Community Forums

Smitty77 · 05-24-2015, 11:15 AM

I've only had two coaches in our short approximately 10 years of RV'ing. Both were used when we bought them, and I put new tires on both at time of purchase. Sold our T28 Bounder after 5 1/2 years of running the new set of Goodyear's. (No 'river'ing' problems, and the tires were in safe good shape at the time of sale.)

Our current coach has Michelin XZE* on all eight wheels. About 4 1/2 years on them now, and in great shape.

I'd always planned on the 6 1/2 - 7 years age tire swap out strategy. But, Michelin says they can be run for 10 years. With I believe yearly inspection after year 7.

So I thought that since a few of you have been doing this RV thing for many more years then we have. And if your running Michelins. I'd like to know how many run them over age 7?

Also please share what tire you have on. XZE, XPR, XPS, etc.

TIA, and best to all,
Smitty

gruelens · 05-24-2015, 12:58 PM

My factory Michelins stayed on 8 years from date of manufacture (don't recall which model tire). Tires had small sidewall cracks when removed. Replaced with some other brand, some other size, and doin' fine.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f22/chang...ze-181046.html

Michelin does state 10 year life is possible. However, Michelin requires off the rim inspection by a mechanic each year after the fifth year of age. That requires considerable effort and expense.

Mr_D · 05-24-2015, 01:10 PM

Ours are still the OEM ones from when the rig was built, in fact one of them is dated 2007 as I remember. Had money set aside to replace all of them but it was needed elsewhere. Batteries are also OEM, have 4 8D AGMs and 4 950 CCA chassis batteries that also need replacing.

Don't buy batteries at West Marine, they want $799.95 EACH for the 8D's!

Roxy · 05-24-2015, 02:05 PM

Just bought my rv and it had michelins date code Dec of 2004. They were the original tires and I drove 175 miles home and then straight to the tire shop. They only had 30,000 miles on them but had sidewall cracks. They drove fine but I wanted the peace of mind that comes with new tires.

Pigman1 · 05-24-2015, 03:03 PM

The more you run the tires, the longer they live. Tires are not an impervious, dead item. The oils in the rubber are constantly circulating and the more you run them, the better they keep. The worst situation is an RV stored outside and run just a few miles a year. Michelin has a guide with good clear pictures of what's acceptable and whats not. Use it for your tires and let the good times roll.

We've got 41,000 miles on our 28 month old bus and will put another 12,000 or so on before September and the tires look like new. I fully expect 100,000 to 150,000 miles on this set.

Smitty77 · 05-25-2015, 09:16 AM

X's 2 on the rolling tire is a healthier tire

!

One of the reasons we exercise our coach when not traveling, at least every 4-6 weeks, is to also get the tires up to temperature.

I knew about the unmounted inspection, but thought it started at 7 years. And most tire dealers will not do this for free

! Even if you bought the tire form them to start with. So that yearly extra cost is part of the cost trade off decision to make on running with tires longer, or buying replacements.

I was in an RV Park in Santa Fe about two months ago. A small group of four coaches were traveling thru. (All, plus two more couples not with them on this trip, had worked at the same place, and retired at the sometime too. They had went in together and ordered Dutch Stars (6) from the same dealer as a group buy.) These were now 6 year old rigs, and they were talking about tires when I walked by. I joined the conversation, and it was interesting to hear the perspectives. Three of the gents said the were going to keep running their tires until the end of year 7 then replace them. One was going to replace his at the end of year 6. And they said that another gent that was not with them on this trip, said he was going to keep visually inspecting his, and run them until age 10. I asked if they knew if he meant to have them unmounted and inspected from the inside. They said he planned do this in year 7, but if all looked good, just keep on with his visual inspections of the outside for the other three years.

I also know that the trucking industry likes to get their hands on these RV lightly used tires, and run them on trailers. Especially on the states close to the Mexico border, where they are very popular.

My main reason for the post, was to get a feel for how many RV'ers are running Michelin's beyond the 7 year mark...

TIA, and best to all,
Smitty

Pigman1 · 05-25-2015, 10:00 AM

Sorry Smitty, I missed your point. I doubt we'll get to 7 years before we wear ours out, but if we do I'll keep checking them closely and keep 'em rolling.

TAN · 05-25-2015, 10:35 AM

Our tires are April 2004 and starting to crack. Will replace soon. Have 58000 miles on them.

Skip426 · 05-25-2015, 10:59 AM

2004's on the rear, 60 % tread , shopping for replacements, even though they show no cracking. 2007's on the front, 80% tread, no cracking.
Burns my backside to think about replacing any tire with over 25% tread, but , safety first , is the rule.
All tires marked " Spain " as country of manufacture .
Is anyone aware of info on the cracking , as it relates to the country of origin? Or year of production ?

Seems I hear / read , of the cracking more often on newer tires .
I'm guessing here, but the rears might have , 50,000 miles , fronts 35,000; so not seeing constant use.

Hamshog · 05-25-2015, 02:22 PM

2007 date on our XZE's. Very fine cracking on one front and rears look fine. We'll replace before traveling next summer. 93,000 miles on coach we bought a couple years ago with 90,000 miles on it. Lot's of tread left!

Regards, Hamshog

Algonquin · 05-25-2015, 05:41 PM

Sent a reply already, but not sure where it went, so I'll try again. I can certainly agree with the theory that tires need to be exercised. I bought a 2011 34Y Itasca Meridian a few months ago, and the XRVs are cracking. The tire manufactured date is August 2010, but the motorhome was not bought and put into service by the original owner until April 2012. The tires are only 4 1/2 years old, and only have 17,000 miles on them, but I will need to replace them after this camping season.

JRLyon · 05-26-2015, 06:47 PM

I just pulled some XZE's off a 2001 Holiday rambler dated 2001 and they were just fine, no cracks or issues. Interesting face about this coach is it never seen salt and it spent its winters in the north inside storage. The coach had 44k on the odo. I replaced them with new XZE's.

SeattlePirat · 05-26-2015, 07:46 PM

Our Michelins went 11 years, 48000 miles and no cracks. It was a knife to the heart to take them off, because they looked good. However, I think 11 years is more than enough.

Mr_D · 05-26-2015, 07:56 PM

Our front and tag tires are 365/70 Micheins dated 4707 or close to that. They look perfect and I suspect from the condition of the MH it was stored inside. I'll run them for a while longer but watch them.
On the previous Dutch Star I ran the OEM Michelins (made in Spain) for 8 years but then they started to show some minor cracking around the lettering.