tireman9

Ran Firestone Transforce HT 16" for 28,000 miles (7 years). One of 6 had sidewall stress crack @28k (long term parking during Winter) so it needed to be replaced. Many / Most Firestone & Bridgestone LT and TBR tires made in one of two plants in USA. Similar tires (BS or FS) would most likely be made in same plant to almost identical specifications.

You say tire pressure is "OK". I assume you mean you know the load on the tires and have enough inflation to carry the load. What Cold Inflation Pressure do you use? What are your actual loads for each corner or for each axle. The 2 body plies is actually more than what many have in their LR-E LT type tires as in my experience 1 ply is used in many tires of this size. How many miles on the tires? I would give them 500 mi to get all the mold lubricants off the surface. What speeds are you talking about?

Thanks for the input. Yes I have EZPass and know it can save $$$. Based on input will NOT do 90 Seem to recall doing I294 years ago as I thought I355 too far West or something. Will give I355 a shot. Herman RE Saying HI. Will try and keep an eye out. Note I am giving 5 different Seminars. 2 on Tires and 3 on Genealogy Check the schedule for exact times and locations.

Expect late afternoon Monday to be South of Chicago on I90, so I would expect that the I90 might be heavy with commute traffic. Am leaning toward i294

Headed to Madison Monday see that I have 3 choices. We have a Class-C I90 through downtown Chicago I294 or I355 Thoughts?

While I was waiting to get my new coach on the alignment machine I watched the shop finish up a front end on vehicle spin balance on a big dump truck. Balancing on the vehicle will help with out of balance hubs & brakes as well as make out of round tire, OOR tire mounting or OOR wheel to hub condition. Brett talks about balancing an egg. I prefer to think of balancing a cinder block. Can be done but don't ride worth a darn. Hope to see some of you in Madison at my tire seminars.

Can't answer the size / Load Range question without knowing the actual loads on the tires. While actual corner loading is best we at least need individual axle loads and can apply a 47/53% side to side unbalance estimate.

Agree its disturbing but not surprising. Just another example of an RV company saving a few bucks up front which will cost the owner hundreds and maybe thousands a few years down the road. This will be something I look for on the new MH we are picking up Monday.

Just to give folks a heads up, I am scheduled to give two different seminars on tires at Madison. The first is "Basic Tire Knowledge" for the RV owner. Thursday 3:00PM Tire size, load range and inflation needs are the focus. The second is "Advanced Tire Knowledge and Failure Analysis" Friday 1:30PM Now don't be put off by this.as all that is required is that you be interested in learning more about tires than "I gotta put air in them". The Failure Analysis part will show numerous examples to show that "Blowout" isn't the correct answer to every tire failure. I believe that if you don't know the real reason "WHY" a tire failed simply replacing the failed tire with a new one or with a different brand may not solve the underlying problem. I will stick around and do Q&A after both sessions till there are no more questions. My presentations are company neutral and I have nothing for sale other than knowledge and that is FREE. I am hoping to again offer tire pressure gauge calibration check after the seminars but won't know when or where till I confirm I can set up my portable compressor so I have adequate pressure to check your gauges. My "Master Gauges" read to 0.5 psi and have been checked against ISO Laboratory certified gauges. But bring your gauges if you would like them checked. See you in Madison. Note anyone that is reading this that has attended my seminars is encouraged to add a "review" of my seminars to this thread.

I understand the desire to keep initial price low but why can't I get more than 12 months coverage, which in reality is more like 5 or 6 months as I do not full time it. I would think that if an RV dealership in cooperation with one of the brands they sell offered say a $500 - $1,000 "Tune-Up package once a year which would extend the B2B warranty for another year, there would be some who would buy the program. Obviously a 22' gas Class-C would be less expensive than a 40' diesel pusher but you get the idea. You can do a fare amount of PM for $500 and this would keep the dealership staff busy in the slow months. Some customers would be happier and I for one would be more inclined to pay for this rather than some extended service contract that only covers the generator but not the wires that connect to the generator. The water pump but none of the water lines, The Refrigerator but none of the propaine or electrical connections to it etc etc. This would also get the customer back into the dealership and who knows maybe even build some customer loyalty. With the proper PM I would also think most components would last longer so there would even be lower warranty costs to component suppliers.

