need quick opinions on tires...

[vbob]

Hi to all the can drivers.....I'm new here and have lurked for a few weeks. I have an 84 31 ft classic 454. I need a full set of rubber. I have read quite a few old posts about tires. There seems to be a lot of negative comments about Michilins. I have a good friend who is one of the top expert wittnesses in the auto business. He sees a lot of wrecks and usually has the inside skinny on product from a product liability point of veiw. He was a racer at one time so he knows about tires from several point of veiws. He advised me to look at the michilins. H said they rode better than lots of tires. I want a smooth ride. Also, I can get a real deal on the michilins.....a little over two hundred bucks a piece including intallation and taxes. I can get Toyo's for about the same price. I thought about switching to the wider tires as was mentioned earlier, but It doesnt look like I have the room between my duals.
ok........any advice? I plan to buy these expensive babies on Tue. I think the michilins are xza,s and the Toyo,s are M120z,s.

thanks in advance....Vbob

[NASCAR345]

Hi vbob,
I'm new to the site too, about 30 minutes now. I have a 345 with Michelins. I can tell you is that they haven't blown out yet. We bought got our "Silver Bullet" last April sight unseen in Tulsa and brought it home via Talledega. Great trip, ran at 75-85 mph with no problems. When I got home, I lifted it up to check out the drive train and brakes and was mortified that all the tires were dry rotted!! They looked great on the outside and all 8 were cracked on the inside. I figured out they had been rotated around to hide the UV sun rot. I changed out 2 tires before running to Daytona for the night race and I have to admit they are quite, smooth, and track fine in heavy Florida rain. I'm curious, I need tires too, and would like to know where you found the good price on the Michelins. I've heard that Bridgestones are good rubbers, but, don't know anything about Toyos. I do know they make good sports car tires. Very soft compound that wear out quickly and stick like glue.

L8R,
NASCAR345

[evan]

Welcome to the site and to the brotherhood of silver bullet ownership. I have heard the Michelins are decent tires and they seem to be installed on a awfull lot of new Motor Homes these days. I had a set on a B-van and was happy with them. Bridgestone are excellent tires and I have use BFG for years on my Jeep's and Trucks and will highly recommend them. I have never checked to see if Bridgestone or BFG make a tire that would work on the AS MH's. I would be curious if anyone knows this.

[ALANSD]

Maybe I am nuts, but I seem to remeber some controversy about using radials in general as opposed to bias belted tires.
My 28 has Goodyear bias belted, and rides ok, but I would like to hear if the radials are a good choice to inprove the ride. Luckily I don't need tires... yet....

I also have been using the new Turtle wax UV Protection tire wax for about a year now, and it seems to be w good product to prolong the side wall life. I have used megir's in the past, but couldn't find it when so I tried the turtle wax stuff.

(By the way if you are in the Carolinas and can make Mystic Springs please consider coming...we are seeking Classic motorhome folks for our rally/get together.)

[vbob]

YO...Nascar..... A local tire store here in Jackson, Mississippi, is running a (buy three, get one free sale). When I talked to the salesman by phone, he told me thge price would be $210 per tire. I figured with the free one(or maybe one and a half) I would come out smelling like a rose. When I stopped by the store the owner told me that the salesman had made a bad mistake. The price he qouted me was way off....especially with the free one thrown in. He said he would give me a deal though. Turns out he offered me the tires at the 210...then said he would give me half a tire free.......(guess I should use that as a spare)... it will cost me about 210 per tire...after tax. He gonna give me a deal on an oil change for my engine and gen set too. Sounds like a wicked good price...I think I'll do it.

Got into a doorlock replacing project......FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN......... .what an ordeal.......

got to get ready for Taladeyga(sp)

Thanks everyone...for your replies

[NASCAR345]

Thanks vbob,
I appreciate the info. I recomend you have it aligned before you grind all that money into the road. I talked to a couple of places here in Greenville, SC, and they suggest I take mine to a truck alignment shop to have the work done. I was fearing BIG $, so, I called and was surprised that they estimated $75 to $100 dollars depending on problems. Deffinmately worth it, considering the cost of the tires.

L8R,
NASCAR345

[wb13798]

vbob
tell us about the door lock problem..
$210 a piece is not a bad deal for motor home tires i think i have about $240 with mounting and balancing. i got a mixture of goodyears on ftont and bridgestones on the rear. had a brake caliper lock up and drove it home any way draging the tire . that tire was toast and the one on the other side was cut from alignment problem . had to climb a curb . knocked the alignment out. alignment cost $99. here. and not all truck shops can align a p-30 chevrolet chassis. bill heard the chev dealer also couldnt. it is fun when you try to get work done on one of these rigs. sometime they do and sometimes they cant. lol
al

[wb13798]

alansd
if you have the recommended tires from airstream it is a radial tire size 8R is a radial . but i dont know what the difference in the ride would be. next set get radials and you will know . that would be the true test in my way of thinking. lol
al

[vbob]

well...I bit the bullet and bought the michilins.......I can tell a big difference in the ride. The tires I had were dry rotted and the motorhome sat up for several years , so my new smooth ride may be due to "new tires" and not the fact the the tires are michilins. The man that put them on actually asked me how much air pressure was recomended in the owners manual. He ended up putting 70 in the front and 65 in the duals. He also called Michilin in North Carolina to fax him a load/air pressure chart. I have to stop back by to get this info. I am really pleased to find someone that actually knows what they are doing. He also changed the oil in both the engine and the generator. My entire bill was less than $1300, tires installation, tax, oilchange and all.
I'll start a new thread on the lock saga.

[ALANSD]

Sounds like you did well. Have you tried searching this site for door lock issues? There are many posts.
My first problem after I bought the AS was the lock and i inexpensively repaired it, it has worked great ever since.

[Daddy4Bob]

Hey, One of the first problems that I had was that the striker plate came loose and the door would not latch properly.

I guess this is a common problem.

[ALANSD]

as you can see the plate is adjustable, and it is not uncommon to have to reset it. Are you having problems with the lock itself? Like the tumbler spinning around?

[jpurdy]

Originally posted by vbob
well...I bit the bullet and bought the michilins.......I can tell a big difference in the ride. saga.

when I bought my 1981 28' last November it had 8R Michilins on it. I drove it home from Ohio and the ride was good.
If you need tire info from michilin go to their web site and ask. they are good about responding (via snail mail)with alot of info.

[winner]

When we bought our 345 from Cliff Merrick, the Bridgestone Tires all looked about like new. Manual said they were installed in 1990.We know that Cliff put about 10,000 miles on them while he owned them, and we have put 15,000 miles on them since we have owned the coach, and they still look like almost NEW. Of course Cliff and US frequently rotated and balanced so that could have a lot to do with it. But I think in my experience with Truuck type tires, Bridgestones are as good as they get. Michelins on the ohter hand we have abandoned. We have alwayw owned Mercedes and always driven Michelins BUT, The tires gradually to to the point where they were a piece of crap. We have switched to a 77000mile Goodyear tire now that we swear by.

[Daddy4Bob]

Alansd,

It was a little stiff when I first got the MH so I disassembled, cleaned , lubed and reasembled the mechanism. It is better but still not perfect. I can lock it with the key from the outside when we leave it unattended but when we need to lock it from the inside we use the dead-bolt.