Vision 19.5" Wheels For $181 A Wheel

[GCecchetto]

Hello;



I just bought a set of Vision 19. 5" wheels for my truck from Americas Tire Co. for $815 out the door. The price was good enough to make me bite for a set. Anyone have pictures of a truck with visions on it?



Thanks



Gino

 

[SOneill]

Any pix?



Are those steelies?



Info?

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

They're aluminum and rated at 4700 lbs.

 

[willysrule]

that's a good price... what stopped me from buying 19. 5's is the price of tires... . and the fact that I don't really need them... but that hasn't stopped me before... . :-laf

 

[DPKetchum]

Any thing for duallys?

 

[PatrickCampbell]

Congrats I am sure you will enjoy them. Where did you get them for $181. Which tires did you go with?

 

[DBazley]

Affordable 19.5 's ........

that's a good price... what stopped me from buying 19. 5's is the price of tires... . and the fact that I don't really need them... but that hasn't stopped me before... . :-laf

Hi guys:



Nice deal - that's a great looking rim ! I wouldn't half mind trading my 19. 5 Rickson steel w/simulators for those.



On tires, you don't have to pay the moon:



You can get fresh tires - 19. 5's for just $ 125 ea : I got Michelin 245 / 70 R 19. 5 in LR 'G' - [14 ply]



Take a look at this thread, the last post is mine & has pics:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159089



enjoy... . DB

 

[GCecchetto]

I got them from Americas Tire Co. which is a chain store in CA maybe other states as well. The parent company is Discount Tire. The guy I spoke with when I ordered the wheels said Vision was their house brand. I think Vision must make wheels for other people as well because Les Schawb also has these wheels but they want $243 a wheel. I like $181 a lot better.



I havn't purchased tires yet and I'm researching the varios brands. I want a 245, maybe a 265 with M&S rated tread. 265's might be pushing it a bit since I have 373's. Any opinions would be welcome. I got a quote of around $800 for a set of Cooper C140HD's mounted and installed. Anyone have any experiance with the coopers? I've heard good things about the Hankooks but haven't got any pricing on those yet.



Gino

 

[Jeremiah]

Pep Boys sells Hankooks in Colorado Springs, but you gotta remember: half the deal is getting a ROUND tire that is matched to the wheel. Rickson rejects tires that aren't round or that have too many high spots. I don't know other dealerships that do that. You pays for what you gets and from what I have learned and experienced, I will pay extra to have tires pared with the wheels.



Simple balancing isn't enough.

 

[DBazley]

The 'Secret' on special balancing for 19.5's.....

Greetings guys:



Gino, that deal on the Coopers new mounted & balanced sounds like a steal at $ 800 - I paid (as you may know if you read my post & thread) $ 125 for the Michelin retreads.



To be fair, I didn't have my own casings, that would have dropped my price to $ 85 or so each. But new 19. 5's seem to run from $ 230 -300 ea bare.



All in all, if you can get quality new 19. 5's for $ 200 each installed its a very good deal. Coopers are very good tires- I think industrial users who use medium duty tires are so demanding, I doubt there are any BAD 19. 5's out there.

(actually I hated my Bridgestone M724's so I should qualify that statement ! - the were slippery as all heck and cracked prematurely - the Michelins are way better. )



Key is: getting right tread design & don't get too heavy a tire for your intended use - my post & thread gives some detail on why. On size, I think 245 is ideal - the tire is huge - very tall & heavy and the face is wide - much wider 'feeling' than a 245 in a smaller size. In fact, for fuel economy, I sometimes wish I had gone with a 225/70 in a LR 'F' 12 ply instead. It would still be plenty heavy for most all my towing situations, w/ less road resistance for better MPG.



On the balancing, I called Rickson for advice when getting the Michelin Retreads, sourced locally, and they advised that I locate a shop that has a Hunter Road Force Balancer system.



This system puts a load on the mounted assembly when balancing, and before that 'matches' the heavy or high

spots on the rim with the opposite on the tire, which evens out the whole assembly. Details here:



http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/balancer/4159T/index.htm



According to the lady at Rickson, this is how they do it there. This is helpful to know if you must source tires locally.



The link above helps you locate which shop that uses them.



I found America's Tire in Temecula, CA uses it, and they did it for me, and gave me 'lifetime balancing' along with for $ 110 - not a bad deal. The rim matching is pretty much a 'one-time' deal, from then on they just rotate & re-check the balancing job.



Watching the guys grunt when they try to lift a 130 lb tire & rim onto the machine is worth the price alone ! :-laf



Take Care, David B.

