Replacing Tires on my GMC

[captbru]

My tow vehicle is a 2017 GMC 2500HD. The original tires are Firestone
LT225/75R17, they only have 23000 miles. I have rotated these tires at every oil change approx. every 5000 miles. All four tires have worn fairly equal. They need to be replace as the tread on all tires now minimal.

What would be a good choice for replacement tires? I'm towing a Keystone Cougar Lite Fifth wheel model 26rls. Empty weight about 6800lbs loaded about 8300.

[Cummins12V98]

Curly2001 wrote:
I lost a Michelin LT on my truck last year. It was 5 years old and tore up the fender well of the truck when it blew. Had the 5th wheel attached and had to use a floor jack to remove the tire. Was against a guard rail 50 miles outside Yuma, Arizona when it blew. Of course it was on a Sunday and found a set of tires at Sears. I have only been getting 35,000 miles per set of Michelin tires on this truck. What are my options for next time?
Thanks,
Curly

What pressures are you running when running around? 17" wheels?

[Curly2001]

I lost a Michelin LT on my truck last year. It was 5 years old and tore up the fender well of the truck when it blew. Had the 5th wheel attached and had to use a floor jack to remove the tire. Was against a guard rail 50 miles outside Yuma, Arizona when it blew. Of course it was on a Sunday and found a set of tires at Sears. I have only been getting 35,000 miles per set of Michelin tires on this truck. What are my options for next time?
Thanks,
Curly

[Grit_dog]

Ok wuz just making sure I wasn’t crazy by not having my tires balanced every “oil change.” Lol

[Cummins12V98]

I bought 3rd gen take offs, I would rotate at 15k or more my self and NEVER balanced them. Michelins 120k and BFG's 100k, both had plenty of legal tread left. Don't believe me I don't care. This was on my 98 RAM 2500 4x4. It was my work/personal truck and had a 50-120 mile commute every day.

[cummins2014]

Grit dog wrote:
Don't get so butt hurt. I want insinuating a thing about your oil change routine. For all I know you could have said you change oil every 30k miles, lol, at least that would have made more sense with the balancing thing.

Its been years on this balancing thing . Took the truck in for rotation ,and balancing. Was asked do they need to be balanced, I said no, they seem fine, I just thought that was what I was supposed to do . His reply was leave them alone, if they are wearing okay, and no vibration. I can't remember the last set of tires I have had balanced after the initial mounting ,and balancing. I do rotate every 5K .

[Grit_dog]

Don't get so butt hurt. I want insinuating a thing about your oil change routine. For all I know you could have said you change oil every 30k miles, lol, at least that would have made more sense with the balancing thing.

[tomman58]

Grit dog wrote:

tomman58 wrote:
I have always used Michelin Defender LTX M/S on my GMC diesels. I never have had a problem with them. I have had a broken belt on 2 of the tires that came with the trucks. I haul a 40'TT all over this country and have put 100s of thousand miles on them w2ith no problem and yes I get mine at Costco.
The one rule I have for my tires is a every oil change I rotate and BALANCE. If you do not balance these big baloneys they will turn on you.

Balancing a set of tires every 5k miles giver take is about as silly as it gets. But to each those own.
If you want to save some real $, consider this. You are likely in the .0001% minority that does this and the rest of the world ain't wrong in this instance.

I believe my auto oil change indicator normally calls for oil at around 7 or 8 thousand miles. Oh,I know change it a 5K cause you do it yourself and like supporting the oil industry.
I normally sell my diesels with about 280,000 miles, no problems with the engine but the interior is quite worn so.... new truck. It is an LTZ+ if you care to comment on the interior.

[mapguy]

Grit dog wrote:

mapguy wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
5 tire rotation doesn't get you any more miles per tire or miles per dollar unless you're literally banking on the value of that cheap factory spare tire. It does do a good job of complicating tire rotations though.
The one upside is if you have a 1 wheel peel vehicle and can't keep from wearing the right rear tire more than the other rear tire. Then a 5 tire technically makes a bit more sense and cents.

Not using the cheap spare. Sold it with the wheel. Have a matching wheel and tire.

So what's the attraction or advantage to a 5 tire rotation, save for maybe on a Jeep with expensive oversize spare tire sitting in the sun getting cooked?

The motivation for having a matched spare is travel to very remote locations to camp and ride my dirt bike.

Having a 5 tire rotation ensures that I have a serviceable tire to use if needed. I have seen many people with spare tire issues, tow vehicle or trailer, over the years in very remote locations. Many places I go have 30+ miles of washboard road to travel. Most of these places have no phone service either unless you have a sat phone. A rotted cheap spare is not going to get you back home in a reliable manner.