I hear the excuse but based on personal experience working as a QA rep of a supplier to a number of car companies the reality is that the RV company does have some leverage with the suppliers of major components. They also have 100% responsibility for some parts of the "coach" where there is IMO absolutely no excuse other than they know they do sloppy work and don't want to be held accountable for it. Lets look at the 12v wiring. This is all installed by the RV company in their assy line and connects the house battery to various components such as the Converter/inverter, water pump, and interior lighting etc. Clearly 12v wiring and connectors are mature products in the auto industry with most of that industry offering 100% coverage of the wiring and the connection to components for 3 to 5 years. Now if Born Free offers 3 years coverage I say good for them. My question remains for all the remaining RV companies. Why aren't they willing to stand behind the work on the 12v wiring their employees do as they assemble an RV? I understand that the companies offering "Extended Warranties" are in the business of making money. Clearly they are not going to offer coverage on systems that they expect to fail based on claims history. The refusal of apparently all these companies to offer meaningful extended coverage without a long list of exclusions sends the message that confirms my belief that the output of the RV workers and companies is significantly worse than in the auto industry. Regarding components supplied to the RV "assemblers" Yes currently many of these components have their own warranty coverage. Some for 12 months, some for 24 and a few for 36 months. But it is possible for the RV company to "raise the bar" by informing the component suppliers that they need to step up and offer better quality components with longer warranties if they want to sell to the RV company. This is how it works in the auto industry where over the past few years various car companies have included every component including tires under their umbrella warranty. I can attest to the fact that a tire with a manufacturing defect that is "adjusted" under warranty by the car dealership to the customer if confirmed to have a defect is replaced by the tire company along with appropriate costs associated with the adjustment. These "warranty costs" are something tire companies really try to avoid and have gone to significant effort to try and eliminate any defective tire from leaving the tire plant. Born Free claims "Highest Quality, Best Built" and with a 3 year warranty they clearly are industry leaders. Now do you think that the Born Free RV company is absorbing all costs associated with component failures or do you think it more likely that any warranty costs are passed back to the component supplier? If Born Free can do that they why can't much larger RV companies with significantly loarger purchasing power do the same? The list screw-ups I have personally observed in RVs is long and I have evidence of things such as bare electrically hot wiring, paint cans left rolling around under the bathroom floor, water pumps in contact with wood frame members which turn the coach into an echo chamber. electricians tape being used to secure water fittings. openings in interior body work being bashed with a hammer rather than cut with a hole saw. bad and broken welds on exhaust system hangers, misaligned holding tank lines that result in valves being broken, the use of admittedly defective graphics that resulted in the necessity of a re-paint of the side of an RV at owners expense, broken 12v ground strap connectors, unit being sold with front end alignment problems resulting in abnormal tire wear, and corrosion of all brake lights due to failure to tighten screws. Just how are these defects excusable and not the responsibility of the RV company? Maybe while at some future RV show I will check with some of the various suppliers there and ask the length of their warranty and if it isn't 3 years then I might follow up with a question about how they feel about selling a product that they themselves expect to fail before the "new wears off".

OK, Now that the server problems have been handled... This really belongs in the Tires forum but lets see if we can handle it quickly. Based on actual weights with slight rounding and adjustment your Front Axle carries 5,100 vs GAWR of 6,000 Drive 9,500 vs GAWR 11,000 Tag 3,300 vs GAWR 3000 BUT we don't know the axle side to side split. I like to assume a 47/53 to 45/55% split and we need to carry the heavier side so lets look at the range IF 53% Front 2,703 (single loading) 70 min Drive 2,518 (dual loading) 75 min Tag 1,750 (single loading) 40 psi min If 55% Front 2,805 for 75 psi min Drive 2,613 for 75 psi Tag 1,815 for 40 psi Also I suggest a +10 % above the Minimum cold inflation for your AM set pressure so you don't have to worry about the pressure change due to temperature variation. We also need to limit the CSP ( Cold Set Pressure) to no more than the wheel rating which in this case I believe is 80 psi So we end up with a CSP Front 77 to 80 psi Drive 80 psi Tag 44 psi To make things easy I would go with 80 for Front & Drive and 45 on Tag as I like to round to 5 psi. Now When you re-distribute your loading and get the pressure on the tag suspension resolved and get the actual corner loading you may need to tweak the inflation on the TAG. Hope this helps Sorry to sidetrack this "Weight" thread into a Tire Inflation thread.

