Do I need to carry spare tire?

Hula wrote:
Is there a valid reason to carry the extra weight of spare tire? Will roadside assistance show up with tire mounted to wheel and then change it? There is no way I could change it myself.

Some people on here have posted that they waited till the next day for flat tire service and paid 50 percent more for a tire that did not match the other tires, that's why I wanted a motorhome with 19.5 tires so I can carry a spare and change the tire myself without being ripped off and waiting 15 hours for the service..

:B

RLS7201 wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:

RLS7201 wrote:

mike brez wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
I carry a spare for sure. I can change my own tire long before any help would arrive. That's if I'm even in an area with cell phone coverage. I don't know who I would even call for help really. I assume you have to pay these roadside guys for the privilege of being able to call them. Paying for that and an overpriced replacement tire isn't for me.

Maybe on your pickup.this is a class A forum.

Maybe you don't have the expertise or physical capacity, but many of us do have the capacity to change class A tires while on the road. I for one have the capacity to change rear hub seals and front wheel bearings while on the road. So don't discount the capacity of your fellow RVers.

Richard

When I bought my various class As it was pointed out that they didn't come with a jack and there was a reason for that. that's what road service will do for me.
bumpy

Then you probably don't need a fire extinguisher either. The fire department is also road service.
If you're not qualified or just don't want to get your hands dirty, just say so. Some of us like to fend for ourselves.

Richard

Richard, fending for yourself is the best in all situations. That's great! And, I'm glad that you have the ability to lift those heavy tires and all that goes with it. Unfortunately, I have a bad back for lifting, I'll have to leave it to the professionals.

We have Michelin 365's on the front and tag axles, 315's on the drive. There is no way I could lift or maneuver that size tire. Another problem that we may have is that Michelin is the only manufacturer of the 365.

As with our other coach, I checked our air pressure before every departure and adjusted pressure as needed. I know the minute that you drive out of the RV park you could run over a nail. We were lucky. I kept the original tires until their 7.0 yr. build date.

On the new coach, we have a built-in tire monitoring system that checks air pressure and temperature. I watch it religiously.

I will replace the tires at 7 yrs. Prevost changed my front tires under warranty as there was a slight vibration that could not be corrected. Tires were determined to be out-of-round. The 365's were listed on the invoice at $1,007 each. They also gave me a three axle alignment covered under warranty.

So, hopefully, watching my tires closely will prevent a roadside replacement. I don't want to carry a spare but might think about carrying a 365 for the rarity.

MM.

DrewE wrote:

mike brez wrote:

Ivylog wrote:
50K miles and it has not moved. It will get me out of a bind.

Lol I'm not to shure about that I can almost see a crack in it and looks bald. That thing looks like it will disintegrate once touched. :E

It looks bald because it's encased in plastic. Whether it's old and cracking or not is hard to tell for the same reason, but I'd venture to guess it's in better shape than it seems at first glance.

I was about to ask where do people keep their spare. I like that idea - it is probably heavy to get up there! How do you secure it?

Bumpyroad wrote:

RLS7201 wrote:

mike brez wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
I carry a spare for sure. I can change my own tire long before any help would arrive. That's if I'm even in an area with cell phone coverage. I don't know who I would even call for help really. I assume you have to pay these roadside guys for the privilege of being able to call them. Paying for that and an overpriced replacement tire isn't for me.

Maybe on your pickup.this is a class A forum.

Maybe you don't have the expertise or physical capacity, but many of us do have the capacity to change class A tires while on the road. I for one have the capacity to change rear hub seals and front wheel bearings while on the road. So don't discount the capacity of your fellow RVers.

Richard

When I bought my various class As it was pointed out that they didn't come with a jack and there was a reason for that. that's what road service will do for me.
bumpy

Then you probably don't need a fire extinguisher either. The fire department is also road service.
If you're not qualified or just don't want to get your hands dirty, just say so. Some of us like to fend for ourselves.

