Tires - Quick Sanity Check...

mqbus767 · November 30, 2023, 03:20:26 PM

Our bus has Michelin 315/80 R 22.5 156/150L 154/150M tires on Alcoa rims. The steers are in decent shape. Rears look like retreads or it's possible that the tread and sidewall are simply starting to peel. Steer tread depths are 14, rears vary from 9 to 18. Date codes indicate 2017 birthdays. Sidewall markings on some of the tires ("michelin", date code, etc.) are rubbed off/faded. Some minimal cracking on a couple of the tires.

We've been invited to a friends house for new years so we're planning to drive the bus 2000 miles round trip from Houston to Des Moines. 8 new tires make the wallet cry, but I want to be safe. So:

* Are 6 year old tires that have mostly sat in Houston sun for 5 years EOL?
* Is there savings and wisdom in cycling the steers to the rear and replacing only 6 tires?

I've made contact with a very friendly and knowlegable mobile tech that is building me a quote. I just don't want to drop 5-6K prematurely/unnecessarily.

Nova Eona · November 30, 2023, 03:58:44 PM

Your sidewalls look fine to me and you haven't yet hit the seven year mark, so if I were in your shoes I'd probably try to get my money's worth out of them on this last trip and then plan to replace them all next year. A good TPMS will preserve sanity here too.

If you want to go for a partial solution, I'd leave your rears just as they are and buy some new steers - those are the ones you really don't want to blow out anyway, and you can still tote one or both of your old steers along as emergency spares.

luvrbus · November 30, 2023, 04:05:38 PM

LOL have your sanity checked for going to Iowa in late Dec from Houston your tires are fine

mqbus767 · November 30, 2023, 04:35:35 PM

Quote from: luvrbus on November 30, 2023, 04:05:38 PM
LOL have your sanity checked for going to Iowa in late Dec from Houston your tires are fine

Ha! That made me laugh too hard.

I'll hold the tires and get a TPMS.

Thanks!

windtrader · December 01, 2023, 01:30:12 AM

It is quite a long trip. Hard to tell from a couple pics. You can have a truck tire shop take a look and provide an opinion. Just be thinking they want to sell tires but there are honest shops out there. I'd suspect the large truck stops shoot straight.

luvrbus · December 01, 2023, 05:44:05 AM

Driving in colder weather gives you a advantage with older tires they build less heat ,I would take a spare just in case because the 315 x 22.5 tire is hard to find on the road and expensive when you do find one

chessie4905 · December 02, 2023, 06:59:26 AM

Keep your speed 75 or less all the time 65 to 70 better.

ol713 · December 02, 2023, 08:24:08 AM

HI;
you will find that tires "age out before they wear out". keep an eye on the DOT" codes.

luvrbus · December 02, 2023, 09:41:37 AM

Tire are made with chemical compounds now you see rubber tires 30 years old still going

dtcerrato · December 02, 2023, 01:27:39 PM

Quote from: luvrbus on December 02, 2023, 09:41:37 AM
Tire are made with chemical compounds now you see rubber tires 30 years old still going

I totally agree. Yesteryear rubber lasted forever compared to the quick diminishing wanna be rubber of today. Throw away world not coming up but already here.

Nova Eona · December 02, 2023, 02:22:31 PM

Survivorship bias. If you see 30-year-old rubber on the road, that doesn't suggest that all tires made 30 years ago could last three decades (for example, I remember blowouts and flat tires being *far* more common a few decades back). Now, for sheer longevity absent other conditions or qualifications there may be an argument to be made that the old rubber compounds lasted longer, but modern tires are made with an eye for safety over persistance - better traction, even wear, reduced chance of catastrophic blowout. Personally, given a choice between a safer tire and a longer lasting tire I will take the safer tire every time.

luvrbus · December 03, 2023, 06:45:38 AM

LOL tire and battery manufactures have it down to the day with how long the new tires and batteries last. Times have changed you pay 3 grand for new refrigerators and you are lucky if one last 7 years now about the only thing they repair on a Samsung fridge is the friggn $500.00 control board.
Tires now do wear longer because of harder compounds ,I have noticed more road noise in tires over the past 10 years though because of the compound,being safer I don't about that you see a lot of cars,trucks and buses sitting on the side of the roads in AZ with tire problems