Tires - Whats a good brand to buy?

[regalroute66]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for your input.I have a 24' Class C MH on a Ford E-450 chassis.I want to purchase 6 new tires before our road trip in June.I currently have Good Year Wrangler A/T LT225/75R16 on the front and Falken High Country A/T LT225/75R16 on the rear.I have All Terrain tires on it now,because we had major tire problems with the Hercules tires that where on it during our road trip in 2011.The All Terrain tires where all that was available at our time of need.The MH actually rides quite smooth with these tires and considering how rough some roads/highways are,they have stood up quite well,Just wondering if I should stick with All Terrain tires or go with a good quality highway tire.

Any help to this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[garyhaupt]

I have an E 350, so in fact, I have no idea if mine would work on yours, but...I buy from Kal Tire and you have several Ontario locations. I am using their house brand, Wild Cat with the Snowflake. I need the snowflake for where I live in Northern BC) This is my second set and I got 65,000ks from the first. I paid 1,100 for the six.

I am a bit of a cheer section for Kal...they provide good service on tires and do mechanical's and have a fabulous in store warranty, with stores all over Canada.


Gary Haupt

[j-d]

Once you get to your Tire Size and Load Range, the tires you choose from have the same what I'll call "stated capabilities." Specifically, they will all work off the same Load-to-Pressure Chart, and have the same maximum load/pressure ratings. Your 225/75R16 tires have to be "LT" for Light Truck (some car tires come out in the same size) and "LR" (Load Range) "E" because of the rear axle capacity of the E450 chassis. So you want LT225/75R16E labeling on new tires.
But all tires with that labeling are not created equal. In addition to tread style, there are different numbers of plies in tread and sidewall along with what they're made of. For example, in Michelin, the LTX series is not as ruggedly built as the RIB series. I didn't look at BFG, but I think their "Commercial" series probably has more plies from steel than "Long Trail" does, again in the same size and labeling.
Because you have a 24-ft coach, I doubt you will approach the max load ratings of the tires your chassis calls for. A 31-ft coach WILL max out the tires. For this reason, I think nearly any tire with the right labeling will serve you well. I'd be looking for a brand that'll offer replacements where you'll be operating. If you want to travel coast to coast, into AK and Lower 48, then find a brand with national presence. If you camp locally, not as critical.
OH LABELING! Tires carry a Date Code of Four Digits. First two are the Week within the Year, so it'll be somewhere 01-52. Last two are last two dates of Year, so 1214 would be very fresh tires, made "last month." Tires deteriorate on age, and in RV use we don't usually wear them out. So date is important.

[rondi]

If you're going to buy Michelin, consider using the FMCA buying program. You basically buy the tires from Michelin thru FMCA paying a reduced price. You then pay the Michelin Tire Distributor to install, balance,etc them. So work out all prices. I saved over $500 last year when I had 22.5" tires on installed on our Class A. Not every tire store can get the direct shipment from Michelin--so you gotta check if one is close to you. hop over to FMCA.com and read about it.

Personally I would install Michelin. The Ford E450 comes with LTX MS2 LT225/75R-16 LRE. Why they install a Light Truck tire on the E450 is beyond me. That's what I have on my 3500lb Ranger! If you want a slightly heavier duty tire--Michelin has one with steel sidewalls vs the stock tire
http://www.michelinrvtires.com/michelinrv_en_us/tires-retreads/tireInfo.do?tread=XPS%20RIB

Ron

[svtkev]

i went with the bf goodrich commercial t/a, mostly because of cost but we use them on some duallys we have at work and they seem to wear very good

[OldRadios]

Just got my six Michelin M/S tires replaced under warranty with the newer M/S2 tires. Only have a few hundred miles on them so far but these tires are very quiet. I also replaced the older spare (not recalled) with a new M/S2. It was $208 mounted and balanced, $227.12 with taxes.

[midnightsadie]

go michilin, theres others out there but there the best, I,m also buying 6 225x75x16r M S 2 this week ,quoted $1469.out the door.

[DaCrema]

I went with Michelin's a two years ago. I had done a lot of research and did not find a good tire test for RV that pitted several of the better known tires against one another.

I am glad I got the Michelin's because when they found a problem they recalled a bunch of tires and I got new set after 10k miles. If you search the forum(s) you'll find people using mostly Goodyear and Michelin and then to a lesser degree other brands. To me the big advantage of going with a popular, but more expensive tire is for the people that travel longer distances. With Michelin or Goodyear should a tire go bad while on a trip, you are more likely to find a store that can replace a bad tire so all the tires on a given axel are the same.

[rvten]

All my MH's came with Michilin tires. I just installed 6 Firestone tires on this MH.
Little cheaper than the Michilin.

Never had good luck with Gooyear.