Question Comfort Drive

[Joe doggs]

I think as others have mentioned,it may take some getting used to..I’ve had numerous large class a coaches without it,and a couple with it….its absolutely amazing!! There’s a very good write up about it on irv2…..I doubted at first but…sure enough,with constant cross wind,or crowned road,it actually helps with the fight…no more tired,tense arm/shoulder muscles after a days drive(less excuse to go get a massage however.)returning to center is nice,and while not promoted,I’ve heard there are benefits if you have a blowout on a steer tire..for me the biggest benefit I notice,is with maximum assist,I’m not the one doing the work steering the coach,could steer it with my pinkie…..it’s almost like my jeep steering itself,although the jeep starts chiming if hands are removed from the steering wheel(which was done only as a test)……I’d guess you will end up appreciating comfort drive..Joe b

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Oversteering/overdriving is the major obstacle some people have to adjust to when getting used to the comfort drive.

 

[Rich W.]

Found this write up around Comfort Drive by Mike Mas interesting.

http://rotory.com/coach/comfort/#ewpopup/2/

Interesting, some questionable conclusions, and he took pages to say what Ken Sherwin has said in a couple paragraphs. Also its tough to read something that long with terrible punctuation but thats just my freaky button. Anyway, yeah - its called Comfort Drive, not Control Drive. I knew that.

 

[Rich W.]

So all this renewed discussion about CD has got me thinking about the forces we can exert on the front tires by either steering them while the coach is stationary (very easy to do), or shutting down while the wheels are still turned (easy to forget not to). We’ve all read that the structural components of the steering system are up to these forces, but what about the tires? Given the front tire failures we’ve seen on fairly new tires on Newmar coaches, what do you think about the possibility that CD allows us to put more strain on the sidewalls, casing, and plies than conventional power steering, and my question: do you think this could be a contributing factor to early front tire failure?

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Given the front tire failures we’ve seen on fairly new tires on Newmar coaches,

Is there any data to support this claim? I don't think Newmar's have any higher blowout rate than any other manufacturer but I have no data to support that claim.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Interesting question - I have wondered about tire scrubbing and does it impact tire failures?
Currently our steer tires have little chunks missing on the outside edges from scrubbing. So I am now much more careful to not turn the wheels until we start rolling.
Would this contribute to sidewall failure? Would be great to have data as mentioned by Texas Clodhopper.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I think we may be overthinking what comfort drive is designed to do.

 

[Neal]

I can tell you my wheel may be centered and engine shutdown and then it always kicks off center. This in fact threw off HWH Active Air when installed as he aligned something based on engine off and then when starting the wheel auto centered. So regardless of your attempt to center the wheel or prevent a comfort drive action, it's probably going to happen and I'm not concerned. I think any tire movement when not driving may barely if at all scrub a tread but is not going to damage a monster tire such as these. I'm always amazed how much abuse tires take anyways such as potholes, etc.

 

[Rich W.]

Is there any data to support this claim? I don't think Newmar's have any higher blowout rate than any other manufacturer but I have no data to support that claim.

none that I know of but the possibility just occurred to me - its food for thought and a good reason to be careful about putting excessive side loads on the front tires with CD. I just started thinking about @Richpatty’s odd internal tire failure and @Scotttkd2’s catastrophic failure of a three year old tire and the fact that you cant steer a non-CD equipped big rig without it moving nearly as easily or as much as you can with CD, and it seems to me that it could be exerting excessive force when the tire is planted firmly on pavement. The tread scuffing off a bit doesn't concern me - its whats happening to the internal structure of the tire I’m considering.

 

[GUS2000]

Guess I'm curious how CD would apply more strain to the sidewalls....