First, Glad the FMCA computers are back on line. Second re slides. It sure would be nice if RV companies made information on type and details of slides available to potential buyers. I think I understand the different types of systems i.e. hydraulic vs gear drive and single motor vs dual. With some research I might even be able to make an informed purchasing decision but since the RV companies seem to have zero interest in providing information on the mechanical aspects of their products and appear to want to keep us "Blinded by the Bling" I guess we will just have to take our chances and if there are problems simply blame the RV company for their poor design and purchasing decisions and make broad brush recommendations to others to stay away from Company X. Not the best way to build a loyal or supportive customer base. To me this would be like Ford & Chevy refusing to provide information on their chassis having disk or drum brakes or having power or manual steering. My experience with a few salesmen at a couple of dealerships makes me wonder if they are much more than glorified order takers. Now there probably are a few sales people that take pride and an interest is what they sell but I just haven't met any. I think I will do a bit of research on product knowledge at Madison and ask the representatives a couple of questions. Seems like the posters here are more knowledgeable that the salesmen I have met. If you were going to ask two questions about slides, what would they be?

Quick post as I have errand to run. 16" tires? I am surprised that there is a 34' RV with tag on LT tires. What is the OE tire size & Load Range? What does your tire placard say for size & tire inflation. Your tires need to be rated to carry at least the full GAWR or 3000# + on front and 2650+ on rears (dual load rating) and I would be surprised if you want different sizes. We are getting a bit off topic on this if we get into too much tire talk. Will check back in a few hours. We may need to move the discussion.

Bill I plan some such or at least something in writing as to who is responsible to pay for an alignment. I'm willing to pay for the alignment check and the dealer should be willing to pay for the adjustment and then they can go back on the RV company to collect the cost of the RV company for not doing a better quality job in the first place.

Normally I would let Brett Wolf handle this one as I know he knows a lot more than I do on Tag axle set-up. But he is on the road and asked me to jump in. First off you get points for making an effort to learn the actual weights on your axles. Too often people just look at the specs and guess for the rest. It does look like the tag is not shifting much weight to or from your front which i find a bit surprising. BUT those are the numbers. Are you sure your GVWR is 17,000 + 3,000 I normally expect the GVWR to be less than the sum of the individual GAWRatings but lets go with that number for now. Based on the scale readings on the tag it looks like 35 psi or a little less is where you should be as you should not exceed the tag GAWR at all. 8480 on rear seems like the correct number so if you can place the load over rear axle then you should be OK One thing to consider is the side to side balance on each axle. You seldom see 50/50 with 47/53 being more likely so this brings in the question of potential overload of tires as you approach 100% of each GAWR.

I would also contact the RV company to confirm what they designed. I have a 3,000# tow limit on my 2008 Coachmen just like jleamont.. BUT I understand that Coachmen made some design changes on newer units to raise the tow limit back to 5,000 so you need to be specific with your model and year. I suggest the VIN number to the RV company via email should hopefully get a written reply.

I understand that most people want a slide and the value of used RVs with slides is better than those without but based on the munber of posts here and on other RV forums it appears that almost no RV assembler knows how to design a slide that won't cause problems and have expensive repairs needed. Why can't someone get their act together and come up with a slide system that doesn't leak or stop working or even worse slide out when you don't want it to as I read about on recent recall.

Over the past years we have seen what happened to "Detroit" when the improved quality" of cars from Japan came to America. More recently we see that vehicles from Korea offer 5/50,000 to 10/100 warranty with most of the coverage 100% bumper to bumper which means almost no exclusions except a few wear parts. Even tires are available with warranties three to four times longer than the RV they came mounted on. When I bought our last new coach in 2008 we were offered an "extended warranty" but after reading the fine print I turned it down because there were more items excluded than included. IMO if a company can't offer a basic 100% B2B warranty for at least 12 months as part of the basic deal, they are signaling that they know they are selling a unit that they know will probably have expensive failures. And if you can't even buy a 3 year 100% B2B policy at extra cost then even the insurance company know the word "Quality" is not in the RV industry vocabulary. Am I wrong? Is there an RV company they can match even half the quality of a $15,000 car from Korea on a $50,000 or $100,000 RV built in America by American workers, based on length of coverage for the entire vehicle?

