Replacing Coach Tires - Goodrich, Continental, Michelin, Other?

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roblaura

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Jul 29, 2015
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The six tires on my 2012 Itasca Meridian 40U were manufactured in 2011 and thus will be due for replacement next year due to age, not wear (about 35K). The current tires are Michelin 275/80r 22.5 XZAs. I have had no problems with them, but they are the most expensive. The question is which replacement brand in my size tire is the best value (price vs. performance and reliability)? Our annual coach travel currently averages about 6K per year. FMCA offers discounts on Goodrich (lowest price), Continental, and Michelin (highest price). I have also heard that some RVers use various other brands of truck tires. I want a tire that is smooth riding, handles and stops well in wet conditions, resists UV rot, and has high reliability. Any special positives or negatives for any of these brands, or other recommendations from my fellow big coach RVers out there?
 
Our Monaco came with Goodyear truck tires and the ride was so disappointing we complained.  We changed to the Goodyear RV tires and the ride was as we had expected initially.  Significantly better!  We got the same ones when we replaced the old ones and we have a good solid ride.

ArdraF
 
Some others include:  Toyo, Hankook, Bridgestone/Firestone, Sumitomo, Yokohama,

Goodrich is a Michelin brand and in large truck tires are often the same as their Micheline brother at a lower price.
 
As noted you have many choices.  Sometimes it depends on what dealers in your area have or can get for you.  I recently replaced my tires and considered Hankook AH-12's, Continentals, and Michelin.  I ended up getting Michelin XZA2's using the FMCA Advantage program.  I wanted to try Continental's using the FMCA program but the dealer in my area could not get Continental tires with current date codes.  Continental refused to take the time to locate tires with date codes I would accept.  What they had were 3 years old.
 
On our previous two coaches I ran the Bridgestone R250's and really liked them.  They rode nice, wore good and handled well.  Our Dynasty had Goodyear's on it when purchased it and we replaced the steers a couple years later with the same Goodyear G670's although I have never been a Goodyear fan.  Four years ago I noticed that my drive tires had severe uneven wear and I wanted those Goodyear's off of my coach once and for all.  I was going to go back to the Bridgestone R250's because they had served me well previously but we also run Michelin's here at work on our OTR trucks and I really like the way they wear.  The price on the Michelin's were quite a bit more than the Bridgestone's but after using the FMCA/Michelin Advantage program, they were actually a little less than I would have paid for the Bridgestone's.  I have about 25k miles on my 295/80R22.5 Michelin's XZE2 Energy now and they are wearing and handling extremely well.

Mike
 
Seriously consider the Family Motor Coach Assn Michelin Advantage program. I was able to buy my tires for $10 each less than the distributor could get them from Michelin for. I was dealing with the largest tire distributor in Georgia, that supplies tires to virtually every tire store in the state.

You call Michelin, give them your FMCA member number, your credit card info, which they keep on file for 30 days and then delete it, so you do this right before getting the tires. Then you go to a dealer/distributor who is familiar with the Advantage program (many are not) and get the tires installed. They send Michelin a bill for the total cost of the mount, balance, disposal, and Michelin does a buy back of the tires from them, and resells them to you, and calculates the sales tax if any, and charges you for the total cost of tires, install, etc. My LT225R75/16's were $1320 total back in July when I did this.

Charles
2007 Winnebago View 523H on a 2006 Dodge (Daimler-Chrysler aka Mercedes) Sprinter 3500 chassis (T1N). Bought Sept 2015 with 18K miles on it, Prog Ind HW30C, Prog Dymanics PD4645, Coleman Chill Grille, PML/Yourcovers.com deep alum trans pan, AutoMeter 8558 trans temp gauge, Roadmaster sway bar, Koni Red shocks (front & rear), Fantastic Ultra Breeze hood, added OEM parabolic mirrors and RH aspherical mirror, MB grill conversion.
 
During grain harvesting season, we run 300+ trucks a day through our facility. A few of the drivers were standing around waiting to load, and I asked about tires, front runners specifically. Pretty much what I learned is that a lot of them run Michelins due to them having a harder compound and last longer. They will wear out a set in two or three years. They all stated that the Michelins will develop cracks if not run enough to wear them out before aging out. I asked about use on motorhomes and a few do have motorhomes. Due to aging out and not wearing out, neither run Michelins on theirs. They all run brands that Gary mentioned, both front and back.
 

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