Tires

pnichols wrote:

ron.dittmer wrote:
Our rig bought new in 2007 is less than 24 feet long, is kept in a garage, and currently has 36,000 miles. Our original crack-free tires are now 10.5 years old. The first 7 or 8 years, they filled the garage with the fragrance of "new tire". The rear tires still look like new with excellent thread wear, wearing evenly with plenty of thread remaining. Our front tires have chaffing from up/down motion because our front is a bit light. We have heavy duty RV shocks to help but they do not eliminate that motion. The tire chaffing makes the front tires generate a cyclic rumble. Sometimes I favor replacing the front tires. Other times I favor replacing all 6 tires to provide a good opportunity to change our steel wheels to Alcoa alloy wheels. But I most favor swapping the front tires with each other in-hopes to cancel the rumble because it worked on our first motor home with the same phenomena.

Ron, you may want to try a couple of Koni FSD shocks in the front to help with the up/down motion. I'm not sure, but they're just high tech and expensive enough so as to to maybe change something for you.

I'm putting some on the front before our Alaska trip. I have them right now in just the rear and they have taken a lot of the rapid, stinging, pounding pulses out of the rear due to their high frequency mode response. For your case in the front, the Koni FSD's low frequency mode response just might work well to better control the coil springs.

Phil, Thank you for your thoughts on that one. I was thinking of trying something else for the front shocks if I decide to purchase new front tires.

ron.dittmer wrote:
Our rig bought new in 2007 is less than 24 feet long, is kept in a garage, and currently has 36,000 miles. Our original crack-free tires are now 10.5 years old. The first 7 or 8 years, they filled the garage with the fragrance of "new tire". The rear tires still look like new with excellent thread wear, wearing evenly with plenty of thread remaining. Our front tires have chaffing from up/down motion because our front is a bit light. We have heavy duty RV shocks to help but they do not eliminate that motion. The tire chaffing makes the front tires generate a cyclic rumble. Sometimes I favor replacing the front tires. Other times I favor replacing all 6 tires to provide a good opportunity to change our steel wheels to Alcoa alloy wheels. But I most favor swapping the front tires with each other in-hopes to cancel the rumble because it worked on our first motor home with the same phenomena.

Ron, you may want to try a couple of Koni FSD shocks in the front to help with the up/down motion. I'm not sure, but they're just high tech and expensive enough so as to to maybe change something for you.

I'm putting some on the front before our Alaska trip. I have them right now in just the rear and they have taken a lot of the rapid, stinging, pounding pulses out of the rear due to their high frequency mode response. For your case in the front, the Koni FSD's low frequency mode response just might work well to better control the coil springs.

EdTheEdge wrote:

klutchdust wrote:
Look at the date codes on the side of the tire. The first two numbers are the week of the year they were made and the second numbers the year. 1209 would be twelfth week of 2009. A tire separation or complete failure could remove some very important pieces of your coach before you get it stopped. My BIL had a front tire blowout on a class A and it took out wiring, panels and did sidewall damage.

Is this the date code?

Yes, 40th week of 2012.

EdTheEdge,

I did not read through the other replies so keep that in-mind.

I feel that because your 2013 Thor Chateau 22E is so tiny, your tires don't get stressed out like a 30+ footer weighing significantly more. Therefore, because you say the tires look perfect with no sun damage or other cracking in between the threads, I would keep using them.

Our rig bought new in 2007 is less than 24 feet long, is kept in a garage, and currently has 36,000 miles. Our original crack-free tires are now 10.5 years old. The first 7 or 8 years, they filled the garage with the fragrance of "new tire". The rear tires still look like new with excellent thread wear, wearing evenly with plenty of thread remaining. Our front tires have chaffing from up/down motion because our front is a bit light. We have heavy duty RV shocks to help but they do not eliminate that motion. The tire chaffing makes the front tires generate a cyclic rumble. Sometimes I favor replacing the front tires. Other times I favor replacing all 6 tires to provide a good opportunity to change our steel wheels to Alcoa alloy wheels. But I most favor swapping the front tires with each other in-hopes to cancel the rumble because it worked on our first motor home with the same phenomena.

It'll be on the Inside of the Fronts and Outer Rears, the Outside of the Inner Rears, and the Side of the Spare that's against the Coach.

I would suggest a tire pressure monitoring system as a safety precaution and as a monitor on tires.

DrewE wrote:

EdTheEdge wrote:

klutchdust wrote:
Look at the date codes on the side of the tire. The first two numbers are the week of the year they were made and the second numbers the year. 1209 would be twelfth week of 2009. A tire separation or complete failure could remove some very important pieces of your coach before you get it stopped. My BIL had a front tire blowout on a class A and it took out wiring, panels and did sidewall damage.

Is this the date code?

That's the date code -- fall of 2012.

Often the date code is only on one side of the tire. Murphey's law would hold that most of the time, the tire gets mounted such that it's on the side you can't see.

LOL! Thanks for the info!

EdTheEdge wrote:

klutchdust wrote:
Look at the date codes on the side of the tire. The first two numbers are the week of the year they were made and the second numbers the year. 1209 would be twelfth week of 2009. A tire separation or complete failure could remove some very important pieces of your coach before you get it stopped. My BIL had a front tire blowout on a class A and it took out wiring, panels and did sidewall damage.

Is this the date code?

That's the date code -- fall of 2012.

Often the date code is only on one side of the tire. Murphey's law would hold that most of the time, the tire gets mounted such that it's on the side you can't see.

klutchdust wrote:
Look at the date codes on the side of the tire. The first two numbers are the week of the year they were made and the second numbers the year. 1209 would be twelfth week of 2009. A tire separation or complete failure could remove some very important pieces of your coach before you get it stopped. My BIL had a front tire blowout on a class A and it took out wiring, panels and did sidewall damage.

Is this the date code?

Got our 1991 in October and been using a little while fixing things. Tires seemed ok but I am not an expert, didn't check their dates.

Had to boost their pressure from door spec 58 lbs to 65 lbs because the rig is overweight at the back, which can't be reduced. It is what it is for that. Class C thing.

So while up-Island the other day, noticed the outer left rear had a flat and saw a nail in it, so off to a nearby tire store. They refused to fix my flat!

Can't fix it he said, it is over 10 years old and that is against some rule they have. Can you put on my spare then? Nope--it is over 10 years old too, so we won't touch it. ( I wanted to get the work done at the tire store back home I usually deal with)

All my back tires (Es) were 16 years old! The spare is a D, so it is even older, probably from when they put on the Es. (The door specs call for Ds)

So after some thinking about getting one or two or four tires, the only real answer was four new back tires. All because of one nail.

Actually I was lucky to learn all this at a good time near a good tire store. (The front tires are only 5 years old, so they are ok. Still have the old 1991? spare.)

They chose the new tires for me :) Kumho Crugen H51 LT215/85R16E also says 112-115R whatever that means.

I decided it was a good idea to get all new back tires and not just one or two because of being overweight. On scales just before that happened, got:

1630F when GAWR is 1905 so that's Ok, BUT
3930R when GAWR is 3479 Yipes. 451 over (= 992 lbs over)

So I am happy to have all new back tires. I think I lucked out on that episode and not had something happen while speeding down the highway later sometime.