TIRES....Let's talk tires

[atom ant]

Rob, that is interesting you said that. My original sticker from Redwood had Gs on the front rear and spare. When I got a replacement sticker with the correct GVWR, it was modified to Gs on the front and rear, and E for the spare. No big deal, however...

I ran a bolt through one of Gs last summer by Durango, CO. I took the wheel off and drove to Durango Goodyear and they said they couldn't fix it so I need a new $400 G614. Redwood had provided me a G614 spare on a steel wheel, so I asked them to mount that tire to the alloy wheel and put a E rated GY Marathon as spare for about 1/2 the cost. They REFUSED! hahaha, said they couldn't mix tires like that. I said why not?, the factory does and I walked down to Tarpley RV a few blocks away and took pictures of the sticker on one of their Redwoods and showed it to Goodyear from my phone. He could not believe they would do that.

I actually don't see a big deal about using the Marathon as a spare, unless you were paying for the G option. It's not like I can rotate it through the axles with it having a steel wheel.

I replaced the blown tire with the G614 and called it a day. Too much shop time spent for vacation.

[NW Snowbirds]

Originally Posted by atom ant

Rob, that is interesting you said that. My original sticker from Redwood had Gs on the front rear and spare. When I got a replacement sticker with the correct GVWR, it was modified to Gs on the front and rear, and E for the spare. No big deal, however...

I ran a bolt through one of Gs last summer by Durango, CO. I took the wheel off and drove to Durango Goodyear and they said they couldn't fix it so I need a new $400 G614. Redwood had provided me a G614 spare on a steel wheel, so I asked them to mount that tire to the alloy wheel and put a E rated GY Marathon as spare for about 1/2 the cost. They REFUSED! hahaha, said they couldn't mix tires like that. I said why not?, the factory does and I walked down to Tarpley RV a few blocks away and took pictures of the sticker on one of their Redwoods and showed it to Goodyear from my phone. He could not believe they would do
I actually don't see a big deal about using the Marathon as a spare, unless you were paying for the G option. It's not like I can rotate it through the axles with it having a steel wheel.

I replaced the blown tire with the G614 and called it a day. Too much shop time spent for vacation.

I stopped by Tarpley RV in Durango today looking for a part for my Fantastic Fan. They told me they are no longer a Redwood dealer. Dropped the Redwood line because the units have too many problems.

[atom ant]

Ya that's a copout in my opinion!

Tarpley said that about Bighorn too last year (too many problems). I think the manufacturers drop him because of low sales volume more than he drops the manufacturer. He hasn't held on to much of anything over the years. Keeps working his way into the low end units.

[mhs4771]

While we're talking tires, here's an interesting article, guess what one of the tires they suggest to avoid:
4 Tire Companies to Avoid - CarsDirect

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by mhs4771

While we're talking tires, here's an interesting article, guess what one of the tires they suggest to avoid:
4 Tire Companies to Avoid - CarsDirect

Boy I hope Jeff or Jim is reading this - It's embarrassing to see Westlake on these high end coaches.

[mhs4771]

Interesting that the prices of RVs keeps going up, but the material they use is the cheapest they can find.

[TerLar]

Atom--FYI--I have GY 614 on the 9/14 36rl,E rated Westlake for a spare,and what does the labels have on them?? all E rated tires.Go figure and some think RW are a top notch company----HMMMM Larry

[TexasRver]

Well, after sustaining about $10,000 worth of damage after the blowout (covered by insurance), Goodyear is reimbursing my insurance company for the damage. All I did was take the blown tire to a Goodyear store. They shipped it to their lab at no expense to me. Goodyear appears to really be a standup company.
By the way, I replaced my tires with a set of Goodyear 614s and different wheels to stand up to the increased inflation pressure.
Thanks to all for the great information everyone contributed.

[Colorado]

For those of you that went with the GY114's and 17.5 wheels are you seeing any additional bounce from the trailer? Curious if the additional tire pressure and stiffer tire has any impact?

[b41wright]

I was wondering why no one goes with19.5in tires and wheels as used on motorhomes? They have excellent brands ratings and are the same height?
Bill

[Titan Guy]

No real advantage in 225/70R19.5 to carry 3,500 lbs the 17.5 takes 85 psi while the 19.5 takes 90 psi. Both carry a max load in excess of 4,000 lbs. Much more than is required to carry the Redwood load.
I would move to the 17.5 just so I could reduce air pressure from 110 (G) to 85-90 psi on the 17.5. The lower air pressure results in more shock absorbing in the tire while carrying the necessary load. Just because the 17.5 carries a load 0f 4,800 lbs at 125 psi does not mean that is where you should run them.

[atom ant]

Technically at full wet, I'm only 12,900 on my axles so I could drop my G614s to 80psi using the Goodyear chart.

[Titan Guy]

Yes, but your left side is much closer to the 3,400 lbs than the right. When I was at Mor/Ryde I was 3,300 to 3,350 lbs on the left and less than 3,200 on the right side.
So, technically your right.

[atom ant]

I bet, especially with the W/D, fridge, micro, fireplace, and full pantry all hanging out on the left side! I'm surprised yours was only 150 or so different.

[Titan Guy]

I run with 1/3 tank fresh water and empty on black & grey. So it would not take much to put me over on the left side.

I really believe that being able to carry the load and only run 85 psi would really save on the wear and tear on the coach.

[mhs4771]

We put 17.5 G114s on our previous 36RL and ordered them on our 39MB.
Tire pressure is highly opinionated and depending on who you talk to you get different answers. The Pros I spoken to reccommend running at max, which I've done without any ill effects, but then again we're running on the Mor/ryde IS with includes shocks on the suspension.

[Titan Guy]

The only reason the Pros recommend max air pressure is that the consumer does not know the actual load on the tire. Unless you know the actual load, a load/inflation table is useless.

If you imagine a balloon stretched tight, it is much easier to explode the balloon by impact. The same way in a tire. How many times have we hit a pothole, held our breath waiting for an explosion and to our relief, nothing happens. We think we are safe but in many cases that impact has damaged the tire cords internally and thru constant flexing it may come apart unexpectedly. You can't understand why that POS tire came apart when in reality the damage was done thousands of miles ago when you hit that pothole.

On the other end of the spectrum you have a under inflated tire which creates heat because of excessive flexing in the tire.

So knowing your exact tire load and adjusting your air pressure between the minimum and maximum is at your discretion.

[mhs4771]

But there is also a certain amount of pressure to keep the tires bead seated on the rim, and with the amount of side pressure applied to our tires during those 90 degree jack knifes when getting into that perfect spot, so I'll continue to keep mine at max especially since I know we're running heavy (haven't had a chance to cross the scales yet).

[Char & Steve]

After a lot of research and reading this post we have decided to replace our tires before our first long trip so we have no worries. It's just a hard decision to take off new tires and replace but the outcome of a blowout far exceeds the cost of tires.
We are going with the recommendations here with the Goodyear G14's. I got a quote today of $350 each mounted and balanced. Does that sound in line with anyone who has purchased them?

Steve

[r time soon]

Sounds about right Steve. On page 9 of these tire posts I stated that we paid $ 1485 total. That was for mounting, balancing and Indiana 7% sales tax. You won't regret buying them. And Goodyear has a 4 year warranty on the G614's I believe. Quite a few on here have taken in their blown up tire and had pictures of the damage and Goodyear has stepped up to the plate and paid for damages also.

Chris