My last Tire post, I hope!

[JimDyer]

I am in the midst of purchasing a set of tires for my 98 Marquis and have only a few more questions. First of all I would like to say thank you to all of you who responded on my previous posts. You were very helpful and your help is truly appreciated.

To recap:
I have collected information, including actual axle weights, existing tire sizes, existing wheel rim size and dual spacing, etc.
I have reviewed this info with Michelin and Bridgestone Tech support, who assisted in tire model selection and the decision to go from 11R22.5 to 295/80R22.5's.
I have looked at local prices, FMCA's Michelin Advantage program, and Monaco international RV Club's Michelin National Account program.
I have talked to a number of local tire dealers to determine their capabilities.

At this point I am considering three possible tire models:
Bridgestone R250F 295/80R22.5 Load Range H  Local retail $655 Inflation 110 Front 105 rear
Michelin XZA2 Energy 295/80R22.5 Load Range H  Local retail $808 FMCA Advantage $656 MIRV estimated at $600 Inflation 110 Front 105 rear
Michelin XZE2+ 295/80R22.5 Load Range H  Local retail $822 FMCA Advantage $638 MIRV estimated at $650 Inflation 110 Front 105 rear


Now for the questions:

1. Balancing: Many dealers say they don't balance them period.  The Bridgestone guy offers dynamic balancing off the vehicle, or Equal (powder) balancing. The Michelin guy offers front only on-coach dynamic balancing but nothing for the rear tires.  What do you recommend?

2. Does the difference in running pressures matter? In all cases I would probably run the fronts at 115 psi, considering the wheels are maxed out at 120 psi.

3. Any other considerations? Which do I choose?  (Michelin says the XZA@Energy's will save me about 1% in mileage, but I figure that is less than $100 a year, or less than $500 over the life of the set of tires.)

Thanks for your thoughts.

Jim

[Edward Buker]

Jim,

I'm sure that all these tires are acceptable choices. I run XZA2 Energy on my 2002 Marquis. 115 PSI front and 110 rear. A little higher pressure than required in order to be a bit conservative. Mine were spun balanced off of the coach and weighted on the rims. They ride very well and quiet on the road. I worked with a Michelin reliability engineer on a tire reliability issue on a prior coach who shared with me that the XZA2 Energy tire has one of the lowest field failure rates of all the Michelin tire lines. He indicated that tire would provide about a 2% mileage improvement but that is not very significant either at 1% or 2%. I think balancing a least the front tires is a good choice. It is probably less of an issue in the back seeing you are not sitting over them and whatever imbalance you have in a tire is a small imbalance component given all of the tires are in tandem and are involved with a lot of other rotataing mechanical components in the rear drive train.

I would purchase these tires over again for the ride and low failure rate especially at those prices. I do not think there is a questionable tire choice in the list you mentioned.

Regards Ed

[JimDyer]

Thanks Ed

[Larry Fisk]

I will second what Ed said, we bought the Michelins and are very pleased with their performance. No complaints....

[Joel Weiss]

As for balancing, we were dynamically balanced with weights on the front only.  We've put ~5,000 miles on since then without any vibration.  Tire rotation is not recommended by tire makers for vehicles like these so that won't create an issue either.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

We put XZA 2 Energy on the steer 275/70 R 22.5 J and they did not require any balancing (really) I was happy. They are a very round tire and the ride is very good.

[JimDyer]

We ended up getting XZA2 Energy's from michelin through the MIRV discount program. Great Decision, saving about $275 per tire vs retail, and love the tires.

[LEAH DRAPER]

$275 per tire......WOW that is awesome, can hardly wait for my G/Y 670's to age to replace them.

[Jerry Carr]

I had the front tires(goodyears) balanced with weights in the inside, but used bean bags on the rears, this is the first time I have balance the rears and have not used the bean bags before.

[JimCasazze]

To those with approx '99 vintage Patriots/Thunders, etc. what are you running as rear tires?  Seems like many have chose XVA2 energy 275/70 for the steering tires, but no mention of drive tires.  I'm ready to replace all of them before we set off on our little trip.
J

[Gil_Johnson]

FWIW, TCI in Orlando would not use wheel weights on my 315s.  They said that the larger tire need to use in tire balancing to be effective.  They have a $2M in tires, so they probably know what they are talking about.  The result, one great ride!

Gil

[Joel Weiss]

[quote author=]To those with approx '99 vintage Patriots/Thunders, etc. what are you running as rear tires?  Seems like many have chose XVA2 energy 275/70 for the steering tires, but no mention of drive tires.  I'm ready to replace all of them before we set off on our little trip.
J[/quote]

I highly recommend the XZE2+ over the XZA2 Energy.  They are a relatively new tread pattern and can be a bit more expensive in some sizes, but the handling improvement was significant.  Because it is labeled as a "regional" tire it has more cross-cuts which gives it better handling and control.  We also think the ride is smoother.

[JimCasazze]

Joel, did you mean XZE2+ on the drive axle or both axles?  Did you previously have the energys and switch to XZE2+'s?  I was planning to call Michelin today to also ask about the xva3+  Everlast.  Did you consider them also?

I know from your posts, that you do a good job evaluating things, so I appreciate your comments.  No need to re-invent the wheel right? pun intended...

[Joel Weiss]

We have XZE2+ on both axles, but I have to admit that it wasn't really the result of research.  Rather, I had a tire dealer in Casper WY who I trusted who basically said, "try them, you'll like them" and I did.  They were fairly new at that time. I think the bulk of the handling advantage is, obviously, due to the steering axle tires, but the comfortable ride involves all six.  I don't know anything about the XVA3+

Thanks for the compliment about my posts; I'm simply trying to use research to compensate for a lack of experience!  When we started full-timing a little over a year ago I had no experience with diesels or Class A's, so it has been steep learning curve.  I'm beginning to finally feel like I'm getting to a more level spot!  

Joel

[Dick Simonis]

I can't speak to the Michelins but when we put the new Hankook's on in January, we only balanced the front tires on the recommedation of the dealer.  Fact is the Hankooks took almost no wieghts on the two that we did balance.  Apparently that's pretty normal.

The tires plus an alignment resulted in a huge improvement in ride and handling.