Lesson Learned - Tires.

[Don and Barb]

Just put on BFG Commercial T/A's, 215/85 R16, E1 rated, 6 ea. $1215.00 OTD at Americas Tire Store. My buddy has them on his 32', he's had them for about 5 years with no problems.

[nbargolf]

Originally Posted by SeattlePirat

What size tire? The Hankooks I needed were at least 3000 out the door in oregon adn 3300 in Washington from two different dealers. You cannot just say my Hankooks were cheaper than your Michelins. You have to compare exact sizes.

Which would you buy at 3 or 400 dollar difference? If I got a quote for Hankooks at 2500 out the door I would have bought them.

Hope that helps.

275/70r22.5 exact same size I think and that's more than 3-4 hundred.

[SeattlePirat]

Originally Posted by nbargolf

275/70r22.5 exact same size I think and that's more than 3-4 hundred.

All I can say is you got a better deal than the local dealers were willing to give me. I looked on the internet and couldnt do any better when you add excise, mounting and shipping.

Which tire did you buy?

[nbargolf]

Originally Posted by SeattlePirat

All I can say is you got a better deal than the local dealers were willing to give me. I looked on the internet and couldnt do any better when you add excise, mounting and shipping.

Which tire did you buy?

AH12 think that's right

[nbargolf]

Originally Posted by nbargolf

AH12 think that's right

Local dealer near Johnson City,TX, real good price. Korea made born on date 3 months old. I checked the code to make sure.

[SeattlePirat]

Originally Posted by nbargolf

AH12 think that's right

You got a super good deal I would have no problem using Hankook, AH 12 if I could have gotten for that price out the door. Unfortunately we didnt have a dealer that was willing to sell them for that kind of money.

[Portsider]

TriMoot,

I assume you got the Hercules H-901's? You couldn't find a review because those tires just hit the market last September. I've been looking at them myself for my rig I haul my 5ver around in.

Any issues with them? How many miles you put on them so far? I'm guessing they're made in china, but so are double coin tires, and those commercial tires get great reviews and are popular on low-boy flatbeds. Can you tell me the manufacturing plant code on the tire?

Planning on getting two of them for preliminary testing (just ordered two new wheels for the project). Planning on loading them to 6600# to see how they'll handle in 105+ degree heat at speed this summer. Hercules customer service can give you the load inflation table if you need. They couldn't give me the lowest recommended pressure though for the steer tires or the drive tires when unloaded (I'm guessing 70 psi should be safe, I'll be chalking the tires to see how that pressure affects the contact patch). What's the pressure you're running on your steer axle?

Originally Posted by TriMoot

I've looked and researched and 'think' I've decided on these tires for my Rexhall 32' Class A motor home:

Hercules H-901 - 235/85 R16
Here's a link to the info:Hercules News : Hercules Introduces New H-901 All Steel Commercial Light Truck Tire: Heavy-duty tire is latest in H-Series medium truck line-up

This is a 14 ply tire so I'm hoping the ride will be okay. Since it's so new I am having a hard time finding any reviews of it. If ANYONE you know has heard anything good or bad please let me know as I'm planning on ordering these on Monday, the 21st.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by TriMoot

*** Update****

Well, to complete this thread, well, maybe not complete it but update it with a decision I'm about to make on tires.

I've looked and researched and 'think' I've decided on these tires for my Rexhall 32' Class A motor home:

Hercules H-901 - 235/85 R16
Here's a link to the info:Hercules News : Hercules Introduces New H-901 All Steel Commercial Light Truck Tire: Heavy-duty tire is latest in H-Series medium truck line-up

This is a 14 ply tire so I'm hoping the ride will be okay. Since it's so new I am having a hard time finding any reviews of it. If ANYONE you know has heard anything good or bad please let me know as I'm planning on ordering these on Monday, the 21st.

The good news is my local tire shop here in Spokane, Perfection Tire, has them right in town! And of course I've asked them to check the DOM code on them to be sure they are as new as possible. I wonder if they would order newer ones if these are too old? Oh, and what is too old? 6 Months? 1 Year? In my mind, if they are 3 months old then that's okay....right? And all the date codes have to match. (See I'm learning!)

So thanks for everyone's input and I will respond to the other items I've asked about (gas gauge, fridge, etc) when I get to them.

I do love the community here and greatly appreciate everyone's input!

Oh..as far as price, on-line those tires are $162.99 a piece and shipping was $169, so it comes out to $1146.92 if I order on-line and then who knows how much for mounting and balancing them. Through Perfection, out the door price is $1356.00 for 6 of them, so the difference is $210 which when you figure having to pay for mounting and balancing them, it's pretty much a wash and I wanted to pay back the local shop for their great service to me and my 3 kids who have used them for various issues.

