Did you have to replace tires yet? What was the cost?

[Lewportal]

Be careful buying used tires. Inspections look at the dates. Tires with plenty of tread but old dates will do you know good. Walmart Just bought six for my IH 3800.

[Ms Blue Sky]

Let's be clear... if you are getting a bus that does not have a private owner between the school and you. YOU NEED TIRES IMMEDIATELY! There is a code on the tire that will tell you how old they are. School systems use fleet maintenance and they change tires usually every 5 years. They do not put tires on a bus scheduled for retirement.
Our tires were 7 years old. They looked fine with meat on them but if your bus comes from a hot state, ours was Nevada so yes, the tires are dry rotted and are extremely dangerous even though they look ok. A blow out on a front tire could result in a catastrophic wreck, a back tire at the least will require a tow as you will not be able to handle the situation. For an RV, this is minimum of $750+ which is about 1/3 cost of a cheaper set of tires. Better ones cost more obviously. Keeping in mind though, if you live in a hot state, we live in florida, they will need replacing before meat is gone due to road heat and dry rot.
So basically, the purchase of bus that comes to you from a school system, you should consider the tires part of your acquisition price. During your build, you aren't driving around, so you can put off for months, but get the money together and get your tires. You may live to regret if you don't!

[bus-bro]

Originally Posted by JackE

The maiden voyage for my bus will be the big city and the alignment shop. My back end runs about 6 inches to the left of the front going down the highway. It's very noticeable looking in the mirror! Lucky for me, there is a good big truck tire shop and a big truck paint shop next to the big truck alignment shop. Maybe my long lost rich uncle will die and leave me enough money to get all of it done in the same trip!

But if you're only running 6 inches to one side you're still the legal road width of 102 inches.

[unbentcrayfish]

I have a 70' Chevy bus and it needed new tires. The first set of tires I bought (20" tires) ran me about 1k. But it turned out that I had some old split rim widow makers that no shop would touch. So I found some wheels that would fit online and a tire shop to get some tires to pair with them. The new 22" wheels they chose ran me about $1600 for 6. They are pretty much semi truck tires. Supposedly they were the cheaper ones...

Don't cut corners with your rubber, it's important stuff. But, don't forget to dig in scrap yards. I wondered around one to try and find wheels before going online.

[adic27]

What do you guys think of these?

https://simpletire.com/goodyear-265-...xoCpcMQAvD_BwE

Also, I noticed the max load for these and even other more expensive tires are a little over 5000 pounds. What's the average skoolie weight after the build is complete? Any of you finish your build and got a weight check yet?

[Ms Blue Sky]

We run 255's

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Originally Posted by adic27

What do you guys think of these?

https://simpletire.com/goodyear-265-...xoCpcMQAvD_BwE

Also, I noticed the max load for these and even other more expensive tires are a little over 5000 pounds. What's the average skoolie weight after the build is complete? Any of you finish your build and got a weight check yet?

Good tires, I work for JB Hunt and they buy a *LOT* of these. At around 5000 pounds per tire (and I'm betting it has 2 ratings, one weight for single and another for dual), I doubt you'll ever overload these.


You'll probably find ~6000 pounds for single and ~5000 pounds for dual, and I am guessing this is because a blowout on a dual would leave a single tire carrying up to 10000 pounds (assuming 20K on the axle). You wouldn't want to run it like that, but you need the ability to get stopped safely at least, and it needs to support that weight until the failed tire is replaced.

[adic27]

Is it ok that they're listed as "all position"?

[Brad_SwiftFur]

The name says it all. They are designed to be run in any position (steer, drive, or trailer).

[adic27]

Got it. Figured that, jus didn't wanna go off of my assumption alone on something like bus tires

Thanks!

[ThemadTurk]

I befriended the fella at our local scrap metal yard / junk yard. I check ever so often to see what buses he has for scraping and work a deal out. tires , tires on the wheel , etc.

[smokescreen]

Anybody try taller tires on the front to level out bus. Im thinking about 11/22.5 for the front end. I have low profiles on the rear with air suspension. I would gain a little ground clearance up front also.
Bill

[adic27]

I just got a goo deal (compared to every other company selling the same tire) on 6 new tires. The last 4 of the DOT is 5018, which is I assume the very end of December 2018. That's not bad right? Got the Goodyear endurance rsa tires