Question Rettroband - are they worth it?

[DennisT]

Checking date codes on our tires, Superstar we picked up last December and just a comment….

Would be nice if Michelin put the date codes on both sides of the tires - had to open the hood to find the fronts and will have to crawl under the coach to get the rears.

Interesting discussion on rotation although we have 315s on the front and 295s on the rear so...

Had a four corner weight done while at the Mothership - we have at least 1k capacity on both axles and we are full since we are full time. Nice to know we “could” lower the pressures in the tires if desired and not close to overloading either end. That should help overall.

 

[Richpatty]

Checking date codes on our tires, Superstar we picked up last December and just a comment….

Would be nice if Michelin put the date codes on both sides of the tires - had to open the hood to find the fronts and will have to crawl under the coach to get the rears.

Interesting discussion on rotation although we have 315s on the front and 295s on the rear so...

Had a four corner weight done while at the Mothership - we have at least 1k capacity on both axles and we are full since we are full time. Nice to know we “could” lower the pressures in the tires if desired and not close to overloading either end. That should help overall.

Yup. Different size tires can be an issue with such a plan. Would it be possible to put 315s on the back? I guess it would be an added expense.

 

[DennisT]

Yup. Different size tires can be an issue with such a plan. Would it be possible to put 315s on the back? I guess it would be an added expense.

That gets into a whole issue with distance between tires, air flow for cooling, etc. Not sure it would be worth the expense.

Steel wheels on the inners doesn’t help with the heat dissipation. Aluminum on those as well would probably help but probably other things we will want to do to the coach overall to spend the money on

 

[Richpatty]

Gotcha….didn’t know the answer so it was an honest question.
Thanks.

 

[DennisT]

Gotcha….didn’t know the answer so it was an honest question.
Thanks.

Nope, knew it was honest and a good one. May be something we look at just to see if it would be even an option.

Appreciate the question for something to think about.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Does the additional unsprung weight and spinning mass of the Rettrobands add stopping distance or acceleration time? Do they cause the coach to ride any rougher?

 

[Neal]

Several weeks ago I went to the Rettroband website and put in a request for an appointment at the Washington DC (aka Manassas, VA) location. No response to date!

Approximate time of submission was this post

 

[Joe Hogan]

In my opinion it is always best to call as a followup to generic email requests. You never know how the email is routed or to whom.

 

[Richpatty]

I agree with Joe….

 

[Richpatty]

BTW. I am sitting at NIRVC as I type as they are being installed…

 

[Neal]

In my opinion it is always best to call as a followup to generic email requests. You never know how the email is routed or to whom.

That's fine, then maybe do away with the web form and just put on the website to call for an appointment?

 

[sheridany]

Sometimes the email system doesn’t get to the right party at nirvc. It’s happened to me but once you call action happens.

 

[Neal]

Yesterday morning I decided to call NIRVC "Washington, DC" - NIRVC, please STOP calling this Washington, DC as even your address on the website is beyond confusing, it is Manassas, VA and that is what shows on the estimate form. I digress...

The call was immediately answered and I got forwarded to Britney who was very nice and very responsive and we discussed the plan. I was hoping to get in on short notice next week prior to the Newmar Hoots rally but it takes two weeks to get the Rettrobands in supposedly so I'm on the schedule for my trip home from Newmar tentatively for Nov 15th. The price of the size 295 rettroband which goes on the 305 tire is approx $3200, not the $5K I was incorrectly quoted previously so that's a sigh of relief. I have a feeling the person I worked with via email quoted me for a 305 sized rettroband and not 305 sized tire, who knows, unfortunate it was incorrect.

The quote for tires is approx 4-500 over FMCA's price per tire so I'm going to try to find the tires myself and have them shipped there. The other option, if they fit in the back of my Colorado is picking them up and taking them with me from some location. TBD on this one.

More to follow but I wanted to get the corrected information out that was incorrectly provided to me earlier which I shared here, sadly no one else corrected it.

 

[sheridany]

This was a few years ago and generation 1 of rettrobands.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Scheduling an appointment at NIRVc Atlanta today, Nov 13th or 14th for the Retroband install. They do not stock the Retroband for the 365 size tires so I am glad that I called early. Hopefully the stars will align for this to work.

 

[DennisT]

Scheduling an appointment at NIRVc Atlanta today, Nov 13th or 14th for the Retroband install. They do not stock the Retroband for the 365 size tires so I am glad that I called early. Hopefully the stars will align for this to work.

Wow - 365 and I thought the 315s on our Superstar were large.

 

[Richpatty]

Scheduling an appointment at NIRVc Atlanta today, Nov 13th or 14th for the Retroband install. They do not stock the Retroband for the 365 size tires so I am glad that I called early. Hopefully the stars will align for this to work.

Agreed…. The service guy I worked with said they have trouble keeping them in stock, especially 365 and 315. He said 305 are close behind…

Glad to have it done. There is some peace of mind…

 

[Joe Hogan]

The Spartan chassis for the 43' has some big tires up front.

 

[3sons66]

Well I agree they are expensive. However I see the economics more as a form of insurance rather than tire / maintenance cost. I don't have any statistics or other data on steer tire blow outs on Class A RV's. I suppose some are age related, probably many inflation related, maybe a manufacture defect every now and then, and yet a few more related to the tire impacting something. My opinion is if I'm the unlucky one that has a steer blow out I'm interested in doing what I can to help ensure at the end of the event my wife and I are still around to tell the story and hopefully no serious injuries to us or anyone else. To me the Retrobands appear to provide a reasonable approach to improve the performance of the coach in the event of a steer blow out. So in my view, like insurance you are paying to transfer some of the risk. If a person feels there is insufficient risk to justify the cost, or perhaps has concerns regarding if the product would perform as intended, then they likely won't be a buyer. In my case I'm about a year away from new tires. My current plan is to go with Toyo's and take the savings between the Toyo's and Michelins and put it toward a set of Retrobands.

Agreed. So I can replace my tires multiple times for the cost of Rettrobands. Well guess what? I can't replace my life or my wife's life multiple times so I'm getting them. Your not comfortable enough to spend the equivalent of a used golf cart vs. veering off the road?? Really?? Did you all see the outcome of the poor family of 5 who lost their lives in a front end blow out on I-81 in PA?? I've seen enough video's of RV blow outs. I've seen enough videos of "don't hit the brakes...accelerate"...yeah, right good luck with that in an emergency situation as your veering off the road! Sign me up...take my money!

 

[LeslieGary]

Agreed…. The service guy I worked with said they have trouble keeping them in stock, especially 365 and 315. He said 305 are close behind…

Glad to have it done. There is some peace of mind…
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New member here—I greatly appreciate all the comments in this thread and am planning to contact NIRVC in Atlanta to install the Retrobands on our Dutch Star sometime before the spring.

RichPatty, (assuming you also installed new tires) did you also purchase your tires from them? Or did you have a third party ship them there?

Gary