How much are tires?

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Peggyy

Peggyy

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Joined
Jul 5, 2016
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887
Location
Winter springs fl
Can we afford this Class A?  Someone said a new set of tires is $5000.  Is that the normal cost for a set of good tires?
 
Depends on the brand, size and how many tires. Class A's with a tag axle have more tires than one without a tag.

If you're an FMCA member, check out FMCA's tire discount program.  It's been a few years since I used it, but I saved a lot of $$$ when I did.
 
I just bought 2 continental tires for my RV + extensive wheel alignment and got them out the door for about $1100.

Yes they are expensive. Don't know what others do but I plan to stagger the purchase and replace the duals together when they time out. IN my research I found several to many options in the $400 range.
 
Anywhere from $200-$800 each, depending on size and brand name.  It's been a few years but the last ones I bought were $514 each for 6 Toyo tires.  A similar model from Michelin was $776, but there were some no-name import brands that ran around $325 each.  Those were one of the larger sizes found in motorhome use, so that's toward the high end of the range.
 
Our coach has a tag axle. Two years ago we replaced both front shocks and all eight tires with Toyos for $5000.00. I was in a hurry when I bought them, but if I would have had some time to shop around, I'm sure I could have saved a few hundred dollars. Most motorhomes have six tires, and in my opinion, it shouldn't cost $5000.00 for six, good quality brand name RV tires.

Kev
 
The two sets of tires I've purchased for our class A were both less than $2,000.  The first set were Hankooks.  They were 19.5" tires and about $1800.  The second set and the ones currently on our motorhome are 22.5" Sumitomos.  They were about $1600.  So less money for larger tires.  Personally I think there is a significant amount of fear factor involved in the pricing of motorhome tires which pushes many people to buy expensive tires.  The thought of a tire failure on a heavy vehicle traveling down the highway at 55 to 75 MPH is a bit scary.  I have never seen any data on tire safety that address one manufacturer vs another or the the many other factors that can effect tire safety.  Things like tire pressure and weather.  If anyone can provide a link to such data I'd be very appreciative. 
 
Just a data point ...

I dug up the cost of my last set of 6 tires:
A little shy of $4,000 out the door for Michelin 275/70R22.5 XZA2 Energy tires with the FMCA discount program, with balancing, a savings of approx $3,000. That was 8 years ago.

I'll shortly be shopping for replacements.
 
Tire size is one factor, but even among larger sizes these is substantial price difference for widely used sizes vs less common ones.  For example, the 10R22.5 and 11R22.5 sizes are widely used in commercial trucking and the 275/70R22.5 is also popular.  On the other hand, the 295/80R22.5 is rarely found anywhere except larger motorhomes and is priced a couple hundred dollars higher than the nearly identical 11R22.5 size.


And then there are the brand price differences, probably related to the fear factor that garyb1st mentioned. Michelin in particular has spent megabucks to convince the public they are the world's safest tire.
 
Fear stories aside, I wasn't a Michelin supporter for many years. But, when I previously tried to find replacements for this coach, here are examples of issues that I ran into.
 
When looking for replacement tires, I tried to find tires to replace the 235/80R 22.5 tires that were on my coach.  IIRC, that size was unique to Michelin tires.  An interesting marketing strategy.   
 
Tires on a C Class are a lot less expensive. I replaced all six and the spare on my Chevy 3500 with E rated tires for $100 each mounted and balanced at Sears believe it or not but I called around. I insist on getting metal valve stems as every tire issue I've ever had was with those cheap rubber valve stems with valve extenders on the inside tires on the rear dually, never the tire. 
 
Even metal valve stems have rubber seals. Try to get metal extenders that tie down to the wheel or at the least zip tie them. The flexible hose extenders put less stress on the stems but if they get loose they flop around and break causing a quick loss of air. Plus they age out and are more likely to spring a hose leak than metal extenders.
 
When looking for replacement tires, I tried to find tires to replace the 235/80R 22.5 tires that were on my coach.  IIRC, that size was unique to Michelin tires.  An interesting marketing strategy.
Click to expand...
 

Indeed!  Just another way to try to corner some market share. 

Other manufacturers use slightly different size designations that are equivalent.  Popular RV tire size equivalents:

    235/80R22.5 = 245/75R22.5
    255/80R22.5 = 265/75R22.5
    275/80R22.5 = 295/75R22.5
 
Like any expense, it's going to sound high if you hear "tires are $5000!" and think about paying that expense, say, tomorrow. :eek: But it's rare you'll be forced to replace all RV tires, all at once, with no warning or planning. Even if the out-the-door replacement cost IS around $5000 (which seems on the high end based on the replies here so far), it's a known cost every 7 years or so that you can plan/budget for. Set aside $714/year or $59/month into a separate account and you'll have the cash-in-hand when the time comes. It should seem much more manageable when broken down into smaller segments like that.
 
A couple of months ago my daughter was leaving her job as a Firestone store manager, so she bought me a pair of new steer tires because I had mentioned i needed them.  These were top-of-the-line Bridgestone 275/70R22.5 tires and the cheapest price I could find them for online was >$500 each (plus shipping).  SimpleTire.com wanted >$800 each including shipping.  I hate to say that she paid ~$220 each for them.  There's a lot of markup in tire pricing as there is in all other retail selling.  Getting a few % off on an FMCA plan makes hardly a dent in the dealer's profit margin.
 
Thanks for the story Doc.
Getting a few % off on an FMCA plan makes hardly a dent in the dealer's profit margin.
Click to expand...
The FMCA discount I received was closer to 50% (no discount on the labor/mounting/balancing). I overheard the manager at the truck tire dealer where I bought my Michelins tell the office manager that I was paying less than his cost.
 
Tom said:
Thanks for the story Doc.The FMCA discount I received was closer to 50% (no discount on the labor/mounting/balancing). I overheard the manager at the truck tire dealer where I bought my Michelins tell the office manager that I was paying less than his cost.
Click to expand...

FWIW the one time I purchased Michelin's through FMCA the discount was nowhere near 50%.  As I recall I saved about $100/tire. My records show I paid ~$3600 for 6 Michelin XZE+ 275/80R22.5

IMHO Michelins are overpriced; they established their market position as a premium brand several decades ago.  There are plenty of very good tires sold at substantially less than Michelin prices theirs at.
 
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