275/70 vs 275/80 tires on an 04 Dutch Star

[travelers1214]

It's time for new tires. I vaguely remember reading a post a couple of years ago and gaining load capacity and improving coach ride by using the 80 series tires vs the 70 series the coach came with. Has anyone done this? Is there and improvement? Do they fit ok?

Pros and Cons?

thanks!

[Norm4015]

My 2005 Dutch Star came with 275/70 tires and I replaced them with Michelin 275/80 XZA3 tires. The 80 series tires ride and handle much better than the 70 series tires and give more capacity, so I can run with less pressure in the tires.

Several of my friends have made the same switch and they are all very happy with the XZA3 tires. Your speedometer and odometer will be off 5% which is no big deal. I replaced my tires at Spartan and they recalibrated my ECM free so at 60 mph the speedometer shows 60 mph, according to my GPS.

[tmitchell]

On my 2004 DSDP, I switched to 275/80R22.5 Michelin LRH XZA3 tires 2 years ago. It gave me a better ride.
My speedometer is exactly 5% off. When it shows 60, I am actually going 63. I use a GPS so I know my actual speed and don't consider 5% enough error to bring it in to have the speedometer recalibrated.
I just have to factor the error in when figuring my fuel mileage.
I did gain .25 mpg with the taller tires, so in about 200 years of riding they will pay for themselves.
Tom

[travelers1214]

Thanks for all the answers and advice. I'm going to go with the 80 series.

Has anyone heard of a new method of balancing tires with a bag of some kind of pellets that's placed inside the tire ? Any advice?

[a k]

The beads are the new rave but if you can get them balanced on a Hunter Road Force machine I'd go with that.

[Brigadoon]

travelers1214,

We changed to the 275/80 XZA3's and are pleased that we did. I recommend load range H for the front end- load range G or H are both good for the backs.

My speedo was recalibrated for free at a Cummins Coach Care facility (Orlando). Its done with a laptop- all you need to know is the revolutions per mile of the new tire (for the 275/80 XZA3's it's 518).

Also, if it was up to me, I'd skip all of the various internal balancing media and just go with normal balancing.