Community Forums

Alpine Road Warrior · 05-16-2011, 04:42 PM

We had to replace front tires on our coach. They wore on the out side tread almost down to the cord in 27M miles. The right front wore the most. I stopped at a tire dealer in Provo, UT and they told me I needed to get the rear end alignment. Another front end shop told me it was from turning because the coach was so long. Last year the front was check for alignment and they said it was within specs. I do not know who to believe. Help.

Old Scout · 05-16-2011, 05:24 PM

Do a "search" on tires and tire wear on this forum--lots of problems will come up. Have also come to realize tire alignment is both art and science, so opinions will vary--especially if a warranty is being debated with a tire dealer. Other that the bolt/rear suspension issue on the early 05s, there doesnt seem to be one specific cause for tire wear. What is true: 1) generally speaking, you cannot align/change the thrust angle on the rear axle without some major modification; and 2) the front axle camber is locked in by the axle... so unless you bend the axle????. So what is left is to adjust toe-in/toe-out.

Frankly, some Alpiners report "wonderful" experiences with tread wear while others do not. Right now I am experimenting with tire pressure--despite the fact that max air pressure is not required to support the weight we carry[especially on the duals], I am thinking 105-110 on the duals and 115-120 on the fronts may help with outside edge tire wear. Look forward to hearing other opinions.....

ga traveler · 05-16-2011, 05:30 PM

Our dealership always used a truck alignment shop. They always requested the owner and DW to come and sit in the front with the coach loaded as normally used. We never had a problem with their alignments.

TXiceman · 05-16-2011, 05:54 PM

If it is wearing the outside of both front tires you definitely have an alignment issue. Find a good truck suspension shop and load the coach as you do for travel and let them work on it.

Ken

RJay · 05-16-2011, 05:55 PM

Maybe this will help.

johnwr · 05-16-2011, 11:54 PM

We had exactly the same wear issue on our front tires and the same problem on the right front. We had a front end alignment done, without any camber correction, which can be done by a good shop that knows how to bend the front axle, and then we put new tires on and haven't had a problem since. There can be a problem with the cords in a tire shifting which will cause a wear problem but this is unlikely. Once the tire starts to wear like this is also unlikely that balancing will correct the problem. Alignment and new tires should fix it. All the comments about loading the coach are appropriate, but the underlying issue is setting the correct "ride height" with the loaded coach.

GMDavidson · 05-17-2011, 07:46 AM

My front tires wore out I thought prematurely My tires wore on the outside for the right time and inside on the left tire. We were on a trip to Alaska. The tire shop in Whitehorse said it was due to the crowned chip seal roads that they had. The coaches rear wheels we slipping to the right side of the road causing a steering correction. The Goodyear tire dealer in Anchorage gave me the same story, as well is my tire dealer here in Jamestown CA (that services a lot of logging trucks). The threes shops said that I didn't have an alignment problem.

I don't know if this applies to you case, but maybe some info for other to file away.

By the way, the steering correction I was putting in I thought was due to wind.

Old Scout · 05-17-2011, 09:40 AM

Tell me more about driver and spousal unit weight distribution--I get the point of simulating "normal" travel load [ie the spouse's rock collection] but with 100 gals of fuel, 50-100 gals of water and 30 gals of propane, I dont even what to start the conversation about "passenger" side weight distro in a 30,000 lbs coach????

As for ride height, I know there are specs for the air bags and understand a heavy left or right lean would not be good but am not sure how variations in ride height would dramatically impact a solid front steering axle?

Arch Hoagland · 05-17-2011, 09:56 AM

I had the same problem and heard all sorts of things...bad suspension, shocks, etc, etc. Mine were cupping too. Pressure was always 95lb.

Went to a local truck alignment shop and had just the front end aligned and two new tires, Michelin XRV same as I had, and all is well. Have put about 12,000 miles on it since then and not a bit of wear.

Pressure is kept at 95lb as per Michelin.

Tom and Patty · 05-17-2011, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnwr

We had exactly the same wear issue on our front tires and the same problem on the right front. We had a front end alignment done, without any camber correction, which can be done by a good shop that knows how to bend the front axle, and then we put new tires on and haven't had a problem since. There can be a problem with the cords in a tire shifting which will cause a wear problem but this is unlikely. Once the tire starts to wear like this is also unlikely that balancing will correct the problem. Alignment and new tires should fix it. All the comments about loading the coach are appropriate, but the underlying issue is setting the correct "ride height" with the loaded coach.

Cords in a tire don't shift. It is impossible, because those cords ( steelbelts actually) are surrounded by rubber. There is no place for them to move. They can lift which is called separation, normally caused by contamination or improper cure in the build process. Additionally caused by air infiltration into the tire and or poor maintenance ( low air pressure, poor alignment, overloaded ect) creating high heat. Poor maintenance is the most likely culprit for a separation.

My apologies in advance if that is what you meant, but I hear cords shifted even by tire people.

Tom and Patty · 05-17-2011, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpine Road Warrior

We had to replace front tires on our coach. They wore on the out side tread almost down to the cord in 27M miles. The right front wore the most. I stopped at a tire dealer in Provo, UT and they told me I needed to get the rear end alignment. Another front end shop told me it was from turning because the coach was so long. Last year the front was check for alignment and they said it was within specs. I do not know who to believe. Help.

Turning because the coach was too long?

Don't go back there. Unless of course you entered your coach in a figure 8 road race......that would be interesting.

Alignment is the culprit if wear is on both outside edges. A good tech will be able to fix your problem.

Alpine Road Warrior · 05-17-2011, 06:25 PM

Thanks everyone for your help. I will start with alignment and go from there. I have been running 120 in the front tires but sounds like I may be able to lower that some although I am running pretty close to gross weight.

Old Scout · 05-17-2011, 08:22 PM

Max load on the G670s is about 7800 at 125 PSI so thats a max 15,600 on the front axle. Max rating load on our front axle is 13,000 so you should have plenty of room to come down from 120 PSI--perhaps 110 or lower. Goodyear has a great pressure to weight chart on their website so you can see how far down you could go. The fact that you were running at 120 PSI and still had alignment/wear issues sort of "poops" on my theory that higher PSI might help with outside edge wear.