Bridgestone Vs. Michelin's

[benmack1]

Hello-

I am reading alot of the concerns about old age tires.  I have to go home and check my dates but I have already called some local tire shops about replacements.  I have of course too many choices.  The names I recognize are Bridgestone and Michelins.  My tires are 235/85R16.  For a pair of Bridgestone 10 ply enduro tires they want $175 for the pair.  A pair of 10 ply Michelins are $345.  Obviously the lower cost is attractive, does anyone have a good reason to go with the higher dollar tires.  I don't want to save a few bucks and total the rig because of it!!  I also don't have any desire to pay for nice TV ads as well. 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The Bridgestones are fine if they have the same or greater load rating as your current tires.  The 10 ply rating implies that they do, but check the actual Max Load value which will be embossed right on the tire sidewall. It will say something like "Max xxxx lbs at YY PSI", meaning the tire can carry XXXX lbs of weight when inflated to YY psi.

Last I knew, Goodyear also made tires in your size and at reasonable prices. Many light trucks use tires in this size and load range, so competition keeps the price down.

The Michelins may be XRVs, tires especially formulated for RV use.  Primarily that means they use a rubber compound that is expected to last at least seven years, even if the tires are not driven lots of miles. Generally that means they have extra UV-inibiting chemicals in the rubber compound. That may be worth something, but probably not the difference between $175 & $340!  Or they maybe XPS Ribs, which are also used on many Rvs with 16 inch wheels.

 

[JVH]

Just my .02 worth. Bridgestone is Firestone, or the other way around. After all the trouble I had with getting my tires changed a few years ago, ( I had the firestone death tires on my SUV) I will never buy a Bridgestone/Firestone product again. They let way too many people die before they would admit to the problem. I switched to Michelins on my SUV and have Goodyear on my 1995 american Eagle.

Fool me once shame on you, Fool me twice shame on me.

 

[John From Detroit]

You know that I blame Ford more than Firestone for those roll-a-matics don't you JVH

Here is how I think they rolled over

1: Yuppie who has never driven a truck in his life trades in his Mustang on an SUV cause he's now Married with a kid on the way and he needs a "Family Car" note that SUV's are trucks

2: Ford used too light a chassis for the Explorer, built it with too high a center of gravety and too short and narrow a wheel base

3: Ford suggests running the tires about 5 lbs per sq inch flat by Firstone's tires (if you read this forum you will find we are big on listening to the TIRE manafacturer's recomendations for pressure as opposed to the vehicle builder's)

4: New tires, they don't leak, I don't need to check them

5: Neither did the technician the last oil change, or two

6: We now have, not about 5 lbs flat, but about 5 lbs period

7: While driveing 80 in the cars 70 trucks 55 mph zone our soon to be pushing up daisies driver hits one of Michigan's more famous freeway features (NOTE: Michigan does NOT have an exclusive) <Voice of doom mode> THE POT HOLE <regular voice mode> since there is not enough pressure the edge of the pot hole forces the rim right through the sidewall, you now have expolosive tire failure,

8: What does our un-trained yuppie do now.. Why stand on the brakes with both feet of course (That's what you do when something happens right)

9: What's #1 on the list of things not to do when you get a flat... Yup, stand on the brakes with both feet

What's #2,,, Roll over and die,, And he does that next

That is how  I think it happened

In about 40 years of driving I have blown at one time or another just about every tire position on the vehicle, all 4 car tires (one at a time) both trailer tires (one at a time) and even a tire on a semi, though I'm not sure who was driving when it went flat (Trailer tire, way back, found it with the beater thing)  And not once have I ever lost control of the car.  not once

 

[Ron]

Please don't blame the tire manufacturer for what may have been Fords dumb engineering Boo Boo.? From what I understand Ford released a service letter advising to run the tires at a pressure that was 5 lbs below the tire manufacturers recommendations.? IMHO you are worse off with Michelins. I would use Firestone before I would buy a michelin.

 

[Alaskansnowbirds]

Just my .02 worth. Bridgestone is Firestone, or the other way around. After all the trouble I had with getting my tires changed a few years ago, ( I had the firestone death tires on my SUV) I will never buy a Bridgestone/Firestone product again. They let way too many people die before they would admit to the problem. I switched to Michelins on my SUV and have Goodyear on my 1995 american Eagle.

Fool me once shame on you, Fool me twice shame on me.

JVH,

A couple of days ago on the Phoenix local news, the reporter was interviewing an Arizona DPS officer. The question was "why are we having so many rollovers?" The officer's answer..."number one reason is driver incompetence. When they have a flat tire, blow out or drop a tire off the edge of the road they jerk the wheel in the opposite direction and slam on the brakes."

As John said, another problem is everyone is driving 15 MPH over the speed limit. 99% of them don't have the driving ability to drive the speed limit let alone 15 miles over it. I'd be willing to bet that there isn't 1 in 10,000 drivers that have ever had any training in how to handle a vehicle during an emergency.

Don't blame the tire, blame the nut holding the steering wheel.

 

[John From Detroit]

Dem loose steering wheel nuts are often a problem...

