Cleaning covers on slideouts, Rotate tires

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keithhk

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Joined
Jun 14, 2005
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9
Hi, I know there is a product that works well for cleaning the slideout covers so I am asking for some assistance with you folks who have had your RV's for some time now and have had to approach this problem any information would sure be appreciated. also do you folks rotate your tires on your motorhomes and if so how often. Thanks.
 
We don't rotate our tires.  They get replaced every 5-7 years and tread wear is not a consideration with the miles we drive (~10,000/year).
 
I believe you will find most people do not rotate tires on larger motorhomes. I have had two motorhomes over the last 16 years and never rotated tires.

Life of RV tires tends to be 3 or 4 years at typical driving distance and deterioration.

With duals on rear, if you rotate the front to back then you will likely have a dual pair with uneven heigth and this brings problems as one of the tires is carrying more load than the other and then you could a  failure.

Also, like a lot of us, I have never seen the need to balance the rear duals. I always have  balanced the front and kept the alignment up on a periodic basis. And I check the front tires for any unusual wear pattern.

Early on in my RVing at a large tire dealer, I asked the service manager how do 18 wheel  drivers go about rotating and balancing. He said most of them rely on feel and frequent visual inspection to spot any wear patterns and let it go at that. Nowadays I understand the Equal powder balancing is widely used by them.

I have been using the powder Equal balancing for the last couple of years and found it to be very good. I did not have it put in rear duals but on next set of tires I probably will. At my age, I hope there is another set of tires in my future! <G>

Bob
 
Bob Zambenini said:
With duals on rear, if you rotate the front to back then you will likely have a dual pair with uneven heigth and this brings problems as one of the tires is carrying more load than the other and then you could a  failure.

Hi Bob,

You make a very good point here. The "only" way to rotate tires and avoid that problem is to rotate both to the same side. That way both tires are of somewhat equal size and you don't have the disparity of load bearing. I learned this from Monroeville Chassis near the American Coach service center. Ron, the owner, has a great reputation with all American owners as well as, now, with some other manufacturers. I have done this twice with mine.
 
Like the others, we do not rotate our motorhome tires as a matter of practice. I did once have an alignment problem and wore an outer edge a bit before I noticed it. I moved that tire to the rear after correcting the problem, just to have the best possible tires on the front wheels.

I haven't noticed any tendency for uneven wear on our motorhomes as long as alignment is correct.

As for cleaning slide toppers, I have never used anything except routine heavy duty detergents, e.g. Simple Green, Mean Green or the like. Seems to work fine.  In general, we have found that special RV cleaning products are just a way to extract extra money from Rver's pockets.
 
Gary,

I normally would not have rotated either. There seems to be a problem with American Coaches and, at least, the G159 tires. They develop excessive wear on the outside edge. It has nothing to do with alignment or air pressure. Happens on all of them. I understand the new G670s do not exhibit that phenomenon but haven't spoken to anyone who has put on significant mileage on those tires. I'm also told the Michelins do not wear the same.
 
It appears it was the G159 tires Jim.  Met a guy at Decatur that had the same problem and he said the problem went away after he changed to a different bran of tires.  Can't recall which tires he put on.  Ron at Monroville rotated our tires for the same reason.  Now we have around 75K on the tires  but will be replacing soon do to age.  Maybe thew reason they quit making G159 tires and replaced the line with 670 series.
 
keithhk said:
Hi, I know there is a product that works well for cleaning the slideout covers so I am asking for some assistance with you folks who have had your RV's for some time now and have had to approach this problem any information would sure be appreciated. also do you folks rotate your tires on your motorhomes and if so how often. Thanks.

I rotate the tires on my fifth wheel once per year per my owners manual. Don't think it's necessary to be honest but the manual sez so and I do it to protect myself "just in case". Just be sure the lugnuts are tightened to the proper torque and tire pressures are correct.
 
Ron said:
It appears it was the G159 tires Jim.  Met a guy at Decatur that had the same problem and he said the problem went away after he changed to a different bran of tires.  Can't recall which tires he put on.  Ron at Monroville rotated our tires for the same reason.  Now we have around 75K on the tires  but will be replacing soon do to age.  Maybe thew reason they quit making G159 tires and replaced the line with 670 series.

