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darjacob · 09-07-2020, 07:06 PM

Here's my story, most RV'ers probably would take another route than I did but I'm a DIY kinda guy. My Michelin tires only had 40K miles on them but the sidewalls were so cracked that I was concerned about having a blowout. The two inside tires on the drives were in good shape.

So after a lot of research and phone calls, I decided to replace all 4 drives with Goodyear 295-80-22.5 G670 RV tires. I did investigate the Goodyear's and they have a pretty good track record on RV's. Supposedly they're made specifically for RV's.

Now this is the part most RV'ers wouldn't do. I went to SimpleTire.com and bought 4 tires for $1,400.00 including all taxes and delivery. Which is about the best price I could find anywhere. The tires arrived the next day and the delivery guy stacked them in my garage. My son is a service tech and had all the tools to replace tires on semi trucks along side the road. He removed and replace all 4 tires in 2 hours flat. He took the good tires from the inside of the drive axle and mounted them on the tag.

Then I listed the 4 Michelins on line and sold them for $400. The buyer said they were great spares for his trucks.

So total cost to me was $1000.

As a side note, I will only run Michelins on the steer axle. Time will tell about the Goodyear's but then again I could buy at least one more set for the price of one set of Michelins.

I do almost all of my own maintenance, that way I know it's done correctly. These tires are a good example. The lugs are supposed to be torqued to 475 pounds. A lot of tire installers just crank them down until the air torque wrench stops moving.

Just my humble opinion...

Orhusky · 09-07-2020, 07:29 PM

Nice work, wish I had the availability of tools and talent to take on a job like this. How did you torque the lugs?

darjacob · 09-08-2020, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orhusky

Nice work, wish I had the availability of tools and talent to take on a job like this. How did you torque the lugs?

My son has a 3/4 inch 3 foot torque wrench and a 5 foot pipe. It's really important to properly torque the lugs. The lugs stretch a bit when torqued properly but over torquing them causes them to stretch too far and in an emergency (fast stop) the studs can snap.