Community Forums

jerry davis · 05-18-2009, 09:09 AM

The date stamp is a good thing to check on when purchasing your tires. The dealer was going to install three of the six that had mfg dates over a year old. I insisted on tires with dates of no older than six months. They managed to find them so all my new tires are really new.

takepride · 05-18-2009, 10:20 PM

Golly! I forgot a VERY important part of my tire purchase. Goodyear has a per tire rebate on all GY G670 RV tires May 1 through July 31. I applied for $480 back ($80 each). That reduces the tire to $393 each.

Here's the form to download:

http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/G670G614_RVONLINE_P.pdf

Mikebob · 05-19-2009, 01:18 PM

I'm just starting to look for new tires for our 2004 Alpine 40MDTS so this discussion has been very helpful! Any dealers in Southern California that are recommended? Also, is there any credit being given for the old tires? The last time I bought tires, several years ago, Les Schwab gave me credit because they were going to resale them to be put on logging trailers.

jerry davis · 05-19-2009, 07:44 PM

Pride, thanks for the rebate news.That's $480.00 which would put my final bill at less than $3k for the six Goodyears. Wonder why the dealer didn't tell me about the rebate?

Mikebob, Les Schwab gave me $30/tire for my old Toyo's. Not much but better than anyone else was willing to do.

OldForester · 05-19-2009, 08:45 PM

My Bridgestone R250 295/80 22.5's cost me $2,911 for the set yesterday at Les Schwab in Junction City, OR. This included siping, mounting, balancing and valve stem rebuild. They gave me $40 each for the old Toyo 120Z's, Same load rating (7800 lbs on the side of the tire) as the Goodyear G670s and more tread depth -- 19/32" vs 16/32" for longer mileage. I'm told truckers get 160,000 miles out of them. I reduced my air pressure from 120 psi in the front to 100 psi, and from 110 to 90 in the rear. Drove home to Tacoma in a lot of rain today and they handled well, rode much more softly and quietly compared to the Toyos.

jerry davis · 05-19-2009, 09:10 PM

Old, did they use Equal for balancing or did they spin balance?

takepride · 05-19-2009, 10:15 PM

I caught wind of the rebate on their website banner and then saw it mentioned in another forum, though without specifics. I checked the website again and found it. The dealer didn't know anything about it. Great marketing geniuses at GY.

Old: It sounds like you'll be going for mileage. The GYs are geared for time, with their anti-UV compound. I'm sure mine will time out first. However, in a few more years I'm hoping to wear them out first. Unfortunately my work is getting in the way right now.

The refund on old tires is a regional thing. Calls to four local dealers said there is no market for them here. But they gladly charge the State recycling fee. Might have to do with liability, being that this is the litigation state. However, I did notice that almost all dealers will re-sell old tires, especially to delivery fleets, cars and truck alike. They just won't give credit to the original owner. I tried.

OldForester · 05-19-2009, 11:11 PM

Jerry,

They just spin balanced the front tires. That's what I usually do, then when I rotate tires at 15,000 miles, they spin balance the ones being rotated to the front. I think the front tires are the ones that really need to balanced. I couldn't use Equal because I have SmartTire and don't want anything screwing up the transmitters.

TakePride,

I think if you look, Bridgestones and Michelins have anti-UV compound as well; they just don't advertise it as something "special". In fact Bridgestone in its tire information recommends we don't use UV protectant tire shines on them, as I did on my Toyos, because they want their built in UV protectant to work its way to the surface. From what I understand the add on protectant doesn't add much over the built in compound. In my research, I think the Bridgestone is a longer life tire (just as long on UV but more tread life) with a better casing at a competitive price to either Michelin or Goodyear.

takepride · 05-19-2009, 11:42 PM

Old:

I've heard others mention the same thing. Now we just need someone rich enough to do side-by-side comparisons on the three brands.

Fortunately with the Goodyear rebate, they came it at the lowest price, for me ($2830 plus tax). A GY dealer said lots of Class A diesels are using Bridgestones because of the mileage and price, but he knew nothing of the ride differences (of course he knew nothing of the anti-UV compound, either).

Too bad no one would buy my cores and lower my price even more.

I've read lots about the tire shine products and mostly to avoid petroleum based products. The dealer says wash only. I noticed Protect-All cleans them up nice and is a wax. Has anyone found any non-petroleum ones that don't attract dirt and accumulate grime? I like a clean-looking tire, not necessarily a shiny one.