Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
My daily runner needs new shoes.

Size: 265/65/17

I'm looking at Michelin Cross Terrains at $193 a foot, versus Goodyear
Wrangler SR-A's at $179. In other words, the price is close to the same.

So, how the hell does one decide, one over the other?



Harry,

My personal choice is Michelin. I have the LT265/75R16C LTX M/S on my GMC
Z71 I currently have 93,000 miles on them and they still have most of the
original tread depth left (11/32 according to my Discount Tires guy). They
also get great traction on ice and snow. (I commute 47 miles each way every
weekday year round to northern Indiana (and have for 16 years).

I have owned Goodyear Wranglers, Firestone Wilderness, General Grabber, and
BF Goodrich All Terrain tires in the past and these Michelins are by far the
best tire I have ever owned on an SUV or 4X4 Pickup.

You can also go to the NHTSA website and review government ratings for
various tires and vehicles.

http://www.safercar.gov/tires/pages/tireratings.cfm

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

FREDO wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
My daily runner needs new shoes.

Size: 265/65/17

I'm looking at Michelin Cross Terrains at $193 a foot, versus Goodyear
Wrangler SR-A's at $179. In other words, the price is close to the same.

So, how the hell does one decide, one over the other?



Harry,

My personal choice is Michelin. I have the LT265/75R16C LTX M/S on my GMC
Z71 I currently have 93,000 miles on them and they still have most of the
original tread depth left (11/32 according to my Discount Tires guy). They
also get great traction on ice and snow. (I commute 47 miles each way every
weekday year round to northern Indiana (and have for 16 years).

At 93k miles and you have most of the original tread depth???

Gee, sounds like you'll get at least 500,000 miles from those bad
boys!!!

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

FREDO wrote:

My personal choice is Michelin. I have the LT265/75R16C LTX M/S on my GMC
Z71 I currently have 93,000 miles on them and they still have most of the
original tread depth left (11/32 according to my Discount Tires guy). They
also get great traction on ice and snow. (I commute 47 miles each way every
weekday year round to northern Indiana (and have for 16 years).

I have owned Goodyear Wranglers, Firestone Wilderness, General Grabber, and
BF Goodrich All Terrain tires in the past and these Michelins are by far the
best tire I have ever owned on an SUV or 4X4 Pickup.

Ditto on the LTX M+S experience here. Greatly improved my Explorer's
ride, handling and traction (dry, wet, mud, snow, you name it) over the
"interleaved pork chop" tread of the stock Wilderness ATs (boom!).
Roadnoise was reduced to car-like levels. First time out with them, I
felt like I should have driven directly from Ford to Michelin when the
vehicle was new, to just toss the ATs in the trash and get the LTXs at
my own expense, that's how much I thought of the overall improvement. I
put 60,000 miles on them then traded the vehicle, tires STILL looked
new.

Of course as others have mentioned, there's more to a tire than
treadwear. There are tradeoffs but somehow Michelin achieves good
traction and long treadwear with several of its tires, but at mucho
$$$. You can get what you pay for and you can be happy with them for
many miles. You might also get just as good a ride with tires with
shorter wear rating, maybe for less $$ and just have to replace them
sooner. That's what I opted for on my latest tire purchase (for a car),
not because of money savings but because I liked the particular tire
and the idea that there might be something even better available when
it's time to replace. I like replacing the rubber every few years
whether there's plenty of tread left or not... it's about the integrity
of the rubber. So I looked at how many miles I was going to put on the
car in that time and decided I didn't need to pay for tread I wasn't
going to use, but I WAS willing to pay for better tread I WOULD use.
OK, so maybe this is kind of a jumble of opinion but you might take
something from it.

%mod%

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...

FREDO wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
My daily runner needs new shoes.

Size: 265/65/17

I'm looking at Michelin Cross Terrains at $193 a foot, versus Goodyear
Wrangler SR-A's at $179. In other words, the price is close to the
same.

So, how the hell does one decide, one over the other?



Harry,

My personal choice is Michelin. I have the LT265/75R16C LTX M/S on my GMC
Z71 I currently have 93,000 miles on them and they still have most of the
original tread depth left (11/32 according to my Discount Tires guy).
They
also get great traction on ice and snow. (I commute 47 miles each way
every
weekday year round to northern Indiana (and have for 16 years).

At 93k miles and you have most of the original tread depth???

Gee, sounds like you'll get at least 500,000 miles from those bad
boys!!!



I don't know about that but 130,000 would be real nice.
I align my truck (four wheel) every 30,000 miles, check tire pressure weekly
and rotate & balance the tires every 7500 miles when I change the oil (about
every 7 weeks). Of course I paid 788.00 USD for 4 those tires.

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

FREDO wrote:
"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...
FREDO wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
My daily runner needs new shoes.

Size: 265/65/17

I'm looking at Michelin Cross Terrains at $193 a foot, versus Goodyear
Wrangler SR-A's at $179. In other words, the price is close to the
same.

So, how the hell does one decide, one over the other?



Harry,

My personal choice is Michelin. I have the LT265/75R16C LTX M/S on my GMC
Z71 I currently have 93,000 miles on them and they still have most of the
original tread depth left (11/32 according to my Discount Tires guy).
They
also get great traction on ice and snow. (I commute 47 miles each way
every
weekday year round to northern Indiana (and have for 16 years).

At 93k miles and you have most of the original tread depth???

Gee, sounds like you'll get at least 500,000 miles from those bad
boys!!!



