ALLEGRO BUS TIRE BLOWOUT - NEED TIRE ADVICE

[kdherb]

Have a 40' 2006 Tiffin Allegro Bus & do about 7500 miles a year.  We bought all brand new Michelin 275/80 R22.5  XZA3 tires thru FMCA program in 2014 (manufacture date  on tires is 3613).  Coming home from a short weekend trip yesterday, had a random blowout on the back left INNER tire - never hit anything on the road at all but it sounded like a gunshot!  Came apart and destroyed the electrical compartment that's behind the tires, wheel-well damage (insulation, leveler wiring etc.).  Still don't know if we are going file an insurance claim or pay out of pocket to get the electrical box rebuilt - the husband can handle the wiring, insulation etc.  What we are trying to decide is what to do about the tire.  The rest of them look like they are in great shape, not cracked, they are always covered, pressure checked before every trip etc..  Do we replace just that one and run them for a couple more years?  Do we buy 2 new front steer tires and put one of the old ones on the back left inner?  Or do we buy 6 new tires and be done with it?  From the recent posts in this forum, it looks like there is quite a bit of backlash against michelin because of the cost and premature lifespan - seems like they are not lasting like they used to perhaps?  Some of you have had great results with Hankooks it seems.  I also read from your posts that the BFGs (michelin-made?) are a better tire at a lower cost.  If you guys were in our shoes, what would you do and if you did replace your michelin 275/80R22.5 XZA3 tires, what did u replace them with (some of the manufacturers have multiple models of the same tire size so please be specific.  Thanks in advance.

[jleamont]

kdherb, Welcome to the FMCA Fourms! 

After reading your post above a few things jump out.

• It sound like you are not using a Tire pressure monitoring system?
• You could have picked up a foreign object that resulted in a slow loss of air which caused the tire to fail. 
• If tire pressures are checked before each trip that in itself could have caused the issue. Perhaps checking the tire pressures resulted in a leak from the valve stem. I have seen this scenario happen to many people.

Anything is possible, glad to hear you both are safe. 

If it were my coach I would have the remaining tires inspected by a professional, and replace accordingly. If you do not feel comfortable with them or their findings replace all of them and move on.

I replaced our Michelin's with BF Goodrich in the beginning of 2017. 

[kdherb]

10 minutes ago, jleamont said:

kdherb, Welcome to the FMCA Fourms! 

After reading your post above a few things jump out.

• It sound like you are not using a Tire pressure monitoring system?
• You could have picked up a foreign object that resulted in a slow loss of air which caused the tire to fail. 
• If tire pressures are checked before each trip that in itself could have caused the issue. Perhaps checking the tire pressures resulted in a leak from the valve stem. I have seen this scenario happen to many people.

Anything is possible, glad to hear you both are safe. 

If it were my coach I would have the remaining tires inspected by a professional, and replace accordingly. If you do not feel comfortable with them or their findings replace all of them and move on.

I replaced our Michelin's with BF Goodrich in the beginning of 2017. 

All great points.  Thanks for your response.

[desertdeals69]

When the inner dual blew did you run any distance.  If you did more than a few feet the outer dual is also toast.  Your tires are over 6 years old so I would replace all.  I have been using Toyos at about 2/3 the cost of Michelins.

[manholt]

I did like Joe, got BFG's (8) in June this year.  Toyos are a good option.  Someone has to pay for the advertisement. Hankook, Continental and Kelly is good.  Like DD69 said, replace them all.  6/7 years is about all you can safely expect to  get.

[kdherb]

Thank you all for your insight.  I was browsing the forum and came across a post with a link to Tireman's blog and we are going to go with his ingenious plan.  We bought 2 of the same Michelins (thru the FMCA Michelin program), will put those on the front today, move the 2 fronts to the back and then next year buy 2 more for the front, and then in 2021 buy 2 more.  That way our newest tires will always be the front steer tires.  We are doing this because the michelin dealer agreed that the tires are still in good shape (except for the blown one - maybe a defective tire?) and all of our tires are the same size.  Thanks again to all those who responded.  Happy holidays.

[jleamont]

kdherb, sounds like a good plan.

Happy Holidays to you as well, don't be a stranger.

[manholt]

kdherb, Merry Christmas to you both!

[rayin]

When the Michelin dealer removed the failed tire, did he offer any explanation as to cause? When replacing just one dual tire, they must be within 1/4" in diameter: pg 73 of, https://commercial.bridgestone.com/content/dam/bcs-sites/bridgestone-ex/products/Databooks/Bridgestone-TBR-DataBook-v17.1-06-13-2017.pdf

As to service life: https://www.michelintruck.com/assets/pdf/bulletins/TB_Service_Life_RV_Tires.pdf

[tireman9]

On 12/11/2019 at 9:55 AM, kdherb said:

Thank you all for your insight.  I was browsing the forum and came across a post with a link to Tireman's blog and we are going to go with his ingenious plan.  We bought 2 of the same Michelins (thru the FMCA Michelin program), will put those on the front today, move the 2 fronts to the back and then next year buy 2 more for the front, and then in 2021 buy 2 more.  That way our newest tires will always be the front steer tires.  We are doing this because the michelin dealer agreed that the tires are still in good shape (except for the blown one - maybe a defective tire?) and all of our tires are the same size.  Thanks again to all those who responded.  Happy holidays.

Actual "Defects" i.e. manufacturing mistakes usually occur relatively early in life. One recall I initiated was based on multiple tires failing in the first hundred miles as I recall (in 2000). Any chance you have pictures of the failed tire?    Info for all . It is sometimes possible to provide a possible reason for failure if we can get 3 - 5 pictures of the failure.

Close enough to capture no more than 1/2 the tire. Good lighting i.e full Sunlight.  Some times we can rule some causes out and sometimes we can get down to a couple of possibles. You can post a general picture but you can always email me the high quqlity pictures so I can zoom in.

Not running a TPMS doesn't help but you know that now.  Did you check air pressure the morning of the failure? If so how many miles did you travel after the inflation check? There is a distinct possibility that whenever you checked the pressure a leak was started and being an inner dual there was almost no chance of you noticing the loss with the outer tire supporting the load.

Can you identify how much air in in the dual in the right shot?  The left shot of the same tire in the picture below?  This is a slide from my FMCA tire seminar.