Vibtation problem revisited, It's all in the tires

[kscheffler]

Interesting that you bring up the center two rows of tread. I asked the local Les Schwab dealer about that when I had the tires rotated two weeks ago. They claim that there is an additional layer of tread placed in the center of the tire to provide more puncter resistance and that they monitori the tread depth on the outside rows of the tire. But your comment about what happenes when it is flat and smooth on the interior is a good point. How many miles did it take to remove the inner grooves such as you are describing?

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Interesting that you bring up the center two rows of tread. I asked the local Les Schwab dealer about that when I had the tires rotated two weeks ago. They claim that there is an additional layer of tread placed in the center of the tire to provide more puncter resistance and that they monitori the tread depth on the outside rows of the tire. But your comment about what happenes when it is flat and smooth on the interior is a good point. How many miles did it take to remove the inner grooves such as you are describing?

WELL, in my case with only 2WD, there was not any apparent traction improvement between the OEM Michelins on the rear, and the M55's even when they were relatively new - so the bare strip now down the center is probably insignificant in my case - and keep in mind, the extra stuff (fuel/tool box and 5er hitch) in the bed of my truck weighs about 1000 lbs - so the rear end certainly is not too light.



I have probably 25K miles or less on the M55's, and both are now bare down the center...



Remains to be seen how many more miles I can put on them with a clear conscience... :-laf