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  • Front tires

    Posted by Dan on July 12, 2016 at 3:58 pm

    After 50,000 miles, the right is wearing on the outside tread, and the left is wearing on the inside tread.

    Does this say that the drive axle and the steer axle are not parallel, or aligned?

    Can the fronts be swapped side for side without risking a blowout? Rotation would be reversed. Plenty of tread left.

    I’ve read here that someone rotated steer to tag, then blew the tag.

    Kim replied 10 years, 2 months ago 11 Members · 19 Replies
  • 19 Replies
  • Archived

    Member
    July 12, 2016 at 4:47 pm

    Since you have all 315 tires the place to put tires that wear unevenly is on the drive axle. But before you do that get all three axles aligned. I strongly suggest Prevost Nashville. I watched them like a hawk when they did mine and they don’t just get the readings in range, they get them in the middle of the allowable range and the difference in how the coach drives is much better.

    Sorry about where to put the tires. You either have to break the wheels down or polish your aluminum wheels on the other side.

  • Archived

    Member
    July 12, 2016 at 5:44 pm

    Thanks Jon, I find that breaking the bead on these Michelins to be about as easy as walking on them once the schrader is out. So the decision to polish or breakdown is easy.

  • Dick

    Member
    July 12, 2016 at 11:07 pm

    Dan,

    After having worked for almost 20 years for a tire service company, I am sorry to say that the wear pattern

    will not correct itself by rotation of the tire. Once the irregular wear starts correcting the alignment and or

    rotation of the tire will not correct the wear pattern. If your irregular wear pattern was caused by over or

    under inflation, you could try to correct the wear by over or under inflating, but I would not recommend it.

  • Tom

    Member
    July 13, 2016 at 12:21 am

    One of the first things the buyer of a Prevost should do is take the coach to one of the Prevost service centers and have them do a three axle alignment. While at Jeff Rowe’s shop in Tennessee I mentioned to Peter Campbell that it seemed like I was chasing the steering wheel all the time. He said it was out of alignment. We were headed to Florida. I made an appointment at Prevost Jacksonville so that on our way out of Florida we could have the alignment checked on our new to us coach with then 70,000 miles. The first thing the tech did was check the tie rods, they needed replacing and he had the parts sitting in the bay. The drive axle was WAY out of alignment. Like I think Tom posted above the tech not only got the alignment for all three axles back into the acceptable range, He got it as dead on to center as he could. Made a HUGE difference in handling. I was NO longer chasing the steering wheel. I’m sure that the tires appreciated running in property alignment.

    After you watch a Prevost tech do a three axles alignment, you will NEVER take the coach anywhere else for an alignment. While there we had the shocks replaced and a few other things taken care of. Plan on two days, but if the only thing you need done is the alignment and they have the parts that will be needed, you might get done in one.

  • Tim

    Member
    July 13, 2016 at 11:38 am

    We just had our coach aligned, new shocks and whatever front end parts it needed ar Nashville and the coach drives like a new one. It was a good investment in safety and driver comfort.

    Chris

  • Archived

    Member
    July 13, 2016 at 9:35 pm

    John, didn’t mean to say that reversing rotation would correct uneven wear. But was concerned about a blow out caused by reversing rotation. If it is safe to reverse rotation, then the right which is wearing on the outside tread will be on the left and will begin to wear on the inside tread, while the left which is wearing on the inside will be on the right and will begin to wear on the outside.

    I’ve been running 110 psi cold on the front all the time, which I believe is about five over spec for my weight.

    Never had the axle alignment checked, or the toe either, but will this fall or spring in Nashville. Darn, we just left Prevost Ste. Nicolas three weeks ago.

  • Archived

    Member
    July 13, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    Dan,

    The tire wear pattern will not correct itself even if you rotate it to the other position which is causing an

    opposite wear pattern. The tire’s “footprint” will still be the irregular wear pattern and will continue to wear that

    in that pattern. Here is the link from Michelin for RV Tires. The alignment info is on page 11.

    https://www.michelinb2b.com/wps/b2bcontent/PDF/RV_Tires_Brochure.pdf

  • Archived

    Member
    July 14, 2016 at 8:14 am

    Dan, the rotation problems with steer to tag seem only to affect 365’s. No one seems to have an explanation and though anectdotal, has happened to quite a few, myself included. We regularly rotated 315’s without incident. Geo.

  • Reagan

    Member
    July 14, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    Back in the day when Michelin 120/22.5 tires had steer axle edge wear, and even some cupping I relocated them to the drive and while it may have taken 30,000 miles the drive axle location did remediate the wear problems. I have not been able to do this since my coach has 315 and 365 tires but I wish I could.

    BTW, If I do not trust a tire and a blowout is a concern there is no way that tire is going to end up on any axle or location on my coach. That could be due to age, an unusual wear pattern or visible cuts from a road hazard. A tire is cheap compared to the potential consequences of a blowout.

  • Archived

    Member
    July 14, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    Amen, brother Jon! Rotated a 315 from steer to tag and it blew out. No idea of actual cause. No loss of control @ 75mph and ONLY $13,500 DAMAGE!!

  • Archived

    Member
    July 14, 2016 at 5:42 pm

    Thanks everyone for your input. I am paying close attention, and will soak on your thoughts.

    For now, thinking to get a Nashville alignment and some of that new Equal Flexx to put into the steers. Then either swap the steers and drives (same side), or buy new steers. Either way, I find changing tires to be pretty easy, and mounted all eight of the ones that are on it now.

  • John

    Member
    July 15, 2016 at 8:21 am

    Dan,

    Think about Centramatics instead of Equal.

    Centramatics

  • Archived

    Member
    July 15, 2016 at 9:30 am

    I have to disagree with Tom. I have Centramatics and have used Equal. There is no comparison in cost. You have to change a lot of sets of tires before you recover the cost of Centramatics compared to Equal.

    They both have issues. I had a failed Centramatic due to clumping of the balancing media. The use of Equal requires tire stem valves with screens and if you don’t blow a shot of air into the tire when checking pressure you can risk a leaking valve stem core.

    If you have valve stem extensions you or your tire guy have to be very careful about how the Centramatics are oriented so the flexing of the valve stem will not cause it to be cut through by the Centramatic sheet metal.

    Both work very well.

  • Kim

    Member
    July 15, 2016 at 2:15 pm

    Yes Tom, I did look at the centramatics. It looks like they use up a little bit of the stud length like a little wheel spacer would. My hub covers use those couple extra stud threads that stick out beyond the nut to mount. I do have a lathe and could turn down my nuts, but was thinking to try this new stuff that came out in April – Equal Flexx.

    Jon, have not/never will use valve stem extensions. Thanks for sharing your experience, there is no substitute.

  • Darrell

    Member
    July 15, 2016 at 3:50 pm

    The thickness of the Centramatics is so thin I am pretty sure it is far less than the spacing of a thread. I’m guessing in the neighborhood of 25″ thickness. They should not affect your available stud length enough to require any change to what you use for caps now.

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