235-80-17 tires

[sojoe]

Anyone run 235-80-17`s on a Ram 2500-4x4 ? Been using Michelin 265 70-17 and seem to get a lot of edge
(uneven)wear on the fronts (alignment done yearly). At 55000 miles I am looking at new tires
I tow a 14,500 pound fiver.
I thought a narrower tire may not wear as much on edges ?????????????????????????????
BUT will they handle poorly?
ANY THOUGHTS ?

 

[Wiredawg]

A couple questions:

What pressure you running at? Wearing on edges sounds like a little underinflated.

Do you rotate everything ever 5K miles? Rotating tires is huge in getting more miles out of tires.

Just throwing some thoughts out there.

Cheers, Ron

 

[Ozymandias]

Alignment to which specs?
My tires wore out perfect, Toe IN dead zero.

 

[TFucili]

Depends on if the truck has the "Y" type linkage, or the updated design. If it's the "Y", Thuren says stay factory. Maybe set toe to the minimum factory spec?

sojoe, is you truck running the original drag link and tie rod setup? Ball joints tight? Shocks good? Unit bearings?

 

[JR]

If I could get 55,000 miles out of a set of tires I'd be a returning customer for which ever brand got me there.

 

[Brian Sullivan]

I got 70k out of bfg but we’re 10 years old towing a 15k 5th wheel and they had plenty of tread remaining

 

[petersonj]

Anyone run 235-80-17`s on a Ram 2500-4x4 ? Been using Michelin 265 70-17 and seem to get a lot of edge
(uneven)wear on the fronts (alignment done yearly). At 55000 miles I am looking at new tires
I tow a 14,500 pound fiver.
I thought a narrower tire may not wear as much on edges ?????????????????????????????
BUT will they handle poorly?
ANY THOUGHTS ?

It may be your tires. I had run two sets of four Michelins on my 2002 truck (Michelin 265/75R16 MS2) from 9/2012 through 7/2018. The tires were rated for 70,000 miles and were installed by Discount Tire each time. Each set lasted barely 55,000 miles. I had very similar outside tire wear like you have mentioned. No matter what I did I could not stop the wear pattern.

On the first set of tires, Michelin gave me $30 per tire credit toward the purchase of the next set of four Michelin tires. After the next set wore out prematurely (55,000 mils), Michelin would not warranty the mileage shortfall. However, the Discount Tire representative said that Michelin had a flaw in there manufacturing process for that particular tire and that Discount tire had notified Michelin of this odd tire wear pattern because Discount Tire had a huge volume of these tires over the years and had observed the unusual tire wear trend. Discount Tire also said that this Michelin tire was being replaced by the Defender series which, interestingly enough, is rated as a 50,000 mile tire. The best part for me was that Discount Tire honored the $30 per tire adjustment because of the history with that tire.

I purchased a set of four Yokohama tires (YK-HTXLT245 /75 R16 120R E1 BSW) with a 50,000 mile warranty because of excellent reviews and I also went to a 245/75 R16 tire for better performance and reduced stress on the steering components. I have logged 21,000 miles (mostly towing) with these tires and I couldn't be happier. The performance has been excellent on dry pavement, wet pavement, and on snow and ice. They are wearing very evenly with my tire pressure always adjusted to the weight on each axle. At the current wear rate, they are going to surpass 50,000 miles.

The smaller tire size has improved acceleration and braking and the ability maintain speed on grades.

After driving for 110,000 miles and six years with the Michelins and continually trying to diagnose problems that didn't exist, I am very happy that I made the changes.

The Michelin tires may not be the problem in your case, but I think it would be worth looking into.

- John

- John

 

[JR]

I got 70k out of bfg but we’re 10 years old towing a 15k 5th wheel and they had plenty of tread remaining

I'm not an aggressive driver and I can't even get that out of a 3,000 lb car. I'd love to follow you around for a minute and see your driving style.

 

[sojoe]

thank you all for the replies..
Alignment was done by dodge dealer-don`t recall the specs.
I am with you on the usual tread wear, over pressure = center while under inflation = outter wear.
But I always use 80 psi. still the outer corner wear centers much less wear.
New ball joints last year along with Bilstein shocks.
As Peterson wrote-could be a Michelin thing
These were the Defender tires-Previous set of Michs were not defender. Previous set had similar wear on corners and made it to 60k miles
Hence considering the 235 80`17s, or 255 75 80 17??????????????????

 

[Jim W]

I am running LT285/70R/17 126R Nitto Dural Grappler tires when in the towing season. I will than switch them out for my factory tires Michelin LT 265/70R/17E. The Nitto's tires are mounted on a set of Mickey Thompson SideBiter II rims . In inflate these tires to 70 PSI rear which will support a load of 3415 LBS and the fronts are aired to 55 PSi which supports a load of 2890LBS. If you inflate the tires to 80 PSI this will support a load of 3750 each.

Since you are towing a heavy 5er have you consider changing to an 18" tire. Since the only 17inch tire I could find that will support a heavy load is the NITTO Dura Grappler tire. All other tires are an E rated tire that will support a load of 3195 LBS if I am correct. If or when this tire is either redesigned or is no longer produce I am will be going to an 18 inch tire to support my towing load when I tow my 5er.

 

[TFucili]

I'm with JR, and would consider 55K pretty darn good. I would personally not run a narrower tire. I know it's apples and oranges, and some of it is due to the track width difference of a dually, but I notice the narrower tires on this truck make for less precise cornering versus my 2500 on OEM size tires. YMMV.

 

[Ozymandias]

And they wore out faster..
Take off from a Stop could also be fun with wieners.

235/80 is what old Landrovers hat with 70hp an 75lbs torque.