 

[GCecchetto]

David;



Thanks for the info. Retreads spook me, seen too many spread all over the road! I have to admit though I did run retreads on my Hummer but the tires weren't really a retread. The company striped the whole tire down to the carcass and the revulcanized a new shell on the carcass. I must admit they were the best tires I ran on the truck. A conventional retread is scary though. If I'm not mistaken the laws in CA don't allow retreads in the steer position for big rigs. I like the price though.



Gino

 

[DBazley]

Gino:



Good deal - the process you mentioned is the method these were made with - maybe using the term 'retread' with all the potential issues that implies is selling them short.



The modern processes are so much better that they don't deserve that reputation. Funny thing is the warranty on them is the same as a new tire, total proration down to the end of tread depth.



One factor: regular tire carcases are not designed to be retreaded; medium duty tires are.



For example, the Cooper Commercial C 140 page mentions as a feature of them: Retreadable - so if an owner wears them down, then disposes of them, they're not getting the full value of them. For sure, someone else WILL retread them (or revulcanize or remold or whatever the more proper terminology is..... ).



According to retread.org the only vehicles prohibited by law from using retread on steer positions is Passenger Buses - for potential liability reasons.



To stress these beefy tires to the point of breakage, it would require more weight on 'em than our trucks could provide. Each of these monsters can hold 4500 lbs @ 110 psi - or 18,000 lbs for my SRW 2500 !



I'd have to haul gold from Ft Knox to do that ! A load of lies from Congress might weigh more, admittedly... ... ha ha, sorry to say.



The tread on those Cooper C-140's looks great for mud & snow, I'm sure they'll work nicely for you. The only size I saw listed was 8R19. 5, but still offers capacity of 3500 # per tire - plenty for most hauling or towing, it seems.



Love to hear your report when you do decide.



Take Care,



David B.

 

[GCecchetto]

David;



I'm very interested in the tires you have if they were revulcanized, the price is right! How do they handle on the road? Do they wander, are they noisy? Where did you get them? Do you by chance know the name of the company that did the retread?



Thanks



Gino

 

[KBalzuweit]

Any thing for duallys?

http://americanforcewheels.com/195_01.html

 

[jelag]

I own a F550 that came stock with 19. 5" wheels...



We run a UPS recap on the rear... the local recap shop does them for UPS and there great... . under a 100 each and run at least 100K miles... we run a Michlin new tire on the front... . and usually get close to 100K on them...



We have 3 3500 duallys..... and none of them get over 55K miles on the $220 tires... I just can't find steel wheels that make sense... . I can get new wheels for the Ford for a little over 125 each... and that's what the new wheels should be for the Dodge... but every one want over 230 or so for the steel wheels and much more for the alloy wheels... . I've found the GM wheel... that fits the bread vans... and could machine out the center..... but those wheels are only rated at 2500 lbs... . not enough for a tire that can handle up 4000 lbs...



Anyway..... this is what I've learned... . OH BTW... . the guys we get the retreads from... always true the tires before they balance them... so their round and in balance... we don't rotate them... . that truck has 400K miles or so...



Jim

 

[Jeremiah]

I own a F550 that came stock with 19. 5" wheels...



We run a UPS recap on the rear... the local recap shop does them for UPS and there great... . under a 100 each and run at least 100K miles... we run a Michlin new tire on the front... . and usually get close to 100K on them...



We have 3 3500 duallys..... and none of them get over 55K miles on the $220 tires... I just can't find steel wheels that make sense... . I can get new wheels for the Ford for a little over 125 each... and that's what the new wheels should be for the Dodge... but every one want over 230 or so for the steel wheels and much more for the alloy wheels... . I've found the GM wheel... that fits the bread vans... and could machine out the center..... but those wheels are only rated at 2500 lbs... . not enough for a tire that can handle up 4000 lbs...



Anyway..... this is what I've learned... . OH BTW... . the guys we get the retreads from... always true the tires before they balance them... so their round and in balance... we don't rotate them... . that truck has 400K miles or so...



Jim

Interesting ... what kind of tire carcass do you run, steel plies or otherwise?

 

[DBazley]

Back to you Gino....

David;



I'm very interested in the tires you have if they were revulcanized, the price is right! How do they handle on the road? Do they wander, are they noisy? Where did you get them? Do you by chance know the name of the company that did the retread?



Thanks



Gino

Yes, they're re-vulcanized. You can barely tell they're not factory new.



They handle very nice, solid & frim, but not harsh unless I forget to 'air down' after towing. No wandering at all. I've already hauled 20,000 # gross weight in my cargo gooseneck trailer to Texas twice - solid & safe !



I told 'em I wanted very good mud & snow handling, w/o noisy tread. They showed me the XDC 22 tires - glad I got them. They have a nice 'sing' at 65 mph but are not 'noisy'.



