Michelin LT failure

BigToe wrote:
Whew... I just read through 9 pages of this thread in one sitting.

It was like watching a bar room brawl, with a lot of grunting and low blows, with none of the punches being hard enough to do real damage because everyone is too drunk (on their Kool-Aide of choice).

I'm gonna step out of this saloon for some fresh air. Maybe I'll kick my tires and check if they have as much pressure and hot air as what fuels this endless LT / ST debate. I will return though, to see if everyone is still ok. Perhaps by then y'all will be playing cards and drinking coffee?

Most of the regular posters in these tire threads know the major construction differences. The fact of the matter is, there isn’t any real differences in LT constructed tires compared to ST constructed tires. The differences start to widen when the purpose of the tire is brought into play.

New readers may come to the conclusion that RIB is a term only applicable to a single tire manufacturer. All tires have treads with ribs of some design depending on the tire’s purpose.

We see some posters mesmerized with tire siping. Sipes are Special slits within a tread block that open as the tire rolls into the contact patch then close, breaking the water tension on the road surface and putting rubber in contact with the road to maintain adhesion, increasing wet and snow traction.

The carcass; The supporting structure of the tire consisting of plies anchored to the bead on one side and running in a radius to the other side and anchoring to the bead. Also called casing.

All of that stuff is just so much jive to the owner that just suffered a catastrophic tire failure that severely damaged his nearly new (or even older) trailer. I write a lot about RV trailer tire history. I know it has to be a contributing factor but hard to sell to someone on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.

There is no doubt about it, the ST tire cannot be compared with your truck tire. Most 15” & 16” LT tires have a third steel belt to help prevent foreign object penetrations. The LT tires designed for commercial service may have extra materials in their sidewalls to protect them from curb scrubbing.

ST tire manufacturers publish the parameters for the ST life expectancy, their speed restrictions, they stress full sidewall air pressures to be used all the time. (The ST tire cannot last long when their sidewalls are allowed to flex with insufficient tire pressures). Fooling around with RV trailer tire air pressures (any design) is like holding lit firecrackers. You never know when they’re going to blow.

FastEagle