Shame, Shame, Shame on this Tireman.......

[Glenn and Lorraine]

I have been preaching about tires on this forum for years. After having spent many many years in the tire business I felt I knew where I was coming from.
Well I am now kicking myself in the butt big time. Two years ago I put 4 of Michelin's best on my TV. I went with the Michelin's after so many of you felt they were the best buy for my lifestyle. The first set of Firestone's only got 34,000 miles on them. The 4 Michelin's got over 40,000 and had probably another 20,000+ miles left on them. Needless to say I was very happy. That was until this week when I discovered I had an alignment problem. The 2 front tires were heavily worn on the inside rib. To the point that I felt they were no longer safe. As I always replace all 4 tires at the same time, I am having 4 new Michelin's, new shocks front and rear and the truck aligned at a cost of nearly 2 grand.
I feel like a real BOOB.

I guess it's a case of do as I say not as I do.

[ARJ]

Don't be kicking yourself in the butt! You will have a hospital bill on top of the tires & alignment.

We all do stuff that turns out to be stupid at times.

[noneck]

Yah, know, you've got a lot on your mind as we all loose focus, get complacent, glad you noticed before it was flat on the side of the road.

[sgtpp214]

I have always said there is no dumb question. So why are you kicking yourself Glenn. The Michelins on my TV lasted 105,000 miles and had some life left. As we were heading South last December I replaced all of them and also had all the 105,000 service done on the 3500. Clue me in please.

[grooving grandpa]

I have 72,000 miles on my Michelins on my dodge 2500. I do rotate them regularly at about 10,000. Besides, my legs aren't log enough to kick me in the butt.

[jim orme]

have the original Mission 235/80r16 on my 2007 2955rl. at 13000 miles there is a good wear pattern...no problems so far. always looking for something obvious. not anticipating any extended trips...not retired. everyone comfortable with running with them until they fail (on short trips)? trailer is 11,500 when loaded.
Jim and Dee...california...2007 2955rl, 2004 ford 250 superduty, nothing fancy just enjoy towing, and keeping both truck and trailer clean and new.

[JimF]

Hey, I was the same way on Mission until I lost 3 of them in about 300 ft at about 14,000 miles.

[LonnieB]

Don't kick yourself too hard Glenn, it happens to the best of us. I have trouble remembering to rotate and balance mine and I'm here at the tire shop all day, 5 1/2 days a week. My customers get a lot better service than I do .

[SlickWillie]

I had the Michelin tires on the TV until last fall. I found a couple had cracks around the tread. I didn't check the DOT code for manufacture date. I decided to try the Cooper tires, as I wanted a little more aggressive tread for down here on the coast. No knock on Michelin tires though. I have made many miles on Michelin's without a problem.

I rotate tires on the TV every 5K miles. I have found this to be best on the 4 WD vehicles. They tend to set a wear pattern you can never correct if run too long on the front.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by LonnieB

Don't kick yourself too hard Glenn, it happens to the best of us. I have trouble remembering to rotate and balance mine and I'm here at the tire shop all day, 5 1/2 days a week. My customers get a lot better service than I do .

I know from where you are coming Lonnie. Back when I was in the tire business I was very hard on customers that neglected to check air pressure and rotate the tires. Way to often I'd see perfectly good tires ruined from low pressure, poor or no rotation and alignment.
I would preach these things day after day but like you I would neglect my own tires. My excuse back than was I was either too busy or was just to tired working around other peoples tires and was in no mood to stay late and take care of my own.

BUT, today I have no such excuses. I sit on my butt most days with nothing to do and it only takes a few minutes to check the rubber. I'd say this will never happen again but................

[sreigle]

So not watching alignment was the problem, Glenn?

I put 70,000 on our BFG's on the Ford and still had another 7k or so left. This Dodge has the same brand, model, and size tires with 45,000 on them and looks like they'll easily do 70,000. I like Michelins but I sure like these BFG tires, too, especially since they're considerably cheaper than the Michelins. I'd be happy with either brand as OEM where I didn't have to pay the extra, though.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

So not watching alignment was the problem, Glenn?

Absolutely Steve. Both tires wore hard on the inside rib and if I wasn't so lazy I would have noticed. The alignment apparently happened after the previous rotation. Sometimes all it takes is a pothole or hitting a curb. Also the truck had over 70,000 miles on the OEM shocks. Weak shocks can also raise havock on alignment.

Drivers Please, do as I say not as I do. Don't just check your air pressure, check the wear on the tires as well.

[KathyandDave]

Do we need to rotate the Monty's tires?

[Glenn and Lorraine]

You should rotate all tires particularly those that are on a vehicle with a steering axle BUT I wouldn't rotate the trailer tires unless I noticed any unusual wear patterns.
If I did see any unusual patterns I would also look into the cause as something is wrong causing this wear. It could be something as simple as air pressure or alignment. Worst case scenario would be a bent axle.

[KathyandDave]

On another thread (too many - I'm losing track), I mentioned that I had wear on the inner rib of the TV's front axle. Somebody (lonnie b?) suggested that the alignment might have problems, but that was checked and found to be good. How can both front tires wear equally on the inner rib?