Are Michellin's worth $50 extra per tire?

[MikeJ]

Let me explain something to you Gary-KJ6Q

I make my living with my truck and I've been leased to a trucking company for over 3 years. Everything I do to my truck is documented. On May 10, 1999 I replaced my factory Goodyears with a set of Michelins at 82,277 miles. These were bought at Discount Tire in Victoria, Tx. Those tires were replaced with another set of Michelins on Sep 1, 2000 at 238,503 miles. These also were bought at Discount Tire in Victoria. All this is documented and I know what the he$$ I'm talking about. Besides that I have never done anything to the front end and the truck has never been aligned. The tires I have on now have over 116,000 miles on them, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!



MikeJ

Acme Truck Lines

Victoria, Tx (where we have plenty of electricity)

 

[TowPro]

be carefull with the tires you find at Sams and BJ's. I was looking at Michellins for my VW. BJ's had michellins X tires, and the guy is telling me they are the same as x-1's but there not. Look close at them, then go to a michellin dealer and see what theres look like. you may find there not the same tire!



My dad ran into this at Sams also. The All season michelin tires he was looking at at Sams were not the same tire that the michelin dealers sold. I think the tire store had a A on tread wear, and the one at sams was a B. Something about one was an XL and the other was an XLS or something. Check it out.



Buy the way, I bought Cooper SRM=II's 45K ago (2wd drive) and there probably about 1/2 way worn out. ($109. 00 each in stock size load range E)

 

[jsimpson]

they probably are. i have them on my tundra but will probably go with coopers on my RAM.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Mikej sez:



"Besides that I have never done anything to the front end and the truck has never been aligned. The tires I have on now have over 116,000 miles on them, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!"





FIRST, and foremost, I sometimes tend to make comments in a pointed manner that irritate some - even tho' that is NOT my intent. If I offended you with my comments, I apologize...



THAT being said, I *will* stand by my inference that YOUR tire mileage IS extreme, and VERY difficult to accept at face value! To obtain 156,000 miles from a set of tires in NORMAL all-around use, and driven in a "normal" fashion on typical terrain, is a stretch even if rotated religiously - including the spare.



It would SEEM obvious that 3500 series trucks are WORK trucks, and USUALLY exposed to uses and loads that will frequently stress drivetrains and tires - so the "normal" expectation for tire mileage in such uses would be considerably LESS than what you have stated - and indeed, others with similar rigs are WAY under your mileage, as claimed in other similar threads related to tire wear!



Any OTHER owners here seeing WELL over 100,000 miles on a set of tires?



SO, it seems reasonable that a key part of the equation is missing from your statement - driving style or terrain, loads carried - or perhaps no loads at all? all straight-line long distance all freeway driving? Tell us your secret for such exceptional mileage - God knows *I* could use more wear from MY tires...



Otherwise, EXTREME tire mileage claims will understandably get the same response as if *I* was to claim I consistently get 50 mpg fuel consumption from MY truck - and that response would look like THIS:



#ad

 

[ReggieRam]

I'm that guy!

Gary-



Believe it or not, I'm almost that guy that drives a lot of freeway driving (and a lot of the trips are very straight) without a load. My 3500 4x4 is not a work truck. I bought it mostly because it looks so cool. It does get off road probably about once every two months, and does see some snow and ice during the winter. I will definitely let you know, but definitely not for a few years, if I see that kind of incredible mileage out of my tires when I get them. My driving style is pretty mellow (PreBOMB, so that may change). All-in-all, I usually get see better miles out of a set of tires than most. Time will tell.

 

[MikeJ]

Gary

I'll accept your apology. I realize that 156,000 miles is exceptional, but that is what I got and I was just giving my opinion about whether Michelins were worth the money. I did take extreme exception to all the comments you made about the validity of my post and me personally. Also, I don't care whether any OTHER member gets that kind of mileage. I'm just stating

FACTS!

