Tyres (1 Viewer)

[Ralph-Dot]

Anyone suggest a good but cheaper replacement for Michelin Campers?

Ralph

 

[45eEver]

All tyres seem pretty good to me Ralph.
It's not as if you are going to be thrashing round smashing all the crockery is it?

To put it bluntly, under 5 year old el-cheapos are probably better than over 7 year old Michies.
The difference is mainly in the number of miles they will do.
They all grow old about as quickly as each other.

Just make sure your new tyres are actually new.
The date's given on the sidewall.
Try this page
Link Removed

If you are only buying a pair of new tyres, have them fitted to the back.
The reasons are complicated, but the advice is good.
If you wanna know why, ask.

 

[madbluemad]

Hi Ralph

I tend to agree. When I bought my mh it had Hancook Light Truck tyres on all wheels plus the spare. These were a set of new tyres, the original tyres from the factory had not been Hancook. The manufacturer told me so.

One of my tyres was damaged and so I bought and had fitted a Michelin Camper Tyre.

It blew out on the Motorway a week after I had fitted it.

It took the inside tyre with it so now I needed two tyres. I popped over to the tyre fitters opposite my work and had fitted two tyres that were the same size, speed rating and load index as the Michelin.

I have no idea what make they are but there doing just fine (inspected them over the weekend) as are the Hancook tyres on the other wheels.

As long as the specification is corrrect and they are new I woudnt worry. I reckon that the Michelin Camper Tyres are a sales gimick.

Cheers
Jim

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Snowbird]

Anyone suggest a good but cheaper replacement for Michelin Campers?

Ralph

Hi Ralph,Michelin tyres are not always what they are made up to be,as anyone with an older RV built on the Oshkosh or John Deere chassis will tell you.The tyres they put on these were 8R 19.5 and believe me they were the next best thing to useless.In 8 years of RV motorhoming I have had 7 blowouts,only 1 on the front,thank god.Admitedly Michelin have replaced 5 of the 7,but that doesent detract from the fact that 7 have blown out.It has got so bad that I carry 2 spares with me in Europe becouse this size is so hard to come by.I had some cheapo tyres fitted on my toad,which is always heavy and have had no problems in 22,000 miles with them.Regards,Dave.

 

[Ralph-Dot]

Thanks for the advice, has anyone had experience with federal tyres.

Ralph

 

[wills5138]

I have got Continental Vanco fitted to my Symbol.
I have been told that due to the weight of a MH it is essential you make sure any relacement tyres are 8 ply......

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[45eEver]

If a tyre company fails to fit the correct rating tyres or greater to your vehicle, let Trading Standards know.

Such companies need their wrists smacking.

 

[madbluemad]

I have got Continental Vanco fitted to my Symbol.
I have been told that due to the weight of a MH it is essential you make sure any relacement tyres are 8 ply......

Hi Wills
I spent a lot of time researching tyres for my mh and you just keep going around and around and get nowhere.

One person will tell you one thing and another something else. Some agree some dont, even the tyre manufacturers and tyre dealers seem to be at odds with each other.

The C&CC contacted the British Tyre Manufactures Association on my behalf and they coudnt answer my question. This was regarding the difference in tyre specification markings between the uk and the states.

Even tyre pressures are argumentative.

For what its worth my opinion is that if you buy a tyre that has been maufactured and certified in accordance with a nationally approved specification then its perfectley acceptable for use on any vehicle.

The one thing to keep in mind is that your life is in there (tyres) hands. Again IMHO the tyres that we motorhomers use will always be more than sufficient for their required duty.

Guarantee that this debate will raise its head again in a month or so, a bit like are "A" frames legal

Cheers
Jim
:thumb:

 

[Braunston]

Hi,

Are they Continental Vanco Camping tyres or just Continental Vanco as Continental appear to offer similar variants as Micheln i.e. a camping option.

Does anyone know why both of these companies appear to show very similar ratings for the equivalent same sized standard van tyre to their camping variants can you use either are they both legal on a motorhome

I have got Continental Vanco fitted to my Symbol.
I have been told that due to the weight of a MH it is essential you make sure any relacement tyres are 8 ply......

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[45eEver]

If it's any help, US marking have no legal significance over here MadBlueMad.

Which doesn't appear to make them illegal.
Tyre companies tell me they aren't supposed to work on tyres that aren't EU marked.

Often the US markings just say the same thing as EU markings, but in a different way.

 

[madbluemad]

If it's any help, US marking have no legal significance over here MadBlueMad.

Which doesn't appear to make them illegal.
Tyre companies tell me they aren't supposed to work on tyres that aren't EU marked.

Often the US markings just say the same thing as EU markings, but in a different way.

Hi 45eEver
Thats all true and the problem is converting the US markings to EU markings.

All of the tyres on my motorhome where Hankook, manufactured for the North American and Australian market.

To just pick up the markings from my existing tyres and buy equivelants wasnt possible because nobody knew what the equivelant was.

I went about it the long way. Worked out the load on each axle and the speed rating on an LT/225/75/R16 for that axle load rating was perfectley acceptable.

Cheers
Jim
:thumb:

 

[vwalan]

i have federal on my trailer no probs . find i scrub all makes of tyres when i jackknife turn in awkward places. had debica n avon tyres ok. dont like matador keep breaking up. worked for michelin few years ago but think their too expensive for what u get. like uniroyal max t2. but stopped making them lasted too long. :thumb:

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[JeanLuc]

I have only had Conti Vanco tyres and think they are good. They were fitted as original equipment on the Sprinter chassis. Difference between Vanco and Vanco CP (or camper) is that the latter have stiffer sidewalls (like Michelin camper). If the van is not to be kept stationary for long periods, the standard Vanco should be fine - they are for me. Note that Conti are now onto Vanco2. When I had the last set, the dealer only had 2 original Vanco and 2 Vanco2. So I had the Vanco2's put on the front. The tread pattern is slightly less chunky and they seem to be a bit more 'car-like' in behaviour. I feel that they are less prone to wander on poor surfaces than the original Vanco.
Philip

 

[45eEver]

The guff I got from a number of tyre companies is that Camper tyres are more tolerant of being stood for long periods.

 

[45eEver]

MadBlueMad, too late to help you I suppose, but if you need to change from US to EU tyres again, Yanks tell their load index in lbs, just convert to kilos.

If you check this page, you'll find they also give you load against pressure.
http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rv_inflation.pdf

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ralph-Dot]

Thanks all, think I will go with this tyre (but from a local supplier) it looks to be the same spec as the Michelin.

Link Removed

Ralph

 

[davetthedon]

I bought the agillis ones (spelling?) michelin replacement for the camper type. They have a good write up and even though I had to buy 6 not including spare they were not too expensive. Apparently tyres only have a life expectancy of about 5 years even if you don't wear them out!!! Mine were crazed, so they had to go. The spare on the other hand has never seen daylight.