Buying Tires

[BrianE]

This post will probably end up being a Jon "I told you so" and a Peter "Ya wasted yer Lewbucks".

The Michelins on our bus were all dated 00 and 01 but were in very good condition with no checking or sidewall stress and they all had good tread when we started our cross country trip. I was however, watching them pretty closely for any rapid deterioration. All went well until a day or so after leaving Houston (JDUB, does the Royale have a nice new looking tire on it?) when I discovered some bad scalloping on the right steer tire. We pulled into the nearest truck tire store we could find and had the steer and tag swapped for a temporary quick fix.

Since we had planned on a brief visit with Roadrunner, I gave him a call and asked if he could knew of a good tire store. Dale was quick to recommend Dave Howell Tires in Pensacola where we pulled in for an alignment check and a new set of steers. The techs there showed me how all of the tires were close to the end and blamed it on lack of regular rotation, a situation which I was already aware of. The long and short is they gave me a terrific price on 8 new Michelin XZE's which they installed and computer balanced before doing a 3 axle alignment, which confirmed misalignment didn't cause the scalloped tire.

All was well UNTIL I noticed these tires had been manufactured in early 06. BUYER BEWARE, check new tire DOT dates closely. To their credit , the Howell folks were suitable embarrassed and while it delayed us a day in which we enjoyed Dale and Paulette's hospitality, they swapped the 06's for late '07's which were the newest tires they could find in the southern hemisphere.

Additional note: 12Rx22.5's are now a little used tire according to the info I received. Truckers now seem to prefer 11R and other low profile tires for better fuel mileage. Hence the difficulty in finding current manufacture tires.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Brian, I guess your really tired now

[Joe Cannarozzi]

The Southern hemisphere? Where did they find them Brazil

Always a great feeling hittin the road with a bran new set of skins.

Interesting, your comment about the age 00 and the condition of the sidewalls. NO cracks?

We have the same age tires on ours, still, and will not venture too far till we can replace them for severe sidewall cracks. The loins share happening over this past winter.

I know you park inside and we do not and here is evidence of the advantage. I am wondering if tire covers would make a difference on new ones. I bet they would for folks who are storing outside.

[0533]

The Southern hemisphere? Where did they find them Brazil

Always a great feeling hittin the road with a bran new set of skins.

Interesting, your comment about the age 00 and the condition of the sidewalls. NO cracks?

We have the same age tires on ours, still, and will not venture too far till we can replace them for severe sidewall cracks. The loins share happening over this past winter.

I know you park inside and we do not and here is evidence of the advantage. I am wondering if tire covers would make a difference on new ones. I bet they would for folks who are storing outside.

Hi Joe,

If you need tires covers I inherited a second set for my coach. I can bring them along if you need them, as I will not be using them. The cost will be one beer.

Bruce

[dale farley]

Where did you buy tire covers this size? I am planning on being in one campground for about 3 months and am considering buying a set of covers to use while there. Haven't found any locally that are large enough.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

This is just a comment for all to consider.

The worst place to put a bad tire is on the tag axle. I do not know why, but a tag axle will take a scalloped tire and peel it down to the steel cords in a few thousand miles.

If you need to get a decent tire on the steers, stick the bad tire on one of the drive wheels.

[Denny]

Has anyone used or know of anyone that used/uses Firestone tires on their bus? I was at a tire store recently asking about Michelin tires and they suggested Firestone since they are several hundred $$ less in cost. The salesman also said that they have several bus companies using them without any problems.

This dealership has several locations in NE Ohio and seem to be very knowledgeable.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I have no specific knowledge of a Consumer Reports type comparison of our size tires. I do know that a tire of our size may come in several different types. When I was researching tires I found that there are tires designed for low speed city bus type applications, tires designed just for steer axles and tires for over the road highway applications just to name a few.

With all the choices available there is also a range of prices. There are some very obvious requirements for our buses. Size and weight capability are the most important. But we also need a speed rating for our coaches. Some have very low speed limits and some are rated for as high as 75 MPH. Looking at the tires helps reveal differences. The low speed tires may have robust sidewalls to tolerate bumping into curbs such as for a city bus, but the high speed tires have relatively thin sidewalls to dissipate heat.

The key to selecting a tire is making sure all the features we need are part of the tire. I don't know if this is a Knoxville situation but the differences between the Michelin tires designed for our application and their equivalent by all the other brands was around $50. If I had a choice between Michelin and Bridgestone/Firestone, Toyo, BFGoodrich, etc. I would spend the $50. But when Roger and I saw the Chinese tires for about $325 compared to around $625 for Michelin it was an easy choice.

When I shop for tires again I will go through the same process as I am sure everybody else does, but I do know when I called for prices some of the tires I was quoted were not acceptable for our application. One thing we all need to be aware of....charter bus companies may not own their tires. They lease them so as long as they hold air the bus company probably has little input into the brand or specifications. If we really want to know about tires the folks to talk to are the tire leasing companies. They will likely be very qualified to discuss the cost per mile and failure rates. The bus companies are very qualified however to talk about ride quality.

[truk4u]

Denny,

Just go for the Michelin's and raise your rates!

Careful on advise from A-1, he chose to buy "May Pops" and that's why he only runs 62.5. He's trying to prop up the value of the Yen and there's rumor of a personal invitation to the Olympic's from the Chinese Officials who are interested in his Metal Fabrication Process in Jamestown. They heard he's converting scrap steel to some form of vehicle support used by red necks in TN to hold up the junk trucks in their yards and being sold to rich bus owners as safety equipment.

[phorner]

Man.... that's cold!