It really is too bad the RV assemblers (not manufacturers for I am not aware of any such company) don't care about their customers. Every car & LT that comes off the assy line at GM, Ford Toyota, Honda etc is run across a system that allows check & set of alignment even though every car weighs essentially the same and is assembled from the same parts. RV assemblers know that most units are different due to the options and variations in floor plans etc so if they had any automotive engineering knowledge at all, they would know the alignment would change. My Coachment was out for camber on both front tires which resulted ini one shoulder wear, even though I know it was set by Chevy when they made the cut-away van chassis. It was the weight that Coachmen added that caused the RV to be out of align. RV assemblers know they can avoid the cost associated with building better quality vehicles because they don't have to worry about warranty costs because they knowingly offer not much more than 6 months warranty as a good portion of RVs are not driven full time right out the door so 12 months isn't really 12 months usage. They also know that many owners will not take the time to bring the unit back for service to make the RV right in the first place. How would you feel if you bought a car and was told to take it back to the factory three states away to have a shopping list of screw-ups fixed? We are considering a new RV later this year and I almost feel sorry for the dealer as I will not accept shoddy parts or workmanship as this time I know better than to trust the RV assembler. I will let the dealer know I am going to an alignment shop first thing and if out of align he can pay the bill if the unit is out of spec or I won't but the unit.

What does InnoTech have to say? Haven't heard of that brand but that doesn't mean anything as the market for TPMS is still growing. I have a system that has a "rapid pressure loss" warning but have never had it go off when I simply stop for gas. Do you get a temperature reading from your system? Could you post or PM me with some cold & hot pressures & temperatures?

I have a short you-yube video on "Should you carry a spare"

Well I see things worked out and you have made a decision. For others that find themselves in a similar position I would offer some additional information I would suggest you go to a Goodyear truck tire dealer and have the tires inspected. Let them know your concern about the tire age and current hot temp in Vegas. Let them know your actual scale weights (Go to a local truck scale location first so you have current info). There are a number around Vegas I'm sure) and your normal cold inflation. While there ask if they would confirm the accuracy of your pressure gauge. If a stick type +/- 5 is about what I would expect. If digital (better) +/- 2 would be good. If outside these numbers you need a new gauge. Check my blog on tire gauges and how to have a reliable "Master Gauge" of your own for less than $15. The Goodyear tech be should be familiar with the Goodyear tires you have, so can offer first hand information on the condition of your tires. Remember you can always get just the two fronts replaced as a failure there would be the greatest concern. With a TPM on the rear duals a failure would be less dramatic and you should get plenty of warning so you can safely pull over quickly before serious damage is done.

IMO While I can't address tire availability from Michelin you need to remember that there are generally considered to be 3 Tiers of tire companies. Michelin, Bridgestone & Goodyear as #1 with the tires made & sold by these companies as being essentially the same ie Firestone & Dayton ~ Bridgestone, Kelly & Dunlop~ Goodyear and Goodrich & Uniroyal ~ Michelin. Now there are some minor differences within a Corporation but many times the rubber compounds and reinforcement materials are identical. Tread designs may be a bit more advances in the Corporate brand and the top of the line tires may not have an equivalent in the 2nd brand but for most people you will not see a difference in performance. #1 tier have their own tire stores with many hundred nationwide. Now Tier #2 would be tires made by corporations that have their own tire plants. These would be companies like Toyo, Pirelli, and others seen on this list. They may not have any company stores and just depend on large tire distributors to market their tires. 3rd Tier would be companies that are not on the list above. These may actually be just sales companies the have other companies make lower cost product for them as "private Brand" , Sometimes the same tire is made for a number of importers with only a name-plate change in the mold to differentiate the "brand" These companies seldom have their own stores but sell their products through wholesalers. Check the tire warranty and I think you can get a good feeling for the real quality of the tires. Are there lots of exceptions or is the warranty short is a tip off. Now to your concern about your current tires: You didn't offer your actual age of your tires or info on how you store your tires. Do you have a lot or a little extra load capacity based on actual individual tire position weights? Do you run a TPMS and have never run lower than what is needed to carry your actual load. If concerned about road or ambient temperature just drop the speed down 5 or 10 mph. Don't run 70 when 60 will still get you there. Last Aug I drove Ohio - Redmond at 60 - 62 with no problem. Can you increase your tire pressure? Where are you headed? Have you checked to see if there is a large tire dealer at a future location that has tires for your RV in stock?

Discovered some cracks in the external cover / shroud of the roof AC unit. These are 1" to 4" long and run from the screw holes. If I could learn the type of plastic used I feel I could repair the cover rather than spending the $150 - $200+ on a new shroud. Some plastics are relatively easy to repair while others take special adhesives. Have contacted Dometic and asked the question (PVC, ABS, PP, HDPE etc) but so far no answer.