Just after the new Michelin tires were installed on my Burb, I noticed one of the rear tires leaking air.
I called a local tire dealer to make an appointment to have it checked. (Bought the tires at a major discount house, BJ'S)
While doing a walk around before driving the Burb into the shop, the owner called me over to inspect the air valves.
It was hard to believe but, the folks at BJ's had installed passenger car air valves instead of truck rated air valves.
What does this mean? The diameter of the passenger tire valves are just small enough, that, once the tires had been inflated to 80psi...They would have been blown out at some point.
Took it back to BJ's and, made them redo the job~! Talk about red faced~!!
As many are aware, some Excursions with Steeltex tires have been recalled to replace load range D with E. I am being supplied with Pirelli Scorpions from my dealer as replacements. Does anyone have any experience with these tires under normal and under towing conditions? I have had no trouble with the Firestones and wonder if I should insist on similar replacement. Thanks.
Originally posted by bhsl8 As many are aware, some Excursions with Steeltex tires have been recalled to replace load range D with E. I am being supplied with Pirelli Scorpions from my dealer as replacements. Does anyone have any experience with these tires under normal and under towing conditions? I have had no trouble with the Firestones and wonder if I should insist on similar replacement. Thanks.
Hi!
I have not had experience with the Pirellis, although rumor has it that they're good tires. I had my "D" range Steeltex tires replaced with "E" range Steeltex tires on my Excursion and have nothing but good to report. I'm very pleased with them.
Good luck with your decision.
Roger
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AIR 2053 “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” Robert Heinlein 2006 Bigfoot 25B25RQ towed by a 2001 Born Free 23RK moho
"the folks at BJ's had installed passenger car air valves instead of truck rated air valves."
53FlyingCloud, how does it feel to have saved another few lives? By coincidence, I had 4 new LT245/70R16 tires fitted to my Dodge Ram 2500 yesterday. I read your post, walked out to my truck, and spotted the new rubber passenger tire valves. I'm running at 55 front 42 rear when empty, but when I put a load of stone in the back I air to 80psi, and sudden death with these valves. I'm going back this afternoon for a free fitting of the correct steel stem valves. The fitter said it wasn't on his instruction sheet to fit high pressure valves. I thought it churlish to point out that the tires are clearly labelled as max. pressure 80 psi., and the plate on the truck door pillar shows 80psi for max. loads. The rubber valves are rated to 65 psi max. Many thanks for your timely post. Nick.
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Nick Crowhurst, Excella 25 1988, Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel. England in summer, USA in winter.
"The price of freedom is eternal maintenance."
nickcrowhurst
I'm pleased, to say the least~!!
You're quite welcome~!
ciao
53FC
For those folks who haven't heard or looked into this problem..The following website clearly shows the huge differences between the 'types' of valves and, their uses.. Passenger Tire Valves
This first one gives the passenger car valves design. Truck Tire Valves
The differences can clearly be seen in the size of the valve base for a truck.
ciao
Last edited by 53flyingcloud; 03-20-2004 at 05:29 AM.
I want to thank all that have contributed to this thread, especially:
John for starting it,
53FlyingCloud for adding the aspect of PASSENGER tire valve stems,
nickcrowhurst for pointing out the need to check after new sets of tires are bought,
and 53FlyingCloud for posting the link to show the external distinctions of passenger and truck stems.
(Karma has been deposited to all your accounts).
My story is that our week old set of Michelin load rated E tires NOW have the high pressure valve stems that should have been installed when the tires were mounted. We are in the midst of getting the trailer ready for our first trip of 2004 and this thread has educated me to the “oversight” installation of passenger stems when high pressure stems are required. I WILL NOT let that detail be left up to the Tire installers ever again.
Maybe this thread needs to be made required reading for all who have load rated E tires on their tow vehicles.
aluminauts
You're so very welcome.. John deserves the biggest karmas for bring this thread to "life" and, everyone's attention~!! I agree this problem seems to be more "prevalent" than first originally thought..I truly hope that more folks take the time and spot check their tires before the "towing season" starts~!!
ciao
53FC
Last edited by 53flyingcloud; 03-20-2004 at 05:43 AM.
