Invent1

Agree completely that "TPMS can warn you when driving down the road BEFORE a tire comes apart because of an air leak." but it would cost a lot to add it to my now-old coach. One thing I do every stop is measure the tire temp with an infrared thermometer - certainly not as good as TMPS but it's fast and would help become aware of a slow leak. FYI: I've found the temp between the tread is the highest, the tread temp is lower and the sidewall temp is the lowest (holding the thermometer very close to the rubber)

The front axles had 5400 lbs on it per Flying J scale - 2,700/tire which is well below the max load for these tires. The inflation has always been 90 psi cold. Never has either tire been low when checked. No TPMS. The tires are gone now so I can't supply the full DOT serial number. BM11588 was molded on the inside

Update: it became clear that there was an internal problem on the tires. On a recent trip across Florida, a strong vibration started, fortunately close to the destination. One tire developed significant cupping on the outer tread. I replaced the tires and upon dismounting the old tires found what I guess to be belt separation (see photos). Even though the Bridgestone tires had a lot of tread left, I feel better having them off the coach. It is good to note that the tires were never underinflated (actually over inflated by the tire chart for the weight on them) and never had any road obstacle damage. FYI: the replacements are Firestone ST230, and cost $667 out the door. McGee was the tire dealer and they provided good service and techs. Thanks to all for your experience and information.

Thanks for the replies. Exc. forum: questions and answers very focused. Here's the history by mileage (coach is a 30B Itasca riding on a F53 chassis) 800 miles (new) all the original G670 Goodyear tires had immediate problems. After re-balancing and swapping them around, the dealer finally replaced four of them. They still cause vibration. 22,000 miles.the Goodyear tires front tires were destroyed with rivering and replaced with Bridgestones on. 33,000 miles: rear Goodyear tires also wore out prematurely and I replaced them with Hankook AH11's. 63000 miles the Hankooks (rear) have gone 30,000 miles are still in good condition (13-14/32 tread depth and worn evenly across all tires); The Bridegestones are as shown. The motorcycle has been on the back for nearly all of the miles (multiple loops around the US). The bike is a Hayabusa weighing 573 wet with a rack I made myself weighing less than 100 lbs and the bike is mounted adjacent to the rear bumper. All the heavy items added to the coach were set as far forward as possible to minimize the effect. 2 pics

Thank you for the well-thought replies. The coach is a 30B Itasca riding on a F53 chassis. We bought it new but all the original G670 Goodyear tires had immediate problems. After re-balancing and swapping them around, the dealer finally replaced four of them. They still cause vibrations and the front tires were destroyed with rivering at 22,000 miles. That's when I put the Bridgestones on. The rear Goodyear tires also wore out prematurely and I replaced them at 33,000 miles with Hankook AH11's. The Hankooks have gone 30,000 miles are still in good condition (13-14/32 tread depth and worn evenly across all tires). Suspension changes: the rear sway bar bracket rubber bushings totally disintegrated but the front are fine (must have been a different supplier). The front rubber snubbers also totally disintegrated (attached photo shows new next to old) but that has little effect because the front springs rarely bottom out. Lastly, I put air bags in the rear because of a motorcycle & rack on the back. I've resigned myself to replacing the fronts again and will look into Toyos. It was just baffling to me that the different softer rubber substrate was showing through on the INNER portion of the outer treads when the center treads had good tread depth.

The outer treads on my steer tires have apparently worn to enough to expose a different rubber compound. I wondered if anyone else has experienced this. (The rest of the tread is excellent at 13/32"). The tires are 245/70R19.5 Bridgestone R250 I weighed each wheel, and then used the charts for air pressure for that size tire. I then increased the air pressure 10 – 15 psi over what the charts recommended but both front tires still wore much faster on the outer treads. On the charts -- the measured weight on the front wheels (2,700 lbs) is less than where the chart begins (3640 lbs at 80 psi). Camber and toe are good and have never changed. The only unusual experience is that when the tires were new, we had to drive westward for 2 days with unrelenting 30 mph cross winds - that took a fair amount off the outer tread on one side of each front tire. Other than that trial, no suspension issues. Bridgestone CS had no useful info, just said to take it to Larry, Curly and Mo at my local tire dealer for inspection. I just wanted to make sure that what I'm seeing is not a different rubber layer just above the cord. And wanted to know if there was a particular issue with Bridgestone R250 tires. It's interesting that the lighter colored rubber that is exposed is on the INNER portion of the outer tread, closest to where the tread is still fairly deep -- not on the outer portion of the outer tread where you'd expect the most wear. Thanks for any thoughts on this. John