Michelin tires

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Finally replaced my tires at 156,226 miles!
I bought them on May 10, 1999 and have averaged 326 miles a day.
1 flat
1 tire replaced at 20,000 miles because of alligator teeth bites in the sidewall
no rebalancing
about 26 free rotations
Michelin makes a great tire!

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1997 3500 club cab, 10' flatbed, 3:54, auto, 4 Firestone air bags, 236,000+ miles

 

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Holy Cow! I like the Michelins also, wish they came bigger than 265 in the load range E catagory. We gotta hear the aligator story!? What did you do to pi$$ him/her off enough to chew on your tire? #ad
Also, what pressures did you run?

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2001 HO 6 speed Regular Cab SLT 4x4 3. 54 anti spin 2500. Used for the daily grind and sneaking away to some secret Baja beaches toting a cabover

 

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Heehheh. . i like to hear about the story too. #ad
... I have the Michelin's on my 2500, but i think i took off 5000 miles with the burn-outs i have been doing latey #ad
#ad
#ad

 

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Wow, that's a lot of miles on a set of tires. I have 23,000 on my Michelin's and they are just about shot. Mine were the stock oem tires. Good tires otherwise.

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’99 2500 White SLT (most every option) QC LB 4x4 with 3. 54’s and an Auto. BD Pressure Lock, ISSPRO transmission and Pyro Gauges. Warn Trans4mer with M12000 winch. Complete bug shield and rain guards. Line X. B&W turn-over Goose Neck Hitch. Roto-Eze Balls of Steel. Betterbuilt Tool Box. Weston Nerf Steps. Chrome Sill Guards, Cobra 75X CB. And a Polaris Diesel ATV bed toy.

 

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I've got about 26k on mine and will be lucky to get 50k on the set...

John- n6jwh

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1999 2500 Club Cab 139" WB, Deep Amethyst Pearl Coat, 24V, 5 speed, 2WD, 3. 54 LSD, Mag Hytec diff cover, Jacobs E-brake, Muffler Eliminator, K&N filter, Black Maxx lumber rack, Delta tool box.

 

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OK, Mike]... . you gotta divy-up on your secret to long tire-life!! I had Michilins and Alcoa's on my 95 2500 when I sold it, had about 45k on them and they looked like new! I wonder if the OE tires are of a different grade (to be sold cheaply to the manufacturer) than what we shell out the big bucks for... hmmmmm. Oh yeah, gotta hear the 'hag-a-lator' story!!

 

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I was surprised to get that kind of mileage also but it has sure helped my cost per mile on running my truck.
My original tires were Goodyear Wranglers from the factory and I got 82,277 miles on them when I got the Michelin's this last year. I've got the stock 215's that I keep at 65 lbs all around and I rotate faithfully between 6000 and 8000 miles. Other than that I'm sure these straight flat South Texas and Louisiana roads are easier on tires than mountain roads, etc. I don't pull a trailer, but I frequently overload the truck and nothing's complained yet. (fingers crossed).
The truck is 8400 lbs empty (4200 front axle - 4200 back) and I have grossed up to 16860 lbs.
I got my new tires yesterday at 2:00 pm and I just now came back to the house with 900 miles on them, so they've been broke in already.
As for the alligator: I was hauling a 3000 lb offshore basket full of oifield rental tools one night going to Cameron, La. I was about 1/4 mile behind a car and just kind of following their taillights when all of a sudden I saw a 14 ft alligator across the road. His head was already off the road,his body streched across my lane and his tail was halfway across the other lane (the lane's are 10 ft from center line to shoulder). I ran over him at about 60 mph and it send the whole truck airborne. Evidently when I hit him, he was pretty PO'ed because he ended up biting my right rear outside tire in several places. To make a long story short, it didn't hurt the truck, it did kill the alligator, and I found a tooth in the tire when I had it replaced.

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1997 3500 club cab, 10' flatbed, 3:54, auto, 4 Firestone air bags, 236,000+ miles

 

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Mike, I know that road well. It is Hwy 87 in Texas around Sabine Pass to Galveston. I believe it is unpassable on the Texas side from High Island to Sabine Pass.

