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The below is letter to the Coach and Chassis manufacturer outlining Steering tires. It's pretty self-explanatory. I post this as I see quite a few Cornerstones at the track - and can't find a discussion anywhere on the Interweb about the problem and solution.
Press read carefully as I've included important information.
While traveling to a race in Indy the curbside steering tire on my 2020 Cornerstone came apart and beat the Hell out of my coach. More specifically, the tire edge piece vulcanized between the sidewall and the tread broke off and then the sidewall became unglued.
Coachnet spent 3 hours trying to locate something for me because the Michelin 365/70R-22.5 are on National back order with no date on when/if ever available again. They located me a nasty used tire in another state for $500 plus installation. They paid $545 to get it delivered to me.
Once the roadside tire guy left, I saw a piece missing on the same edge piece of that tire. Then while filling up with diesel I noticed a piece missing out of the same edge of the steering tire on the street side of the coach. I'm not a big believer of a coincidence that three out of three tires are missing a chunk off the edge AND the tire is not only unavailable -- but there's no date projected on when they will be. Sounds to me like they know of a problem, but the Highway Safety Board doesn't yet.
At the track, my two closest friends who had Entegras now have Tiffen Zephyrs the same length and 605hp Cummins as my Cornerstone - but Tiffin builds their own chassis instead of using a Spartan.
I looked at their steering tires and they have 315s rated at 8750 pounds load - while my 365s are rated at 10500 pounds load - almost 20% less load rating. I have no idea what the axle rate is on either of our coaches. I also noticed that the wheel's bead lip is a little different between mine and theirs. I drove the 1200 miles home at 10-miles under the speed limit after searching the net and seeing a problem on steering blowouts -- and even an armor company making run flat inserts specifically for Spartan chassis with the 365 tires. They even referred to the rims as "365 Wheels", making me believe that they're specific to Spartan with 365 tires.
I need to resolve my problem quickly - as I use this coach for traveling across the country running in a drag racing series.
Questions:
Dave Schultz
While traveling to a race in Indy the curbside steering tire on my 2020 Cornerstone came apart and beat the Hell out of my coach. More specifically, the tire edge piece vulcanized between the sidewall and the tread broke off and then the sidewall became unglued.
Coachnet spent 3 hours trying to locate something for me because the Michelin 365/70R-22.5 are on National back order with no date on when/if ever available again. They located me a nasty used tire in another state for $500 plus installation. They paid $545 to get it delivered to me.
Once the roadside tire guy left, I saw a piece missing on the same edge piece of that tire. Then while filling up with diesel I noticed a piece missing out of the same edge of the steering tire on the street side of the coach. I'm not a big believer of a coincidence that three out of three tires are missing a chunk off the edge AND the tire is not only unavailable -- but there's no date projected on when they will be. Sounds to me like they know of a problem, but the Highway Safety Board doesn't yet.
At the track, my two closest friends who had Entegras now have Tiffen Zephyrs the same length and 605hp Cummins as my Cornerstone - but Tiffin builds their own chassis instead of using a Spartan.
I looked at their steering tires and they have 315s rated at 8750 pounds load - while my 365s are rated at 10500 pounds load - almost 20% less load rating. I have no idea what the axle rate is on either of our coaches. I also noticed that the wheel's bead lip is a little different between mine and theirs. I drove the 1200 miles home at 10-miles under the speed limit after searching the net and seeing a problem on steering blowouts -- and even an armor company making run flat inserts specifically for Spartan chassis with the 365 tires. They even referred to the rims as "365 Wheels", making me believe that they're specific to Spartan with 365 tires.
I need to resolve my problem quickly - as I use this coach for traveling across the country running in a drag racing series.
Questions:
- Is there a known problem with these tires?
- Is there a recall on these tires?
- Since Spartan and Entegra can't get these tires either (unless that's where they all are) -- what are you using on the Cornerstones?
- I see people posting that they're putting on the lower load rated 315s and running less air. That doesn't sound safe to me if there's a requirement of a steering tire over 8750 pounds.
- Is there a safety requirement (like axle weight) requiring the use of these 365 tires?
- If there is another tire that I can replace the 365s with, and can it safely be on this rim that is being called a "365 Wheel"?
- What air pressure does Spartan Suggest on the 365 and the tire I need to locate to replace them. I've been running 120 Cold and the dash gauge shows the pressure and temp in the green.
Dave Schultz
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