I know I've been glad the Motor Home controls the brakes on teh lumina more than once when some loose nut cut me off

Here is Mr. Nut, it's in oh, perhaps 2,000 lbs of sub compact convertable, I'm in what, 26,000 lbs of motor home + towed and he's going to pull in front of me and slow down ... Very dumb, very dumb indeed I mean my 22.5" mitchlins are bigger than his car so he'd be nothing more than a bump in the road to me

 

[Woody]

Just my .02 worth. Bridgestone is Firestone, or the other way around. After all the trouble I had with getting my tires changed a few years ago, ( I had the firestone death tires on my SUV) I will never buy a Bridgestone/Firestone product again. They let way too many people die before they would admit to the problem. I switched to Michelins on my SUV and have Goodyear on my 1995 american Eagle.

Fool me once shame on you, Fool me twice shame on me.

You can also add to that the shabby way the Japanese parent company (Bridgestone) treated the Firestone employees when they bought the company.

I also will never buy a Bridgestone/Firestone product.

Woody

 

[Dan Walters]

I just put a set of 7 tires (6 ground, 1 spare) on my MH, size 235/85R 16.  I looked at several different brands, including Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, Kelly and Cooper.  A couple of months ago, I had put a set of tires on my F150 and settled on Cooper Tires.  I have been extremely pleased with them.  The truck came with  BF Goodrich Long Trail tires and they didn't last as long as I thought they should have and did not give a particularly smooth ride.  The Cooper Tires ride better, handle better and I hope will last longer than the Goodrich Tires.  So when I replaced the MH tires, I decided to go with the Cooper Tires on it as well.  They are load range E (10 ply rating) and have the same Max Load Value as the other tires I looked at.  I made my first trip with them this past weekend and they performed beautifully, giving me a stable, smooth ride.  They were actually better than the old Michelins that I took off.  The best part was the price.  I got the whole set of 7 tires for $1,011.15 which is $144.45 per tire including the tax, mounting and balancing.  If you want to look into the Coopers, the web site is www.coopertire.com.

Dan

 

[benmack1]

Thanks for all the comments.  Here's the end to my part of the story (please keep the other conversations going, they're quite good to read!).  I did some more looking around in my area (Mebane, NC).  The best I found a deal on turned out to be Uniroyal Laredo's.  I had 6 of the 8 on my MH replaced for less than 800 bucks (LT235/85R16 10 ply's).  Kelly also had a good looking tire and my family typically has run Kelly's for the past 10 years on pick-ups but the Uniroyal seemed like a better deal all things considered.  I have to say this forum has now cost me 800 bucks after reading all the tire advice.  I just bought this rig a few weeks ago and when I bought it I thought it had good tires on it.  They were >85% tread I would guess and had no sidewall cracking or between tread cracks that I could find.  However after reading the messages here, I looked up all the dates on my tires (I have steer, duals and a tag).  It turns out the steer tires and duals were made in ~3400 (34th week of 2000).  By my calculations that is very close to 6 years.  The tag axle has tires built in 2003 so I didn't change those.  Anyway after fretting about spending another several hundred dollars before I even get to take a vacation in this rig, I looked at my two small children playing on their swingset one evening across the yard and made the decision.  Hey it's only money and I can't replace the doodlebots on the swings.  I am new to this, but it is very clear to me if you can't afford to play don't - otherwise just try to do it right.  If I wouldn't have read the messages here, I would not have even considered the tires a concern.  Anyway, my wife will be getting tires for our anniversary this year so it all works out in the end and I have a nice place to sleep when she realizes my plan for balancing the spending this summer!

 

[Jeff]

I have four year old Bridgestones on our Tradewinds and they have given a smooth ride and no trouble.

 

[allscott]

I test drove one of the original Explorers, a 2 door 4wd model many years ago.  I took it out on the highway in a moderate cross wind and it was all I could do to keep it on the road.

I grew up driving with my dad on back country gravel roads (and I mean isolated roads) from the time I was strong enough to push in the clutch on our 66 ford half ton.  My dad figured that the more time he could spend with me teaching me how to drive the better driver I would be.  One of the things he would say to me on each of our outings was "Pay attention, you never know when you might blow a tire".

As I was test driving the Explorer those words rang in my head and I said to myself "there is no way I am going to be able to keep the shiny side up on this thing if I happened to blow a tire".  I took it back to the dealer and told them they couldn't give it to me for free.

I have only had one blow out in all my years of driving, it's quite rare now with radial tires if you look after them.  Other than having to change a tire at -35 deg it was a pretty uneventful.  But when I see mostly kids driving 85MPH down the freeway in beat up old cars that I am sure nobody ever looks at the tires on, it scares me. 

I used to work at a tire shop in high school I don't know how many times someone would come in with a flat and I would cut my hands on the steel belts sticking through the tire trying to take it off.  You can not believe (or may be you can) how ignorant some people can be when they are told they need new tires and they can't be "patched".  I have been screamed at by middle aged men (who should no better) that I was trying to con them into new tires.

As far as the Firestone tire thing I have no idea but find it hard to believe that in this day and age they were building a dangerous product.  I do know however it was a good excuse for Bridgestone to jerk around the Firestone employees in the south and therefore will never buy a Bridgestone / Firestone product (which is ironic because that is what I used to sell).