I also had an expereince or two on the way to Cameron. For those not familiar with deep South East Texas, it is mostly swamp land, with the Sabine River seperating Texas and Lousiana. It is known as some of the best hunting and fishing areas around. With all of the marsh and water come Mosquitoes the size of Pelicans (well maybe a Dove!!!!). I was traveling from Cameron to Houston via the coast road one night in the middle of summer. Around midnight and temp in the low 80's and humidity about 90%, a lovely summer night on the Texas/Lousiana coast. There are only two places to stop between the state line and Cameron that offer any fuel or snacks, and they close at 6:00 pm I think. The bugs were so thick on the windshield that I could barely see the road I passed a van parked on the side of the road and told my buddie I wonder where the poor fool driving that thing is. If he got out and was walking he was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, and always the possibility of stumbling across the ever present Gators. All of the sudden in the middle of the road is this guy waving his arms trying to flag us down, and he was not moving from the middle of the road!!!! I dodged him and got stopped and started to back up when the door flung open and in jumped this guy swatting bugs the whole time. It took a minute for him to calm down from swatting bugs and we looked at him and he was sweating and out of breath, spitting the reminantence of the last mosquitoes out of his mouth. That was his truck (van) we had passed back up the road. He had been walking for about an hour and said that he never had felt so many bugs on him in his entire life. Not to mention the strange sounds coming from the side of the road which he could not see!!!! We laughed about it and kidded him that we could have been axe murders and he would have jumped in the truck anyway!!! He said that at least the death would have been quicker than getting all of the blood sucked out by one mosquitoe at a time LOL!!!!!!! One other vehicle had already passed him by and he said that he was not letting another go by. My buddie and I laugh everytime we talk about Cameron Lousiana and the good old coast road.

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92 Ext. Cab, Auto trans. , 3. 54 Non-LS, Isspro Tach and Pyro (pre-turbo), 210,000+ miles, straight pipe,old and abused but still running strong!!!!

 

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I haven't hit one in my truck yet, but I have had try to chase my boat before. Since I'm only about 30 miles from Cameron, I hear a lot of stories about alligators and trucks. The best thing I've seen on that road is a car that decided to go into one of those ditches. THe poor girl that was driving fell asleep. She was more scared of the alligators than anything else.

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"Big Red" 1994 Ram 2500 Laramie SLT, 12 valve, 2WD, Auto. 139,000 miles. I am my own warranty station Ranch Hand steel brush guard, Scotty Air, silencer ring removed, Flowmaster muffler, chrome turn down pipe out the side, Velvet ride shackles. www.gitchesumatfreeweb.com

 

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My parents have a german shepard that shreaded a brand new tire on a suburban and put a leak in another one. Overall he is a real nice dog. I guess he does not like chevies.

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2001 2500 ETH/DEE Blk/Agate 4x4 QC LWB SLT+ 3. 54 LSD, Every option except Snow Plow and Cab Lights. ARE Z-Series Cap(lined) w/ intregrated electric lock. Bedrug Mopar Blk Aluminum Tube Steps 12000 lb Warn Winch/Transformer Mount- Brush Guard Factory Tow Hooks and all the right gear.

 

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I have the OEM Michelins with 37,000 miles on them now. The tread still looks almost like it did when they were new. I check the air pressure regularly and rotate them about every 7,500 miles. I'm sure they will last 60-80k miles.

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99 QC SB 4x4 Auto
Factory Ordered
Most Options

 

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Mike- I forgot to ask you when you came by- Which style/type of Michelins were you running and where did you get them?

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Bill Lins Wharton, TX 98 2500 QC SLT,12 (the CORRECT # of)valves,NV4500,3. 54 LSD,Manik grille guard,Psychotty Air,Amsoil everywhere, Reading aluminum utility body and bumper,Optima yellow tops- silencer ring, cat,& muffler all stolen.

 

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Bill
I had the 215/85-16 E LTX MS from Discount Tire. The 215's aren't that plentiful and I had to wait 2 wks to get the new ones. Their supplier had lied and they didn't have the MS so I had to wait 2 more days and get the AS which is more of a highway tread. It's supposed to be the same rubber compound so maybe I can get decent mileage with these.
Hope you had a good holiday! I tried to, but I've got 1435 miles on my new tires, so I've been a little busy.
Take care

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1997 3500 club cab, 10' flatbed, 3:54, auto, 4 Firestone air bags, 240,000+ miles