Tires for Motorhome

[wryonki]

  We are purchasing a 2005 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40PDQ in need of tires. We are thinking of putting Michelin XZE 2+ tires on. They suppose to be the best. Any opinions on what tire to use? Want a quality tire.  Looking to purchase in the Rio Grande Valley.  Know anywhere you can purchase them there?  Only finding them online.

[tbutler]

Wryonki,

Welcome to the forum.  We have the Michelin XZA2 Energy tires on our coach.  Very happy with them, nice ride, excellent quality tire.  Here is a link to dealers in the RGV.  I searched the area around McAllen but you can search from there to find dealers closer to Harlingen or Brownsville.  If this doesn't have the dealers I saw, simply put in your zip code and search, there were three listed near McAllen, one is in Pharr, the other two in Edinburg.  All are National Account dealers which means they should be familiar with and able to accommodate use of the FMCA Michelin Tire Discount program.  If you aren't familiar with this program, check the information on the FMCA website.  It will save you considerable cash on this purchase.  When you look at dealers, run the cursor over the symbols on the dealer information to find the symbol that indicates a National Account dealer.

Here is some unsolicited advice.  Any dealer, any company that you purchase your tires from will be primarily a truck tire dealer.  You want your tires installed on your motor home, not a truck.  You need to tell them that you expect all tires to be balanced.  This isn't standard with trucks.  Your ride will be better than a truck if you have all balanced. Once the bead is set, they can (should) put the tires in the vertical safety stands to inflate them to full pressure.  Have them torque the lug nuts.  I had an aluminum wheel cracked by an overzealous tech with an air wrench.  It was also the worst tire mounting I had.  We were traveling so I stopped at another dealer and they check for roundness and found it will out of round and they found the cracked wheel.  Live and learn.

You also will want them to check to ensure that the tires are mounted so they are as close to round as possible.  How can a tire not be round?  You want them within 0.006 inches of a perfect circle (difference between highest and lowest point on the tire).  That's really round.  Some dealers will have instrumentation to check this.  I've had this happen with other brands of tires and had to have them remounted (rotated 1/4 or 1/2 turn) to get the wheel and tire together to produce the desired accuracy.  I had a tire tech explain to me once that the tires should be inflated to seat the bead with the tire horizontal so the wheel is in the center of the tire as opposed to vertical mounting  where the wheel is resting on the lowest part of the tire.  As the bead sets, it will be slightly off-center and thus the tire will not be round.  Using this technique, I've never had a problem with Michelin tires being out of round. 

I just had 4 tires put on, specified I wanted manufacture dates (stamped on the tires) not more than 3 months old.  They had to order them but had them in stock within a week.  I had mine done in the Austin area while I was there for an extended stay. 

If you talk to a dealer and they aren't willing to work with you to get the best quality mounting, find another dealer.  There are no shortage of dealers!

[john_harris]

Tom's advise is spot on. I only add that i went from Goodyear 670 series to the XZA2's and could not believe the difference in ride and handling. yes a little pricier but I too went thru the advantage program so it was not that much more. Like you and Tom, i am also on a Monaco Roadmaster chassis.  

[wryonki]

1 hour ago, TBUTLER said:

Wryonki,

Welcome to the forum.  We have the Michelin XZA2 Energy tires on our coach.  Very happy with them, nice ride, excellent quality tire.  Here is a link to dealers in the RGV.  I searched the area around McAllen but you can search from there to find dealers closer to Harlingen or Brownsville.  If this doesn't have the dealers I saw, simply put in your zip code and search, there were three listed near McAllen, one is in Pharr, the other two in Edinburg.  All are National Account dealers which means they should be familiar with and able to accommodate use of the FMCA Michelin Tire Discount program.  If you aren't familiar with this program, check the information on the FMCA website.  It will save you considerable cash on this purchase.  When you look at dealers, run the cursor over the symbols on the dealer information to find the symbol that indicates a National Account dealer.

Here is some unsolicited advice.  Any dealer, any company that you purchase your tires from will be primarily a truck tire dealer.  You want your tires installed on your motor home, not a truck.  You need to tell them that you expect all tires to be balanced.  This isn't standard with trucks.  Your ride will be better than a truck if you have all balanced. Once the bead is set, they can (should) put the tires in the vertical safety stands to inflate them to full pressure.  Have them torque the lug nuts.  I had an aluminum wheel cracked by an overzealous tech with an air wrench.  It was also the worst tire mounting I had.  We were traveling so I stopped at another dealer and they check for roundness and found it will out of round and they found the cracked wheel.  Live and learn.

You also will want them to check to ensure that the tires are mounted so they are as close to round as possible.  How can a tire not be round?  You want them within 0.006 inches of a perfect circle (difference between highest and lowest point on the tire).  That's really round.  Some dealers will have instrumentation to check this.  I've had this happen with other brands of tires and had to have them remounted (rotated 1/4 or 1/2 turn) to get the wheel and tire together to produce the desired accuracy.  I had a tire tech explain to me once that the tires should be inflated to seat the bead with the tire horizontal so the wheel is in the center of the tire as opposed to vertical mounting  where the wheel is resting on the lowest part of the tire.  As the bead sets, it will be slightly off-center and thus the tire will not be round.  Using this technique, I've never had a problem with Michelin tires being out of round. 

I just had 4 tires put on, specified I wanted manufacture dates (stamped on the tires) not more than 3 months old.  They had to order them but had them in stock within a week.  I had mine done in the Austin area while I was there for an extended stay. 

If you talk to a dealer and they aren't willing to work with you to get the best quality mounting, find another dealer.  There are no shortage of dealers!

Thank you so much for the info!!  We are newbies to a motorhome!  Always had a 5th wheel!!

[tbutler]

We started with a used coach in 2001.  You have a head start as we never owned an RV before.  I think you will find many things familiar and some things much nicer.  Enjoy your travels.