Ron,

I'll be replacing mine within the next year. Just looked at one yesterday and it's wearing a lot more than it was. I know Steve has put the G670 tires on last year. I'll be waiting to see what the verdict is this winter. When I asked Ron at Monroeville what he heard about Goodyear all he said was "nothing good". That was before the G670. I'll probably be talking to him again when we are in Decatur week after next.

Jim
 
Jim,

Let us know what Ron says about the 670/s.  We are checking on prices and will be replacing the tires due to age within the next year or less.  Looking into the pros/cons of going with GY H670 tires.
 
We put G670s on the front axle in Jan. 2004 and are have been satisfied with them.  They can run at a lower pressure than the previous G159 tires and have shown no wear patterns like the G159s did.  Another good tire is the G169 that we have on the rear axle (the G670RV wasn't available when we changed those).  It too, is a load range H tire and runs at lower pressure than the G159 LRG.
 
Ron ,

Will let you know what I find out.

Ned,

Steve said the tires smoothed out the bridge expansion joints a lot! My main concern is the unusual wear American Coaches seem to have on the front end. One person said it was due to the G159s not being steering tires. Never heard that before but can't say it isn't true. I guess there's more to tire technology than meets the eye. :) The lower pressure on the G670s would account for the smoother ride I'm sure.

 
Jim Dick said:
My main concern is the unusual wear American Coaches seem to have on the front end.

Jim, a dumb question here, but is there any way this could be related to IFS?
 
Tom said:
Jim, a dumb question here, but is there any way this could be related to IFS?

From what I understand this is a related to G Y 159 tires used in a steering position.  The same condition was also evident on older coaches before the IFS was available.  Also a couple years ago guy that was parked along side of us with a Monaco asked me if I had the same condition with my 159 tires as he was having.  Mine wasn't as bad as his and he had indicated he had replaced his tires with 159/s about a year earlier.  I don't think it is a problem with G670RV tires since I haven't heard or read any reports of it.

 
Interesting Ron, thanks. G159's were what I changed to on the front of our Pace after reading rave reviews about them on our forum. But I don't think we put enough mileage on the G159's to have developed the problem you and Jim described. I was just curious about Jim's comment:

There seems to be a problem with American Coaches and, at least, the G159 tires.

I was trying to figure out why it would be predominantly American Coaches, which led me to ask if IFS might be a factor.
 
Tom

Could be the OEM tires. I don't know what American speced on their chassis but I have a similar Spartan chassis as used on the '99 American Coaches but it came with Michelin XGA2s. Have over 50,000 miles on them in 3 1/2 years and no noticeable or significant tire issues.
 
BernieD said:
Could be the OEM tires.

Bernie, I assume you mean that American Coach uses G159 as their OEM tire, which would be the reason American Coaches are having the problem. i.e. not a coach/chassis issue, just a G159 issue. Makes sense, especially since Ron has seen the same problem reported with G159's on other brands of coach.
 
Tom said:
Jim, a dumb question here, but is there any way this could be related to IFS?

Tom,

You know there are no dumb questions!! ;D I doubt it has anything to do with IFS but one never knows for sure. Other coaches have IFS and don't seem to have problems but they might be using a different tire.(just read Rons message indicating some others do have the problem) Would take some time to research. I'm going to try to get addtional info when we get to Decatur. Monroeville Chassis has a great rep and seems to know their business.



 
Tom said:
Bernie, I assume you mean that American Coach uses G159 as their OEM tire,

Tom

You assume almost correctly ;D It sounded like, from Ron's comments, that the G159 tire was his original tire. That would make it the OEM tire.  And it may only be applicable to the American Coaches of Ron's vintage.

Bernie,

G159s were OEM tires for American Coach. Back around 1999/2000 there were problems associated with tires which caused both American Coach and Country Coach to re-evaluate what they were supplying and going to tires with more capacity. Can't remember if that's when the G159s were introduced. I don't know what they are supplying now but I don't think it's the 159s.
 

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