Michelin LTX M/S tires

[slowmover]

It's the internal damage. At least bump them to 90% or so.

[m.hony]

so...
72 psi is good?

[jcanavera]

I run mine at 80 psi. I had issues with the sliding drawers staying closed but that also occurred with the original ST tires. On my vintage of Airstream, the method of securing drawers closed was a small tab on the rails that gets bent from opening and closing the drawers. Every so often I have to go in and bend those tabs back to their vertical position. Dealer said that the design was poor.

A lot of issues with things moving inside i have found is relative to the up and down pitching that occurs due to dips in the roads or high spots when transitioning from the road to an overpass and then off the overpass. When the nose of the trailer goes down and then back up due to this pitching, items sitting can easily move. No pressure change in the tire can eliminate this.

I've experienced no wear issues with the tires nor any issues with rivets or the installed components of my Classic when keeping the tires at max sidewall pressures. In the past 7 years I've towed 3 seasons with Maxxis 15" E rated ST tires and 4 seasons with current Michelin 16" LT rated tires. In those 7 years I've kept the cold pressure at 80 psi. Two of the E rated Maxxis ST tires failed with belt slippage. I've had no failures with the LT's. Keep in mind I have a heavy Classic slide out and my towing weight averages between 8,500 - 9,100 lbs.

Jack

[m.hony]

I put those baby/toddler safety latches on my drawers.
They haven't come open since.


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by m.hony

so...
72 psi is good?

72 lbs is what I run on my 13 31' classic, only have 8,000 miles on them, too cold to go anywhere now, stuck here in the cold...

[paiceman]

Our two 30' Flying Clouds and now our 30' 2017 Classic all had and have Michelins LT, run at 75#. Our F250 and now F350 also ran and run Michelins LTs but at 80#. So far never an issue.

Bud

[lsbrodsky]

It occurs to me that I have been reading tires threads for the 3+ years that I have belonged. With thanks I put Michelin LT's on my trailer before I even took delivery. I received Andy's chart from the above post and it is no different than the Michelin load/pressure chart.
I guess I am mystified by this whole discussion on pressure. Over the years I have seen a consistent thought that because of the way a trailer turns you need the stiffest sidewall and therefore design pressure, 80 lbs. Many have complained about the harsh ride at 80 and have experimentally lowered the pressure or simply followed the Michelin load/pressure guidance running pressures anywhere from 60 on up.
Is there any documented, proven answer as to whether travel trailer tires should be inflated to max pressure or just at the load guidance of the manufacturer?
Larry

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

It occurs to me that I have been reading tires threads for the 3+ years that I have belonged. With thanks I put Michelin LT's on my trailer before I even took delivery. I received Andy's chart from the above post and it is no different than the Michelin load/pressure chart.
I guess I am mystified by this whole discussion on pressure. Over the years I have seen a consistent thought that because of the way a trailer turns you need the stiffest sidewall and therefore design pressure, 80 lbs. Many have complained about the harsh ride at 80 and have experimentally lowered the pressure or simply followed the Michelin load/pressure guidance running pressures anywhere from 60 on up.
Is there any documented, proven answer as to whether travel trailer tires should be inflated to max pressure or just at the load guidance of the manufacturer?
Larry

I think the best answer for that question is to search Tireman and Capriracer's posts for the ones discussing the margins (in their professional opinions') necessary for P and LT tires, when used on trailer applications. With the margins in place, then look at the chart for pressures. As I recall, a P tire should have it's capacity reduced 25% at a given pressure on the chart, and an LT should be reduced 15%....but search and read for the engineers' statements.

I've been running 80 PSI on my LT/X Michelins for several years with ZERO ill effects to the AS. Depending on trip, I have around 8400# on the tires combined, or about 2100# per tire. That's a bit more than 15% margin at max sidewall pressure. (85% would be 2278# of 2680#, so I run at max sidewall to account for uneven weights on individual tires at any given time, or water and waste in tanks)

[jcanavera]

Load is only one factor in dealing with the LT tire. If you always know the weight of your trailer, you could make adjustments. If you don't and guess wrong, you have a potential under inflation issue. The other concern has been made by our tire industry contributors who note that the sidewall stresses placed in a tandem axle towing situation are different that those placed, for example on a pickup truck using LT tires. This also is countered by keeping higher pressures and that's truly a non charted factor. The inflation charts truly were not designed to accommodate the tandem or tri-axle use of these tires. They were designed to deal with weight only in a traditional use by motorized vehicles.

Jack

[Arcticfox]

We started out running our tires at 60psi cold and found the trailer was riding rough with popped rivets and things moving around. On Andy's advise we dropped the pressure to 50 lbs and with our trip last fall (of 10,000 km) we never popped one rivet or had anything move in the trailer.

