3/4 Ton Pickup Tires

[Larry C]

My last two Dodges have had Michelin tires as OE. The best tire mileage I've ever gotten was 68,000 miles, and that set could have gone perhaps another 5,000 miles.

Apparently, some of you folks know some towing secrets that I haven't learned during the 250,000 + miles of towing. Please share them with us.

Larry

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by Larry C

My last two Dodges have had Michelin tires as OE. The best tire mileage I've ever gotten was 68,000 miles, and that set could have gone perhaps another 5,000 miles.

Apparently, some of you folks know some towing secrets that I haven't learned during the 250,000 + miles of towing. Please share them with us.

Larry

There's no secret. The more corners you turn, the faster the tire wears. Driving straight ahead is practically free. Ergo, if you want your tire to last longer mileagewise, take long trips.

On the other hand, there are things you can do to prevent premature wear from occurring.

1) Rotate regularly. Different wheel positions have different wear characteristics and you can extend a tire's life by doing regular rotation.

2) Inflation pressure. As a general rule, you should use what is listed on the vehicle tire placard on your driver's door. If you want to use the published load tables (which I don't recommend) you need to include a certain amount of reserve (unused) load carrying capacity (I recommend 15%) by using a higher inflation pressure.

3) Alignment. When the tires are rotated, measure the wear. Uneven wear should be a clue there is an alignment issue.

[acstokes]

CapriRacer,

2) Inflation pressure. As a general rule, you should use what is listed on the vehicle tire placard on your driver's door. If you want to use the published load tables (which I don't recommend) you need to include a certain amount of reserve (unused) load carrying capacity (I recommend 15%) by using a higher inflation pressure.

I'm running Michelin M/S2 LT275/65R20 tires on my Ford F250 Super Duty. The door placard lists 65lb. pressure, but the tire sidewall shows 80lb. and that is what the dealer inflated them to. Which pressure should I be using?

[Luigi123]

We get 40-50,000 miles on a Ford Expedition ( three of them) Michelin---now on our 3/4 Diesel GMC. We have tried all lesser costs, thru the years, including Coopers, you simply get what you pay for.

[xrvr]

The door placard is for original equipment tires. Other sizes may be different inflation pressures. OE sized tires are usually the best bet. Jim

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by acstokes

CapriRacer,



I'm running Michelin M/S2 LT275/65R20 tires on my Ford F250 Super Duty. The door placard lists 65lb. pressure, but the tire sidewall shows 80lb. and that is what the dealer inflated them to. Which pressure should I be using?

If you want the real answer, you have to know what load each tire is carrying and then go to the tire manufacturer's load charts.

The tire side wall pressure is the pressure at which the tire is rated to carry its max rated load (also on the sidewall.)

The pressure on the door placard is the pressure that the OE tire should be inflated to in order to carry the truck's rated max load distributed properly.

Tire shops nearly universally fill to sidewall pressure to protect themselves. That way any overload of the tire will be the owner's fault not theirs.

This is not the best place to ask this question, as you will get many different answers based on many different opinions. (That is my opinion)

My truck came with a separate information folder, that shows proper inflation pressure for the stock tires at different loads. Lacking anything better, that is what I use. If there is any question, I always error on the higher pressure side. It is better to have an uneven wear pattern that to risk a catastrophic failure.

Ken

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by acstokes

CapriRacer,



I'm running Michelin M/S2 LT275/65R20 tires on my Ford F250 Super Duty. The door placard lists 65lb. pressure, but the tire sidewall shows 80lb. and that is what the dealer inflated them to. Which pressure should I be using?

When towing, I always inflate to 80 pounds. Running around town, 60 pounds.

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

There's no secret. The more corners you turn, the faster the tire wears. Driving straight ahead is practically free. Ergo, if you want your tire to last longer mileagewise, take long trips.

On the other hand, there are things you can do to prevent premature wear from occurring.

1) Rotate regularly. Different wheel positions have different wear characteristics and you can extend a tire's life by doing regular rotation.

2) Inflation pressure. As a general rule, you should use what is listed on the vehicle tire placard on your driver's door. If you want to use the published load tables (which I don't recommend) you need to include a certain amount of reserve (unused) load carrying capacity (I recommend 15%) by using a higher inflation pressure.

3) Alignment. When the tires are rotated, measure the wear. Uneven wear should be a clue there is an alignment issue.

Tires on all of my vehicles are rotated every 5,000 miles, without fail. Tire pressures are 80 when towing, 60 running empty. Tread wear is level and even across all four tires.
Looking at tire wear, there is no indication that there would be an alignment problem.
Good grief, as for turning corners, the only time that's done is when I have to go in a different direction.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by Larry C

Good grief, as for turning corners, the only time that's done is when I have to go in a different direction.

