Tires.... I know it's as never ending discussion...

[Sebulba]

Hello all,

Since buying the bus last November I have been nervous about the tires.  They look great.  Great tread, no checking, but they are over 8 years old.

So on our way through Rapid City, SD I put on 2 steers.  I talked to Pomp's tire service there.  Very knowledgable and helpful.  I told them what I have and he was very helpful in tracking down something we would like.  We ended op putting on Hercules 315/80R22.5. They have a nice tread, not just for highway.  Granted they are on the steers, so not as important as the drives.  They are J rated. I asked about using 11 Rs and he wouldn't go for it based on the weight on the MCI plate by the door.

Also, they couldn't lead weight balance them since they are a wide tire, so they put the beads in. 

All in $1449.

Since then ran across scales and front is 10,680.  Whole bus 35,060.

I am thinking I may do these same tires on the drives when I can, and then in a year or so, move the drives to the tags and putting brand new ones on the steers.  Then I should be set for a while.

What do you think?  How did I do? What did I screw up on?

Thanks

Seb

[robertglines1]

watch rim width when switching tire size..

[RJ]

Seb -

Do you have 9" wide rims on your coach?

RJ

[luvrbus]

Are you saying all position tires,if so they will get noisy in a few 1000 miles and you cannot wait to move those to the rear BTDT,J rated are a 62 mph tire for trucks   

[Sebulba]

Seb -

Do you have 9" wide rims on your coach?

RJ

I don't remember.  In an earlier thread we discussed that and figured out what I have.

I think this picture helped determine that.

Seb

[Sebulba]

Are you saying all position tires,if so they will get noisy in a few 1000 miles and you cannot wait to move those to the rear BTDT

Hmm, they are all position tires and not noisy now.  You're saying that may change.  Well that should be interesting.

Maybe I will buy 2 more and move these to drives and get new steersif that is the case.

Thanks

Seb

[luvrbus]

Look at the speed rating on the J tires

[RJ]

I think this picture helped determine that.

Seb -

Look at your outside dual. Stamped into the rim somewhere will be a wheel size, like 8.5x22.5 or 9x22.5 or possibly reversed: 22.5x8.5 or 22.5x9.

If you've got 9s, perfect for that tire. The Tire & Rim Association doesn't recommend the 315s on 8.5" wide rims - issues with catastrophic bead failures, tire guy should know that.

FWIW & HTH. . . 

RJ

[lvmci]

The busses and trucks passing thru Las Vegas change tires coming from the north in the summer before going thru the desert. And going north in the winter, change tires in LV for the ice and snow. So there are a lot of used tires with decent tread at commercial tire stores. While I was building my conversions, I  bought used tires at great prices, steers and drives, till I started taking long drives for vacations, lvmci...

[dtcerrato]

I'm probably an exception to the rule of thumb on 10 yo tires. Our oldest tires are 9 years, than a pair at 7 & 1 @ 6. We carry a spare tire always. We WILL run tires older than 10 years on the rear when tread wear is fine. If & when we get a flat or blowout (3 times in 43 years) we shoulder it and do the tire change with the spare. The new replacement tire goes to the curb front. Newest tires are alway on steers & never a flat nor blowout on steers.