Richard

I also fall into the "no spare camp. Several reasons for this:

!) My 12RX22.5 tires weights 140 lbs without a wheel and ~200 with a wheel....too much for me to comfortable deal with so I still have to call roadside assistance.

2) The aforementioned tire is almost 4 ft in diameter on over a foot wide. This requires a significant amount of storage space for something that might be used but probably will not. Plus one still needs the tools to get the wheel off the ground and the tools necessary to break the lug nuts and re-tighten....more weight and room.

3) A mounted tire is a gamble that you have in mounted on the correct wheel since the steer and drive wheels are all different you just have to get lucky with the unlucky. The tag may or may not be different but probably the same as the steer which ups' the odds a little.

4) If you don't use it it still ages so that is a consideration.

5) Since I'm going to call roadside assistance regardless if I have a spare or not (see # 1) why not just have them bring a new tire anyway. No cell coverage...doesn't change a thing but just hop in the toad and you're all set.

Like every idea in this life -it needs evaluation.
I used to be "spare parts freak" and always was carrying good spare.
On cars with limited service spare I even changed that to full service spare as driving 600 miles home at 55 mph can really suck.
But when I bought my conversion and start restoring it, I found that even storage bay fits 180lb spare just fine, Prevost has design space for it behind front bumper.
But than I learned more about those 22.5" tires, and they have about 2" of reinforced rubber on the crown and 3/4" of rubber on the side.
You need really big bolt to punch a hole in one and being commercial tires - having one blowing up is like winning a lottery.
Than I took the conversion on scales and found that even with lifted tag, my main axle tires still have carrying capacity to spare.
Meaning worse come to worse, I can put 2 blown wheels on tag axle and drive thousand miles with them lifted.
And yes, I still can mount 180lb wheel, although age takes its toll and I purchased AAA membership. (for DW)

RLS7201 wrote:

mike brez wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
I carry a spare for sure. I can change my own tire long before any help would arrive. That's if I'm even in an area with cell phone coverage. I don't know who I would even call for help really. I assume you have to pay these roadside guys for the privilege of being able to call them. Paying for that and an overpriced replacement tire isn't for me.

Maybe on your pickup.this is a class A forum.

Maybe you don't have the expertise or physical capacity, but many of us do have the capacity to change class A tires while on the road. I for one have the capacity to change rear hub seals and front wheel bearings while on the road. So don't discount the capacity of your fellow RVers.

Richard

When I bought my various class As it was pointed out that they didn't come with a jack and there was a reason for that. that's what road service will do for me.
bumpy

I wouldn't travel without at least an unmounted spare. out in the boonies when Joe from the garage/restaurant/beer store arrives with the 6 year old slightly wrong sized one and wants $500 for it????
bumpy

Bigger Class A's do not come with a spare for a reason...they're heavy and big.

We used our 40' motorhome for full-timing and constant traveling for 8 years. We also drove to Alaska. However, we didn't do that on older tires. Every morning when driving for the 8 years we'd check the air pressure in the tires. (We also used tire pressure monitors on the motorhome and the towed Jeep). We inspected them constantly. Yes, you could run over a nail or spike but the chances are low. Before our Alaska trip we bought all new tires - in Oregon (no sales tax). :) They were 5 years old and still looked good but they've traveled many miles and had many miles ahead of them for Alaska.

Our thinking was that if you take care of your tires and replace by age, not looks, before they look like they need replacing you have an excellent chance of not needing tire replacing on the road. In fact, we've been driving 60 years and never needed tire replacement on the road on any of our vehicles.

mike brez wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
I carry a spare for sure. I can change my own tire long before any help would arrive. That's if I'm even in an area with cell phone coverage. I don't know who I would even call for help really. I assume you have to pay these roadside guys for the privilege of being able to call them. Paying for that and an overpriced replacement tire isn't for me.

Maybe on your pickup.this is a class A forum.

Maybe you don't have the expertise or physical capacity, but many of us do have the capacity to change class A tires while on the road. I for one have the capacity to change rear hub seals and front wheel bearings while on the road. So don't discount the capacity of your fellow RVers.

Richard