Goodyear Tires

[paul102a3]

Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with Goodyear 12R22.5 149 RSA tires. I had an outside drive tire blowout on Saturday and this tire was the only option available to me.

The blowout looks like it was from dry rot so I want to replace the other three drive tires and tags to be safe (steers are new so no worries there). While I would like to have all six tires match, the cost of $640 each seems high compared to other brands. If there is a good reason to stick with the Goodyears, I will but I would like some thoughts from the group on the ride and wear quality.

Thanks.

[Sean]

The reason to stick with what you just bought is that you should have four identical tires on your drive axle.  If you do anything else, you will experience uneven tire wear and likely negate any savings.

Of course, you could also replace all four.

That said, $650 sounds really high.  Does that include FET?

You ought to be able to get decent 12R22.5 tires for ~350-~450 each, plus FET.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[belfert]

With prices like that, you might be better off with the Goodyear as a spare and buying six $400 to $500 tires.

[paul102a3]

Sean, the actual cost would be $612 per tire installed, new stems, balanced, all taxes, disposal fees, etc. FWIW, the same shop quoted a higher price for both Michelins and Continentals.

It seems that very few shops stock the 12R22.5. On Saturday we called all over Orlando and the space coast and could only find one shop that had the size in stock. Most places said they could get a tire within one working day but that would have meant Monday or Tuesday. Most places said they no longer stock this size any longer due to lack of demand.

Unfortunately, I don't need another spare as I have one at the house. My bus has split AC units and one of the AC compressors is mounted in the spare tire compartment. Carrying a spare means I have to give up a lot of room in my forward bay which in hind sight would have been the right thing to do.

Anyone have interesting ways to carry a spare if the tire compartment is used for other purposes?

Thanks.

[WEC4104]

I recently visited a local truck tire place and inquired about tires for my drive axel, too.   The tires on the front are nearly new Goodyear G397s.  For the drive axel, I was hoping the tire store might have a set of four "gently used" tires in my 11R22.5 size.

They indicated that the only non-new tires they had in my size were the Goodyear 149s.  They called these "change outs"  since they are essentially new (less than 30 miles) and were taken off a new vehicle to put something else on.  I was quoted an all inclusive price of $1404, which included taxes, mounting, spin balancing, new valve stems, and disposal of my old tires.

I was getting ready to do this, but here's my concern.  I went to Goodyear's website and looked up the 149 RSA.   Goodyear specifies them for use on "steering or free rolling wheels".  This is different from what they call an "all-position" tire.  Since I'd be looking to put them on my drive axel, this has me a bit concerned.

I am sure that this is due in part to a non-aggressive tread pattern.  So this might be a bit of a problem in some campgrounds or rallys with parking in a field, especially if the conditions get wet.  Since I've owned it, my bus has never seen snow or ice.

So the question for Paul and me is:  "Should we be concerned by the steer or free rolling classification?"      

[Hartley]

I put 8 brand new Goodyear G670RV 315-80R22.5 's on my bus because I didn't ever want to change tires again ( in my lifetime. ) They were expensive but have a 7 year warranty.. Lot's-O-Money

So far so good...

Dave...

[TomC]

With the low power of the 4104, the 149's should work on the drive axle.  Good Luck, TomC

[gus]

I don't know about 11R22.5s but I installed six Toyo 11R22.5s on my 4104 for less than $300 ea two years ago, bottom line.

$640 seems grossly high to me and I seriously doubt they are any better than Toyo.

[buswarrior]

Let's remind ourselves that the clock is still ticking...

It's 2009,

102" wide came in 23 years ago, and 45 feet long commonly arrived some 16 years ago.

The commercial fleets out there are running 102/45 footers with bigger tires under them, with gross weights up at 50 000 lbs.

The 96" wide coaches are effectively gone, the MCI 102 A/B/C are deep into the second/third tiers or scrapped.

The bus industry's demand for 12R22.5 is/has dropped away.

We aren't going to be running what the charter outfit down the street are running.

