No, I just had never heard of Goshen KY before.

Dad has a set of Michelins on his 93 W250 CTD. I think they are his second set of tires on that truck? Seems like he has a little over 100K on the truck. They are getting thin on the edges now.

 

I'll have to remember that once my Hecules Terra Tracs wear out.

I assume they come in "E" range?

 

The best advice I can give anyone on tires is to find a good tire dealer who actually knows tires. Brands and mileage warranty mean NOTHING. This will be a process of trial and error. What tires do you need? I have no clue.

Tire Barn, Sams Club, Wal-Mart, Pep Boys and such are not going to be on the list. The tire monkeys there know little of nothing and think they know everything.

Finding a good tire man is just like finding a good parts man. They are rare and when you find one you always keep going back. Tires is a tricky game, you can compare specs all you like but no two tires are the same and only a good dealer who sells a bunch of tires can tell you the real deal on whats really good.

There is an old guy who is the General Manager at a tire place in Birmingham or Huntsville, AL (cant remember which). They only have five stores, big orange and black stores and his store is caddy corner from a Value Place hotel and an Arbys I think (I have the business card at home -- not with me now) but that guy knew his tires real well. Sold me a set some off-brand EEEs for my van, they were dirt cheap ($70 each or so), had no warranty and they outlasted the van and still had plenty of serviceable life in them.

So happy I was with him I was actually going to drive down to Alabama to get tires on the Dodge but the tires that were on the Dodge started showing belts here in California so I got pushed into putting on BF Goodrich T/A Commercials at Sams. Its an E tire and at $149/ea it wasn't too awful. It rides fairly well.

A good tire man is worth his weight in gold. He'll save you a ton of money showing you which of the no-name brands can be safely bought. There is little point in paying an extra $200/tire for the Goodyear brand when you can find something for $79/tire that's just as good.

 

Do you have a lot of experience w/ eldorado tires? They make a tire called the tempra trailcutter I was thinking of trying out.

 

Your $1100 might buy four Michelins, but a long way from six, installed, tax, and all.

Depending on the size, most come in LR-E, others are LR-D.

I haven't yet seen the Tempra TrailCutter, though Tempra is the label that El Dorado usually puts on their top-of-the-line tires.

I have a LOT of experience with the ZTR, having installed a gazillion sets for un-complaining consumers, plus I have them on my wife's winter wheels, my mother runs them year-round on her 4x4 Chevy, and my father likewise on his 4x4 GMC.



Agreed.


I can't believe the people that will trust something so important as mounting their wheels to the careless punks employed by most of these places; your life is riding on how well they do their job, let alone how expensive such things as wheel-studs, brake-rotors, bearings, etc. can be to replace.


Sad to say, but, even in the mom and pop tire-stores, few rocket scientists apply for the filthy thankless LOW PAID job of tire-monkey.



As far as brands, I am not in the least impressed with Goodyear, and Michelin is WAY over-rated in that they usually cost up to twice or more than any other premium tire and DO NOT stand behind their tires, having the over-exagerated attitude that they don't make mistakes.


And, like said, among the $79 tires, there are quite a few that are as good as anything out there; then, also, there are several that will shake the teeth right out of your head, develop big knots and air-pockets, or be slick before you get out of town.

The only way to know is to sell a bunch of them and wait for either the complaints or the happy customers to come back for more; all of this is a time consuming process that doesn't happen overnight.


I have sold tires that I wouldn't have put on a wood-truck, and the people that bought them come back a year later wanting more, claiming excellent performance; on the other hand, I have also sold some of the off-brands that I had to eat or lose their faith in me.

 

i've put 65000 miles on two different set of bfg commercial TA's [ road tread]. the sumitomo's will outlast anything on the road but they reallllllyy ride hard. guys i know running gooseneck horsetrailers [cutters] that can't have flats and tire failures at speed[ and i do mean speed!]are running sumitomos. you can't carry enough michelins to get to texas and back at 80 with a 4 horse trailer. tc

 

For what it's worth, Michelin now owns B.F.Goodrich and Uniroyal.

