Community Forums

POPPASMURF · 11-27-2010, 12:34 PM

I have the standard MIchelin XRV 255-80-22.5 tires on my 98 Luxor DP. We are hoping to go south for some quality time this winter but- I am reluctant to drive on those Michelin hockey pucks. Any one have some suggestions as to some grip tires or soft chains for those bad situations?

Papa_Jim · 11-27-2010, 02:23 PM

A common thing for us Canadians. When we bought our coach it had smooth tires all round. Although they were only four years old, we replaced them to have grip tires on the back. I don't have any specific tire brand info, but I went to our Goodyear store. They offered Goodyear or Dunlop tires. I chose Dunlop. A friend of ours did the same thing using Bridgestone tires. So what you want is readily available.

The grip tires are noisy, but you can't really hear it unless you're in the back bedroom while the coach is going down the road. We haven't had a problem.

I don't know anything about chains. I don't know if our coach has any clearance to allow using them. I kind of think that if the road is so icy that chains are needed, I don't want to be out on that road with my Class A. Nice time to find a place to park for a while.

POPPASMURF · 11-27-2010, 10:01 PM

I agree, if one needs chains it's not place to be. There are how ever, some roads where you are not allowed on unless you have chains. As to tires, I know we've put Nokian directional tires on our SUV and had great success on snow and ice. I can't imagine pushing snow with my class A. I don't think I'd want heavy lugs on the back but tire technology has come way beyond that now with so many sipes and so on. I'll keep looking as these XRV's would get stuck on wet grass.

Hikerdogs · 11-28-2010, 08:12 AM

We live in Wisconsin and regularly drive through the snow without any problems. The worst was comming back from Minneapolis a few years ago through a blizzard. We were towing our Buick LeSabre on a dolly. It took 12 hours to drive what normally takes 5 hours. There was snow and slush on the road generally 3" - 6" the entire way. When we got home I would guess there was at least a ton or more of snow that had accumulated on the underside of the coach.

Although the going was slow never once did we have a traction problem. The tires were Goodyear G670's size 245/70R19.5. At the time I breifly considered traction tires for the rear. After cosiderably more thought I decided against them. The main reasons being noise, heat build up in warm climates, faster tread wear, likelyhood of being able to find replacements in a timely manner if one failed, and the inability to be able to use the standard spare tire on the rear axle should we have a failure.

We've put on over 85,000 miles with probably a good 20,000 of them traveling through the snow country either to or from the sun country. The only time we've had any traction problems were on glare ice. In those conditions I don't believe traction tires wouldn't fare any better

JCM · 11-28-2010, 09:57 AM

Buy a set of cable chains and tuck them away somewhere - for legality. I have driven in 6" snow with my Michelin stock tires that almost need replacing due to tread wear without any problems but I tried not to use my brakes. I now have new Michelin tires with a much deeper tread.
I have to drive from the interior of BC to the coast and down I 5 to the US each year.