19.5" Michelin XRV's Discontinued

[InTheDogHouse]

After much research, I selected the 245/70-19.5 Michelin XRV as replacements, only to find out they've been discontinued in this size!  (Dangit!)  I've reached out to a local Pomp Tire and he's ordered Michelin XZE tires for me since the XRV's aren't available and is awaiting confirmation of my FMCA transaction to schedule installation.

I'm curious what other's experiences have been regarding the change in ride characteristics and mileage between the G670, XRV and XZE tires.  I've read about a gazzillion or two threads online and the feedback can be overwhelming.  Going from Load Range G to H isn't a concern for me unless it will greatly affect the ride quality.  We aren't and won't likely ever approach our weight limits, with most of our basement storage and some of our inside storage remaining completely unused.  (A couple different RV friends think we're weird for that as they always appear to be busting at the seams when loading up!  haha)  Mileage isn't too big of a concern either since we don't really drive a lot of miles on most trips (less than a few hundred miles each way in most instances...) and the mileage, being at 8+ without Toad and 7+ with Toad won't impact the budget all that much given how we travel.

I'm also curious as to whether anyone knows why Michelin would discontinue the XRV, particularly in just the 19.5 sizes.  (Is that size-ism?) 

Thanks in advance for any feedback anyone wants to offer and be safe all!

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by InTheDogHouse
Limited responses and none that addressed my questions...

[wolfe10]

InTheDogHouse,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.  Glad you are where many of us have been for a LONG time--InTheDogHouse .

Have you confirmed with Michelin that indeed they have ceased production, vs just "out of stock".

Give them a call: Michelin 866-866-6605

 

 

[InTheDogHouse]

12 minutes ago, wolfe10 said:

InTheDogHouse,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.  Glad you are where many of us have been for a LONG time--InTheDogHouse .

Have you confirmed with Michelin that indeed they have ceased production, vs just "out of stock".

Give them a call: Michelin 866-866-6605

 

 

Great question!  Especially since I can answer affirmatively...   I called Michelin after receiving a quote from Pomp's in which they listed it as "discontinued" and offered several other options.  Nick at the number you list stated that they have been discontinued in the size I need.  He didn't have any reason for it.  A search on Michelin's website seems to indicate they're still available for larger wheels, but not 19.5".

 

[wolfe10]

Thanks for the update.

[tireman9]

From experience, I know that some items are discontinued simply because the volumes do not justify carrying inventory.

Tires are made in batches of a few hundred to continuous runs of thousands a day. If you only make a run of say 500 tires how can you properly stock your warehouses?

If you only sell a couple thousand a year or maybe only 500 a year, how can you justify disrupting the production of an item you make and sell at hundreds a day? There is a lot of lost downtime of very expensive equipment when there is a change in a production run. How often do you want to shut down a building machine that has a 10 tire output per hour when it might take 2 hours to make the change over? These machines can cost $250,000 to $500,000 each and tire production is 24/7.

Then there is the QA requirements. If an item is out of production for a long enough period of time the plant may need to run additional QA checks which can cost the company $thousands in testing and analysis plus the destruction of a number of tires run on the tests or simply cut up to confirm proper machine set-up.

[InTheDogHouse]

On 4/21/2018 at 0:43 PM, tireman9 said:

From experience, I know that some items are discontinued simply because the volumes do not justify carrying inventory.

Tires are made in batches of a few hundred to continuous runs of thousands a day. If you only make a run of say 500 tires how can you properly stock your warehouses?

If you only sell a couple thousand a year or maybe only 500 a year, how can you justify disrupting the production of an item you make and sell at hundreds a day? There is a lot of lost downtime of very expensive equipment when there is a change in a production run. How often do you want to shut down a building machine that has a 10 tire output per hour when it might take 2 hours to make the change over? These machines can cost $250,000 to $500,000 each and tire production is 24/7.

Then there is the QA requirements. If an item is out of production for a long enough period of time the plant may need to run additional QA checks which can cost the company $thousands in testing and analysis plus the destruction of a number of tires run on the tests or simply cut up to confirm proper machine set-up.

Sounds completely reasonable.  Thanks!

Going with the XZE's all around, more by default than for any other reason...

[InTheDogHouse]

I just got back from picking up the Coach from Pomp's Tires here in N. IL to replace the OLD Goodyear G670 RV's with the afore mentioned Michelin XZE's. A quick check for date codes showed dates ranging from 0318 to 1618, which is just last week! (Don't know how that's possible with them being stamped as "Made in France"...) I left Pomps and drove along a stretch of concrete roadway that usually produces the repeated thump-thump going over the seems. Nope! Smooth and quiet as she goes... I then got onto I-90 and merged at about 65mph and thought I was missing something as it was so quiet... so smooth... so steady! I typically drive at about 63 as it gives better mileage and seemed to be a little more squirrelly above that. Not this time! I ran up to 75mph and passed a series of trucks and nothing! No push, no pull and hardly any effect at all from the trucks! WOW! We'll hit the road next weekend and I'll know more then, but I am super happy right now with the new XZE's after a quick 20 mile ride!!!