Two new Toyo 315/80/22.5 put on the motorhome today

[SargeW]

I just had 2 315/80/22.5 Toyo's mounted on the steer axle on the Bus. Then took the rig for a 40 mile run down the highway and back to get fuel. The Toyo's rode great, the steering was easy (the Michelin's were pulling left) and this is the first time I have experienced balancing with tire beads. I have to admit the tires drove smooth and took bumps easily.

A probably minor difference, the Toyo's started out with 19/32 of tread depth, the Michelin's start out with 17/32. But hey, as long as they get me down the road and last for a while, I'm happy. And the price was about 50% of the Michelin's, so I can put the difference towards the rising fuel costs......

The install was by the "Tire Man" in Lake Havasu City, AZ. He ordered the tires on a Monday, and they were in on Wednesday and installed Thursday morning. Good guys, fair and easy to work with.

 

[X-Roughneck Strike 3]

A Necessary Evil. I bet it would cost a pretty penny to get a 22.5" Tire Swapped out with traffic wizzing by at 80MPH on the side of the highway. Did you wait for 7 years, or did you encounter object damage?

Old Fram Oil Filter commercial comes to mind. You can pay me now, or you can pay me later (Said when rebuilding the engine).

What is the average onsite Tire / Onsite Cost, and is this reimbursed from plans like Coachnet, etc?

My Class C actually has a spare tire, but I don't want to carry a floor jack and jack stand for extra weight it would put into my carry containers.

JD

 

[Larry N.]

CoachNet would pay for the service call but you would pay for the tire.

 

[X-Roughneck Strike 3]

I will take a wild guess that if this tire was Delivered up on a Silver Platter in the Middle of No-Where for Road Side Service might cost 3X the normal price as back in civilization? I still be that would be Super Expensive.

JD

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Reputable tire services typically charge their list price for a tire delivered at roadside, but with no multi-tire discount or brand choice, that may seem excessive. If you end up paying $800 for a Michelin or GY when you could have had a Toyo or Firestone for $450, it still hurts. Some unscrupulous roadside providers have been known to gouge and it makes for great stories on the blogs, but I don't think it is all that prevalent. Probably depends on when & where you happen to be.

The bigger problem with emergency tire replacement is your size may not be readily available and you seldom have any choice of brand or model. You may pay full price and still have to buy another replacement when you get home.

 

[SargeW]

A Necessary Evil. I bet it would cost a pretty penny to get a 22.5" Tire Swapped out with traffic wizzing by at 80MPH on the side of the highway. Did you wait for 7 years, or did you encounter object damage?

Old Fram Oil Filter commercial comes to mind. You can pay me now, or you can pay me later (Said when rebuilding the engine).

What is the average onsite Tire / Onsite Cost, and is this reimbursed from plans like Coachnet, etc?

My Class C actually has a spare tire, but I don't want to carry a floor jack and jack stand for extra weight it would put into my carry containers.

JD

No object damage. This rig is my first Independent front suspension rig (IFS). The IFS is a great riding suspension, but there is a caveat to them. Large profile vehicles that spend a lot of time in the right lane can wear the outside rib of the LF front tire due to normal road crown. Michelin calls it "River Wear" and is a normal condition for the tire and is not warrantable. Their advice is "just drive it". The tire kind of leans to adapt to the road surface. I never felt any unusual steering or driving conditions.

During my last annual service I discovered that the outside rib was was almost worn completely off. It could have been exacerbated by an alignment issue, but I never felt any unusual pulling either. I tried having the fronts swapped side to side to mitigate the wear issue as the RF tire was slightly worn, but not near as much. That created a significant left hand pulling problem causing me to hold the steering wheel to the right to keep the rig straight. And that was after a 4 corner alignment from a Freightliner shop here in AZ.

With tires I usually err on the side of caution, and since we are heading out on a 5 month trip in a few weeks I decided to put on the new steers. Really happy I did, the pull is gone and the ride is like brand new.

And did I mention that the DW is much happier?