Get familiar with what's commonly in use out there that you might like to run, BEFORE you are forced into it by the discovery of tire failure away from home.

like the Boy Scouts: Be Prepared!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[luvrbus]

Gus, you can get into serious cash buying the M11z 12 R 22.5 Toyo tires I buy mine Oregon with no sales tax and they are a lot more than 300 bucks and Lewis Bros don't charge me for mounting.This year I am changing over to the metric version 315/80R 22.5 Toyo's with 6 new 9 inch Alcoa's and you don't want to know what that is going to cost. FWIW BW the 12R 22.5 is still a popular tire out west for the log haulers I talked with Bob today and he had 17 in stock Toyo's and Hancock brands     good  luck

[WEC4104]

With the low power of the 4104, the 149's should work on the drive axle.  Good Luck, TomC

TomC, any chance you can elaborate on this comment?   

As I ponder what could potentially make a tire suitable for free wheeling axles, but possibly not drive axels, I have a couple of thoughts.  First off, there is the question of whether the tread pattern is aggressive enough to achieve sufficient traction. The website photos of the 149 tread pattern look like a series of parallel grooves, with hardly any zig-zags or other surfaces that "bite".   The positive side to this is that I have to believe they are a very quiet rolling tire.

So is the reasoning here that the 4104 has such little power that it won't spin the wheels in slippery conditions?  Guess I'm having trouble with that thinking.

Or maybe it has something to do with the sidewall strength. Whatever torque is applied to the wheel has to eventually be transmitted (via the bead and sidewall) to the tread area so that road friction pushes the push forward.  Maybe tires designed for drive positions need to be able to handle this particular stress.  Sounds plausible, and perhaps the fact that the 4104 has lower torque than larger buses or tractors allows the tire to be used.  All this is complete speculation on my part.

Maybe I am over analyzing this, but a set of four of these puppies is gonna cost a good set of change. I sure as heck would hate to find out later that it was a bad choice.

Oh, and for the record, the tires I would be replacing are older Toyos.  They have been a great tire for me, and if I could get a set of these agian for a reasonable price, I would probably jump on it.

[TomCat]

I put 8 brand new Goodyear G670RV 315-80R22.5 's on my bus because I didn't ever want to change tires again ( in my lifetime. ) They were expensive but have a 7 year warranty.. Lot's-O-Money

So far so good...

Dave...

^^^^  Me too Dave!

I called around to WingFoot Tires, and got them for $212 each, plus the add ons.

If you can spout a company name when calling WingFoot, the price goes WAAAYYYYY down!

HTH

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[niles500]

Jay - if you know where to get Goodyear G670RV  315 8R22.5's for $212 - TELL US ALL - last year I saw the invoice from the distributor for my tires was $350 per tire - my understanding is the price has gone up since then - TIA

[TomC]

Just remember with any tire, whether it be on the steer, drive or even a trailer tire- getting enough grip on acceleration is not the issue (as said before, 6-71 is low power for a 35ft bus), it is stopping the bus.  ALL tires are rated to stop a vehicle, and stopping is several times (don't have the exact figure) more powerful then any acceleration produced by even the most powerful of buses.  I run very similar tires on my bus all the way around (Michelin XZE).  If you have ANY doubts in your mind that the 149 will work, call customer service line at Goodyear for the answer.  Good Luck, TomC

[Busted Knuckle]

^^^^  Me too Dave!

I called around to WingFoot Tires, and got them for $212 each, plus the add ons.

If you can spout a company name when calling WingFoot, the price goes WAAAYYYYY down!

HTH

Jay
87 SaftLiner

Jay can you PM me where it was you can get 315/80R 22.5s for $212 each?
I wanna stock up! I'll pass along the savings to other busnuts as well!
Right now I am paying right at $400 each for Kumho KSR () 315/80R 22.5's! (a little less but after I spend fuel $ to go pick them up 5o miles each way that's pretty close to my cost!
 BK  

PS; I can spout out several company names will that make them even cheaper?