Maxxis vs GYM

[ostream]

Like the thread starter, our GYM tires are due for replacement. In our case, it's because of age (5 yrs), vs. mileage or failure. Reading through the posts, it appears that some of the higher mileage travelers are upgrading to 16" wheels w/Michelin LTX tires. Best price I could find for this option is roughly $500 for 5 wheels, plus $1000 for 5 tires for a total of $1500+.

I'm wondering if a lower cost, but reasonable option for those who travel less, but are still concerned about safety and avoiding damage is the following combination:

• Maxxis M8008 (load range E)
• Aluminum valve stems
• Tire Pressure Pro monitors
• Centramatics

This package is roughly half the price of the 16's, and of course, you may still want/need the monitors and Centramatics on the 16's.

Comments? Feed back?

[moosetags]

I think that you are on the right track with the Maxxis E's. We had two sets of the prior to going the 16" Michelin route. The first set went 28,000 miles before experiencing tread separation on 3 of the tires. The second set only went 14,000 before one tire had developed tread separation. That may have just been one bad one. I probably would have stuck with the Maxxis if it were not for the fact that we do between 15 and 20,000 miles per year. It seemed like I was buying new tires every time I turned around.

Brian

[kry226]

For folks looking to stay away from GYMs, but want to stay at 15", you may want to look at a tire from Continental called the Vanco 2, which is built to meet the weight specs of heavy Eurovans, etc. They make a 225/70/15 in load range D. I have a set of these on my flat bed trailer and am quite happy.

Continental USA Car / Light Truck / SUV -Vanco™2

Specs on Tirerack:
Continental Vanco 2

[RLS]

Originally Posted by kry226

For folks looking to stay away from GYMs, but want to stay at 15", you may want to look at a tire from Continental called the Vanco 2, which is built to meet the weight specs of heavy Eurovans, etc. They make a 225/70/15 in load range D. I have a set of these on my flat bed trailer and am quite happy.

Continental USA Car / Light Truck / SUV -Vanco™2

Specs on Tirerack:
Continental Vanco 2

I have been using the Vanco2 tires for about 2 yrs. These tires and GoodYear Cargo tires are the only ones that have a rating high enough for me to feel safe about. You do lose 1/2" in height. Just wish I could afford the gas and time to go more. Had to go back to work because of our great economy!

[SilverCottage]

Originally Posted by Silver Lining

Changing to 16'' wheels and LT tire for me is not an opition. I could change tires every two years for the next 10 years for the price of the switch.
HELP

I don't think changing to 16" rims and LTX is quite that bad. We just did it for $500 for 5 Sendel rims including shipping. The LTX 225/75/16 were $795 after rebate for all 5. Another $80 for installation gives a grand total of $1375. I sold the old Marathons and rims for $325 for a net cost of $1050.

[ostream]

Originally Posted by SilverCottage

I don't think changing to 16" rims and LTX is quite that bad. We just did it for $500 for 5 Sendel rims including shipping. The LTX 225/75/16 were $795 after rebate for all 5. Another $80 for installation gives a grand total of $1375. I sold the old Marathons and rims for $325 for a net cost of $1050.

Can't find that price or current rebate anywhere (June 2011) for LTX e load rated black wall, so count yourself lucky for scoring that deal! Also, many folks might have to add another couple of hundred to size up their roto-chocks when moving from 15" to 16".

[SilverCottage]

It seems like the tires went up in price a bit at TR and DTD from 2 weeks ago. I believe the Michelin rebates are a regular on-again, off-again sort of deal. When I first started looking a month ago there was no Michelin rebate, so if you call either on-line dealer they can probably tell you when the rebate is coming back.

On the rims, I had to source the Sendel T03-66655 from 2 different places since no-one had all 5 at the time. I paid $88 each plus shipping from Tredit and Gearworks Mfg.

FYI: I called Michelin yesterday and was told that 55 psi would give me 2060 lbs carrying capacity on each 225/75/16 LTX MS tire.

[Beginner]

ostream
Check out the BF Goodrich Commercial T/A.
Back in the arely 1990s or so Goodrich wanted out of the tire business.
They had the best truck tire on the market.
Michelin basically sent Goodrich a blank check for the tire division and trashed their truck tire technology as they (Michelin) was having a terrible time with their truck tires.
Fast forward.
Today Michelin owns Goodrich and Uniroyal (to the best of my knowledge)
Costco has good prices on the the BF Goodrich Commercial T/A but it is a 16 inch tire (with a 99 mph speed rating, very important).
The T/As are a little less expensive in price but every bit the Michelin in quality. The only step up from the Commercial T/A is the Michelin XPS Rib, period.
Yes I have the Commercial T/A on my 31 foot 84 Excella and have had absolutely no problems with them. I am not the only one.
In fact they have only needed additional inflation once a year, in the spring.
Beginner

[Pahaska]

I had a 6-year-old Maxxis E-rated fail on my last trip. The trad looked almost like a new tire. The tire was initially at 70# and my Pressure-Pro alarm went off well before the tire was even visually down. The tire looked fine, but I could hear the hissing.

The belts had slipped about one tread line in from the shoulder of the tire. There were small cracks in the rubber in line in that groove all around the tire with a single thread from a belt sticking out of one of the cracks. I had to look closely to see the crack after I removed the wheel.

I intended to replace the 2 6-year old Maxxis this fall. There is still one tire of that age on the trailer which will be replaced very soon.

This is the third time that the Pressure-Pro has saved me possible damage.

[handn]

Originally Posted by moosetags

We started with the OEM GY Marathons. In the first year at about 11,000 miles, we had three separate catastrophic tires failures. We replaced these with a set of Maxxis E's. They did pretty well lasting 27,000 miles when there suffered from tread separation. We replaced them with another set of Maxxis E's. These only last 14,000 miles before suffering tread separation. This was the point at which we decided to cut our losses, and switched to 16" wheels and Michelin LT tires.

Brian

Moosetags' experience matches ours.
We are now running on P235 R 75 XL Michelins. Even though they are P (passenger tires), they are extra load and have over a 2000 lb capacity which gives us a safe load margin with our 6300 gvw Safari. They fit on the stock rims with plenty of clearance in the wheel wells so we did not upgrade to 16 inch rims.
Like Moosetags we left parts of ST tires by the side of the road all over the South and South West. As for ST tires, we had the best luck with Maxxis E's. GYM's, Tow Toughs and all the other goofy third world ST tires
were lucky to last two days towing at 65 mph all day in 100 degree plus temperatures.
My reply is yes to the poster who asked if E rated ST tires ride rough. There is a huge difference in ride with my P 235 tires inflated to 50 lbs. I no longer hobby horse and feel safe going all day at 70 mph.
There are lots of fans of ST tires on these forums. To them I say, ST tires will probably work fine if you tow back and forth to the lake on weekends in cool temps but if you are going to tow a lot of miles some of them in hotter than hell conditions, upgrade to P or LT tires. All the hot weather posters say the same thing.