Why Michelin tires?

[GenXair]

I've read a lot of the postings here of people switching out their new tires for Michelin brand tires. Why? Do these tires make that much of a difference?

Do you personally replace the tire or take it to a service center for the switch out?

[xrvr]

Pretty hard to replace your own tires. I take mine to a service center. Anything is better than the ST tires. Mich, Firestone, etc. I use LT tires in 16 inch.

[Tn Traveler]

I have been using Michelin tires since the 1950s. All but a few times I have used other brands the results were poor. I can't recall any blowouts with Michelins. A blow out on an Airstream trailer can cause thousands of dollars in damages. I put on the Michelins as insurance against that.

[RamblinManGa]

Hi from AZ. . . I've run Michelins for years on cars, trucks & a class C motorhome, but they are not perfect. I've had one set recalled, & the only blowout in 14k miles of sketchy roads to Alaska and back was a Michelin on my TV ! The Carlilses on my FC28 were fine.. . . just sayin'. . . .regards, Craig

[PKI]

Purchased wheels and tires mounted and balanced from Americas Tire. Installed the new wheels and tires on the trailer in the street in front of my house. Rolled the trailer up on one set of LEGOs and replaced the hanging tire. Repeated until all changed.

When or it you replace install Centramatics. The balance of the brake drum is not addressed when the tire and wheel combination is balanced. Order them from Centramatic and have them shipped to your home. Mount tube inward over and around the drum with the mounting plate flat against the bolt surface per the instructions.

Why Michelins? Manufactured to a higher safety standard because they are Extra Load Passenger car tires, "P" rated XLs. If 16 in tires will fit, go with Light Truck tires. The stiffer side wall helps stability and they too are passenger standard rated tires. The LT tires help on a tow Vehicle as well.

I like Michelins. Good Luck and travel safe. Pat

[FCStreamer]

Michelins are good tires. But they are just tires. They can blow out. They are not indestructible. No tire is.

[rocco52]

Michelin tires and Aluminum corrosion seem to be the two hottest topics on this forum. What I am going to say will 1. Cause me to have a flat this weekend and 2. Elicit a lot of snarky posts. Although this is my first Airstream, a 25FB, I have towed 5 different boats with tandem axles for the past 40 years. All of them weighed more than my AS and all of them had trailer grade tires. One flat tire. I do check pressure and tire condition religiously and I "feel" the tires and hubs at every stop. I do not consider myself to be luckier than the next guy except for the fact that my better half has kept me around for the same 40 years.

[dkottum]

It's about having the most reliable tire we can get for our Airstream because our travels are far from home. If we were just traveling locally in reasonable temperatures to lakes or parks I would stick with the GYM's, and keep the speed down.

That said, the GYM's are known to start coming apart after two or three towing seasons.

[Rich Jenkins]

My experience with a 2016 FC 27', bought new in November last year. I replaced my 15" GYMs with 15" Michelins at Discount Tire in San Antonio TX this spring after picking up a nail on one of the GYMs.

1. My GYMs had a MAXIMUM tow speed of 65 mph. My Michelins do not. I now tow per road conditions, up to 75 mph. I feel the 65 mph restriction is unsafe.

2. My GYMs had 2-3 psi drop in pressure every week or so. I had to constantly add air. My Michelins stay at a constant 49 psi, all the time. I no longer have to worry about airing up before a trip. Once at operating temperature (6-8 degrees above ambient), pressure goes up about 6 psi. That's it.

These are objective facts.

Subjectively, comparing the tires side by side, the Michelin tire simply looks better constructed; with crisper mould lines and a well defined tread. The GYM tire looks like crap, frankly.

YMMV, obviously. I would never tow an Airstream with GYM tires again.

[GCinSC2]

Michelin on my Dodge Ram 2500, Airstream and Corolla. Good service from the tires. Simply, they do the job.

[FCStreamer]

Originally Posted by Llando88

These are objective facts.

...YMMV, obviously.

And it does. My GYMs do not lose any pressure. And did not explode after a 1200 mile trip. These are also "objective" facts.