I don't know about that but 130,000 would be real nice.
I align my truck (four wheel) every 30,000 miles, check tire pressure weekly
and rotate & balance the tires every 7500 miles when I change the oil (about
every 7 weeks). Of course I paid 788.00 USD for 4 those tires.


Fredo,
Since you paid $788 for the 4 tires, it sounds like these are
replacement tires. At what mileage did you change tires?

I have a lifetime alignment and lifetime tire and rotation, so I rotate
and align my car every 3,000 miles. I can never get more than 30-35M so
you are still getting one hell of a deal.

--
Reggie

"That's my story and I am sticking to it."

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

"Reggie Smithers" wrote in message
...
FREDO wrote:
"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...
FREDO wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..
My daily runner needs new shoes.

Size: 265/65/17

I'm looking at Michelin Cross Terrains at $193 a foot, versus Goodyear
Wrangler SR-A's at $179. In other words, the price is close to the
same.

So, how the hell does one decide, one over the other?



Harry,

My personal choice is Michelin. I have the LT265/75R16C LTX M/S on my
GMC
Z71 I currently have 93,000 miles on them and they still have most of
the
original tread depth left (11/32 according to my Discount Tires guy).
They
also get great traction on ice and snow. (I commute 47 miles each way
every
weekday year round to northern Indiana (and have for 16 years).

At 93k miles and you have most of the original tread depth???

Gee, sounds like you'll get at least 500,000 miles from those bad
boys!!!



I don't know about that but 130,000 would be real nice.
I align my truck (four wheel) every 30,000 miles, check tire pressure
weekly and rotate & balance the tires every 7500 miles when I change the
oil (about every 7 weeks). Of course I paid 788.00 USD for 4 those tires.
Fredo,
Since you paid $788 for the 4 tires, it sounds like these are replacement
tires. At what mileage did you change tires?

I have a lifetime alignment and lifetime tire and rotation, so I rotate
and align my car every 3,000 miles. I can never get more than 30-35M so
you are still getting one hell of a deal.

--
Reggie

"That's my story and I am sticking to it."

The original Firestone Wilderness P265/75R16 (Maypops) were replaced at
79,000 miles. ( I now have approximately 172,000 miles on my truck.)
They were horrible tires for driving on wet or ice covered roads. A couple
of times I had to put the truck in 4wd just to take off from a stop sign
when it was new (and that was just after a summer rain on a chip & seal
road). After putting the Michelin's on I found out the lack of traction was
just the horrible OEM Firestone tires.

Most of my driving is interstate with minimal stop & go. I think this along
with upgrading from P to LT tires helps contribute to my long tread life.
Keep in mind this truck is a 2000 model and it will be ready for it's 3rd
set of tires next year sometime.

Fredo

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

Harry,

I work at the a car factory and we can 4 wheel align a car in under 45
seconds with our ultrasonic alignment equipment. We have found the
ultrasonic system is more reliable than a laser system in high humidity and
heat environments such as a non air conditioned assembly plant. The laser
wavelength tends to become distorted in high heat humidity conditions. Which
causes the cameras to have difficulty reading the tire location properly.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
I went with the Michelins, for the price quoted me on the phone, which
included mounting, balancing, disposing of old tires, sales tax
and...hehehe...an alignment check. I was amazed at the combo
computer/laser alignment machine.

As I mentioned, I finally got to see the damned air pressure indicators
that set the light off on my dash. One of the mechanics said he broke one
on a customer's car once, and it $200+ to replace.

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

FREDO wrote:
Harry,

I work at the a car factory and we can 4 wheel align a car in under 45
seconds with our ultrasonic alignment equipment. We have found the
ultrasonic system is more reliable than a laser system in high humidity and
heat environments such as a non air conditioned assembly plant. The laser
wavelength tends to become distorted in high heat humidity conditions. Which
causes the cameras to have difficulty reading the tire location properly.


I've heard that you can get a brand new car and the alignment will be
off, because they don't align every car that comes off the assembly
line. Is that true where you work?

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

We must align every car if we didn't cars would come to customers with the
tires squealing when you were driving straight.
"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...

FREDO wrote:
Harry,

I work at the a car factory and we can 4 wheel align a car in under 45
seconds with our ultrasonic alignment equipment. We have found the
ultrasonic system is more reliable than a laser system in high humidity
and
heat environments such as a non air conditioned assembly plant. The laser
wavelength tends to become distorted in high heat humidity conditions.
Which
causes the cameras to have difficulty reading the tire location properly.


I've heard that you can get a brand new car and the alignment will be
off, because they don't align every car that comes off the assembly
line. Is that true where you work?

Help Selecting New Shoes for Car
 

FREDO wrote:
We must align every car if we didn't cars would come to customers with the
tires squealing when you were driving straight.
"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...
FREDO wrote:
Harry,

I work at the a car factory and we can 4 wheel align a car in under 45
seconds with our ultrasonic alignment equipment. We have found the
ultrasonic system is more reliable than a laser system in high humidity
and
heat environments such as a non air conditioned assembly plant. The laser
wavelength tends to become distorted in high heat humidity conditions.
Which
causes the cameras to have difficulty reading the tire location properly.

I've heard that you can get a brand new car and the alignment will be
off, because they don't align every car that comes off the assembly
line. Is that true where you work?



Fredo,
Do you think the cars are as accurately aligned as when you have them
aligned at the dealer? Or do they just get them close enough for
government work?

--
Reggie

"That's my story and I am sticking to it."