|
07-03-2018, 02:31 PM
|
#1
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,920
|
Falken Tires - anyone used them?
Getting ready to replace the Michelins, which are not over $800 Canadian. Was asking for a price on the Toyo M144 and the dealer had to call for availability and a price, but he quoted Falken RI 151s for $439 Canadian.
They are Japanese made by Sumitomo Rubber Indiustries.
***Update - the Falkens are $439 installed and the Toyos are $589 installed. That is a total of $900 over 6 wheels.
__________________
Paul
2006 Patriot Thunder C13 Allison 4000
2010 Ford Flex Ecoboost AWD
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
07-03-2018, 09:21 PM
|
#2
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 539
|
New Falkens on my coach when I bought it 18000 miles later outside rib is wearing funny like the Goodyear’s replacing with Michelins next Fri in Oregon under the FMCA plan[emoji106][emoji12]
__________________
Bob & Elaine McClelland and the spoiled pup Izzie
2008 Monaco Diplomat
Desert Hills & Parker Az
|
|
|
07-05-2018, 03:05 PM
|
#3
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 168
|
Falken RI-109. I think they were $2200 out the door 3 years ago. Excellent tire, smooth riding, no funny wear patterns. It's the second set I've purchased since owning the coach.
__________________
2000 HR Imperial 38 WDS
350 Cummins, Aero Muffler & AFE Filter
980 watt solar, 600 amp/hr LiFePo4, Victron
|
|
|
07-05-2018, 03:20 PM
|
#4
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 676
|
If I recall Falken and Toyo are part of the same company. Both make quality tires however any tire company makes good tires and bad ones....
|
|
|
07-05-2018, 04:04 PM
|
#5
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Boise Valley (SW Idaho)
Posts: 2,018
|
Your life is literally riding on your tires, and your steer axle tires, in particular. If I were unable to afford known top quality tires on our coach, it would be time for me to sell our coach. Drive axle? Nothing less than very good tires. Tag axle? Known good tires. Steer axle? The best I can find! If you experience a sudden failure of ANY of your tires at highway speeds, the damage to your coach can quickly eat up all of the money you saved by buying poorer quality tires, and then some.
We have some very close friends that totaled their coach when their right front tire failed, on the Interstate at highway speed. She was in the right seat, and is still recovering from her injuries, and it was two years ago! They were extremely fortunate that He was watching out for them, as it could have easily been far worse!
__________________
Jim & Angie, Boise, ID
2021 Entegra Esteem 27U
2017 GMC Acadia Denali
|
|
|
07-06-2018, 12:04 PM
|
#6
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,920
|
Jim,
If you read the posts on tires here you will hear bad things about every brand. I had never heard of Falken tires before they were suggested, so a quick inquiry is in order.
Installed with taxes the Michelins will be $7500 Canadian, the Falkens $3,500. Yup, Michelin makes a good tire, been happy with these. $4,000 is not an easy number to ignore.
Why did your friends crash? Loosing the tire was certainly part of it. Why did the tire fail? Who knows. Could it have happened with a more expensive tire? Who knows? Where his tires cheap tires?
__________________
Paul
2006 Patriot Thunder C13 Allison 4000
2010 Ford Flex Ecoboost AWD
|
|
|
07-06-2018, 12:46 PM
|
#7
|
Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Buckeye AZ
Posts: 326
|
I had Falken car tires, but not MH. They are made in Thailand. Mine were the very poorest quality with only 1 ply sidewalls, but can't say on the MH tires.
|
|
|
07-06-2018, 04:59 PM
|
#8
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Boise Valley (SW Idaho)
Posts: 2,018
|
Hi, Paul. You are right about the $4000 difference being a big item. Over lets assume a 9 year life of the tires, that's roughly $450 per year, or almost a buck and a quarter a day, in just the difference, alone. That is a lot!
Regarding our friends accident, that happened on I-5 in eastern Idaho, and I can't tell you the brand of tire that he was running, because I don't know. He did say that a couple of miles back, he may have run over something in the road, so there is a very good chance that it was a road hazard caused failure. There are a lot of factors that can lead to premature tire failures, over which many if not most of the owner/driver may have at least some control. Tire brand and design is just one of those factors. We've run Bridgestone, Goodyear and Michelin. I think the Bridgestones were pretty good, but that was 13 years ago. I think we bought them to replace the original Bridgestones that were on that coach. The Goodyears were awesome, EXCEPT on the steer axle. There was a big compatibility issue there, that I understand many have experienced. I need to see how my Michelins hold up over time. We'll see.
