Community Forums

jerry davis · 10-07-2008, 05:29 PM

My original Toyo tires are now over 4 years old and I am going to replace them soon with either the Michelin XZA2 295/80 R22.5 or the Goodyear G670 of the same size. Are there any pros and cons that members of the forum can give me. The Michelin's are much pricier but the Goodyears have a larger load capacity. Also, is this the best size to match up with the original Toyos?

Secondly, has anyone installed Road King shocks? At $1600.00/set they are out of sight price wise. Are they worth $1100.00 more than Koni's?

jerry davis · 10-07-2008, 05:29 PM

My original Toyo tires are now over 4 years old and I am going to replace them soon with either the Michelin XZA2 295/80 R22.5 or the Goodyear G670 of the same size. Are there any pros and cons that members of the forum can give me. The Michelin's are much pricier but the Goodyears have a larger load capacity. Also, is this the best size to match up with the original Toyos?

Secondly, has anyone installed Road King shocks? At $1600.00/set they are out of sight price wise. Are they worth $1100.00 more than Koni's?

quikduk · 10-07-2008, 05:36 PM

IMHO, they are NOT. There have been a lot of posts on IRV2 re:the Koni's and Bilsteins, as well as the Road King's but to the best of my knowledge, EVERYONE has been happier with the Koni's.

I am certainly one of those.

I also presently have Goodyear G149's on our coach but will switch out in a couple of years to the G670's. Every Michelin I have had or know of has been a P.O.S. with blowouts early on in their life and with no apparent cause.

That being said, the XZA's are supposed to be a different breed but...I would go for the cost savings and a higher capacity...knowing how much "stuff" we IRV2-ers tend to take with us...

See the thread here:

Koni or Road King Shocks

takepride · 10-07-2008, 07:02 PM

J and J:

There are endless threads on the tire issue and apparently several of our members are from the tire industry. (Do a "FIND" on tires. The general consensus seems to be that the Goodyears are a good improvement over the old Toyos and the Michelins are good quality, but pricier. Most seem to think the Michelins have no appreciable advantages except maybe in reputation (despite quikduk's comments). Given everything else is equal, I personally go American made (France is still trying to win back my business and may not get there before I need tires, or die).

The load issue is moot. If they are the same Load Range, they are the same Load Range.

My empirical evidence twice shows the Koni's are FAR superior to the Bilstiens. No comparison. They are more expensive and worth every last cent (and more).

I've heard/read many reviews of the Road King shocks and most all say they are better, some say the difference is marginal, none say Konis are superior. Most say the price difference is not worth the improvement. Were I to drive 25K miles a year, I'd likely give them a try. I don't and won't. If the product becomes more in demand because of quality (or hype), the price ought to come down and maybe I'll re-evaluate a purchase.

It's already hard to beat an Alpine's ride.

Tom and Patty · 10-07-2008, 07:49 PM

Nothing rides like a Michelin.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Every Michelin I have had or know of has been a P.O.S. with blowouts early on in their life and with no apparent cause.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you were to check I'm guessing that you would find most of the failures are in the 235/70R22.5 and the2 55/70R22.5 tire. Both tires have very little excess capacity, and therefore need to be at max air pressure all the time. Because the tires are small, a little loss of air will result in a grossly overloaded tire. Michelin says, any tire run at less than 80% of operating pressure is considered a run flat, and should be inspected before airing the tire back up.

That being said IMHEO, Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone are all good choices for our Alpines. Fortunately we have truck sized tires that are more than capable of carrying our max loads.

A few of us Alpine'rs were at Morro Bay State Park a couple of weeks ago. A gentleman who owned a 34' Monaco came over to look at one of the 34's and commented on the size of tires. "Your tires are much bigger than mine. What is the length of your coach?" We are fortunate to have had a manufacturer who over tired us......even if we are orphans

.

Oh, we are running Bridgestone R260's.
Koni's on the front were a big improvement, but one Bilstien was shot!

I'll get off my soap box now.

gator67 · 10-08-2008, 04:36 AM

Speaking of tires...

