Yokohama Tires ? Are they Ok?

[chessie4905]

The retread industry claims the treads littering the highways are not from a retread, unless run low on air. They claim they are coming from non-retreaded tires.

[DoubleEagle]

I can think of one retread that failed that did not have low air. The truck outfit that I drove for put on a new retread on a drive axle before heading up north from Columbus, Ohio (not heavily loaded). I got about 30 miles away when the tire blew catastrophically, blowing rubber shrapnel across three lanes. There were not any sizable pieces left. I don't know which outfit recapped it, but I doubt that it was Bandag. When I called in, the shop manager thought I was pulling his leg, telling him it only lasted 30 miles.

[Oonrahnjay]

... Retread tires have had a checkered history, evidenced by the vast number of tread delaminations littering the roadways.

    Nope.  The "vast number" of that "vast number" of gators are newer, undamaged, visually-solid tires that were run under-inflated while heavily loaded.  The number of recently applied retreads on solid casings run with proper inflation and reasonable daily checks is miniscule.

At present, my plan is to replace two steers with all position tire tread each year. Will get current in a couple seasons.  

    IMO, that's a good plan.  Plus, about the best thing that most of us can do is to install a good Tire Pressure Monitoring System.

[windtrader]

Plus, about the best thing that most of us can do is to install a good Tire Pressure Monitoring System.

Absolutely the very best recommendation and top of all busnut list of must-haves. Clearly, a lot of tire failure is due to improper inflation or not knowing real time what is happening with the tires. TPMS puts eyes and ears on rolling rubber.

[lostagain]

Bruce and Don.

That is when they work... We have them on the new Prevost and MCI cars. They cannot be trusted because you don't know if they are working properly. You still have to check tires at the pretrip, and during the day. I am not convinced that they are such a must have. There is additional complexity with sensors and wireless communication which is not always reliable. They were invented and mandated because people don't check tires...

JC

[eagle19952]

Bruce and Don.

That is when they work... We have them on the new Prevost and MCI cars. They cannot be trusted because you don't know if they are working properly. You still have to check tires at the pretrip, and during the day. I am not convinced that they are such a must have. There is additional complexity with sensors and wireless communication which is not always reliable. They were invented and mandated because people don't check tires...

JC

Agreed. nothing beats a tire gauge and a thumper and IR temp gun

these every bus owner should already have

in-fact car owners should too

[windtrader]

Those are static checks which should be done.

Everyone here has more actual bus driving experience than I. It just seems that while rolling, a bus can run over something that causes some sidewall defect and starts losing air fairly quickly. If the driver did not feel anything, the tire can lose enough pressure to cause a failure.

Sure, regular pre-trip inspections are done. Just seems like that extra safety is worth the cost and effort to monitor, especially with all the brouhaha over not running tires aging out at 7 years. Personally, those who are adamant about not running 7+ year tires and do not have a TPMS, seem to need to adjust their priorities.

[lostagain]

The new buses, like the new luxury cars, have so many screens, monitors and gauges in front and around the driver, that if you looked at them all, you would't have time to look at the road... As a matter of fact, there isn't enough room for them all. On the Prevost now for instance, the TPMS monitor is covered by the Saucon ELD. So if you want to see your tire pressures, you have to swing the Saucon E log out of the way... And then now you would not think of driving without a large 7" screen GPS stuck on the windshield, making a blind spot so you can't see a pedestrian on a cross walk in front of you...

Can you tell I don't care for gadgets...

JC

[DominicM]

Well I pulled the trigger and ordered 6 new tires.  The dates were from 2002-2007 on the tires that I could read.  I couldn't afford Goodyears sense I am replacing all of them so I ordered a set of Iron Man Tires.  I sure hope I at least get an Iron Man decal for the rear window for the price of the tires.

I figured I will keep the newest and best tire as a spare. I know its not ideal but out of date spare is better than NONE.


Dominic

[luvrbus]

Lot of people I know run IronMan tires with good success here in the AZ heat   

[DominicM]

the first tire shop I called said not to run the Iron Mans. He stated that they are generic tires and that it is unadvised to drive on them for any distance.

I spoke to a friend that did point out that the tires is DOT approved so it meets the bare minimum and they are 18 ply. The couch doesn't have near the weight that a dump truck has and they are required to run 16ply so I should be more than safe with the Iron Mans. 
Dominic

[DoubleEagle]

At least some of the sizes of Ironman tires are made in China. They are a Hercules brand tire which is owned by Cooper Tire in Ohio. If Cliff says they can do okay in Arizona, they are worth a try, but we will like to hear how you do with these in the coming years.

[luvrbus]

The IronMan tires don't seem to crack out here in the heat,only 98 today here

[DominicM]

No problem, I have trip planned from Midland Tx -Baltimore MD for a couple days then to Nashville TN for a couple of days then off to Indiana for a a couple of months followed by a trip to San Antonio for a few months.  Long story short they will get tested out this year.