Samson GL78 Tires

[Depewtee]

Hi All -

Sorry in advance for the short post, but I have limited Internet access at this time.  I have been searching the board for the last week or two on information about new tires.  There is a wealth of information there.  I need new tires for my 1981 Prevost LeMirage.  I have a local tire store that can sell me 8 Samson GL78s installed with tax for $3,487.40.  I cannot find any information on the Samsons, so I do not know if this is a good deal or not.  Anybody know anything about these tires?  My other option is Sumitimo 518s for $4,078.88 installed.

Thanks in advance,
Brian S.

[luvrbus]

I don't know much about the tire but you are seeing those more I noticed at a Navistar truck dealer that tire was on the new trucks also the school has those on the new Thomas buses for the price it may not be a bad deal. Forgot to say the BCI Falcon a 45 foot bus also came with those tires both the bus and the tires were made in China


good luck

[TomC]

Just called my tire guy that I've been dealing with for 30 years.  He said that the Samson is just another El Cheapo Chinese tires.  He also said that Sumitomo are good tires-not even a choice between the two.  Considering that Samson doesn't even have a web site, and that Sumitomo has a big web site with all their tires explained, Sumitomo would be my choice to.  The 518 seems to be on par with the Michelin XZE.
Just remember that tires are much more then big rubber round things that hold air.  Not only do they hold up the bus but is the traction controlling your bus also.  Having a proper tire for your bus (once again notice how many models of tires Sumitomo and the other name brand tire manufacturers make) with the tire tread for the best traction (which includes braking) can make the difference between stopping in time or sliding into an object for a collision.  Good Luck, TomC

[belfert]

You don't say what size tires you are buying, but the price seems awful high for an off brand Chinese tire.

[Depewtee]

Thanks for the replies.  I hope to be able to do more research tonight, but in my limited access today I could not find any info on the Internet about the Samsons.  The size I am looking at is 12R22.5.  Is $500 a mounted tire good for the Sumitimo 518s?  I might get by with just 4 for now (the steers and the tags) and do the drives in six months or so.

Brian
P.S. - Tom C. - I am taking your "tires are more much more than big rubber round thins that hold air" to heart and trying to do diligent research. 

[Depewtee]

Hi All -

Here is the link to the Sumitimo website.  Your thoughts on the 518s?

Brian

[TomC]

The 518 looks to me to be more of an on/off construction type tire.  Assuming you have 12R-22.5, I would suggest you look at the ST727-which is much like the Michelin XZE that I have on my bus.  Which ever tire you choose, make sure you have ALL your tires spun balanced before mounting on the bus.  I like using the Centrimatics (metal rings that have metal ball bearings in ATF to add additional balancing) also-have had really good luck with them on my long distance trucking.  Good Luck, TomC

[cody]

I've had michelins off and on since the 70's and every single one I had turned out to be junk, I've never had one on a larger vehicle than a car but anytime I get a car now with them I swap them out to avoid hassles later on, our dealers in this area are crap and any problems are the result of 'consumer abuse'.  I've had good luck with bridgestone and yokohama and goodyear tho.  Last batch were on the grey jeep we tow and one after another they went bad, they just don't like me and I keep them properly inflated, I can put another brand on the vehicle and it'll go almost forever without a problem, but if i put a michelin on they die.

[bevans6]

I am having really good luck with my Firestone FS560 Plus tires.  I had a conversation with my tire guy (do we all have tire guys?  Mine has been in the business longer than he has been alive, and not only uses a torque wrench on every lug, he gives you a card to remind you to come in for a free re-torque after a few hundred miles" and he told me that next year he would dismount and inspect all of my tires from the inside and out, since I was planning to buy new wheels anyway.  He said he didn't want to sell me new tires if I didn't need them yet.  He does a lot of bus tires for local tour companies.

Brian

[cody]

Yep, we all seem to have tire guys, I've been buying tires at the same shop now since high school, (almost 3 weeks now lol),  I've never seen samson tires up here so haven't heard anything about them good or bad.  This is a small area with fierce loyalties to brands, when firestone had that problem in the 70's it killed off the firestone brand up here and never seemed to recover, bridgestone and yokohama are fighting to get a market hold and I like the ones I've got, forget kumho tires up here, nobody has heard of them but BK likes them.  I know that many of the tires are made by only a few companies but brand loyalty will trump anything else up here.  The tire shop I buy at does only tires, nothing else and been in business since the model t days, the old guy that used to hang around the shop talked about back when you had to unbolt the wood spoked rim to mount a Model T tire, he died back in the mid 70's at about 90 years old.  They've been good to me so I keep going back.

[luvrbus]

After a little searching I found Samson tires are made by China Runrise Industrial a Michlen company made of reclaimed and virgin rubber

www.china-reclaimed-rubber.com

[TomC]

Tire manufacturers are a very hot subject.  All try to be number one for the most sales.  The bottom line is-Michelin is on the fore front of tire design with big truck/bus.  Michelin will bring out a new tire design (think the super single X-Ones that directly replace duals) then the other tire manufactures stand back and see if it works.  Now you'll notice that both Bridgestone and Yokohama make their own version of Michelin's X-One.
When I started selling trucks at Freightliner in 2001, the standard tire was Michelin.  Then it went to Goodyear.  Now its Continental.

I ran Dunlops on my truck that I liked alot-since the 11R-24.5 size automatically came in at a 16 ply rating (compared to 14 ply for all others).  Now that Dunlop is part of Goodyear, my tire guy will not carry either Goodyear or Dunlop because of both quality and warranty issues.

I tried Bridgestones, but the tire has harder rubber and had a tendency for chunks of rubber to break off the tread.

B.F.Goodrich is a Michelin company.  My front tires on my truck are B.F.Goodrich-basically Michelin XZA's.   Since being exposed to Michelin through Freightliner, I've learned just how much research and development is put into each new tire model that is brought out (Michelin makes over 50 different tires just for trucks and buses).  All of my cars, my bus and truck have Michelin makes.  I noticed immediately the traction difference on my car between Michelin and Bridgestone tires (once again Bridgestones are hard tires-and skid easier).  I know I would have been in several collisions if not for the unbelievable traction power and design of Michelins.  I get around 80,000 miles (mostly freeway driving) out of my car tires (I drive about 25,000 miles a year).

Run what you want, but once again-your tires are your traction and braking connection to the highway.  I firmly believe tires are NOT one of the places you want to be cheap about.  Good Luck, TomC

[zubzub]

My .02 is also that Michelin makes the best.  Have a pair on my steers and they run nice, smooth and quiet.  Have them on my work van, they are definitely quieter smoother longer lasting than the Bridgestones I had before.  Anyhooo, not so much bus experience but my tire experience has been Michelin, when it's time for more tires for my bus I think I'ld prefer used Mich. to new anything else, and if I'm rich by then I'll get new Mich.

[luvrbus]

I, have never owned a set of Michelin's on a car or bus the sidewall didn't blow out,I have friends in the trucking gig one is the largest in the USA and he will not run Michelins, tires are like ice cream run what works for you and Toyo's worked best for me on a Eagle they never  dry crack in the AZ heat 


good luck

[cody]

I only speak of my own experience with michelins and everyone of them that I've had went bad, I pulled the files and looked, I've had 4 sets on 4 cars and one set on a pickup since 1972 and each one went bad one by one at less than 20,000 miles and most between 10 and 14K, it seems that if you get a flat by the time you can stop the sidewall is shredded, that was the case in many of them, others 7 were for ply separation and others were for other reasons.  Logic tells me that if it were something I was doing wrong then the goodyear or other brand I replaced the tire with would also go bad.