Tires and S&S

[uncle ned]

Every one needs to check the difference between  a converted bus and a S&S.

A good friend had a freight liner coach and lost a left front tire on 85 south in SC.

Check the channel 9 news in Charlotte nc.

Jack Conrad lost a front tire on the Qrange Blossom Special

Not much left of the freight liner coach

not much left of Jack's front tire.

The 2 in the Freight-liner were special friends and dirt-bike riders of mine.

uncle ned

[Oonrahnjay]

      I'm so sorry to hear about your friend and his son, Ned.  That is tragic. 

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/fatal-wreck-backs-up-traffic-on-i-77/506008646

[Jon]

How can we convince folks that brag about driving cross country on their 17 year old tires of the danger they are to themselves and others? At the mere suggestion our tires are dangerous after 6 or 7 years a flood of anecdotes about driving on old tires will fill the forum.

[Geoff]

The 6-7 year tire life is for cars and pick ups.  Truck and bus tires last 10 years.

--Geoff

[Jon]

Geoff,

I just spent a week at the Michelin tire plant at a comprehensive seminar. The field engineers did everything they could to teach us how to squeeze the maximum life out of a tire (any tire) so you get the biggest bang for the buck. They beat on that topic all week.

But despite my pleading about never running on low pressure, always being garaged when not in use, etc. etc. they would not deviate from their position that the tires I am running should be removed from service at 6 or 7 years and if i fail to do so I should have them broken down annually and inspected in detail. A complete inspection is very time consuming and I suspect expensive if done correctly. The stated reason for their rigid posture on this topic was because we are doing the worst thing possible for our tires when we do not exercise them and get the compounds that resist aging released throughout the tire. Perhaps you are unlike most of us and you are constantly running your coach and thus keeping the components that protect the tire being released.

But that is the beauty of owning our own buses. We can go by whatever standards we set for ourselves and I was sufficiently impressed to believe what I was told by Michelin.

[sledhead]

tires .... its like most things today , they are made to be replaced and as time has shown now a days every thing is built NOT to last very long . as one of my suppliers told me  if we made them with the life time warranty that we offer and they lasted that long we all would be out of a job ! . on there life time warranty they are DESIGNED TO LAST 4 years . that is b s ... why cant people stand by there product they sell the way they use to . as for tires I think it would be easy to make a tire to last 10 years if not left out in the sun to rot . but then who would buy new ones ? today its all about insurance , so maybe they would last 10 years but never tell the public that

dave

[pabusnut]

Midas used to have a lifetime warranty on mufflers.  After replacing the 3rd one on my car(12 yrs after replacing the original), the Midas dealer told me he would not give me a 4th one.  I stated that if it was a lifetime, then I am still living and still the original owner of the car, which is still running fine.  If your muffler was a quality muffler, then you shouldn't have needed to replace it at all!  He did not like my logic, and liked me even less when I threatened to go to Corporate! 

Fortunately for him, I sold the car shortly afterwards, with only about 160K miles on it.  That would be extremely low mileage compared to the car I drive now which still has the original muffler at 243K! 

Steve Toomey

[Oonrahnjay]

..  That would be extremely low mileage compared to the car I drive now which still has the original muffler at 243K! 
Steve Toomey 

     Original muffler @ 425800; 03  VW  TDi (love those diesels).

[OneLapper]

     Original muffler @ 425800; 03  VW  TDi (love those diesels).

Original muffler @ 573k on my 2000 TDI

[kyle4501]

Rubber compounding is a complex art.

Knowing the exact life expectancy of ANY manufactured product is impossible, so we deal with percentages.

What if the following were true -  
97% will last 10 years,
99.9% last 7 years,
99.99% last 6 years,
99.999% last 5 years

For the best case scenario of a tire failure on the road -- the replacement tire will cost about double the replacement cost at home plus collateral damage. AND THAT assumes the vehicle stays on its wheels & is still usable.

Now, consider it a different way - you have your choice of tires for your trip, are you going to choose one with a 0.0001% chance of failure
-- OR -- the one with a 3% chance of failure.

[PP]

Rubber compounding is a complex art.

Knowing the exact life expectancy of ANY manufactured product is impossible, so we deal with percentages.

What if the following were true -  
97% will last 10 years,
99.9% last 7 years,
99.99% last 6 years,
99.999% last 5 years

For the best case scenario of a tire failure on the road -- the replacement tire will cost about double the replacement cost at home plus collateral damage. AND THAT assumes the vehicle stays on its wheels & is still usable.

Now, consider it a different way - you have your choice of tires for your trip, are you going to choose one with a 0.0001% chance of failure
-- OR -- the one with a 3% chance of failure.

So, since you're doing the math, what's the chance of failure on a 17 year old tire? Curious minds want to know.   
And NO, I put new rubber on our coach just a couple of years ago. 

[kyle4501]

So, since you're doing the math, what's the chance of failure on a 17 year old tire? Curious minds want to know.  

Don't know, don't care, 'cause I ain't gonna use any that old. . . . 

[DoubleEagle]

Most of us will not wear the tread off our tires before they get to be too old. When I bought my Model 10 Eagle last year, it had several brands of tires on it that were 13 years old or older. The youngest ones were Dunlops that had lots of tread and looked good. The rest were mostly Michelin's with some sidewall cracking, one even had a three digit code, but they all held air and made it the 160 miles home from where I bought it. I had them all taken off, and had Dunlop SP160's put on. The two Dunlops that were on the front (13 years old) passed inspection by the dealer who said they were okay for spares. The corker is that the old spare that was behind the front bumper was also a Dunlop with a three digit code making it twenty something years old, and it was holding 100 psi. I think the current wisdom that tires are unsafe at seven years is not necessarily so, and is primarily being put out to sell tires. (Similar to stores saying your bed mattress is no good after 8 years - horseradish!).

I think a more reasonable life is more like 10-12 safe years, subject to monitoring tire pressure, checking for cuts and cracks, minimizing exposure to the sun, and running them on a regular basis to exercise them. I had heavy trucks for years, and sure enough, a truck radial could blow at any time, but they were loaded much heavier per tire. A blown tire does not automatically mean you are going off the road. In the case of that RV that crashed and burned, do they know for sure a blown tire caused it? There were no survivors, and the RV was destroyed in the fire, so unless there was a close witness, I wonder how they concluded that? For me, I will stay away from Sticks & Staples, good tires or not.

[luvrbus]

I been to Michelin in SC and Bridgestone in TN and few other,the people in SC at Michelin are very well versed so are the Bridgestone people.
With tire manufactures using different compounds you kinda to need to go with the manufactures recommendations.Buse now are heavy you have trucks on the highways weighing 70 to 80,000 lbs loaded running on 18 tires then you have a bus weighing 52,000# using 8 tires.
I am like my buddy Gary when it comes to the Michelin bus tires,they warranty the tire for 10 years and then want you to replace the tire at 6 years what is up with that deal. 
Gary is so paranoid about the Michelin's on his Prevost he buys a new set every 4 years but it makes him feel safer so I just smile.A 2010 model with less than a 100,000 miles on his second set and shopping for a new set of tires           

[pete36330]

All Tire salesmen have one thing in common..SELL YOU TIRES,,whether you need them or not,,How many times have you entered a tire store and have been  told  ,,All your tires are good ,,you don't need new ones ..Just food for thought