Continued Tire Wear Issue

[slabman]

I posted on this a few months ago, but my front tire wear pattern is continuing to deteriorate. I started having a chamfer (45 degree) tire wear on one outside front corner (none on the other 3 corners) at about 18,000 miles. Now I'm at 24,000 miles and BOTH outside corners now exhibit that wear, however the RH tire wear has progressed to a flatter angle, meaning wear along the tread surface extends across about 3/4 in. while the sidewall wear is about 3/8 in.

I still can't determine if this is just something I'll have to live with or is definitely an alignment issue. What have others experienced on their Spartans?

I'm now in So. Califirnia and wondering if a anyone has experience with a shop in Santee, called "East County Alignment"?

[GaryKD]

Hi Bob,
Where ever you take the coach, make sure it is a Spartan factory authorized service center. Go to http://www.spartanchassis.com/cs/ser...ce_centers.asp to find a authorized service center near your location.

[Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43']

I had a similar problem and after a front end alignment the problem continued. I then had an alignment of all 6 positions (have a tag) and they found that the right rear dual was mis aligned by 3/8 of an inch and the service tech said that was causing the front to push at an angle causing the wear. So when you decide to get an alignment ensure that they can do front and duals.
After the alignment and tire rotation the wear pattern continues on those tires but not on the tires rotated to the front.

[slabman]

OK, Ronnie. I have an appointment to align it tomorrow. So you're advocating I do rotate the fronts to another position? I had heard this before, so was going to ask them about doing this.

[Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43']

I do suggest rotating as that is the way to ensure that alignment takes care of the problem. If it does not you could possibly have a defective set of tires.

[slabman]

Today I had East County Alignment here in Santee CA do an alignment
on the frt. axle. The tech found my Rt. frt. tire to be 5/8 degree positive on camber, while the left was 3/8 out. He set them both at a
positive 1/8th, saying that would eliminate the shoulder wear pattern
I have. The worst news is I now need a new RH tire since it would
likely keep wearing that corner due to belt wear on that shoulder. So
I'm off to find some new shoes.

So now...what tire should I buy?

[Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43']

slabman, have you contacted Spartan about your alignment problem? I found them to be very helpful in resolving my issues. I contacted them by phone initially, sent them the history that I had recorded, and the alignment information from each of my alignments. They did reimburse me for the alignment costs. As I mentioned earlier I did not replace the tires in question I rotated them to the rear drive duals and am keeping an eye on the wear. I believe they will continue to wear in the established pattern, but some alleged tire experts think the wear will even out. Only time will tell. It seems that I had the initial front end alignment at about 8k miles and the 6 position alignment at about 20k miles. I now have 38k miles and had the alignment checked and found to be within Spartan specs at 36k miles. The tires appear to be OK, but I keep an eye on them.
Good luck in your tire search if that is what you intend to pursue.

[slabman]

Ronnie, I did have Spartan align my rig at 8000 miles...now I'm at 24000. I talked to Chris about the wear (at 21000 mi.) and he said it was typical and not to worry, so I didn't have the alignment checked when wear was minimal. Now I sure wish I hadn't listened to him. But I doubt any mfr. would warrant an alignment after this many miles, don't you think?

Anyway, I still don't know if I should stay with Michelins or go to the Bridgestones at $210 less/tire. ($745 vs. $535) Gotta make a decision soon before I get near Death Valley where it might be a little warmer?

[Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43']

Bob, I'm not that knowlegable about tires and hopefully don't have to worry about that for a few more years. There has been lots of discussions in the past about different brands. Except for the two edge culprits I'm satisfied with the Michelens after 39K miles. When you change will you need to do it in pairs?
I would continue discussions with Spartan (Chris) and bring him up to date on the new alignment requirements and need to replace the tire. As I mentioned I had mine aligned at 18 or 19 K miles and aligned again at 36K miles. There was no adjustments required at 36K, so I'm suprised that yours required as much adjustment. I'm not familiar with the K2 so someone else needs to chime in.
Spartan did reimburse me for the front Koni's I had installed at 28K miles. The ride was always rough and the freeway transitions were a nightmare. After reading all of the writeups on threads here at iRV2 and the action Spartan had taken I printed those and sent a copy of my invoice with a letter to customer service requesting reimbursement and Spartan stepped up. I have had all my front end and shock work done at Spartan approved shops.

[Raca-roni]

Bob,
I had a similar problem as you and Ronnie had on my 2006 4304 DSDP. I went to have the front end alignment checked out. They told me they would do that as well as check the alignment of the tag axle and the rear end so it would be a six point alignment. The front and rear end were fine. The tag was out quite a bit which caused a push to the right front tire. Thus the wearing occured from that. They did a lazer fixture alignment on the coach and all was fine after that. I also swapped out tires as well. The coach I have now has been just fine........