Tire Wear and .....

[Canuck2584]

Chalk this one up to a rookie Motorhome purchaser. Bought the 2014 FR3 30DS two years ago. Noticed abnormal front tire wear in our second season, now have had to replace. Got a grand total of 25,000 Km. Back tires are fine. Lesson learned (too late for me), as part of the deal to purchase, have the dealer pick up the cost of an alignment. Mine was way off (Toe in). Much smoother ride now, but it sure took a bite out of my wallet.

Still fighting a leaky windshield, dealer sent it off last spring to a windshield shop where they removed and reseated. Now I have water appearing in the windshield inside channel but can't tell where it's coming from. While monitoring this, my windshield privacy shade gave up the ghost. Stopped opening about 4 inches up from the dash. Kinda hard to drive this way. Took off the corner plastic moulding drivers side and the wiring is frayed.

Back to the dealer banking on this being covered under our initial warranty (windshield) and extended warranty (shade).

Yee haa!

[niedobry1]

We have water showing up on the windshield bottom channel. I can not find where it is coming from, but think it might be condensation. Heavy rain lately and no sign of water after drying it out.


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[KansasFR3]

Thats a bummer Canuck! I know ours were chewed up by 5k miles when we got our unit. Rotated them to the back and redid our alignment. Tires look great after another 10k miles. Its a shame the factory lets them out the door as such.

[Canuck2584]

Yes, I agree Kansas, I wish I had done the alignment as soon as the abnormal wear was noticed as you did.
Update on my water issue, the windshield glass dealer did a pressure test on the windshield, no leaks detected. They did however put another coat of sealant just to make sure. RV dealership says there's too much water in the channel to write it off as condensation. So they are going to check for leaks elsewhere.

[Brother Les]

Not trying to insult anyone, but me being a former professional driver, did you not 'feel' the steering wheel pulling to one side and having a slight 'diving' effect when making a major turn away from the 'toe ended' wheel?

I encourage all who may think that the steering and wheels do not 'feel' right, get it looked at. Alignment should be the first thing that comes to mind, but there are also many other components that could have a problem that could turn deadly quickly.

[Canuck2584]

Hey Brother Les, nope, that was the strange thing, it felt fine. The Motorhome did not pull at all, could take my hands off the wheel and it would track straight - no I did not make a habit of this. It does feel smoother now, but it was not so terrible before that I was alarmed.

[AustinS]

Bought 2011 5th last year. Camping World did the 22 point check and said all ok. I asked about the tires as they looked great..Said ok so headed for Arizona blowing the rear right tire after 500 miles. Old timer helped me put on spare noting by the date there were 6 years old but looked new. Said the rig had probably sat some place for long time and all should be replaced. Checking with Big O tires they replaced the one but agreed this should never have been sold with those older tires. Research supported this as did a number of old timers on the forum. Took into Camping World for another free check not telling them where I bought it. The report identified a number of problems..including the fact that these tires were old and should be replaced. Anyhow after some arguments with those at the place I bought it and showing them the report they did replace all of the tires. This rig looked like it was brand new...as did the tires. So warning don't go by looks.

[Strigflag]

Just curious. Was this on a Ford Chassis? I noticed my 2013 MH (since traded in) pulling right. Fortunately I contacted the MFG and was told they would foot the bill for the alignment if the shop made any corrections. They did and I was reimbursed.
Just another example of the stellar Quality Control exhibited by RV MFG's

[Vince and Charlette]

Whether you feel something in the steering or not, you ought to have the alignment checked (by someone experienced in this size of unit like OTR trucking shop). It is so common that MHs come from the factory this way. I wanted to make sure mine was OK when I bought it new last year. I first called FR and they paid the bill without batting an eye.

[rvpezzano]

I have a 2008 350ts. When I picked up my unit, the first thing I noticed that the steering wheel was not centered, no pulling either way. After 1000 miles, noticed the front tires were feathered from toe in. Set the toe at our shop, now I have 30,000 miles no problems and the steering wheel is centered.

[PenJoe]

There is a manufacturing date molded into each tire. When purchasing tires, it would be wise to verify the date of mfg before having them installed. A good dealer will be happy to satisfy the request.

ABC did an investigation and found the some tires being sold as new were actually 10 years old. Yet, it is still legal to sell them as new. So, it is buyer beware.There have been several news investigations on tires. The attached article is well worth reading.

Local shops sell years old tires as new - ABC2News.com

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by Strigflag

Just curious. Was this on a Ford Chassis? I noticed my 2013 MH (since traded in) pulling right. Fortunately I contacted the MFG and was told they would foot the bill for the alignment if the shop made any corrections. They did and I was reimbursed.
Just another example of the stellar Quality Control exhibited by RV MFG's

Pulling to one side may well be due to wheel alignment. Another may be a warped rotor or sticky caliper. To check for either of the later, lightly apply the brakes. It should pull in that direction, because the brakes are unevenly applied with the light brake pressure. If it is a rotor, you should feel a pulsing in the steering wheel, possibly even in normal driving.

GM light trucks in the 2008 era had a run of faulty front pads and rotors. On a normal stop, not too noticeable. Down hill braking with a load, it turned violent. As the rotors heated up, they warped causing the shaking. Though there was no recall, GM covered replacements.