Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Click Here to Login
View Single Post
Old 09-16-2018, 04:49 PM   #21
gmtech16450yz
Senior Member
 
Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Vegas 27.7
State: California
Posts: 289
THOR #10907
Those aren't dumb questions guys, quite the opposite. Jamie and L&W, you pretty much nailed it on your assumptions.

https://www.michelinman.com/tire/michelin/xps-rib

The XPS Rib tire is a steel cased tire. It has a lot stiffer sidewall than light truck tires. If you've ever overloaded your pickup truck and had it wander and float around like it's driving in jello, that's what a soft sidewall does under heavy loads. That's also exactly what these RV's do when they're running light truck or SUV tires. If you drive down the road and swerve back and forth, you can feel the sidewalls flexing back and forth. You can really feel if if you move the steering wheel back and forth just a couple inches so that the RV is still going straight but will squirm side to side just on sidewall flex.

With tires like the XPS Rib, that feeling is GONE. There isn't any "squirming" or "floaty" feel to the rig. It's a big difference. The downside is that stronger sidewall gives a firmer ride. That's why I went taller, like you guys thought, to give it back some amount of sidewall flex. And yes, the wheel speeds went from about 710 revs per mile to about 650. That slows that rotating mass down, which helps keep everything running a little cooler.

gnach- If you're talking about the wheel well flare, if you look at the before and after pics you can see there's a gap at the bottom after. Thor ran the flares all the way to the bottom of the body, which actually looks weird. Fender flares aren't normally that low. I simply raised them up so they have gaps between the bottom of the flares and the body. It actually looks better to me that way. I'm really happy with the looks of the whole front end now. It doesn't look weird or out of place, it actually looks "normal" now. That's one of the comments we got on this Vegas constantly since we bought it. So many people have said "Why are the tires so small?". lol.

Thanks for the comments guys! I really think Thor should have done this themselves to these E350 and E450 chassis. It used to be common for dual wheeled Dodge B300's under Class C coaches to have standard single's in front. It made it so you couldn't rotate the wheels front to back, but if you buy good tires and replace them when you should, you really shouldn't have to deal with blowouts or flats unless it's a road hazard situation.

First pic is stock Hankook 225/75/16 tires that came on our '18 27.7- second pic is 235/85/16 XPS Rib- notice the tire weights and max loads...
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	hankook.jpg
Views:	186
Size:	19.9 KB
ID:	12840   Click image for larger version

Name:	xps.jpg
Views:	167
Size:	17.6 KB
ID:	12841  

__________________
Check out my V8 swap roadster video, don't forget to turn up the sound!...

httphttps://youtu.be/2q9BuzNRc3Q
gmtech16450yz is offline   Reply With Quote
 
» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Thor Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.




All times are GMT. The time now is 02:23 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.