Tire Brand Selection

[dcduhe]

I am trying to decide what tire brand to buy for my motorhome, and if better tires are available. I currently I have G670 275/70r22.5 on a 2007 Fleetwood Excursion. Any opinions on brands and models would be appreciated.

[wolfe10]

You are likely to get a lot of "Opinions" as to which brand is best. Kind of like Ford vs Chevy. I am not aware of any "bad" tires among the majors. In the past, yes, but not today.

But let's start at the beginning.

What is the carrying capacity of your tires (molded into the sidewall) vs your actual weight. If you don't have an adequate safety reserve (i.e. the tire was designed to carry well more than your actual weight) you SHOULD consider up-sizing to a tire with greater load carrying capacity.

Having tires with adequate carrying capacity (in access of your actual weight) not only gives you a safety margin, but you will be able to carry less PSI for a better ride.

A curiosity question-- why are you replacing 2-3 year old tires? How many miles? Problems/uneven wear?

Brett Wolfe

[dcduhe]

My tires or marked load range H and after weighting the coach I’m well within range. The reason I am considering changing the tires are from uneven tire wear, because the coach only has 30,000 miles on it with plenty of tread left, and just minor to no cracking. The former owner drove it a while with a thrust alignment problem and the front end under inflated. Since I have gotten it all those problems have been corrected by my Freight Liner dealer (especially since we run a trucking company). Our big trucks run both Goodyear and Michelin tires with equal success, but I did not know if there was a better specialty tire for RV use. I could probably just change the steer axle, because it drives great now that all of the alignment issues or corrected, and the rear tires are not that bad.

[dand41cb@aol.com]

I'm a firm believer you get what you pay for, especially in tires. Is there any better tire on the market than Michelin, I don't think so. I have a tendency to walk around rest stops while traveling and like looking @ 18 wheelers. You can pretty much see what the good one's use. I'm talking about the self owner/operators. I talked to one driver from Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago while coming home from Fl. I had to ask him about his Rig because it was spotless, chrome everywhere, and even Power windows. He spends a lot of time in his truck, and when I asked him how fast it was, he just kinda grinned and said Freightliner won't tell me. Last and to the point, as I walked away I looked @ his tire's, Michelin's and nicely covered with tire shine, spotless Rig. He trusts his life running down the highway @ who knows what speed, that's good enough for me. JMHO.

David G.

[jjgnn@yahoo.com]

My excellent 2003 Country Coach needed new tires (7 years old) though it had only 44,000 miles, good tread and very light surface cracks on one tire. I was happy with the Toyos that came on it, very smooth, and replaced them with the same model Toyos, model 8111, 12R22.5. $1,500 less than Michelin. The Country Coach folks did not cut any corners with their build, and if Toyo were good enough for them, they are certainly good enough for me.

I found six only four months old, and so will have a long life out of them. New tires stink, so that is the trade off. After four months I no longer check to see if the black water tank is leaking, and only get occasional whiff now.

[wolfe10]

As Jack points out, when you do buy new tires, be sure they are NEW-- as you will most likely be replacing them based on age rather than wear. If they are already a year old, you will get one year less service from them.

To determine tire date (on any tire made since 2000): There is a complete DOT number molded into ONE sidewall of each tire. The last FOUR digits indicate the WEEK and YEAR of production. So DOT........................3405 was made the 34th week of 2005.

I will not accept a tire older than three months old except in an emergency.

Brett Wolfe