Rotating Tires - Wheel Balancing

[COTuscany]

Help me out a little here. I have a Serrano on a Workhorse chassis (redundant, I guess), and the manual says to rotate the tires every 8K. But I'm having a little trouble finding a shop that wants to do that, and can balance the tires. The local WH dealer can rotate, obviously, but doesn't balance. The local tire shop doesn't work on tires that big (245 - 225 is their limit).

Question 1: Does rotating on this chassis really make that much difference?
Question 2: I have a little vibration in the 68-72MPH area that I believe is probably a balance problem. Any suggestions?

Niel Powers
2010 Serrano
Colorado Springs, CO

[macadnphyl]

I don't know anyone that rotates tires on Type A motorhomes.
Balance should be done when needed, and alignment should be
done each year.

[DBeauchamp]

I also had a vibration at 68 mph exactly. Went to a Truck Tire Shop and after they looked at front wheels and realized I had a 'toe-out' situation, they moved my front tires to inside rear, balanced all 4 tires and performed an alignment on front and rear. Vibration totally gone, coach runs really nice. It was done under warranty but I was told the cost would have been around $500. Well worth it considering the tires will last longer and I get a much better ride! I don't really know about the necessity of rotating or re-balancing. I will be interesting to hear what others will say...

[greggholmes]

You should always have tires rebalanced when rotating. When tires ware they do not lose same amount of material all the way around so we need to be rebalanced periodically.

[Mr_D]

I don't know of anyone that rotates their RV tires unless there's a wear problem. In almost 55 years of RV'ing I've never done it.

[CJBROWN]

Yeah, rotate if you get uneven wear on the fronts.

Mine tend to throw weights so need to be rebalanced, have done that a couple of times...big PITA. But yes, a truck tire store is equipped to handle the job.

Unless you drive 10 times as much as everyone else with an RV, they'll rot before they wear out.

[DriVer]

With over 93,500 miles of travel and 2 sets of tires, (Michelin) I have not taken the opportunity to rotate my tires "OTHER" than bringing the outside duals up front which present square shoulders while the machine is on the FEA machine.

I'm tired of taking a beating by talking about my square tires.

[ottffss]

Quote:

Originally Posted by macadnphyl I don't know anyone that rotates tires on Type A motorhomes. Balance should be done when needed, and alignment should be done each year.

Rotate as needed - if abnormal wear patterns exist, to re-distribute abnormal wear patterns for more service life. (essentially rarely unless wear issues)

Balance when new and then only if needed. (even more rarely)

Alignment when needed, you can tell very quickly by wear patterns when this needs to be done. (mostly rarely)