So all in all, I'm happy....as long as the 14 ply tire gives us a good ride.

Thanks guys!
TriMoot

Question. You said that tire shop has them, then you say $169 shipping. How can they charge you shipping on tires they already have? Why would you pay it?

[89sandman]

I've had 4 class a's and have put Hercules on all of them. Just put a set on in February, 6 225/70/19.5's for $1,180. Includes mount/balance/tax/tire disposal/stems. Tire dates were the last week of November 2013. I do own a auto repair shop so get a little discount from the tire shop.

[Dogpatch]

I just put (6) 265/70R22.5 Hancook AH12's on my coach. Small local tire shop in Missouri and best date I could get was 23 week of 2013. Cost was $2460 out the door rollin on my Beaver.
I was all right with the date. I'll get 8 years on those tires living in Canada where it's not so hot.

[TriMoot]

Hey Guys, sorry I actually didn't complete this post, so here goes:

4/25/2014 – Purchased 6 new Hercules H-901 14 Ply tires from Perfection tire here in Spokane, WA for $1587.26 out the door after a TON of research and having to ask Perfection to go back and VERIFY their DOM on the tires. They said it was 1811 which would be 18th week of 2011 and these tires were not made until 48th week in 2013. After they looked again, that’s the date they came up with. I verified it before they put them on. They did an okay job but they are NOT setup for RV’s so I probably will not have them do anything more. They actually removed one of the trim pieces around the rear wheels in order to get the tires out!! Errr!http://www.irv2.com/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif

But...So far I love the tires, it seems to steer better and corner better, and certainly it does a lot for my 'head' when flying down the road at 60 or 65 knowing that I have the extra capacity for load on those front tires.http://www.irv2.com/forums/images/smilies/thumb.gif

The only thing I don't know about is inflation charts. I don't have one and the tire shop was NO help. They pumped up the front and the rear inside tires to 80 and the rear outside to 87. ???? Not sure why. So yeah, I'm VERY unclear as to how to inflate them.

Ray,IN - I was looking at purchasing these on-line and comparing the price plus shipping and mounting with what Perfection could do. Turns out Perfection gave me wrong price (at least that's how they explained the discrepancy between $1356 and $1587). I've never purchased tires on-line before so I was very nervous about doing that so leaned heavily towards Perfection even though the tires were more.

PortSider: Not sure how to gather manufacturers code off the tires, can you help me there? Also, VERY little miles on the tires. We took them over to Idaho, probably about 60 miles (120 RT) so far so can't really tell, but like I said earlier, it seems to corner better during in town driving and on the highway they roll right along with very little road noise. And again, my head feels much better. I wish I had taken pictures of the old ones...amazingly bad! I mean BIG DEEP CRACKS all along the edge of the rim plus the sidewalls. It's amazing to me it made it home from Coeur d'Alene. I know I was so nervous about getting a blowout I bought a subscription from Coach Net prior to picking up the RV back in November just in case.

PortSider: What do you mean here: "...I'll be chalking the tires to see how that pressure affects the contact patch)"...

Thanks again guys for all your help. I think these forums are amazingly helpful to get all this seasoned input and many times on both sides of the issues. I only wish you were all available to help me with with all the work! (Of course that would mean I would have be available as well...so, there you go.)

Anyway, I love the input and the help and it would be fun to bump into you guys somewhere on the road.

Thanks!
Trihttp://www.irv2.com/forums/images/smilies/dance.gif

[Red Dawg]

We just purchased our 06 Monaco a couple of weeks ago and the more I read about tires the more paranoid I get. If I'm reading the DOM correctly, the tires are original (29000 miles). I've looked around the web a little and Michelin 235/80R 22.5 are scarce. Prices look like $600 or so each not including FET, shipping, mounting, balancing, etc,etc.Ouch!

I'm hoping there's another alternative. Suggestions very welcome. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.

Tom

[JBDISCOVERY]

Red Dawg,
You are right to be concerned. An eight year old coach if the original tires have not been replaced represents an accident that is going to happen at a point in time. Sooner or later. We have had two rear tire blowouts over the past ten years in 75,000 miles of travel.
Check the manufacture date on the tires themselves. Rule of thumb is five years or so of age is about the time to be looking for replacement. Quicker if inspecting the tires shows cracks in the sidewalls.
FMCA has a good tire purchase program offered to members. Michelin tires at a national price program. We have used the program and we comfortable that we paid a reasonable price.
Better to be safe than sorry.
JimB

[jergeod]

Red Dawg find a tire dealer in your area that sells Toyo tires, did 6 Toyo's on mine same size for $2200 taxes mounting and balancing out the door. Michelin's are way over rated and way over priced. You can do much better with other brands.