Duravis 250 vrs XPS rib tires

[AH64ID]

I don't think the R500 has as dense of compound, it is listed as a "better" snow tire by Bridgestone. The R250 doesn't even have a snow or ice performance rating.

Warm tires do preform better, but not all road conditions will allow tires to get warm enough if it's 10° out. If someone where to see their tires heat up 50-60° above ambient on a 100° day they would think there was a problem, the same is true on a 10° day.

Blizzard are impressive! Nothing short of amazing on snow and ice. They take my DD from a beginning ice skater to a a high sped Olympic speed skater in terms of traction and control.

 

[SnoKing]

I don't think the R500 has as dense of compound, it is listed as a "better" snow tire by Bridgestone. The R250 doesn't even have a snow or ice performance rating.

Warm tires do preform better, but not all road conditions will allow tires to get warm enough if it's 10° out. If someone where to see their tires heat up 50-60° above ambient on a 100° day they would think there was a problem, the same is true on a 10° day.

Blizzard are impressive! Nothing short of amazing on snow and ice. They take my DD from a beginning ice skater to a a high sped Olympic speed skater in terms of traction and control.

I put R500HD on my truck, so trust me that they are a dense hard tread compound, with very little siping. I do not know why BS put a A/S rating on this tire, other than in commercial service and heavy loads it might me ok! But is not like normal LT pickup service A/S tires. It will be a long tire before I every wear them out!!!!! Ride is noticeably firmer and pot holes are hit much harder. SNOKING

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[AH64ID]

Yes they are a very hard tire, why I bought them, but they are still a catergory or two above the XPS RIB/R250's.

 

[inlinesix3million]

Yes they are a very hard tire, why I bought them, but they are still a catergory or two above the XPS RIB/R250's.

If these tires were mounted on your truck- your statement might be true-maybe. The discussion was trailer tires. The R250 has a reinforced full steel casing. If the R500 has that then Bridgestone
is keeping it on the down-low on their website. Aside from the fact that the XPS RIB and R250 are the better options for a 16" ST tire replacement- your R500 is a perfectly fine tire. My disagreement was never about your tire choice. Most folks in the internet world look up to you for your vast knowledge and experience on the various Cummins websites- myself included!
You have the habit of doing your snipe hunting fly-bys on occasion and it is not cool. Remember the part in Spider Man " with great power comes great responsibility" ? Betcha never thought
that would apply to you. Stop being a prima donna and act the part. You have probably single-handedly added millions of miles to our injectors alone with your fuel filter recommendations.
AH64ID... We speak your name

 

[AH64ID]

When did we start talking pickup tires?

They are a different category regardless of where they are mounted, anyway you look at it they are 4 season rated and the XPS RIBs and R250's are not. On warm dry pavement the R250/XPS RIBs will be a better trailer tire, on wet, cold, frozen, or gravel roads the R500's will be better and that's the reason they are on my trailer.

No sniping, or spin jobs... Just reading what is written and making a response. It's not meant to be an attack, it's a discussion and the way words are used means things. If your still referring to your traction comment go back and look at it. I didn't spin anything, I made a comment on what you wrote, not on what you intended to write. I only have access to the post, not the thought.

"Traction is for drive wheels only" does not mean the same thing as "traction tires are for drive wheels only". One is describing the grabbing force of the tire on the road(traction as a noun) and the other describes a style of tire(traction as an adjective). Two different meanings and what you said was not correct, as tires in all positions need traction. You probably meant the latter, but defended your statement and then went on to describe the second statement.

 

[inlinesix3million]

I believe the 4 season rating applies to a driven tire. Is the rubber compound of the R500 harder than the others and thus better on gravel? That would be valuable info.
On semi trailers, most companies "finish" up their used drive tires on the trailer. They do not last very long. The trailer is allowed to run a tire with a smaller tread depth.The trailer
tire is designed with different characteristics due to the different physics associated with it being pulled instead of driven. If you were to use a new steer tire,for instance, on the trailer-
it would scrub off a lot of tread initially. A trailer-only tire has much less tread depth,but, a different compound and tread design than a steer.
The spin job,right or wrong, I applied to this thread. The sniping I noticed over a period of time. Your'e a smart, knowledgeable guy and your focus is probably more pinpoint than most-but it
can come off as abrupt and smart a**ed. As an example,in my case on a different thread, I was describing finally installing a brake actuator( that I had before I ever touched my emergency
brake pedal assembly) and which you replied/implied it to be unimaginable to be without the emergency pedal on a manual. Like someone would plan/contemplate a complex install without
thinking/planning it through before tearing the truck apart.You know what they say about assume. Just sayin'. No hard feelings though- I sometimes have trouble with the "insert adjective here"
attitudes.

