Well it looks like it is time for tires. We have a 34' 2004 Winnebago Brave with about 30,000 miles on her. The tire tread looks great but there are cracks in the sidewalls and after last year's RV Dreams Rally where we learned all about tires I'm thinking given their date that it's more than time.
Although when we had her weighed at the rally and asked the tire expert about replacing them, he said they looked fine. The tires are the original Michelin 245/70R19.5 XRV and are dated 3303 which is early August 2003. So they are already 7 years old. And now I'm REALLY worrying.
I've searched for tire info on the forum and the most recent discussion I could find was 2007.
So my questions to you Class A owners are
What tires are you running on your motorhome?
How well do you like them? Would you buy them again and if not what would you buy?
Any recommendation where to buy or where not to buy RV tires?
Is there any way to save money and have great tires?
I have looked on line for the cost of replacing our tires with the exact same thing and on line they run from $340 to $395 per tire plus shipping and mounting/balancing etc. We will probably buy them locally if we can get a good deal although we do not live in a town that offers much in the way of RV service of any kind. Since we are President's Club members, we will definitely check with our closest Camping World but it is 2 hours away and although it is on our way to the rally I'm a little worried about driving her that far on these tires. We may have been very lucky to do the 1000 miles we did this fall without a blowout.
Any other advice?
We REALLY appreciate the help of all of you with more experience than we have,
Sherry
-- Edited by Sherry on Saturday 8th of January 2011 01:03:03 PM
Jim01 said
07:43 AM Jan 8, 2011
Sherry,
I would stay with the Michelin tires as I feel that they are very good. They may not be the least expensive, but you don't want to have trouble out on the road, and the cost of a service call or repairs on your RV if you have a blowout will far exceed the cost of better tires.
This is not a place to cut corners.
If you do a search of Truck tires in your area, you should be able to find a dealer who can order the tires for you if he doesn't have them in stock.
Jim
-- Edited by Jim01 on Saturday 8th of January 2011 07:46:14 AM
Serengeti said
08:49 AM Jan 8, 2011
We had new tires put on in 2007 and at that time after much talk and exploring the subject we went with the Goodyear RV tires. The main thing we wanted was a new tire at the replacement time. We went to Camping World in Oct. of 07 and the tires that they installed were made in Aug of that year,so they were lass than 3 months old at installation. Below is the web site that you will want to look at and they explain the value of their tires. Have many safe journeys.
For many year I only bought Michelin tires, however Michelin price forced me to try another brand. We have the Frieghtliner and I had to replace the steer tires and would have went with the Michelins but after checking the price I decided to try a set of Toyo's. The price was about 50 percent less than Michelin. I have about 14,000 miles so for and they are doing fine.
I'm also running Sumitomo Tires on the drive axle and they are also doing great. I just had a set of Toyo's installed on my Chevy Silverado Pick-up and am very pleased with them also. The Frieghtliner has 22.5's and the pick-up has 17.5's. I will for sure say never ever buy China made tires. Good luck with your choice.
Roz said
11:03 AM Jan 8, 2011
Sherry,
For the last 11 years, we have only had Michelins on two MH. I replaced them this year. Expensive, but they are absolutely the only thing between us and the road. Having come from the trucking industry, I share in the fact that it is imperative to purchase and take extremely good care for tires.
Bridgestone, as well as Toyo are Japanese products and very good. However, we still went with Michelins. They ride and wear great. For 50% off, I would have had a very hard decision to make.
53 Merc said
12:00 PM Jan 8, 2011
I have never had a Michelin tire fail for any reason. Somehow, buying based solely on price seems like putting price ahead of safety. Maybe so, maybe not?
We replaced the Kenda Loadstars (Chinese Maypops) that came on our 5er at the first opportunity with Michelin XPS Ribs. In the last 3 years, have had to adjust air pressure one time, and even that may have been influenced by ambient temperature.
Only my opinion, and is worth exactly as much as it cost.
Sherry said
01:06 PM Jan 8, 2011
Let me clarify that price is not the issue, safety is the issue.
BUT if you all still feel that Tyro and Goodyear G670's are as good or better than Michelin I wanted to find that out. Lots of discussion in the 2006 and 2007 threads about folks liking those tires and liking them as well or better. Goodyear was said to improve handling, result in a quiet smoother ride by a couple of folks.
My inclination was to put back on her what was on originally. But you guys have the experience and I appreciate all the advice.
-- Edited by Sherry on Saturday 8th of January 2011 01:06:50 PM
RVRon said
06:10 PM Jan 8, 2011
We'll be watching this thread Sherry... we're due for new tires for our coach this year as well, and the same size too. I'm inclined to go with the Michelins too since we haven't had any kind of problem at all with them as original tires. While I know I could probably save a few hundred dollars with a different brand that one time I had a blowout on a steer tire and crashed the coach wouldn't be worth the risk. We've been shopping around Jacksonville and the best price so far is $2336.00, complete with mounting, balancing, tax and everything... out the door.
Old Snipe said
10:17 AM Jan 10, 2011
Goodyear 670's are a good tire, but they have a consistant problem with a condition called "rivering". The outside edges develop a wavy pattern and it eventually leads to a vibration.
