| Author |
Message |
Jim Connelly (Desertbum)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 25, 2005 - 5:35 pm: | |
Greetings, I have 5 years time on my front tires. They are in very good condition. No weather cracks and plenty of tread left. Should they be replaced due to the time on them. They have about 12,000 miles on them. Any replys will be appreciated.
Jim---4106---CAdesertbum |
Buswarrior (Buswarrior)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 25, 2005 - 5:57 pm: | |
Hello Jim.
5 years is a good time to market your slightly used tires to a trucker for a good price, and you get fresh rubber for a fraction of the cost of new.
A debate will touch off behind my post about how long to run tires....
What a busnut might want to think about is whether they have a hope of getting the value out of the tread before the sidewalls start to deteriorate. This is based on the mileage you do, and you don't do enough to wear those tires out before they die of old age.
Tires, like trading in your car, is a somewhat personal decision.
My stategy is going to be running tires that the truckers popularly use, so I can sell them at the 5 year mark to finance the replacments. You might also choose your rims thinking about trading them to the trucker too.
happy coaching!
buswarrior |
Brian Brown (Blue_velvet)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 25, 2005 - 6:35 pm: | |
Buswarrior gives good advice on working with trucker's tires. You do need to check the sizes, however. When I bought my tires (used ones) a few months ago, I was told that my '06's 12Rx22.5s aren't used much on trucks. OTR trucks favor the narrower 11Rx24.5 size.
Either tire has an almost identical diameter (though these can vary also with manuf. and tread patterns), but the 12Rx22.5's can usually carry more load because of their width, and they will have more rubber on the sidewall to "flex"... for an arguably better ride.
The heavy-duty tire dealer told me to stick with the 22.5's for those reasons, but have heard of highway busses that use the 24.5's. When riding the local transit agency's Neoplans and MCI's, I noticed that they also use the 12Rx22.5 size tires.
If you're curious, I paid $100/ea + mount and balance for the 6 used tires (all virgin rubber, 60% - 80% tread). At my usage, the sidewalls will deteriorate long before the tread wears down.
Just something to consider,
Brian
PD4106-1175
Longmont, CO
Our Bus Site |
James Maxwell (Jmaxwell)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 25, 2005 - 9:52 pm: | |
It seems that the recommended standard is 5-7 yrs., however, that is far from universal. For instance, Bandag will cap tires in excess of 10 yrs. old, given that it is not a damaged carcass. Many truckers will run them until they are forced to replace them due to wear bar intrusion.
I personally have had 3 blow-outs on my buses in the past. All were properly inflated and kept that way, none were ever overloaded, and all three were less than 2 yrs. old and less than 20k miles. 2 of them came from the same set of Firestones. However, I put a lot of miles on them in Mexico, which subjected them to a lot of road abuse. The only roads in the World worse than the PA Turnpike. |
gusc
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 11:59 pm: | |
James,
Do you attribute your blowouts to the bad roads, I'm not really clear on this?
If not, you have a good argument for buying used tires!
My experience over the years with Firestone tires on autos has not been good, they just can't seem to get it right for some reason. I've never used them on heavy stuff and plan to avoid them if possible. |
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