 

[RVTRKN]

Steer and drive axles/wheels require a weather specific tire if your in the part of the country that demands it, and I can relate to the need for a better traction tire in snow and ice. But if I'm ever in weather, unintentionally of coarse, that would require such a tire it would be for a short distance only. Think about it, why would I want to take an RV into such a situation, it would only be by surprise and would require an adaption to conditions for a short period. First thing I would do is to slow down to conditions and pull into a safe place to wait out the weather regardless of the tire on my RV. Second would be to plan the safest route out of the weather effected zone. Now if I planned to be in the weather described that would require such a tire, I probably would have chains for all tires but would install the chains on the rear axle of the trailer for braking only purposes. So it's a mute point for the general use of such a tire that would be required for snow and ice for an RV, now pulling a trailer loaded with Snowmobiles would obviously require a tire specific to that environment. So the XPS rib and Duravis 250 is the best choice overall for most RV's. Since I installed the XPS rib tires, I had to take a sharp maneuvering turn and the tires were stressed on the opposing directions being pulled and glad the tread design was what they were.

 

[AH64ID]

I believe a 4 season rating applies to the tire, regardless of if it is being driven or not. All tires that are in contact with the ground are subject to braking/cornering forces and those forces still require traction. Mose vehicles on the road only have one tire being driven, and not all of your traction comes from that one tire.

The gravel traction is part of the lug design. The lugs have a constant taper, much like a flat top pyramid, which allows for easier rock ejection.

I agree that the R250's are probably one of the best LT tires to be used by most RV owners, with the price advantage over the XPS RIBs. My personally use could intentionally get me into some snow/ice, which is why I have chains for the trailer in the truck from Septemeber-May.

Putting the first real miles on the R500's here pretty soon, but minimal dirt this trip, and will report back. I'll be on some winding mountain highways.

 

[SnoKing]

I believe a 4 season rating applies to the tire, regardless of if it is being driven or not. All tires that are in contact with the ground are subject to braking/cornering forces and those forces still require traction. Mose vehicles on the road only have one tire being driven, and not all of your traction comes from that one tire.

The gravel traction is part of the lug design. The lugs have a constant taper, much like a flat top pyramid, which allows for easier rock ejection.

I agree that the R250's are probably one of the best LT tires to be used by most RV owners, with the price advantage over the XPS RIBs. My personally use could intentionally get me into some snow/ice, which is why I have chains for the trailer in the truck from Septemeber-May.

Putting the first real miles on the R500's here pretty soon, but minimal dirt this trip, and will report back. I'll be on some winding mountain highways.

For your use I believe you will find that R500 HD has little of no traction/brake advantage over Ribs or R250's. The R500 HD rubber is very dense and the casing is very stiff with the two ply poly carcass. A good traction tire has softer rubber compounds than the R500 HD.

I only put that on my truck because it is a freeway queen. I will probably never wear them out. Truck is 14 years old with 120K on the clock. I am going to be 71 next month, so a 100K tire wear is maybe going to out live me. In the mean time I have to be careful when lightly loaded and the roads are wet.

If you want a higher traction/braking trailer tire, the R500 HD was not a best choice. The XPS Traction, Duravis M895, LTX M&S2 and many others would have been much better.

SNOKING

 

[AH64ID]

Bridgestone doesn't agree with that statement, and they do make the tire.

Additionally the lugs are nowhere near as hard as you describe. I just walked out and played with them and it's 45° here. The shoulders are stiff due to the closed shoulder but the center lugs are more pliable than expected.

I don't need a traction tire, I needed higher traction in cold weather than the R250's would provide as well as better gravel road manners. The R500 fits perfectly into this category. There is a big difference in a traction tire and a tire with additional traction.

The XPS Traction is an open shoulder tire, which is something I don't want on a trailer tire. The LTX M&S2 is the same. Neither would be a great towing tire.