I had to replace a pair on the front of my last MH, had the alignment checked (it was ok) and after about another 5-6K miles the rivering condtion started to appear again.
There is alot of talk about this issue on RV.net and IRV2.com forums.
My current MH has Michelins on it and at 31K miles, they still look a perform like new. When the time comes for a replacement tire, I'll stick with the Michelins.
Best Regards!
Sherry said
09:46 PM Jan 10, 2011
This is really great information. Thanks Paul so much for your experience with Goodyears. Looks like the forum is saying stick with Michelins. Now can we get a price close to Ron's in this college town with nary an RV shop of any kind (and about 2 RV owners inlcuding us I think) for over 90 miles............
Racerguy said
07:15 AM Jan 11, 2011
On another forum I frequent it states if you are a member of FMCA you can get about(their words not mine) 55% off MSRP on Michelin tires at any authorized dealer.Might be worth checking out.
-- Edited by Racerguy on Tuesday 11th of January 2011 07:18:24
-- Edited by Racerguy on Tuesday 11th of January 2011 07:24:21 AM
Waggin Tails said
07:54 PM Jan 22, 2011
We had twp Michelin tires and two ??? brand tires on a car once. When the ???brand tires wore out, we replace with another pair of ??? brand. When that pair wore out the Michelin's were still in good shape. I would recommend Michelin tires.
TXRVr said
10:35 AM Jan 28, 2011
I don't want to talk anyone out of Michelins. They are a good tire and ride well. I had them on my 40 MH for 7 years and they still had good tread. I switched over to Hankook when I found that I could save $150/tire which is a bunch of bucks when one replaces six tires. Since they are placed on school buses, I didn't see a safety issue with them. Time will tell.
One suggestion would be to check with a nationwide dealer for larger tires. Kaufman or Wingfoot dealers are but two. One advantage of that is you will find better advise since that is their only business as opposed to an RV dealer. If your current tires are still in decent shape you might be able to get some trade in value.
Well it looks like it is time for tires. We have a 34' 2004 Winnebago Brave with about 30,000 miles on her. The tire tread looks great but there are cracks in the sidewalls and after last year's RV Dreams Rally where we learned all about tires I'm thinking given their date that it's more than time.
Although when we had her weighed at the rally and asked the tire expert about replacing them, he said they looked fine. The tires are the original Michelin 245/70R19.5 XRV and are dated 3303 which is early August 2003. So they are already 7 years old. And now I'm REALLY worrying.
I've searched for tire info on the forum and the most recent discussion I could find was 2007.
So my questions to you Class A owners are
What tires are you running on your motorhome?
Would you buy them again and if not what would you buy?
I have looked on line for the cost of replacing our tires with the exact same thing and on line they run from $340 to $395 per tire plus shipping and mounting/balancing etc. We will probably buy them locally if we can get a good deal although we do not live in a town that offers much in the way of RV service of any kind. Since we are President's Club members, we will definitely check with our closest Camping World but it is 2 hours away and although it is on our way to the rally I'm a little worried about driving her that far on these tires. We may have been very lucky to do the 1000 miles we did this fall without a blowout.
Any other advice?
We REALLY appreciate the help of all of you with more experience than we have,
Sherry
-- Edited by Sherry on Saturday 8th of January 2011 01:03:03 PM
I would stay with the Michelin tires as I feel that they are very good. They may not be the least expensive, but you don't want to have trouble out on the road, and the cost of a service call or repairs on your RV if you have a blowout will far exceed the cost of better tires.
This is not a place to cut corners.
If you do a search of Truck tires in your area, you should be able to find a dealer who can order the tires for you if he doesn't have them in stock.
Jim
-- Edited by Jim01 on Saturday 8th of January 2011 07:46:14 AM
The main thing we wanted was a new tire at the replacement time.
We went to Camping World in Oct. of 07 and the tires that they installed were made in Aug of that year,so they were lass than 3 months old at installation.
Below is the web site that you will want to look at and they explain the value of their tires.
Have many safe journeys.
http://www.goodyear.com/rv/
For the last 11 years, we have only had Michelins on two MH. I replaced them this year. Expensive, but they are absolutely the only thing between us and the road. Having come from the trucking industry, I share in the fact that it is imperative to purchase and take extremely good care for tires.
Bridgestone, as well as Toyo are Japanese products and very good. However, we still went with Michelins. They ride and wear great. For 50% off, I would have had a very hard decision to make.
BUT if you all still feel that Tyro and Goodyear G670's are as good or better than Michelin I wanted to find that out. Lots of discussion in the 2006 and 2007 threads about folks liking those tires and liking them as well or better. Goodyear was said to improve handling, result in a quiet smoother ride by a couple of folks.
My inclination was to put back on her what was on originally. But you guys have the experience and I appreciate all the advice.
-- Edited by Sherry on Saturday 8th of January 2011 01:06:50 PM
Read about it here http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=88963
-- Edited by Racerguy on Tuesday 11th of January 2011 07:18:24
-- Edited by Racerguy on Tuesday 11th of January 2011 07:24:21 AM
One suggestion would be to check with a nationwide dealer for larger tires. Kaufman or Wingfoot dealers are but two. One advantage of that is you will find better advise since that is their only business as opposed to an RV dealer. If your current tires are still in decent shape you might be able to get some trade in value.