Now I understand these results might not be scientific, but the lower pressure seems to work and made the trailer ride a lot better. As a side note, our trailer scales in at 6480 LBS. Its a 28" FC.

Now I'm sure there will be some who talk about the sidewall pressures etc. In my mind, bouncing the crap out of my trailer because of pressure that is to high trumps a bit of sidewall stress.

Cheers
Doug

[lsbrodsky]

Jack, that is exactly the point that has had me running my LT's on the trailer at 80 all of this time. If that point is in fact true, why do Andy, and others, insist on using the load chart?

Larry

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

Jack, that is exactly the point that has had me running my LT's on the trailer at 80 all of this time. If that point is in fact true, why do Andy, and others, insist on using the load chart?



Larry

That's their view and obviously they have no skin in the game if you have a tire failure using their recommendations. All I can say is that I have 7 years of towing at 80 psi with no evidence of damage to my trailer. Again if my trailer were significantly lighter, I'd most likely consider a lower pressure. But carrying 8,600-9,100 lbs makes me feel that my 80 psi recommendation is where I should be.

Jack

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

That's their view and obviously they have no skin in the game if you have a tire failure using their recommendations. All I can say is that I have 7 years of towing at 80 psi with no evidence of damage to my trailer. Again if my trailer were significantly lighter, I'd most likely consider a lower pressure. But carrying 8,600-9,100 lbs makes me feel that my 80 psi recommendation is where I should be.

Jack

Jack and I have exactly the same viewpoint and experience, except I am just in my 6th year with LTs. (I'm not sure why we have almost the same trailer GVW, when he has a slide....I must have too much crap)

[Action]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

Is there any documented, proven answer as to whether travel trailer tires should be inflated to max pressure or just at the load guidance of the manufacturer?
Larry

The trailer industry as a whole will install a tire that meets the max load with little to no reserve capacity. So max inflation is always needed in that situation because the tires don't have the extra load capacity ..... and under certain circumstances have less load capacity than the load being applied.

(Way different from the car and light truck market where the load almost never approaches the limits of the tires)

In tire replacement for trailers you may opt (and many do) to upgrade the tires or even increase the wheel size and tire size which greatly increases the load the tires can handle. In that situation max pressure would not be recommended because the load is far less as compared to what the tires can handle.

The correct cold tire pressure would be such that the tire pressure increases less than 10% after a 30 to 45 minute drive. (I believe that to be correct) At that point the side wall flex is not generating excessive heat because the pressure inside is good.

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

[kds]

Ok, so I hate to beat a dead horse to death but has anyone purchased and put the new Michelin Defender LTX tires on their AS? I upgraded my 2008 27 FB to the 16 inch rims and put BF Goodrich Commercial TA/s on 5 years ago. I have had no issues but it's time for new tires. I called Discount tire to order the Michelin LTX MS/2 tires and they said they had been discontinued. Told me they have the new Defender LTX Michelin tires instead, 225/75/R16. The guy told me it was the same tire, just the newer version.
So---I called the AS factory today. The woman I spoke with said she did not know anything about the LTX MS/2's being discontinued and had no idea if the Defender was the same tire or not. Has anyone had these tires installed? Thanks----just more tire talk

KDS

[dznf0g]

I just installed the Defenders a couple months ago. I have only put a few hundred miles on them though, before putting the AS up for the winter. The MS/2 has in fact been replaced by the defender.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by kds

,,, I called Discount tire to order the Michelin LTX MS/2 tires and they said they had been discontinued. Told me they have the new Defender LTX Michelin tires instead, 225/75/R16. The guy told me it was the same tire, just the newer version...KDS

I got the same story from a Ram dealer when I needed new tires (different size) for the TV. I went to Tirerack.com and checked the specs. They were the same. As to quality, only time will tell, but I hane never had a bad Michelin tire in a lot of years.

Al

[kds]

Oh wow, thanks so much for the quick reply from you both I am having them installed tomorrow so this really helps. I just posted a thread on the main portal not knowing you would reply to fast. Thanks again.

KDS

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Jack and I have exactly the same viewpoint and experience, except I am just in my 6th year with LTs. (I'm not sure why we have almost the same trailer GVW, when he has a slide....I must have too much crap)

Difference is my net cargo capacity is much lower than a non slide unit of the same length. Just filling my fresh water tank takes away 2/3 of that net cc. With my normal camping load and fresh water, I'm at gross capacity which for 2004 was 9100 lbs.

Jack

[dznf0g]

Jack, I'm not talking about gvwr, but rather your weight ready to go camping. I'm between 8500 and 9000 with no slide.