But I personally feel very strongly that I need to put the best tires on our coach that we can reasonably afford. Our recent set was the first we've bought for our coach, and they should last as long as we will likely own the coach.
I have heard that opinions are like some particular part of the human anatomy, in that everyone has one. But that's part of the value of forums like this one. Everyone can read what is there, and then glean what makes them feel good about their decisions and actions. On this issue, however, considering what all is at stake, I would absolutely stick with the well proven, historically reliable and high quality brands and designs for any tires I would purchase for any vehicle.
__________________
Jim & Angie, Boise, ID
2021 Entegra Esteem 27U
2017 GMC Acadia Denali
|
|
|
07-06-2018, 11:10 PM
|
#9
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 676
|
Sorry... been a long week...it ISN’T toyo that’s part of falken
Nitto and Falken are owned by the same company
Cheap tires are rarely a good thing however buying a tire simply due to the manufacturer is also bad. The best and worst tires I have ever owned for my daily drivers are both from Michelin.
Pilot super sport = awesome
Latitude - scary in every condition except a totally dry road
|
|
|
07-07-2018, 11:47 AM
|
#10
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 168
|
Toyo and Falken are two separate companies. Falken is owned by Sumitomo, the Toyo Tire and Rubber company is a stand alone company. Several years ago, Falken rebranded the Ohtsu truck tire name to Falken. Ohtsu medium duty truck tires have been driven millions of miles by truckers for years. They are not a poor quality tire by any stretch of the imagination.
When our Ohtsu tires timed out after seven years of excellent service, I ordered six new replacement Falken tires from the local Les Schwab dealer. When I arrived at the tire shop for the replacements, the service manager met me at the truck bay. The first thing he said after looking at the tires coming off was, "Tell me why we changing these out again?" They looked that good. Not one sidewall crack anywhere, hardly any wear after 30,000 miles, no rivering of any kind, looked like the day they were put on. Gave us a $100 credit for each of the tires I turned in.
I am anal when it comes to the tires on this coach. I requested the newest tires Les Schwab could deliver. They were two months old. The tires are covered when not in use, TPMS to keep an eye on pressures and temps, inspected regularly, cleaned often, coach has been weighed to ensure we are running the right tire pressures per Falken's tire charts, etc. These Falken RI-109 tires are also the heavier duty 16 ply load range H, not the 14 ply load range G. The current Falken tire that is similar to mine are the Falken EcoRun RI-150, their premium truck tire. The RI-150 looks like a nice tire as well. I'm sure the OP will be happy with Falken tires, not to mention the cost savings over the Michelins.
__________________
2000 HR Imperial 38 WDS
350 Cummins, Aero Muffler & AFE Filter
980 watt solar, 600 amp/hr LiFePo4, Victron
|
|
|
07-08-2018, 06:22 PM
|
#11
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,920
|
Thanks for the postings. The dealer I'm talking to sells mostly truck tires, and it wouldn't be hard for him to up sell me if he had seen premature failure, but some direct experience is comforting.
Jim - I appreciate what you are saying, but how do you know what is the "best quality available"? As for your friend, it is a sad and terrible story, but as I said, who knows what really happened. The TSB doesn't do airplane crash style investigations of RV crashes. Could have happened with a brand new Michelin.
As for "$1.50 a day", as we all know, all those things that are only "$x.00 per day add up. I work on the assumption that my motorhome costs me $2,000 a year in maintenance if nothing significant goes wrong. Tires, oil, filters, and minor things quickly add up.
__________________
Paul
2006 Patriot Thunder C13 Allison 4000
2010 Ford Flex Ecoboost AWD
|
|
|
07-09-2018, 06:26 PM
|
#12
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 269
|
if you go to directtire.com you can get the best price on tires- I bought Toyo's M177 for $376 a piece of coarse they were not mounted or balanced put they were NO TAXES and free shipping to my house direct from Toyo's factory. Personally I would take Toyo's any day or the Falkans, Just my prefferance!!!!
Good luck
Steve
|
|
|
07-20-2018, 09:22 AM
|
#13
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 539
|
Well the Falken tires are gone replaced at Les Schwab Ontario OR replaced with Michelin X Line Energy date code of 24/18 made in Canada. Alignment checked out good so the uneven wear was in the tire. They did give me $80 a tire trade in $3300 out the door FMCA[emoji7]
__________________
Bob & Elaine McClelland and the spoiled pup Izzie
2008 Monaco Diplomat
Desert Hills & Parker Az
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|