Michelin Tires

[helmick]

After two bad Mission Tires in less than fifty miles we now have Michelin Ribs for our peace of mind.

[lcarter]

Late last fall, after all the camping was done. I replaced all of my Chinese tires with Michelins including the spare. It was expensive but well worth the cost. We haven't really begun to use them yet.
LCarter

[helmick]

Changed 4 tires, I hope with the Michelin Ribs I never need spare.

[sailer]

you don't need a spare , only if a tire goes flat , and if you changed tire size you have to also change the spare as you will be runing 2 dif sizes on the axel .. if you went from 80 s to 85s you have to switch spares,, ask lonnie,,, sailer

[HughM]

First thing I did after delivery...buy 4 Michelin Ribs. I've never had a bad Michelin tire..including M/H tires. Well worth the extra money for piece of mind.
Hugh

[soonerhooligan]

helmick you did the right thing. No more watching your rear view mirror to see if the rubber is flying off your tires.
I did the same thing. My "07" MM 329RL had Mission. I caught them before they could cause me any damage and changed to Michelin Ribs.
Occasionaly on this forum and RV.NET you will find someone who will defend the China Bombs. I can't for the life of me understand it. People will buy insurance, roadside assistance packages, all kids of upgrades, and don't think about upgrading their tires. It would be like buying a stick house and saying "so what if the foundation has cracks".

[bsmeaton]

A good move Helmick. Unfortunately Michelin won't meet the axle load capacity spec on ours, so to avoid the China Bomb we'll have to go to the Goodyear G.

By the way, the Goodyear G is also a bomb according to RVnet .

[helmick]

I have a 2007 Montana 3400RL. I took it to the truck scales and had it weighed before I bought the tires. The axel weight was 10,700 LBS.
The tires are rated at 3,065 each, so I should not have a problem

[bsmeaton]

Helmick, you should be fine. My approach is a little different - I was excited to see my rig come with the 7K axles and I was excited to have the extra 2,000 payload over the early 2007 models, so I don't want to degrade it by going back to 6K tires.

[mail2us]

Not to take helmick (Ron) from his topic/subject, he indicated his axle weight was 10,700 lbs. Can you Ron or Brad kinda break that down for me in terms of my 08 3400 with axles @ 7000 lbs and what tire ratings on Missions currently are. I have not weighed my rig so am kinda in the blind but I do not overlodad it. Am lost on this subject.
Tks. Dennis

[helmick]

Both Michelin and Mission had a E/10 rating. I`m not a tire expert, I just know I trust Michlem Rib a lot more than any Chinese tire.
Thats why i would not take their free replacements. I feel that I have upgraded my Montana, not degraded it.

[jars]

I had Michelin on our 3670 2001 put 51000 on them including a trip to Alaska. Never had a flat I just believe in them When we bought our 2007 with Mission tires a trip to Branson one was ready to blow so I put Michelin XPS on it.

Jars #1527
Richard E Smith

[bsmeaton]

Dennis, not sure exactly what you are asking, but the sticker on the left front will give your axle rating and OEM tire rating. The tire rating is also stamped on the side and should be ~3,450 lbs @ 80 psi on your Mission or Marathon tires. Your load limit is either the axle rating or tire limit of 2 tires, whichever is the lower limit. The ST235/80R16 LRE tires technically limit you to ~6,900 lbs per axle at 80psi.

The Michelin tires have a load limit of 3,042 @ 80 psi, which would limit your weight per axle to 6,084 lbs. By using those tires I would loose ~2,000 lbs. of capacity.

Helmick - I'm not saying you did the wrong thing - in fact, it's a tough decision. I'm weighing in at ~11,600 on the axles now under full equipment load (no groceries). I could also get by with the Michelins, but I would only have 400 lbs reserve left. I'm more comfortable keeping the full 2,400 lb reserve capacity I paid for by going to the higher rated tire because as human nature goes - I get heavier and the rig gets heavier as the seasons pass by and pretty soon I very well could be weighing in at 12,500 or 13,500 on the axles and I would be overloading the Michelin tires.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with adjusting your load to stay within a reduced tire capacity as you have done. However, you now have a new limit you need to live with. There would definately be something wrong with someone knowingly overloading an American made truck tire because they think it is better quality than the Chinese trailer tire. No one has enough information about how the tires are made to safely make that decision.

[mail2us]

Brad, using my model 3400 (08) with 7K axles based on your answer I should not exceed 14000 lbs? and with what I have with Mission tires as you perfectly described at 6900 x2 it's 13800 as my upper limit??
I dare say, even tho I have not weighed the Montana, and travel somewhat light, I doubt it's even 12800, but not totally sure. Must weigh soon to really know what I'm talking about. Dennis

[lcarter]

I checked all the comments on this forum, escapees, and rvnet. I have yet to see anyone who has anything bad to say about the Michelin ribs. I was informed by Goodyear that unless I upgraded to 6.5 in rims they would not warranty the G tires. So I went with the ribs. Since I went from 80 to 85 I had to upgrade the spare as well.

As I stated before on this forum, I had one the Chinese tires explode on me during our last camping weekend of the season. It was not a pretty thing. The subsequent flopping destroyed the plastic skirt on the curbside. Luckily, no other serious damage. Lesson learned.

of LCarter

[bsmeaton]

Dennis,
Sounds like you got the concept .

[Larry]

From LCarter:
"I was informed by Goodyear that unless I upgraded to 6.5 in rims they would not warranty the G tires."

Thanks for that information. I was ready to buy the G614's and was wondering about the "6.5 inch" spec. Guess I'll go with the RIBS and live with the 3042# load capacity.