The R500 has a lower fuel economy rating than the M895's, that tells me that it has more drag/grip with the road. Otherwise they share the same ratings and looking at the tread design I would pick the R500 over the M895 for my use every time. The M895 may have more sipes initially but they appear to be much shallower than the R500s and the R500 siping is one of the "features" for winter use, something the M895 doesn't have. The M895 is a steel cased tire and the R500 is poly cased, another point for the R500 in winter. I would not call the M895 a higher traction tire than the R500, I would call it a lower traction tire. I also believe the M895 has been discontinued in most/all sizes.

http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tire/duravis-m895

http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tire/duravis-r500-hd

But time will tell on how they do.

 

[SnoKing]

But time will tell on how they do.

Yep, I have been actually using them for a year or so! On my truck and can assure you they ride quite a bit stiffer than the LTX M&S' then replaced and are very slippery on wet payment!

SNOKING

 

[AH64ID]

I hear lots of 2nd gen guys talk about how slippery certain tires are on wet pavement and that is not something I have experienced in my 3rd gen. Maybe it's my driving style or maybe it's the 2nd gen suspension??? Even my 19.5's, which are harder than anything we are talking about in this thread, don't have that issue.

 

[SnoKing]

I hear lots of 2nd gen guys talk about how slippery certain tires are on wet pavement and that is not something I have experienced in my 3rd gen. Maybe it's my driving style or maybe it's the 2nd gen suspension??? Even my 19.5's, which are harder than anything we are talking about in this thread, don't have that issue.

Guess I will have to go with what was noted in post #64! SNOKING

 

[AH64ID]

Guess I will have to go with what was noted in post #64! SNOKING

Your not doing a very good job following the conversation if you want to go that route. Seems awfully childish for a man in his 70's.

Any fool can see that a R500 will be rougher and have lower traction than a LTX M&S, so I am still not sure what the point was.

It is an honest observation over the years from mainly 2nd gen guys running the same tire as a 3rd guy with lower reported traction. Why I don't know, and was partially why I asked. But hey to each there own.

 

[inlinesix3million]

I believe a 4 season rating applies to the tire, regardless of if it is being driven or not. All tires that are in contact with the ground are subject to braking/cornering forces and those forces still require traction. Mose vehicles on the road only have one tire being driven, and not all of your traction comes from that one tire.

The gravel traction is part of the lug design. The lugs have a constant taper, much like a flat top pyramid, which allows for easier rock ejection.

I agree that the R250's are probably one of the best LT tires to be used by most RV owners, with the price advantage over the XPS RIBs. My personally use could intentionally get me into some snow/ice, which is why I have chains for the trailer in the truck from Septemeber-May.

Putting the first real miles on the R500's here pretty soon, but minimal dirt this trip, and will report back. I'll be on some winding mountain highways.

I look forward to your results. I will be getting my 24J this summer and will gamble on the ST's for this season. I plan on upgrading to the 16's next year. I guess my main concern is
going to be the gravel roads in the desert. I have heard experiences of cut sidewalls on trucks from the volcanic glass- especially early in the season after fresh gravel is put down. Granted,
this happened to someone before they upgraded to 10 plys. I don't want to get stranded with more flats than I have spares for.

 

[AH64ID]

I carry 2 spares for the TT so I know what you mean!!

The ST's served me well on 2 TT's for 7 seasons, but I did have 3 flats all from rock punctures which is the #1 reason I stepped up to LT's.

 

[JR]

Ive been tire shopping for the last few months and came across a good sale at my local Firestone dealer yesterday. 235/85/16 Trans Force HT's for $610 mounted and balanced. Poly case, notched shoulders. This is for my 22' tilt trailer and does not see snowy roads but on average of maybe a couple of days a year (at most). They seem to get pretty good reviews from all that have used them as a trailer tire. I'm thinking about getting them.

 

[AH64ID]

I put my first couple hundred miles on the R500's this weekend and I am quite pleased. Braking action is better and the trailer seems a little more stable on winding roads. It tracks great up to 70 and shows no issues. I did not have any issues prior, but these do seem to be slighlty better from the drivers seat.

 

[inlinesix3million]

Noticeably better handling and braking on your towed vehicle- compared to a "perfectly good" ST tire.... You hit a home run. Did you go thru your trailer mfg to get the 16's or did you go
aftermarket? ( Wheels ) Will definitely be interested in how they compare on the "back roads" !! Thx,man

 

[AH64ID]

I went with aftermarket wheels, the Allied 870 16x6. It's the same wheel in 6 lug or 8 lugs which means the wheel is rated for 3750 but only having 6 lugs drops it to 3200. Hopefully that means it provides me with a long life at about 2K Max.

Weight this last trip was 74xx on the trailer axles.