[Archived]

I had ST230 tires on my last Prevost. I found them to be excellant tires in both ride and wear.

[Larry & Diane]

Kieth,

I was in the Spartansburg SC Michelin plant last Thursday and the tires you mention are indeed manufactured side by side, same machinery, same employees, etc.

I suspect the differences likely are in the tread patterns, compounds or both.

While at Michelin they discussed at length how tires are dsigned for specific applications, mostly for fleets, and for uses such as long haul, regional, local, for rolling resistance or long life of tread. for resistance to “curbing”, etc.

I am going to pay the cost of Michelins because the coach was built with Michelins being the OEM selection and Michelin did track testing of Prevost coaches at their test track facility in Laurens SC. The BFG may be almost the same tire, but I do know that our tires were designed for characteristics important for use as a bus tire so I want to stick with them.

[Kirby]

Perhaps this information will assist in this discussion:

Beasley Tire (here in Houston) is one of the largest Michelin distributors in the USA having just acquired their two largest competitors on the entire Gulf Coast. They are the company through whom I have purchased four sets of tires and they maintain a huge inventory of tires that normally experience summer shortages (that we have discussed in the past). They are participants in the Michelin Tire program…. and handle B F Goodrich tires as well. They have a huge trucking tire operation with 50 mobile service units capable of changing a Prevost tire roadside…. so I listen to what they say about tires.

Their initial explanation of the differences between MIchelin and BF Goodrich:

Jon is absolutely correct that the tires are built side by side and that BF Goodrich is wholly owned by Michelin. The tires differ, however, because all new research and technology originally goes into the Michelin product and the older technology is then rolled into the BF Goodrich product line. This includes tread pattern and compound technology as well as other developments.

It does not imply that BF Goodrich is a low quality tire… it implies it does not have the latest technology available.

It is, therefore, very understandable that BF Goodrich products should perform well…

In 2018, Beasley reports that BF Goodrich will be revamping their product line due to this evolutionary process because the Michelin technology, itself, is being revamped …..and the past pre-2018 Michelin technology will be thereafter applied to BF Goodrich products.

For further discussions on this, Bob Beasley’s son, Michael Beasley…can be reached at 281 449 2365. They are very aware of Prevost Community.

Hopes this helps.

Pres

[Archived]

I worked at Michelin North America for 3 1/2 years. I have been in everyone of the plants in North America more times than I can bother to count. That includes Michelin and BFG plants. Knowing what I know, having seen what I have seen, in everyone of the plants, BFG would be good enough for me. If BFG’s are not available, I do what I do with my personal vehicles, a BMW 760i and an X5, I go with Michelin.

[Rudy]

Ron.

I am told the Uniroyal brand is a Michelin brand. That Michelin started making truck size tires in the Uniroyal brand in 2016 in a plant in USA. Would they be equivilant to BFG tires?

Second, if the technology trickles down and one is happy with Michelin brand tires in 2010, would he be happy with BFGs in 2017 for the same reason? Just courious.

Thanks a bunch for chiming in.

[Archived]

I got an error in delivery message. So I tried twice and the error a second time. But back on the forum, there were two identical posts till I edited this one to this message. Any ideas?

[Dick]

I installed BFG ST 230s all around last summer. They have been excellent for me. They are very quiet and give a comfortable ride, even at the 110 pounds I need to put into my steer tires. I have no qualms recommending them and would buy them again. They are night and day better than the Bridgestones my bus came with.

[Dick]

Hello, Rudy. I am not with Michelin any longer, but I have plenty of colleagues that at the HQ that I can bring the question.

I would not hesitate to put BFG’s on any of my vehicles. I have had them installed on several Chevy Suburban and find they were just as reliable and quiet as the Michelin they replaced. At that time, as an Michelin employee, I received employee pricing for either.

Ron

[Corey]

Bryan, was pricing in line with what other members are stating about the Michelin XZA2’s? $650-$700?

[Archived]

I priced the Xza2’s this month and if you could get them, which I could not in Yuma area,

I was quoted at $832 a tire, so I hope the Advantage program would bring it down to $732 before mounting.

I am in Santa Claira area now and would like to retire the coach.

Jonathan Fine

1997 XL

Royale #201

[Archived]

I paid $661 per tire out the door for the BFGs, including all tax, mounting etc. I did not go through the Michelin program. I bought 7 because I already had one new one due to a blowout the previous month.

[Per]

Prez,

i just called Beasley Tire to get their input for our 365’s tire pressure on steers carrying less than 15,400 lbs, (rounding up) on our 40 ft Marathon, and was told 125 PSI. Ugh! I mentioned to the gentleman about PC and about weighing the coach for PSI from Michelin chart. Response, 125. 125 PSI is for 21,000 lbs of weight.

Hey Jon, Kyle S at Prevost Jacksonville where we are scheduled for a 3 axle alignment May 8 told me to run 115lbs. Yikes.

[Archived]

We were told to run:

105 steer

95 drives

85 tag

On basically new Michelins.. and to increase 5lbs each tire for worn tires ?

Does this sound right?

This info came from the Michelin installers in Vonore at Jeff’s place.

Cheers, Diane

[DON]

It is impossible to defend ourselves against people who offer shitty advice.

In case my remark above wasn’t specific enough let me rephrase it.

Weigh the coach and get an axle reading of the weights on each axle, or if possible get the weights at each wheel or pair of tires such as on the drive axle.

Go to the chart on the Michelin web site or the Prevost car web site. Look up the tire pressures specified for the axle or individual wheel weight and that is how much pressure to carry. Do the pressures cold. Pay attention to what the charts say and look for where it says to add pressure for worn tires. In case you did not see the instruction about adding tire pressure if the tires wear, that’s OK because I did not see it either.

This is from the Service manual:

OVERINFLATION
Causes tires to run hard and be more
vulnerable to impacts. It also causes
irregular wear. Similar to the wheel
being too narrow.

Also from the Service manual:

Unless otherwise recommended by tire manufacturer
for optimized tire performance, use the tire inflation
pressure shown in the application data books for the
particular axle load. Exceeding this pressure could result
in reduced traction and tread life.

The above statements from the service manual for our tires should be tattooed on the heads of the people that tell you inflation pressures higher than what the charts call for. Michelin said a few pounds over is OK. But when you get 20 pounds of pressure greater than what is called for our already lousy stopping distances are worse.

If as a Prevost owner you haven’t become a doubting Thomas please try to become one. All advice, including this is possibly wrong and your best and only defense is to use the internet to get the facts. The facts are not going to come from anywhere but the manufacturer’s manuals on everything in our coaches, including the engine, transmission, tires, batteries, etc.

It may be hard to believe, but sometimes (OK most of the time) I make stuff up.