Tire replacement

[Oh-one]

Our present tires are Goodyear 295/80R/22.5 , load range H. They are coming up to 5 years with no operational problems. I am in the process of shopping for replacements . I would like to hear any experiances with similar tire replacements: ie make,size, rating etc. thanks sam

[WindsorDave]

This was my experience over the last year in the Eugene/Coburg, Oregon, area.

1/19/10 bought 4 drive-axle tires, Firestone FS560 255/70R/22.5", load range "H", four months old, spin balanced, new stems, FET, disposal, etc. all in, out the door price of $293.99 each. After 6,000 miles I'm still happy and they are performing well. Purchased at GCR Tire on I-5 in Coburg, (541-345-4120) just south of Monaco and Cummins Northwest. Corky supervised the installation.

10/8/10 bought 2 steer-axle tires, Michelin 275/70R/22.5", load range "J", four months old, spin balanced, trued, new stems, FET, disposal, etc., all in, out the door price of $521.57 each. Though the old steer tires were Michelin (XZA-1), these XZA-2 Energy tires make a noticeable difference in ride and handling. The front end wanders less and the small, rough bumps like pavement expansion cracks are much less noticeable. Randy at Wyatt's Tire Co. in Eugene (541-344-3221) handled the deal and installation.

FWIW

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiplomatDave This was my experience over the last year in the Eugene/Coburg, Oregon, area. 1/19/10 bought 4 drive-axle tires, Firestone FS560 255/70R/22.5", load range "H", four months old, spin balanced, new stems, FET, disposal, etc. all in, out the door price of $293.99 each. After 6,000 miles I'm still happy and they are performing well. Purchased at GCR Tire on I-5 in Coburg, (541-345-4120) just south of Monaco and Cummins Northwest. Corky supervised the installation. 10/8/10 bought 2 steer-axle tires, Michelin 275/70R/22.5", load range "J", four months old, spin balanced, trued, new stems, FET, disposal, etc., all in, out the door price of $521.57 each. Though the old steer tires were Michelin (XZA-1), these XZA-2 Energy tires make a noticeable difference in ride and handling. The front end wanders less and the small, rough bumps like pavement expansion cracks are much less noticeable. Randy at Wyatt's Tire Co. in Eugene (541-344-3221) handled the deal and installation. FWIW

Please educate me why you bought two different brands and two different sizes. Also why you didn't buy to the less espensive ones for your steer axle tires. Thanks in advance.

[Twomed]

Apples to Oranges....the OP asked about 295/80/22.5 which are a lot bigger tire. JMHO.

A couple of us have replaced the 295's with 315/80/22.5 Firestones...much smoother ride, better handling on the front at 105psi WITH increased load margin. You may have a clearance issue on some RR10 chassis depending on how they welded your front right airbag mount. I personally was not happy with the choices in 295's and after rivering every GY and moving them around, never again on ours....JMHO. Hope this hepls.

[WindsorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by golden Please educate me why you bought two different brands and two different sizes. Also why you didn't buy to the less espensive ones for your steer axle tires. Thanks in advance.

The coach was equipped with 275's on the front and 255's on the rear when I bought it. The 255X70RX22.5 size was what the coach was designed and built with. It turned out that the 255's were marginal given the front axle loading. I think Monaco went to 275's all round soon after the 2001 model year.

When the drive axle tires aged out I shopped for the best deal I could find on a name brand tire and the Firestone tire came out on top. I know there's lots of urban legend and ill will with Firestone due to the Ford Explorer episode. I've never been a fan of Firestone car or light truck tires but medium truck tires like we use have a good reputation with truckers. Also, I could not find one instance of a defective Firestone tire failure in a medium truck application.

The rears were older and needed replacement first. Since the original 255's would easily support the drive axle loading I saw no reason to up-size them. Also, if anything were to go wrong with a tire, better it be on the drive axle than the steer axle. Bottom line is that I got what I think was a good deal on four drive axle tires.

I puzzled about the steer tires for several months. I had the ride height checked, thinking that bigger front tires might be adversely affecting the suspension geometry but no, the Cummins Coach Care place said "no problem" with the different size tires. Just don't co-mingle different size tires on the same axle.

I checked with another well-regarded shop here on iRV2 and they said "no problem". So I shopped 275's for the steer axle. The particular make and model selection was based on these things: 1. Weight bearing capacity. The 275, load range "J" could carry a lot more weight. 2. That extra capacity allowed for lower air pressure. From memory, I think the 255's, load range "H" required something like 110 lbs where the 275's, load range "J" need only 92 lbs for my weight. That makes for a smoother, softer ride and it tracks better. 3. A high-quality tire like Michelin provides me with some psychological comfort in the belief that they may be less likely to fail going down the road. Yes, I know about the CRV models failing. These are the XZA's which are a different animal. I am willing to put a little more into the steer axle tires for insurance.

This tire arrangement and the Koni FSD's have provided me with a kind of poor-man's ride-enhancement-kit. So far, so good. It tracks and rides much better than it did than prior to shock and tire replacement.

FWIW

[zmotorsports]

On our last two motorhomes I installed the Bridgestone R250's and was very pleased with them. Our last coach had Michelin's on it when we purchased it and they were fine for two years until I changed them to the Bridgestone. Ran the Bridgestone for five more years and 60k miles without any issues.

Our current coach came equiped with Goodyear G149 tires (295/80R22.5) and three years ago I replaced the steer with the Goodyear G670. Two years ago I moved the steers to the tag and replaced the steer axle and drive axle with Goodyear G670s. I have had good luck, only about 18k so far but no issues.

The guy I bought our tires from sells us all of our tires for our over the road trucks at work. Mostly Michelin's but a few Bridgestone's and Goodyear's mixed in depending on sizes/applications. I inquired about the Goodyear 'rivering' issue that seems to pop up all over the internet and he informed me that they had not had any defects or issues in the ones they had sold and if I was not happy with them he would trade me out to one of the others at no charge. This was too good to be true, probably based on the volume of tires we purchase at work. He also informed me that not too many years ago Michelin seemed to have an issue with similar problems but we now have the internet to over expose these issues.

It made sense to me so I went with the Goodyear's. No problems so far and the ride/handling is great. Mike.