 

[garyb1st]

Sarge, how many miles did you get on the Michelins? I've got some steering pull but thought it was alignment related. Had it aligned and it didn't help. Never heard of River Wear. I also haven't looked closely at my tires for outside wear. I'll be doing that today.

We're two weeks into what could be a 4 month tour. Did 750 miles in the first two days. 10 hours the first day and 8 the next. I'm almost recovered.

 

[SargeW]

Wow, that some serious miles Gary! I would never make it that far in one day, my low back wouldn't allow it.

I had just turned 40K on the Michelins. But honestly I never had a river wear problem either until now. River wear is easy to spot. It will wear the tire on the outside passenger side of the tire. On mine the whole first rib on the RF tire was about worn off.

If you are still having a pull issue after the alignment and it's not wearing your steer tires funny, you may want to get a tire rotation and move the rears forward and the fronts to the rear. Dismounting a tire is about $60, so it's not a cheap experiment. That's why I opted not to try it with my tires because if it didn't work I would have wasted my money and would have had to buy new steers anyway. If I had caught it in time and the fronts were not so worn I would have opted for a rotation.

Otherwise my two new tires were $1235 including mount and balance.

 

[X-Roughneck Strike 3]

Marty, Those 22s are not Cheap! Ouch.

I have not yet had the "pleasure" of opening the Wallet to a full set of RV tire replacement costs, as I am only two years into my RVn Adventures. I 've only owned one RV to date, which is our 2017 Class C.

I have my hopes and my eye set on the 7 yr replacement time-frame, barring a Road Hazard event, that is. My Class C tires will be considerably cheaper is my guess. Pretty sure the house Tires on the Rear Axle on my C are much smaller 16s? Much poorer over all ride I am sure with the Cs also.

I have a Factory Included Spare Tire in the Cargo Rear Trunk area that to date has never been used. Knock wood. I think it may be for the Ford E-450 as it does seem larger now that I start thinking about it? I have to check into that now.

I don't have a onboard Jack/ Tire Iron, (Pretty sure, LOL), but I have a Spare Tire. One has to question carrying it If I won't attempt to tire change myself. Too many distracted 80 MPH drivers wizzing by flicking road debris and grit back at you for me to attempt it. Extra Weight of that jack equip would be a negative in the overall grand scheme of heavy enough gear to lug around with me in the underbelly if I am not willing to change a RV tire. My hands are so trashed I self question the benefit of heavy crap ownership at this point in my life also. If I am not carrying a Jack and Tire Iron, one might question why I am Lugging the Spare tire along? I gue$$ if I bought one road $ide I would have that an$wer real quick. I just can't see taking the tire out and leaving it at home. That would come back to haunt me I am -$ure.

Reminds me I need to get that power washing and Tire Covers back on the tires. I remember your article you shared awhile back on one of Life's Great mysteries,...

To Cover or Not To Cover- Your RV Tires while in storage? I remember your MFG Data / Quote stated to cover the tires from UV while in storage.

The Tire Covers were RV inherited Swag so why not! Sun is Brutal down here!

JD

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

From what I get from tire experts, river wear isn't particularly associated with crowned roads, nor is it limited to the left-front wheel. I've experienced it on both fronts with Goodyear G670's, a tire model known to suffer river wear more often than some other brands. Trailer tires can get it too.

Actually, what you describe sounds more like shoulder-step wear, though the difference is perhaps academic unless you are a tire engineer. Michelin has an excellent photo description of common wear patterns. See

https://www.michelinb2b.com/wps/b2bcontent/PDF/Usual_Suspects_Steer.pdf

 

[Utclmjmpr]

Tire jocky's that do 22.5 tires daily can R&R a tire along side the road faster than in a shop,, I have witnesses it being done WITHOUT removing the wheel on an outside dual!! >>>Dan

 

[SargeW]

True, what it's called isn't as important as the result. 3 previous coaches with straight front axles never experienced the issue. I guess it's not too unusual with an IFS front end.

Yeah, the bigger the tire, the more the price jumps. These are some of the biggest ones used on RV's in the 22.5 size. Even the prices on a 295/70/22.5 were quite a bit less than this size.