Bus Tires

Kristinsgrandpa · January 26, 2007, 04:06:50 PM

The steel wheels on buses are balanced if they have the suffix "C" attached to their number.

Mine are 27834 C. that is an Accuride number.

I got this info from Accuride.

Ed

jjrbus · January 26, 2007, 04:30:41 PM

Hi NJT 5573. The Michelin website says to replace tires at 10 years!!!! I'm not disagreeing with you just reporting what the Michelin site says. Over the years I have heard from lots of people I respect 6/7 years. But with liability and such, Michelin is willing to put it in print, makes you wonder.

Jerry32 · January 26, 2007, 06:53:29 PM

My michelins blew out at 7 and 8 years

NJT 5573 · January 26, 2007, 07:03:39 PM

JJ, I don't believe Michelin is accepting any liability in their statement. I bet if you blow a 3 year old one you can barely get them to let you put it in their dumpster. Do you read their statement as a 10 year warranty? I think on a truck, whats the difference? Last time I had the coach out, I had the wife, 7 of my 8 kids and 8 of the grandkids on board. We run from Seattle into LA with one fuel stop in 19 hours. 17 people, the last thing I want to think about is a crash because I skimped on tires. We use our coach like a sleeper team runs a truck, and travel border to border, coast to coast. Not everyone does. Perhaps my safety perameters are a little tight for all situations. I wonder if Michelin makes a rubber brake diaphram that will last 10 years! I'm tired of throwing my maxi cans (piggy backs) away every 3 years on my coach.

TomC · January 26, 2007, 10:36:24 PM

I store my bus indoors. My first set of Dunlops (when they were made by Dunlop) were 12 years old when I replaced them since they were starting to show side wall cracking.

With all the hoopla of tire age and retreads, isn't strange that the airlines both use retreads and don't have age restrictions on tires? Good Luck, TomC

jjrbus · January 27, 2007, 01:40:33 AM

It is interesting. Don't get me wrong, I do not want to run old tires on my coach. At one time I did not want to run recaps either. But There are people on this board that swear the Gators we see on the road are not from recaps. But from new tires. I did not know that the airlines ran recaps. The things you learn here.

Busted Knuckle · January 27, 2007, 05:31:38 AM

Quote from: TomC on January 26, 2007, 10:36:24 PM
I store my bus indoors. My first set of Dunlops (when they were made by Dunlop) were 12 years old when I replaced them since they were starting to show side wall cracking.

With all the hoopla of tire age and retreads, isn't strange that the airlines both use retreads and don't have age restrictions on tires? Good Luck, TomC

Tom while this maybe true, very few planes rack up many miles on the tires! (except maybe the onr on EBAY in the section! LOL ! BK

Stan · January 27, 2007, 06:31:00 AM

You can understand why airlines want to use recaps when you see the tire smoke as they touch down. Aircraft tires are subject to extensive examination and testing when recapped, much more than automotive tires. However, it caused the death of over 100 people when a DC9 threw a cap into the engine on takeoff at Toronto some years ago. I don't remember ever reading of a plane accident caused by a virgin tire throwing the tread rubber. Maybe the runways are littered with gators that didn't cause an accident and the frequent blowouts that are reported by the media don't mention the history of the tire that failed.

NJT 5573 · January 28, 2007, 08:36:48 PM

JJ, I recall the gator argument. It went like this. The gators all had steel cord attached when found, therefore they were virgin. This is not a true statement however. The cap is glued to the casing. As the cap comes loose from the casing the bond holds in some places around the casing and almost always takes some steel cord with it. It would be a very poor bond that would shed the entire cap without taking some cords. I have no official study to back me up, but I don't think new tires are in any way to blame for the gator issue. Just my observations!