Picture here:



http://www.michelintruck.com/michel...read/Premoldsbyposition.jsp?position=D#XDC 22



EricBu from SLC, UT said he got the XDE m+s design -just below mine on the page- and it worked great for him.



I recommend for any 19. 5 you choose, reman or new, to have them 'matched' with that Hunter Road Force balancer procedure. If your America's tire that sold you the rims has that system, you might consider buying liftime balancing & rotation along with - our local America's tire did it for $ 110.



They balanced up nicely - very smooth at all speeds, except a slight resonance at around 45 mph, then it's gone. [I read the thread on the 'Centramatics' balancers that mount between the rim & hub the idea is to keep you balanced at all times- sounds interesting but I don't think I truly need 'em. ]



You have some choice on tread patterns as you can see from the Michelin Factory reman page. Whether a particular local-to-you commercial truck center will have the exact size you decide on, in the exact tread pattern you want is yet to be seen



I suspect if you have a worn out set of 4 good 19. 5's, and can wait, they'll put any available tread pattern you choose on them.



I had no casings, so they gave me 4 that were part of the inventory for a local tow truck firm's trade ins - they just chaged me about $ 30-40 ea for a 'casing charge' making $ 125 total cost per tire. That means if you have casings they only charge about $ 85 labor to retread your tires - ha pocket change !



The Michelin site shows a flash program on their process so you can see how they make them. All that is at:



http://www.michelintruck.com/michelintruck/productguide/retread/Retread.jsp



I got my tires from TCI tire centers in El Cajon (San Diego) - they're a nationwide commercial tire chain, you can search to see if there is one in your area:

http://www.tirecenters.com/products/commercialprods.cfm



For your lighter loads, you have the option of going with a LR "F" still having 3500 # load ea, and because it should weigh less, you'll have less rotational mass. Not to mention your new rims are aluminum, not steel like mine. With the run-up in fuel prices, every bit helps.



Hope all these musings are of help to you Gino.



Keep us appraised what you decide, and if you can post pics of your truck & rims, will you ?



Thanks, David B.

 

[GCecchetto]

Thanks again David. I had no luck with Michelin's virtual tour of the reman process. Maybe I need to update my flash plug in, staying up on all the computer software is a pain. I don't have any carcasses so I need to find a shop that will take care of me like the shop that helped you out. I would like to run 8R-19. 5's, tall, skinny, and only an F load range but they require a 6. 75 rim and the Visions are only available in a 7. 50 width. Hopfully I can get a 245 in an F load range. I'm thinking about the Michelin XM+S4, it looks like a really good snow tire.



Gino

 

[jelag]

Jeremiah



The re-capper provides the tires... . I don't have a clue how many times they have been re-capped... . They are done with a bandag (got to be spelled wrong) cap... Again he is the guy doing it for our UPS repair shop here in Spokane..... We saw the caps on the UPS trucks and since we sell them clutches we just asked... .



Hope this helps...



Jim

 

[DBazley]

Back to you Gino....

Thanks again David. I had no luck with Michelin's virtual tour of the reman process. Maybe I need to update my flash plug in, staying up on all the computer software is a pain. I don't have any carcasses so I need to find a shop that will take care of me like the shop that helped you out. I would like to run 8R-19. 5's, tall, skinny, and only an F load range but they require a 6. 75 rim and the Visions are only available in a 7. 50 width. Hopfully I can get a 245 in an F load range. I'm thinking about the Michelin XM+S4, it looks like a really good snow tire.



Gino

Gino,



Yeah, multimedia things on my computer usually don't work - it surprises me when they do !



The site www.michelintruck.com also has a dealer locator, as jelag mentioned, another re-cap method is Bandag - they have shops 'here and there'. The industry site is, (what else ?), www.Retread.org and they link to various Reman/Recappers, too.



I hit the 'Wingfoot Commercial Retread' site - Goodyear of course, and their files that show their process are .pdf - maybe your computer will download those OK. Like I said earlier, I think if you go with the reputable, big name reman outfits their processes make a great product.



It's worth noting that these medium duty tires are designed to be Remanufactured 3 times during the life of the carcass. I understand they have way less flex than normal duty LT tires, and thus are a more stable platform - makes sense to me.



Jelag's comment about getting 100k miles for under $ 100 each on his dually Ford 4 rear tires makes sense - UPS must beat the 'you know what' out of 'em - funny too is the fact that dually UPS trucks run virtually our same engine & driveline.



If you must get a 245 due to the Vision width, and can't find it in anything but a LR'G' - it will work - I didn't mean to scare you they're not harsh at all - just figured at todays high fuel prices why run any more weight than necessary.



What do your Vision wheels weigh ? Still they'll probably save you 20 + # each over my steel Ricksons.....



Best Regards,



David B.



PS: Woodside, CA - where is that - snow country ?