What are the best Tires?

[Gerald Farris]

Gary,
I never recommend that anyone should run above the maximum pressure, but 5 PSI should not hurt, especially if the ambient temperature is above 60 degrees when you check the pressure because the pressure will go up with the temperature. I try to use 45 to 50 degrees as the ambient temperature to check tire pressure when possible.

Be sure to weigh each wheel individually, because your coach probably does not weigh the same on both sides, and in that case you use the weight for the heaviest side to set the pressure for both sides. With the generator on the left side of your coach, it is probably heavier on that side, and if it has a slide, the weight difference is even worse. My 2000 Marquis is over 1500 pounds heavier on the left side of the coach.

Gerald  

[Matthew Harger]

This post is becoming very educating, thank you all.

We just suffered a blowout of the left front steering tire this past Thursday while heading out of town for a weekend camping trip.   This occurred at the absolute worst possible place, that being a 55mph two lane raised levee highway with no shoulder and 10 feet drops down to water  on both sides.   The blowout was extremely violent and immediately threw us into the opposing lane of traffic with a big rig approaching us.  It took everything to avoid flying off of the levee road and get back into the correct lane and not going head on with the oncoming traffic.  My wife and 10 yr old were in tears.  By some stroke of luck the only damage to coach was the mudflap and wheel well liner.  Les Schwab came out and did a highway fix and replaced both fronts with new tires.  My appointment to get the 4 rears replaced at Schwab is tomorrow morning.

Since this coach was purchased used,  but new to us,  I should have replaced all the tires immediately but fell victim to the thought that since there was plenty of tread left on them they were fine.....bad choice.  

I, like Gerald said above, never ever want to experience another blowout again.    I really did not know anything about RV tires until this happened and have done a huge amount of reading up on the subject since our blowout.

From this point forward I will be getting the coach weighed, replace the  tires at the five year mark irregardless of wear.   will check tire pressures relentlessly on driving days, and will  likely buy some tire pressure monitors in the hopes of preventing or detecting a blowout from happening in the future.  

I was more worried about about leaks in the slide out and cosmetic fixes for our coach rather than issues of extreme safety.  

Don't make the same, nearly fatal mistake I did.  

Here is the link for a RV tire brochure from Firestone that I found online that was helpful in understanding some of the terms etc used in all of this tire stuff.

http://www.trucktires.com/bridgestone/us_eng/press/zip/RV_Brochure.pdf

http://www.trucktires.com/bridgestone/us_eng/press/zip/RV_Brochure.pdf

[Grant Ralston]

Matt, thanks for your post, tires are now pushed to the top of my list of repairs.  I haven't got to a scale yet with our 1998 Contessa but she is probably of similar weight as your Patriot.  Please post which tires you decide to have LS install for you.

Grant

[Matthew Harger]

Grant-

I had no real choice at the time of replacement, being stuck on the highway and the fact that LS only had 2 tires in stock that were the size I needed I took them.  I ended up with the Firestone FS 560's load rated H in a 275/70R 22.5

I'm just going to put the same model Firestones on the rears tomorrow.

From what I've read they seem to get decent reviews and certainly can handle the weight loads etc of the coach.  I'm sure they'll be fine for 5 years.

Found a local agriculture farm with full public scales a few miles from home that will weight all four for $5 and adjust all tire pressures accordingly.

When it's time to replace next time I'll do a bit more shopping as I hopefully will have more time.

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

Remember to weigh each corner of the coach.  Use the highest front axle corner for both the front axle tire pressures and the highest rear axle corner for all the rear tire pressures.  Use that to look up the weight in your tire pressure chart to get the correct pressure for each axle.  Check the chart, but most are rated at 70 degrees F ambient temperature.  You need to adjust for the temprature when you check your tires.

All the corners will be different, and you want to use the same pressure all across each axle, and that is the highest corner.


Cheers,

Larry

[Adam Hicklin]

Thanks guys.  I've never weighed my coach and I replaced the tires with the same ones that were on it when I bought it.  As far as weighing it, will a public scale tolerate taking the time to weigh each corner, or will they want to rush you through?  Also, when a tire is rated for a certain load, say in my case 16610lbs at 120psi, is that the max for each corner, or the whole axel?

[Gary Winzenburger]

A lot of truck stops offer, for a fee, scales to weigh each axle of your vehicle, but most won't allow you to weigh each corner. I'm having trouble finding portable scales that can do this. We aren't attending any rallies soon that may have them, Any idea's?
Thanks,
Gary

[Gerald Farris]

Adam,
Some public scales have no problem in weighing each wheel location, and some will only weigh each axle, while others will only weigh the entire coach. Therefore, you will need to check with the scale that you plan to use. The coach weighing services at FMCA or Escapees Rallies only weigh coaches by each individual wheel.

There are no tires that are commonly used on motorhomes that are rated for 16610 pounds each, so you must be talking about total axle weight. In that case the individual tire rating would be 1/2 of that amount if you are referring to the tire being used in a single application, or 1/4 of that amount if you are referring to the tire being used in a dual application.

Gerald  

[Gerald Farris]

Gary,
I do not know where you are located so I can not give any further guidance than to tell you that I used the scales at a large feed store once to weigh my coach and they had no problem with individual wheel weights.

Gerald

[Gary Winzenburger]

Gerald, we're located near Nashville, TN; that's a good idea about feed stores. Also, I've been told moving and storage companies may use them as well.
Thanks,
Gary

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Gary,

A CAT scale should give you both steer and drive axle weights separately. I weighed mine at a Petro in Eloy AZ. Cost $20; 2 weighs, 1 on driver and 1 on passenger side at $10 each.

Steve

[Jay and Raylene Todd]

I can't speak to other states but in both Washington and Oregon when a state operated weigh station is closed, the scale is still operating. You can pull in and weigh individual axles as well as offsetting the coach to one side or the other and weigh individual wheel positions ie; left steer, left drive (duals) left tag. No fee, no waiting.

[Stan Simpson]

Once I called the local police to ask when and where they were going to put down the portable scales next. They were nice to weight each corner for me.

Stan

[Gary Winzenburger]

Thanks for everyone's input! I re-inflated all tires and will weigh it soon, but still haven't found anyplace to get the corners seperately. I will take it to the local Cat scales and have the axles weighed.
Thanks,
Gary

[Larry Williams]

I would like to report to the forum that I just put new tires on my rig last week using the FMCA Michelin Advantage program. I have a 2003 Monterey so my tires are a little smaller than the newer rigs. I installed six Michelin XZA2 Energy 275/70R22.5 tires since I have no tag axles. The FMCA price was $495.89 plus $32.51 FET each and no sales tax since I had them installed at Bob Dickman's Tires (a Les Schwab dealer) in Junction City, Oregon. The dealer charged me $80 per tire to mount, balance and dispose of the old tires. I just got the invoice from FMCA for a total of $3170.40 (tires only) which they charged to my pre-approved credit card.

The process could not have been easier.