Looking to buy a motorhome soon. Found one I'm interested in at a dealer, and pointed out to them that the current set of tires is almost ten years old (based on DOT code). They offered to throw in a new set of Ironman all-position tires as part of the deal. At this point I said to myself "What the heck is an Ironman tire? Some just-arrived-from-China baloney?"

I did some research and there'* not a lot out there. Seems like they are produced by Hercules Tire and started production around 2014. When I learned this I said to myself "What the heck is an Hercules tire? Some off-brand Pep Boys baloney?" I've at least seen a few Hercules tires around, but don't know much about them.

Ironman may have had some teething issues for a year or two, but I can't seem to find much in the form of reviews or testimonials on forums or anything like that. It'* weird. From what little I can find there are a few

The size I'm looking at is 245/70R19.5 preferably load-range H for a Class A . I found several reviews of Hercules tires on cars and light trucks (F150'* primarily), none for medium duty, and a few testimonials on other forums when they've been used on semis.

Before anyone asks: Class A because I can find decent ones for about half the price of decent Class C'* at about the same length, and if there is a fuel economy penalty it will take years to make up for the difference in purchase price.

Has anyone here had any experience with Ironman tires in the medium and/or heavy-duty world?

Lots more research and advice later . . .

I cheated on you guys and got some advice on another forum since (1) nothing was popping up here and (2) the manufacturer of the motorhome chassis is not GM and I needed to join anyways for long-term advice etc. It'* too bad GM didn't beat their way into the motorhome market a lot more like another manufacturer did. Just saying.

I also did a lot of research outside of the other forum. In summary:

- I have come up with a few that have actually used them on light duty pickups and cars
- Some love them
- Some say no difference from their last set of tires
- Some love them at first then have a major defect while the tires are relatively young. This is always with 1 tire, never more than one per vehicle. The defective tire gets replaced and they say "[I'll keep an eye on it]" and usually never post about it again
- A couple love them at first then the tires get noisy and have wear issues within 5,000 miles
- I have found one person that uses them on an F550 that is a work truck in San Francisco and they are fine, however they are new enough that they haven't had a chance to yet
- I have come up with two that have used them on Class A semi trucks and trailers. One of those said he'd never use them as a steer tire until Ironman has a decent reputation. one trailer tire came apart on them but replacement was easy to orchestrate, no arguments, etc.

So, I went back to the selling dealership and advised of my findings and advised that I wanted a couple grand off the asking price and I'll get Toyos. They came back and offered me to put my Toyos on (and fix a bunch of other stuff) for the original asking price and I accepted.

My verdict: Ironman seems okay enough for the price, and might have some quality issues to work out. I don't know where they are actually stamped out. It is the unmentioned cousin of Hercules tire, but is happy to mention Hercules Tire is its cousin. This strikes me as a situation where Hercules doesn't want to water down their brand with Ironman issues, but Ironman wants to say "See? My cousin is Hercules so that'd probably good!" Maybe someday they will have a reputation. In the meantime, I don't want to be part of the experiment.

Update approximately 6 months later: I got the motorhome with the Toyo M143 tires on it. The motorhome place put them at 120PSI (the max on the sidewall). They were awful. They'd find every road defect and amplify it, especially potholes. They had no sense of straight ahead, instead preferring to wander left and right in an interesting dance where the top of the motorhome is always doing the opposite. I kept them this way for a bit thinking that the motorhome repair place knows something that I don't about Class A motorhomes and tire inflation. A couple hundred miles later I finally found the manufacturer'* build tag (hidden cleverly in plain site behind a curtain), and it says 80PSI. With the tires all at 120 from the dealership I think it must be that the manufacturer says 80PSI as a generic for the chassis, and the upfitter re-specifies this to something higher. When empty and dry, it is a ~16,000 pound motorhome after all, and maybe 80PSI isn't enough for the 25,500GVWR.

For extra fun, on long climbs in second gear with my foot pasted to the floor, I could feel the rear end squirming around a bit. Not a lot, but enough that I'm wondering what is going on back there . . . and internally reconfirming that YES for the millionth time I remember emptying the tanks so the tanks are empty so sloshing liquids can't be the problem!

This was with the brand new rear track bar installed, so no chance the rear leaf springs are allowing it.

Around 800 miles later, I've had enough. It still handles terribly and I feel some dread at the thought of driving it and conclude that there'* no way any of these would ever get driven anywhere if they all handle like this, even after several suspension stability upgrades. I've got a bunch of experience driving big things around, and most folks that buy these things don't have any. Bonus: The little manufacturing nubs still show on the outer edges of all the tires while the nubs in the middle are long gone.

So I go cheat on you guys at a couple of other forums. I would have asked here too, but nobody here answers medium-duty tire questions and I have needs! At all of those forums they run their Class A'* at 80-85PSI. There are even a couple that have the same year/chassis/manufacturer as mine, except theirs is a few feet longer and they run 80-85PSI.

So I set mine to 85PSI and go for a drive. Waaaaay better. After a little while it occurs to me that the TV isn't rattling at all where it used to serve as an exact audible notification of every defect on the road. It'* actually not bad to drive, and I can't hear the tires at all, even downhill with a tailwind. We took it on a short trip, about 200 miles round trip with 20% freeway, 30% highway and streets, and 50% curvy mountain roads. It still handled well. The difference is amazing.

Back to the original subject: "Ironman Tires? For medium duty?"

I've been paying pretty good attention and haven't seen Ironman Tires on anything at any campground. Plenty of Toyo, Continental, Michelin, Carlyle, and even some Goodyear and BFG. Not one Ironman. To be fair, I this isn't an exact survey, and I didn't go door to door looking at every tire. I probably saw 30% with my own eyes and assumed another 40% were the same because RVs mostly have matching sets.

This isn't to say anything bad about Ironman Tires, just to say they are definitely aren't prevalent in the RV world from what I can see. Perhaps they will build a reputation over time. It will be an interesting experiment to observe . . . from the outside.

Very interesting thread. Even though I am not really qualified to talk about RV or commercial truck tires, one thing comes to mind Kevlar Tires.
I wonder if Good Year may have some Kevlar'* available for your size? No they are not going to be cheap. I run them in my Jeep and all I can say is wow, what a difference in strength and quiet.
The sidewalls are super thick, I never get a nail puncture. Even on the hwy at 65mph I crunched a glass bottle, not a scratch. May be worth investigating?.

I definitely appreciate the suggestion. I looked around for a few minutes but can't find any 19.5'* that mention Kevlar. The current set of Toyos will be good for five to seven years but I'll keep kevlar in mind for then. On a motorhome, unless full-timing, they'll age out before they wear out, and at ~$3k per set I definitely don't want to go much more expensive unless I get something magical out of it. Who knows what tire technology will be like by the time I'm ready for the next set.

Maybe tires will be less expensive. LOL.

I have a 14-year-old set of Dunlop 19.5'* on my truck and they're still fine, but after a comfortable life of being Load Range H tires in a (occasionally) Load Range E world, they should be. They don't even have cracking in the sidewalls. I'm guessing because they're regrooveable the rubber formula they use holds up better to weather or something.