I recently noticed on one leg of our trip that the ride seemed rougher than usual. When we stopped, I felt around the inside of the right front tire and found some cupping on the edge of the tread. We carried a spare (The Toyo M120Z) and had that put on. The service person said that the front end may be out of alignment. When we got to Lexington Kentucky, we had the alignment checked and we were told it was fine. We also saw that the outside edges of the driver's side tires were also worn unevenly. I am anal about air pressure so I don't believe air pressure was the problem. We were told that if a tire got even a little out of balance, that it could cause the cupping and uneven wear. We replaced the two front tires with Michelin XZE2 tires. They are not cheap (about $450 each + balancing + mounting). I don't know about the wearing yet, but it sure seems to provide a nice ride.

I now know to check my tires more often for uneven wear.

quikduk · 10-08-2008, 05:55 AM

See, there you go. Lots of other experiences and opinions.

Re: the tire choice, it is up to you. I prefer the Goodyears as their record with me has been flawless to date unlike the Michelins and I am about as picky as they come re: date codes etc.

FWIW, the HD fleet at my county only uses G149 or G670 tires...period. There isn't another brand around. This probably has to do with cost and service records more than anything else but when their latest large trucks came with Michelins from the factory, they changed them out to Goodyears and sent the other tires to the auction house. Why? Dunno.

It is totally up to you re all of these things and we can only give you our experiences as points of reference.

I LIKE the Koni FSD's on our GSDP much better than the Bilsteins. The RK's might be even better...but that price is too hard to swallow for us.

I agree that tire balance, pressure and other items all contribute or detract from the ride quality so they should all be monitored and adjusted as required.

As always, YMMV.

RedHotSoup · 10-08-2008, 07:32 AM

After a lot of research we replaced our Toyo tires with Goodyear G670s (2002 38FDDS). After reading about a special deal in a previous post we also put on Koni shocks. We were having problems with propoising (especially on I-10 in Mississippi), the ride is now like it should be when driving an Alpine.

OldForester · 10-08-2008, 07:04 PM

Gator67:

You can take care of that excess outside wear by rotating the tires. Per a previous post, I had the same issue on our Toyos at 30,000 miles. Rotated the front to the one side rear and it has been working just fine. We just need to keep those tires rotated if we're experiencing the wear on the outside front edge, which Tom and Patty referred to as "River Wear". Probably is not helped by running the asphalt "ruts" created from a lot of trucks running down the road.

I'm a big fan of Bridgestones for a lot of reasons, mostly stronger casings, better tread depth and longer wear, and will most likely replace my Toyos with them when the time comes to replace them.

dgerstel · 10-12-2008, 09:08 AM

I find that the new Goodyear tires ride much better that my old Toyo's, particularly at high pressure. I do find them to have a high slip angle. (slip angle) I had changed the tires on my 2002 coach from the stock 120 Toyo's to their M127's to reduce the slip angle and improve the handling. I also had the caster increased to max allowable. I am sure that this is only important on the early 35 footers, the new ones have weight added to the front end.

Due to having an large investment in, and a plan on keeping, this coach for a long time, I chose to install the Road King shocks. My reasoning was, having a much larger piston area, they would use less "stiffness" to control the ride than the others would. My main concern was, cutting down the harsh ride on rough roads. I was tired of being concerned with shaking and jarring the coach and contents on bad roads. I have only driven from Las Vegas to Pahrump to date, but found the ride much better on one small section of choppy concrete freeway and one stretch of ROUGH road in Pahrump.

jerry davis · 10-13-2008, 04:41 PM

Has anyone purchased Sumitomo Tires for their coach? I had a tire company swear that they were the equal of a G670 Goodyear for a whole lot less money.

Tom and Patty · 10-13-2008, 04:53 PM

IMHO, Sumitomo's equal would be more on the order of Toyo, or Hankook. Good tire, but you still pay for what you get.

raci17 · 10-14-2008, 04:18 AM

I know I'm a little in getting in on the Koni shock deal but does anyone out there know where you can still get a deal on a set?

takepride · 10-15-2008, 07:46 PM

The original "deal" was worked through http://www.shox.com/. However, you'll have to call them directly. They will know the two part numbers or you can reference them on the earlier thread(s). Lots of truck shops also sell them, installed, like Redlands (a site sponsor). You can also order them direct from Koni, though it will be at the regular price.