Continental Tires

[mbulriss]

David,

After talking with the Continental rep at length, he recommended the Conti Coach HA3 for RV/bus apps. His rationale was they are designed as more of a long distance over the highway tire while the HSR2 SA is more of a regional delivery tire with high sidewall scrub protection. He said they would both work but the HA3 had a better ride while still having sidewall scrub protection (not as heavy as the HSR2, again for softer ride on long haul). He also said the Coach HA3 was compounded to better tolerate long periods of sitting after a long highway ride, which as he put it kind of defines RV bus use.

I also talked with a wholesale distributor who put the HSR2 SA on the steer axles of his racing toterhome hauler after he had Michelin XGA2 NRG edge wear issues. He said he did no mechanical changes to his hauler and the wear issues totally went away. He did however recommend the Conti Coach HA3 for the bus as the HSR2 was pretty stiff riding and he thought the HA3 would be better for a bus from a ride perspective. He said he had not personally used the Continental before even though he sold them so he did it due to the other brand wear issues and a desire to test the Continental. He said that now, based on personal experience he enthusiastically recommends the Continental as an alternative.

My real concern is the sidewalls on the M brand. I was inspecting all the sidewalls again yesterday. The steer tires aren’t safe to go cross country on. The drive axles are fine - you have to search under a strong light to see a hint of weatherchecking. I have the 16,000 front axle and it is appearing to me that the M brand sidewalls are too weak for steer axles on a heavy rig. At least this particular set of XZA2 NRG seem to be telling me that. Check out the steer tires pictures below. And yes, I keep them at about 120-125 psi.

Anecdotal evidence says it’s maybe not just mine. Another friend has much newer same M brand tires on his toterhome. He kept complaining about the driveability and took it in to get an alignment and front end check out. After an hour or two, the mechanics came out and told him they couldn’t align it. They then said let us show you why and proceeded to show him how out of round his steer tires were. When contacted, Michelin told him something similar to it was ‘the truck’s fault’.

I know that there is a lot of talk about the soft M brand sidewalls and that lots of folks are talking up and switching to Toyos. I have a good out the door price on the Toyos also but I’m still researching. I just haven’t run into anyone using the Continental tires other than the wholesale distributor. Toyos are South Korea and the Continentals are Mt Vernon, IL as a side issue.

Anyway, more than you wanted to know? BTW, I saw a 385 somewhere in my searching. Too much for the P bus? LOL