[mapguy]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
mapguy, what mileage you gettin outa 5 tires?

Michelin LTX AT2 - a little over 62,000 with 4/32 to 6/32 left.

[ktmrfs]

BigToe wrote:

parkmanaa wrote:
You won't be sorry for going with the Michelin Defender LTX tires. Have used Michelin for more years than I care to remember, on cars, trucks, motorhomes and have NEVER had one failure. It's the only brand I buy, and insist my family does the same.

Funny how so many people blame the tire when they have a blowout. That poor tire may have been encountering everything the highway can throw at it for many, many thousands of miles, but if it should blow out, albiet years later, it's the manufacturer's fault. Never that piece of steel or 4x4 you hit many miles back, that weakened the tire. Always the manufacturer.

I had three (3) blowouts in one brand and model of tire.

Where there is smoke, there is fire.

One brand AND model of tire.

I still drive on the brand, but not that particular model of tire anymore. Not sure why it took me 3 times to learn my lesson. I guess I felt like you did... had to have been something else... a pressure issue, a valve stem issue, a temperature issue, a road hazard issue... something, but surely, the tire itself could not possibly, barring outside factors, be intrinsically at fault.

So I'd repair the mess and mount another tire, of the identical model and brand, to match the remaining tires, and bam, it happened again.

Just a coincidence.

Bam, it happened again.

Perhaps just a fluke

BAM, it happened again.

Ok now wait a minute, something's wrong here. Why is it in 40 years of driving, I've never had a blow out, but with this particular model and brand of tire, I've had three blow outs? Turns out, I wasn't the only one having the problem. Thousands of people throughout the USA were having the same issues with the same model and brand of tire.

The manufacture of this tire discontinued that model of tire, and replaced it with a different design casing and tread. I haven't had any issues with newer design.

Having this hindsight, I pay very close attention when I both read and personally see similar experiences with the same model and brand of tire.

Back on the topic of this thread, the brand is Michelin, and the model was LTX, and the purchase location was Costco. Personally seeing the aftermath one experience, and then reading the aftermath of another person's identical experience, gets my attention now.

This isn't a matter of "blame the manufacturer", this is a matter of paying attention to trends... something that I wish I had done prior to mounting the same brand and model of tire for the third time, after already experiencing two blow outs, because the third blowout did the most expensive damage that I still haven't fully had repaired yet.

This also isn't a matter of not liking Michelin tires. I run Michelin drive tires on my medium duty truck, as well as on my wife's SUV. Over the decades, I've purchased and run Michelin tires, especially when the car manufacturer issued Michelin tires as OEM equipment. Then I'll endeavor to buy the exact same tire when it comes time for replacement.

The concern that I expressed in this thread was narrowly focused to a specific model of Michelin (the LTX M/S) sold at a particular large retailer (Costco). When several people report the same issues (I've heard of similar stories elsewhere) about that particular tire sold at that particular large volume retailer, it raises the eyebrows.

Not sure when you had problems but Michelin did have a recall on several light truck tires including the LTX tires some years ago due to tire failures. The recall was in 2013 IIRC

[Grit_dog]

Tire discussions are like the twilight zone. You never know what weird _____will jump outta the bushes and present itself!

[Grit_dog]

tomman58 wrote:
I have always used Michelin Defender LTX M/S on my GMC diesels. I never have had a problem with them. I have had a broken belt on 2 of the tires that came with the trucks. I haul a 40'TT all over this country and have put 100s of thousand miles on them w2ith no problem and yes I get mine at Costco.
The one rule I have for my tires is a every oil change I rotate and BALANCE. If you do not balance these big baloneys they will turn on you.

Balancing a set of tires every 5k miles giver take is about as silly as it gets. But to each those own.
If you want to save some real $, consider this. You are likely in the .0001% minority that does this and the rest of the world ain't wrong in this instance.

[Grit_dog]

mapguy wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
5 tire rotation doesn't get you any more miles per tire or miles per dollar unless you're literally banking on the value of that cheap factory spare tire. It does do a good job of complicating tire rotations though.
The one upside is if you have a 1 wheel peel vehicle and can't keep from wearing the right rear tire more than the other rear tire. Then a 5 tire technically makes a bit more sense and cents.

Not using the cheap spare. Sold it with the wheel. Have a matching wheel and tire.

So what's the attraction or advantage to a 5 tire rotation, save for maybe on a Jeep with expensive oversize spare tire sitting in the sun getting cooked?

[parkmanaa]

BIGTOE: Could you give us approximate age & mileage of those failed tires?
Along with many other models, I have used many LTX M&S over the years without a single failure.
Thanks,