 

Did not known that, interesting. But to expand on your point (and that tidbit just goes to further prove it)... its just like buying a LCD TV/Monitor: there are only a couple of companies in the world that make the panels. In many cases, you are paying for NOTHING but the brand... guts are exactly the same, made in the same plant, same employees, same raw materials, different name on case.

 

I started looking for tires that will last a long time. I noticed Michelin LTX owners had claimed up to 100K+ on a set of tires. I wasn't to sure about that, so I asked someone I really trust, (Brian Block, AKA: KTA) and he said he gets 80K+ out of a set, so I figured I would look. I wanted other opinions as well, but I haven't seen any stats on other tires.

Brand has nothing to do with it in this case, these are just the ones that were reccomended to me, and the research I have done backs it up. I have found them for about $150 per tire, and that didn't seem much higher than the other brands.

 

I vote for the LTX.
The LTX A/S get a little better mpg, last a long time and are quiet. The downside is the are not good in the snow and when the tread gets thin, not too good in the rain either. Almost worthless in mud.
The LTX M/S does well in the snow and rain.

I do get a lot of miles from my BF Goodrich Rugged Trail T/As. They wear even, get good mpg but are also worthless in snow and mud.

What size are you looking for, 215s or 235s?

 

I found a shop about a mile from my Grandpa's farm, and had a little talk with the owner. He was a very nice person and he seemed to know what he was doing as far as mechanic wise. I asked him about tires for my truck and he said he would get me a price. I was quoted $965.12 for all 6 installed, balanced, and every 5K miles I can come back and get them rotated and balanced for free, so I thought it was a pretty good deal.

Me being the idiot that I am, forgot to ask what brand of tire they were, but my Grandpa reccomended him, and when I talked to him, he seemed to know what he was talking about. I'm going to call him back and ask the brand, but even if they aren't "name brand" I still may go with them.

One more thing, he said on Dually trucks, they need a heavy duty tire. If they don't have one, they sway going down the road. I wasn't to sure on that, but I don't think he would tell me that just to sell me more expensive tires.

 

Heavy tires are better.I have had cheap C rated tires. They roll around like innertubes when you have a little weight on them.

 

Make sure that the size is correct for the duals. You don't want them rubbing either. And just because they are the same size as the old ones doesn't always mean they'll work. Different brands will have minor size differences, shoulders, sidewalls etc.

Find out the brand and size and load range and maybe see if Bearkiller has an opinion if you want some advice from an old sage.

Good your grandpa recommended a local garage. Those are usually the best.

 

Nope, that's good advice there. Heavier tires have a stronger sidewall which means that the bottom of them gets squashed out less. Part of that is keeping the right air pressure in the tires, the other is having the right tire on there. If they touch, they rub and rubbing produces alot of heat. The same thing can happen going down the road, folks have gotten pieces of lumber or large rocks between the tires.

Tires that rub fail quickly and can present a serious safety hazard. They can even catch on fire due to the heat produced and tire fires can be a real pain to put out and they get going really fast. If you wind up on the side of the road with one, by the time the fire dept gets there your truck is likely a total loss.

On our trucks, I would not get anything smaller than an E load range. As I said earlier, I prefer EE or EEE, but you'll have a tough time finding those.

 

I guess there are special rims out there for 235 and stock is 215. I read this somewhere else.

"I thought I would add that all the 1st gen dual trucks came with 215 tires.
The main reason was because it was hard to balance the 235's when used as duals due to the rims not liking to center vary well on the hub. This was due to the flat faced lug nuts and coined stud holes in the wheel. There is a TSB on the centering problem that fixes the problem. Jujst follow the directions.
Another thing I would like to add is that you CAN NOT use 235's on the stock dual wheels!!!! they will rub when loaded and blow out on the highway. Kelsey does make a coined stock steel wheel just for the 235 tire to be used on the dually Dodge trucks. they are 100.00 each wholesale. Some of the first gen
"cab & chassis" (not pickups) trucks did come with them when special ordered by fleets. These wheels looked exactly like ones that came with the pickups but had a .700" different ofset.

I myself prefer the 235-85 10ply tire . It used to be called a 7.50 x 16 in years past. I hope this helps"