionable quality controls during manufacture.

A defective tire can show up with any manufacturer, the more tires they produce the greater number of possible problems. A lot of factors to consider. Go with the tire manufacturer that YOU have confidence in and if you have had a good experience with them in the past, then the more reason to stick with that company.

I prefer BF Goodrich tires also, have had good luck with them in the past on truck tires.

Good luck with your choice.....

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #28 –
Quote from: wolfe10 –
Slight correction: Michelin has owned Uniroyal since 1989.
To those who are concerned about "Where It's Made", and as an item of possible future interest to other tire buyers:

The Uniroyal RS20 tires on our coach were manufactured in the Michelin Tire Plant, Tuscaloosa, AL.

Which also happens to be the exact same factory as BF Goodrich Tuscaloosa Manufacturing

Small world...

PS: Most RV tires that are "Made in The USA" have a stamp or mark on the sidewall that advertises this fact.

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #29 –
Yup, Michelin has owned both since 1989 (see article link above) .

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #31 –
Has anyone used the FMCA and/or Prevost Community (via Dupree Unlimited) Michelin Tire Discount Programs? Anyone have an idea of how much can actually be "saved" via the programs? Trying to identify the true cost of the tires, mounting & balancing via the discount programs vs. buying outright from a dealer. I am unable to price tires w/o submitting an order through the dealer with no commitment to (<3 mo) DOT age. Also, I am unable to locate a dealer that has the 275/80RX22.5 H rated (66205) tires (with date code 3 months or less). Dealers are saying Michelin tracks tire their inventory at the dealer level and moves tires around (between warehouse and dealers) based on orders (as I understand it). I don't want to buy 1 yr old tires... I am stuck.

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #32 –
Contact OTRUSA tires online and see what they offer with regard to price, shipping and date of manufacture.  I had really good luck with them.
If you can R&R your wheels and tires and take them to a tire place nearby they will mount your new ones for a small price. I paid $20.00 each and supplied the balance beads from Amazon.
I specified a manufacture date of no more than three months and what they shipped were about thirty days old. See my reply #19.

OTRUSA.COM - Wholesale discount tires

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #33 –
T-Man, somehow I missed "absorbing" the information you provided in your earlier reply (#19). I will give them a call. Thanks for everyone's thoughts. Great forum. 

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #34 –
Working on getting quotes to purchase Michelin X Multi Energy Z (h rated) STEER tires for the front and 4 Michelin X Multi Energy D (h rated) for the rear. Does it make sense to buy steer tires for all 6 positions or put Z's on the front axle and D's on the rear axle? OTRUSA tires online wanted more money than my local dealer.

Walt

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #35 –
Steer tires all around!

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #37 –
My previous statement "OTRUSA tires online wanted more money than my local dealer" in reply #34 was incorrect. The pricing between OTRUSA and my local dealer was THE SAME as OTRUSA quotes with FET tax included. My mistake.

Found my wk50 2019 Michelin X-Line Energy Z (66205) tires. Apparently, there are two Michelin advantage program(s) (Michelin Fleet or Michelin Associate - $6/tire difference).

Thanks everyone for your help. You are a great group of folks willing to share your knowledge and experience. I hope to be able to do the same one day.

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #38 –
My understanding is that Michelin is the only tire maker with straight across steel cord belts in its inner core. 

Remember the billboards years ago showing the Michelin Man and pictures of the tires core?

Years and years of Michelin "x"

The design has a different safety design in that the sidewalls shred and the rim comes straight down on the tread belt and does not flop around.

Other tires told me long ago that they went to a stiffer sidewall to keep the tire from flopping around in a pressure loss.

I appraised countless coaches as a Foretravel Sales manager and after a while I played a game with myself and did not look at the coaches tires prior to my drive.

Now remember this is in my local so cal freeway area with choppy freeways and medium condition side roads.

The other brands were very close to each other.  The Toyo's seemed to be among the smoothest riding.

The Michelin's were more precise in their steering and turning.  Noticeable.

Never was wrong about saying .michelin and then finding something else.  Never.

Take it for what it's worth but if I had a nice highline used coach that was worth retail and had worn or older tires I would invest Foretravels money out of my budget and my commission to put new Michelin's on the coach regardless of brand.

Always made more money in the deal in my mind to put new tires, new batteries on every coach I resold

Long ago info.  May not be important now. 

I can tell you my Xza-3+ require me to have to use the brakes more than when it had Xza-2's.  Much lower rolling resistance.

Steers and turns great.  Rides nice on crummy roads.

IF you live where there are nice smooth roads the differences may be less pronounced.

The higher load capacity for the "h" rated version allows me and others to run 10 pounds less pressure per the same load.

Much better on bad roads to me.

We were in a competitive environment as every top brand was sold within a few hundred yards.

As we were not as pretty it had to drive and ride perfectly

Re: Motorhome Tires

Reply #39 –
Uniroyal RS20 from Walmart.com. $325 shipped to my door times 6. Love them. Owned by Michelin.