Yep I have to express thanks for this thread as well. I replaced the rims on my tow rig yesterday. The steels were warped from brake heat and causing a shake in the truck. I was carful to find a rim rated for E tires. It has a 3450 LB rating.
I point blank told the guy that I would be running 80 PSI tires and yet I was handed passenger car valve stems. I made him replace them with a set of screw in valve stems. WHere I bought the rims is not who installed them. They wanted $55 to install and Costco did it for $36. Well Costco discovered the screw in valves would not work and installed a set of High pressure valve stems of a different style. Not quite as pretty as the other set but Safety first.
I would have never known if it wasn't for this post.
Thanks
New Bling Bling rims on the tow rig.
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1959 22' Caravanner
1988 R20 454 Suburban.
Atlanta, GA
Steeltex tires on my Excursion with "E" range 245/75R-16
245?? we have 265! why? ...it's the same car just different engine...
We just got the R4SII E load on our Exc. as well and did some research for the proper inflation. Needless to say no one (inflation charts, Ford, Firestone & tire guys) seemed to agree, but their numbers were pretty close so this is our take, Front/Rear:
Not towing - 50/55
Towing 6,500lbs - 60/65
Everyone did agree to NOT keep the tires at 80psi since that is their max.
We have not towed yet with these new tires but do feel a great improvement when compared to the D load. It's a much stiffer ride.
We seem to experience the sway problem only when the gas tank was half empty and lower. We'll see if that changes with the E load.
Kimili:
If they went with a 265 they should have adjusted the aspect ratio so that the tire diameter would be the same.
The first number is tire width.
The second number is aspect ratio. Aspect ratio is the percentge the side wall hight is to tread width.
The third number is the rim diameter.
If the original tire was a 235 /85 16 That tire is 31.72834645669291 tall. If I want to run a wider tire but keep the same diameter so that it will not throw off the acuracy of my speedometer I would adjust the second number. So I could go to a 265 /75 16 and it would have a diameter of 31.6496062992126. Close enough so as not to throw the speedometer off .
Look on the drivers door/frame or glove box door and there should be a sticker that lists stock size tire. If the second number is still the same as they listed then the speedometer is now inacurate. The Brain for the engine also monitors the speed for some of it's calculations. The change in dameter has made a change in the final effective gear ratio as well.
That site has tire calculators as well as a gear calculators. You can plug and play and do things like figure out how many RPM's your engine is turning at a given speed.
__________________
1959 22' Caravanner
1988 R20 454 Suburban.
Atlanta, GA
I used the calc at that site and found that the original 245 tires at 65mph is about 68mph with the replacement 265/75 tires that were on the Burb when I bought it. Unfortunately the 265s I have now are load range C . I haven't yet taken the A/S out with this newer 3/4 TV, but I expect it to be significantly better even with the C range tires. It says max 50psi.
I have noted that the 245's look really small compared to the 265s. I think since I have the 4.11 rear end and don't need more torque that I may stick with the 265/75's when I get replacements. Sams' has Goodrich Comm TA's for bout $95 each. ($431 for 4 installed).
Also I may go two at a time and get new load range E on the back (which are chopped pretty bad) and get some more wear out of the Michelins on the front before getting the other 2. Think that as long as I don't mix the load ranges on the same axle, I should be OK.
Has anyone modified their trailer by installing remote tire pressure sensors to their tires? I understand these units are available. From what I've found, the sensors are applied to the valve stems and transmit to a unit that is plugged into your tow vehicle cigarette lighter or hardwired to the 12v system. When the tire pressure drops slightly you get a visual warning and when the pressure drops even more significantly you get an audibal warning. The units are available for the trailer for under $400 and for the trailer and the tow vehicle (8 wheels) for under $600 (material only). This could save damage to the trailer and more due to an unknown tire problem not visible from the tow vehicle while underway.
We have installed 6 pressure Pro stem caps and place the receiver where the co-pilot can easily see the display. We got these after one of our unit members suffered his umpteenth tire failure. Our first experience with them was this year's Florida State Rally, we would check the readings about every hour or so during the trip. WE are very pleased.
At least one other member, "Tarheel", has recently put them on, he even had it display a problem his first time out.
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