GYMs have gotten a bad forum reputation, yet thousands of trailers are using them today. Yet Michelin doesn't even make a trailer tire. People use light truck tires on their trailers, and call that safe. I just don't get it.

[submirj]

I want to switch out the 14" wheels and tires to the 15's on my 2011 Flying Cloud 23 FB. There is good clearance all around the wheel wells, but the back tire is 2.75" away from the wheel trim on the 14" setup. Increasing the tire diameter by 2.2" would put the new tires 1.65" from the bottom rear of the wheel well trim. Is that enough clearance? I am wanting to go with the Michelin Defender 235 r75/15.

[drboyd]

There is a mythos attached to Michelin tires that's hard to refute.

[Action]

In my opinion (which is about worthless unless you read this on the internet. Then it is factual because everything on the internet is true)

It is a higher end tire that you will pay a premium to obtain
If you are operating a high end travel trailer, high end tires may be the match you seek.
As far as I know none of the Michelin tires are designed for trailers - they are designed either as passenger car tires or light truck tires
As a LT tire the load capacity may be greater
You may be able to drive continuously at speeds greater than 65 mph - unlike a ST tire
You may be able to abuse them to a greater degree than a lower end tire
There may be some ego involved in owning a set

Typically owners will up grade to a larger diameter rim size when replacing tires as well which allows the user to have greater load capacity or a greater margin of reserve load capacity.

And in the arena of damage to a trailer, (with some restrictions) greater load capacity may reduce the possibility of a major tire event causing damage to the coach.

Individual results may vary
Some assembly required
Batteries not included if you get TPMS

>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by FCStreamer

GYMs have gotten a bad forum reputation, yet thousands of trailers are using them today. Yet Michelin doesn't even make a trailer tire. People use light truck tires on their trailers, and call that safe. I just don't get it.

It comes down to how you use your trailer and the amount of weight the tires much bear. Obviously failures of ST tires are just not an Airstream thing. Go to any national RV site and there will be threads regarding ST tire failures.

Goodyear Marathon's take the brunt of the failure posts simply because there are more of them used as OEM's than any other ST tire out there.

Personally I don't blame Marathon's specifically as a brand. I blame ST tires in the fact that under higher load conditions they fail sooner as they age. Many folks aren't pulling heavily loaded trailers, inflate to proper pressures, and stay within the rated speed limits for ST tires. In those cases they may get many years of problem free use. On the other hand ST tires don't seem to have the stamina to handle long term use if any potential abuse occurs or in my case have about a 3 season life before the belts start to experience slippage or separation. I've tried Marathons and E rated Maxxis ST tires with belt slippage occurring on both. In both cases the tires were running below 65 mph, at max sidewall pressures and the trailer stored inside. The Marathons failed on the last trip of their 3rd season and the Maxxis failed on the first trip of the 4th season.

If you take a look at Discount Tires' discussions of ST tires, here is a quote.

"Time and the elements weaken a trailer tire.
In approximately 3 years, roughly one third of the tire's strength is gone.
Three to five years is the projected life of a normal trailer tire."

I am pulling a heavy trailer and in my situation if Discount's statement regarding tire strength is accurate, it probably hits the nail right on the head with my experience. If my ST tires have lost on third of their strength by year three, then there is no doubt that my trailer is technically over loading those tires at the end of year three.

My dealer who also sells fifth wheel trailers noted that many of the heavy fifth wheel units are now equipped with LT tires. From my experience, just from the economics alone long term, going to a 16" LT tire and replacing after 5 seasons of use makes more economic sense than replacing my ST tires sometime within their 3rd season of use.

From the wealth of experience here on the forum, many who have made the jump went to Michelins and have reported excellent results. Many of us therefore have chosen Michelins based on those reports.


Jack

[switz]

Installed 15" SenDel T03-56545T wheels and Michelin LTX (P) 235/75R15 XL tires with Centramatic wheel balancers #200-221, Dill 1506-453 TPMS on our 2015 23D International Serenity. Made custom tire carrier for 15" spare. Had to trim about 1.5" off of the front edge of curb side wheel well to make it the same measurement as the street side. Then the 15" ties fitted.

