Tires, Tires, Tires!

FMCA has a program called the Michelin Advantage. The program covers all Michelin tires from passenger car sizes up the the 22.5 Class A tires. The money you save will more than save the membership dues.

When I bought six 22.5 tires for my Class A, I saved about $100.00 per tire. You buy the tires directly from Michelin who will then ship them to a dealer near you. You pay Michelin directly (by credit card) and pay the dealer to mount and balance the tires. On my Class A, I used Dyna Beads to balance the front tires.

Now, that I have a Class C, I will still use the Michelin Advantage program to buy my tires when they "age out".

If you have two new Transforce and only want to buy two more, get two more Transforce and run them on the rear with the two you just got.

If you want Michelins, get four and run them on the rear. Move Transforce to front.

Do you have a spare? If you do, should be "in date" (let's say 5-6 year Born On Date.

Nothing wrong with Transforce or Michelin LTX. I like the way Michelin warrantied so many LTX a few years ago. I remember how Firestone cheaped out on their responsibility for some of their passenger car tire failures years back. I don't know a thing about Hibdons Tire, but can say I've found Discount to be a very easy place to deal with.

Be sure you get good metal valve stems. 2" in front and spare. They can be ordinary stems. For the rears, get Dually Valves. Camping World has good pricing on them and runs specials besides.

We now have two new Firestone Transforce tires on our motorhome following the tire blowouts, and we will replace the others soon. We checked prices at Discount Tire and Hibdons. Discount Tire has Michelins and Hibdons carries Firestone. I would like to get Michelins, but think we should stick with Firestone all the way around since we have the two new Firestone tires. Do you agree?

I check internet for best prices on correct type Michelin tires and then call my local Discount Tires and Allen Tire Store to see if they will match the prices including mounting, balancing, taxes and disposal fees. Expect to pay around $300 apiece. They may have to get tires from a warehouse, make sure that tires are recent manufacture by DOT date codes. Not necessary to replace spare tire if less than 10 years old and unused. Old spare is ok to use for trip to the tire store at reduced speed, don't rely on it.

As a former fulltimer (nearly 15 yrs/400,000 towing miles) pulling a 40' 22,000 lb fiver, I've purchased many new tires for my rig and have always used a tire store local to wherever I happened to be at the time. Can't recall ever having a shop refuse a sale/installation though I will confess that I always checked out the shop as far as ample parking/service area before I got a quote. I won't bother you with the tire brand etc since it was a fiver but post this part only because my fiver was larger and heavier than most class C's and it was never a problem to get service.

I now have a 30' Class C and last month replaced 4 yr old tires with just under 20,000 miles with a new set of Firestone Transforce. Easy tires to do a price comparison on and, as with the fiver, getting service was no issue. I trust the major chains if for no other reason than they probably wouldn't become a major chain if they weren't trustworthy as to consistency of price and service. I do watch as they dismount and mount the tires on my aluminum wheels just to make sure they don't scratch them.

No real complaints about the original Continental tires. But, for some reason, the outside shoulders on the front tires scrubbed and wore faster than the rest of the tread. Three tire rotations in 40,000 miles was needed to get even wear on all six tires. I got Michelin tires at Discount tires and after 15,000 miles I see no uneven wear. No alignment was done. On advice from some seasoned truck tire people, I will likely not rotate the tires and only monitor the tire wear until there is any evidence of an issue. One option I was offered was to put steering tires on the front and traction tires on the rear duals. I went with the same tire all around for traction. What I was told comes from truck fleets that put on a lot of miles. The tires get replaced as needed. Rotation is extra labor. I will wear a tire out before it ages out. In my case if I did not rotate the original tires, I would only have had to replace two tires and then four tires later. I did the math and it works. As they say, your mileage will vary. There are several brands that would be a good alternative to Michelins.

MAKE SURE YOU insist on metal valve stems. and I,d go michlin.

We've had good service from Americas Tire/Discount Tire and they seem to be all over the USA. We had handling issues with a new set of Mich LTX and they willingly exchanged them for Mich XPS for the difference in price. All our family cars have tires from them and they have been good about tire repairs, rotations, pressure checks.

Call the tire shops and ask if they can handle your RV. When you ask, find out if they can handle more than just replacing tires. I had used a shop when I got the clipper to put new tires on it, but when I needed some other work done with the bearings or some such, they couldn't handle that work with the RV. I ended up finding another shop that can handle all my wheel related work.

Also, many local shops will match online tire prices, so once you identify the tires you want, check online for the best price and then ask your local shop if they'll match it.

You should also check the age on all your other tires - it's possible they're all ready for replacement...

Tires are expensive but they are a major weak point in RV's. They can go bad just sitting parked for months on end with sun and heat and "lack of exercise" causing cracks in the sidewalls. RV tires older than 4-5 years old by DOT date codes printed on tires, may look like new with plenty of tread depth, but if sidewalls are cracked they can come apart or blow out especially when getting a beating on a hot day. Typical tire store guys don't necessarily understand RV tires but when they tell you that sidewalls are cracked, they are not usually trying to grab your money. Keep covers over your tires to block sun damage and drive the rig once per month to keep tires in good condition.