As for how I got that kind of mileage out of the tires:

The tires mentioned were Michelin LTX M/S 215/85-16 Load range E. The overwhelming majority of the miles were in south & central Texas, La, Ms and Al. These are mostly long straight flat roads. I haul oilfield supplies to rigs and to offshore docks and hardly ever pull a trailer. I keep the tires aired up to 80 lbs ALL THE TIME and rotate them every oil change at 6000 miles. As to the loads that I carry, they have been from 1 to 8500 lbs. Usually from 1000 to 4000 lbs (I have CAT scale tickets for the heavier ones)

 

[klenger]

The only tire better than Michellins is Michellins from Discount Tire.

 

[Grey Wolf]

My first set of Costco purchased Michelins went to 102,000..... 99,000 on the present set.

 

[hammersley]

Ok OK I'm not going to call anybody a liar - but with my experience and a buddy of mine on his Michelins - I can only assume there appears to be a tremendous quality control issue. I drive normal , no heavy loads, and rotate my tires religiously at 5,000 miles. No unusual wear at any rotation. Now I want you folks to tell me - be honest - if you had a pair almost wear out in 11,000 miles would you replace them with the same tire?

 

[Shelby Griggs]

Stopped by COSTCO yesterday and had a very informational chat with a chap there. I thought I might be wearing a little fast on my stock Michellin's but he measured them and I have about 2/3 of the tread left with 15K on the tires. Looks like I will go easy 45K-50K. I run about 8300# all the time and do drive dirt and gravel roads some, so I think if I go 50K this will be good. They stock the M/S and can order the A/S. He says they have one customer that tows trailers from the factory (3500 I think???) that has someting like 350K on the truck, and runs between 80K-90K per set, and they have put a few sets on for him. The fellow I was talking with seemed a pretty straight shooter, used to work for Les Schwab in the retread plant, and seemed to know tires real well. He claims there is no difference between COSTCO Michellin's and and other Michellin's. The upshot of all this jabber, about 1/2 hour in the parking lot, is that I will buy my next set of tires from COSTCO and they will be Michellin's. BTW, they have plastic coated weights, like the factory so as to not mar your clear coat. I am senstive to this, because my Grand Am wheels got the clear coat damaged and it is all down hill after that. They will also balance with weight on the inside only upon request, which is probably what I will do. The Michellin's ride smooth, partially because of the mold type used at the plant. This aids in a rounder tire, requiring minimal balance weight. He claimed the Michellin's always take less weight than other tires, so only weighting the inside should work very good.



Shelby

 

[David Brown]

Reggie, For what it is worth my '94 came with Good Years and the first set were taken off when the truck had 83,000 miles on it and were replaced under warranty. I did a balance and rotate every 15,000 miles and kept 75psi in them. I work with a guy that has Michelins and he just bought a new set at 40,000 miles. IMHO,the tire you buy should be goverened by how your truck is used. That is, if it is in unimproved roads a good bit then the softer compound tires will last longer and the higher priced tires(Good Year,Michelin)won't live very long. If on the other hand you stay on paved roads the Michelins and Good Years will stay under you for a long time,one of the other responders to your post said that rotation and balance are vital and truer words could not be spoken.

My '01 has Michelins and will have until they need to be replaced, when that time comes the miles on the odometer will dictate the brand of tires going back on my truck. One more thing to remember, you get what you pay for.

 

[o_mccarroll]

Buddy of mine's Ram has about 15k on the original rubber. All four of his tires have holes/punctures/slashes in the sidewalls and leak air at a rate that requires him to air up twice a day. They will be replaced by Goodyears soon.



They just have not held up. Perhaps they get good wear/milage (I don't know yet, only have 7k on mine) but they certainly don't seem very tough.

 

[Blakers]

So does Michellin make mud/serious all terrain tires? How big do they make for 16 inch rims? Do they make 35 or 38 inch OD tires?



Blake