Well, if you want your tires to last longer, you're just gonna have to quit that!

[r carl]

Originally Posted by SteveH

My experience with Michelins hasn't been near as good. The set that I just changed out were OE Michelins, had 38,000 miles on them, and calculating by the amount of original tread, remaining tread, and calculating the miles per MM of tread, they would have gone maybe another 9,000 miles before reaching the wear bars. Not saying they are not good tires, just I don't get that many miles out of them, but about 99% of the miles I put on my truck are towing miles.

Your just going to have to quit burning rubber every time the light turns green.
My last LTX Michelins went 90k, excellent tires.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by r carl

Your just going to have to quit burning rubber every time the light turns green.
My last LTX Michelins went 90k, excellent tires.

Yea, I know, but I just love smok'in those big tires with my big Diesel pickup every time I take off with my big 10,000lb trailer. Just can't help myself.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by r carl

Your just going to have to quit burning rubber every time the light turns green.
My last LTX Michelins went 90k, excellent tires.

More likely: to have completely finished braking before entering a curve or a turn. These trucks are simply too heavy to keep up with car traffic (and much harder to stop). Brakes still on while initiating turns will wear them out quickly. Same for acceleration: only when turn completed.

My last set of MICHELIN had 4/32's of wear at over 70k miles prior to internal failure whereupon MICHELIN practically gave me a new set. 50/50 town and country. 10k of towing.

First set went 120k with 6/32's remaining (brake linings first replacement also). Was on course to 150k with second set though time in service would likely have necessitated replacement first.

.

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by Larry C

.....Good grief, as for turning corners, the only time that's done is when I have to go in a different direction.

Allow me to clarify.

If you use a vehicle in a certain way, the tire wear is more or less programmed into that usage.

If you are trying to compare your tire wear with the experience of others (assuming everything else is the same), the first place to look is the difference between how YOU are using the vehicle vs the way others are using the vehicle.

A good example of this is trucks making deliveries around town compared to trucks traveling between cities. Delivery trucks will never get as good of tire wear as long haul trucks if the tires and the trucks are the same.

So if you are trying to achieve the tire wear others are reporting, you need to do the same things they do. HOWEVER, if your situation dictates that you're not going to be able to do what they do, then you should expect there to be differences that you will not be able to overcome.

[pappy19]

For all those that have a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup, you can get Centramatics self balancing add-on's and probably get 100k with good rotation on a Michelin LT E rated tire. They don't make them for 1/2 ton or passenger cars. BTW, they also have them for 15" & 16" Airstream trailers.

[m.hony]

Why would they make Centramatics for a 15" or 16" trailer tire, but not for a 15" or 16" or 17" or 18" or 19" or 20" 1/2 ton or car tire?

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by m.hony

Why would they make Centramatics for a 15" or 16" trailer tire, but not for a 15" or 16" or 17" or 18" or 19" or 20" 1/2 ton or car tire?

I'm guessing that people who drive 1/2 ton pickups aren't manly enough.

Ken

[m.hony]

I don't get it...

[switz]

Go to their website: www.http://centramatic.com/Home.aspx

The first entry (200-221) is only for the 6 bolt 15" and 16" Airstream wheels.

A larger diameter special configuration (300-356 all "A" plates) is only for the 16" Airstream wheels.

They also make a special set of three for Gold Wings (two in front and one on the rear) that removes the need to put wheel weights on for balancing.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

Allow me to clarify.

If you use a vehicle in a certain way, the tire wear is more or less programmed into that usage.

If you are trying to compare your tire wear with the experience of others (assuming everything else is the same), the first place to look is the difference between how YOU are using the vehicle vs the way others are using the vehicle.

A good example of this is trucks making deliveries around town compared to trucks traveling between cities. Delivery trucks will never get as good of tire wear as long haul trucks if the tires and the trucks are the same.

So if you are trying to achieve the tire wear others are reporting, you need to do the same things they do. HOWEVER, if your situation dictates that you're not going to be able to do what they do, then you should expect there to be differences that you will not be able to overcome.

And there are differences between drivers doing the same "work" with the exact same vehicle over the exact same course. KENWORTH and CUMMINS both report that the difference in fuel mileage can be nearly one-third between professional drivers. Tire life will be subject to the same differences, mainly attitude towards tire life.

If one posits that tires are not easily replaced, then the driver will take steps to ensure longest life. As an on-road failure is NOT acceptable while towing, this means changes to the way the vehicle is driven in all situations. Fuel economy is a gauge of how well fuel is used, and higher brake and tire life are also indicators of applied skill bearing fruit.

Longest life at lowest cost with highest reliability is a mantra that works.

.

[PaulnGina]

I have Cooper AT3's on my F250. I like them a lot and have had them for 20K miles and they are wearing nicely.