Fully loaded with all the modifications we have made, the trailer scales 6,068 pounds camping ready with the heaviest tire load on one tire of 1,360 pounds. All the rest are under 1,290 pound tire loads. Derated capacity of my prior version of the Michelin tire is 1,968 pounds, so more than enough safety margin.

No Michelin tire failure in nearly 50 years of using them. Have had GYM ST tire failures with trailer just sitting there.

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by FCStreamer

And it does. My GYMs do not lose any pressure. And did not explode after a 1200 mile trip. These are also "objective" facts.

GYMs have gotten a bad forum reputation, yet thousands of trailers are using them today. Yet Michelin doesn't even make a trailer tire. People use light truck tires on their trailers, and call that safe. I just don't get it.

I liken this to the Ford vs Gm vs Toyota vs Dodge vs whatever. And PP vs Equalizer vs whatever.
Everyone has grown up with their favourite "whatever" and seem to be willing to forgive their favourites if they fail or cause problems that they wouldn't be willing to forgive otherwise.
I have had only one GYM tire failure in 20 years of trailering and it was my fault. If I was inclined to follow the crowd as so many others are then I would have ditched my GYM's and my GM and my Equalizer and probably soon to follow would be my Interstate Batteries.
But, they have all functioned well for me. I don't abuse them.
I have had one set if Michelins on my vehicle and quite frankly I was unimpressed so I went back to Goodyear.
I have found in my 30 years of sales experiences that people tend to forgive their "favourites" and find excuses for their "favourites" so why don't we all let everyone use whatever they want and move on.


George

[sheriff1]

Originally Posted by gandttimes

I have found in my 30 years of sales experiences that people tend to forgive their "favourites" and find excuses for their "favourites" so why don't we all let everyone use whatever they want and move on.


George

But then whatever would we talk about?😀


2015 F350 CC 4X4 6.7 Diesel
2010 27FB Silver Cloud "The Silver Spoon"

[kosullivan]

Based on these posts, no one should own a travel trailer, catastrophic events occur on an hourly basis. I just pulled my 31' 1975 Airstream 3000 miles at 70 MPH from Kansas City to Florida and back, through the Smokey Mountains on the way there and the Arkansas Mountains on the way home. I do have the TPMS so I know the air pressure and temp of the tires. I had zero problems and we will drive the trailer another 5000 miles this year with ST tires. For some reason, tire companies make trailer tires.

[Soyboy]

I have been using Maxxis M8008 ST rated tires for a number of years. One set on my previous Jayco and I just installed my second set on the Airstream yesterday. The ones I took off were 7 years old (6 years on the trailer) and were in perfect shape. I think the whole Michelin thing is fine, but like others have said nothing is perfect. Since (so far) I have had good luck with these Maxxis ST rated tires I stuck with them. We'll see how it goes. One thing I like about ST tires is that (as I understand it) they are designed for the more intense sidewall loads that they are put under when we make sharp turns with our trailers (you are basically "skidding" the tire at times). Passenger vehicle tires are not designed for this as I understand it. Although, folks seem to have a good bit of success with them. Of course, there are other brands besides Michelins that you could use in lieu of ST tires if you so desired. BTW I use Michelins on my other vehicles, LTX2 on my truck and Premiers on my car.

One note for you Costco members. They will now mount and balance tires that they did not sell. I loaded mine up in the truck (2 at a time as I alternately ran one axle up on ramps while I took the others up to Costco - which is only about a mile from my house). I like getting my tires serviced there. The folks are well trained by Michelin and really seem to know what they are doing. Plus the price is right: $14 to dismount the old tire, mount the new tire, spin balance and dispose of the old tire. That would be hard to beat at most chains, who's service writers usually leave something to be desired and their prices are sky high. After using mail order and later the internet to order tires for the past 45 years, I now just head right to Costco. Easier and cheaper. Plus they have a great road hazard and rotation policy. Heck I had the Kelly Springfields on my daughters Civic rotated and balanced the other week. Only $25. A very good deal. Of course, this service would have been free if I had purchased the tires there. It goes without saying that when the KS wear out (they were on the car when we bought it used and have been fine) I'll be throwing a set of Michelins on that care too. This just FYI, FWIW.