Almost 80,000 Miles on a set of tires.
I just put a new set of skins on my dually in preparation for a trip through the mountain passes to Alberta from Vancouver. I just have to say how well pleased I am on the service life of the old t...
Forum Discussion
BobsYourUncle,
I too always get way more than 80,000 miles from Michelins on the trucks I've owned for both my business and for my personal trucks. I also know for a fact that our city's over a dozen pickups get more than 80,000 miles on their Michelin tire also. The only tire they have used on the city pickups and also the police vehicles/SUV's is Michelin tires and has been since the mid 1980's. It's in black and white right in their annual reports! Nearly all of the pickups are GM's with one being a Ford F-150 and one is a Dodge 2500.
Bob, You gave many of the learned true answers as to why you get 80,000 miles plus of tire wear on your Michelins. There are NO secrets, just using common sense and purchasing the better tires and driving the vehicle properly!
Some of the reasons:
High inflation in tires always - Your truck Bob, with it's independent front suspension still rides and handles great at full inflation tires. Unfortunately, the other trucks with a solid front axles or other type suspensions and a diffenernt steering symmetry ride terrible at unloaded full tire inflation, so the owners usually lower tire inflation which causes tire wear. Death wobble etc and squirrely handling is another lovely feature of a solid front axle. Extremely well documented!
Easy and slow cornering - No substitute for it if one wants tires to last long mileages.
Proper alignment maintained - Speaks for itself.
Religously rotate the tires as specified - It's important for long wear.
Jackrabbit starts or heavy throttle starts - wears tires fast
Climbing on the binders (brakes) - wears tires fast. Learn to let up on the go pedal way before the stopping location and allow the truck to slow naturally as much as possible and practical. Learn to drive like you don't even have brakes until the vehicle's speed is down to around 20 MPH, then lightly apply the brakes to stop.
Very hot sun baked black road surfaces - especially if a rough or porous surface increases tire wearing.
High spped travel increases tire wear - high speed cameras use in testing show how tires deform (flex)) increasingly more as rotational speed increases. A flexing tire creates heat which is detrimental to tire longivety. Watching the test videos that are on the web is an eyeopener.
Various tire designs and manufacturers - tires have different tire life to the wear bars for a reason. It's a published guide for the tire itself and the warranty and relates directly to the construction and materials used.
It's not hard to figure out why or what's causing tires to be at the wear bars in 40k or 50k but few will really be factual as to why. It's the vehicle driven, the tire used and at what inflation, and how it's being driven always, not just sometimes!
I too always get way more than 80,000 miles from Michelins on the trucks I've owned for both my business and for my personal trucks. I also know for a fact that our city's over a dozen pickups get more than 80,000 miles on their Michelin tire also. The only tire they have used on the city pickups and also the police vehicles/SUV's is Michelin tires and has been since the mid 1980's. It's in black and white right in their annual reports! Nearly all of the pickups are GM's with one being a Ford F-150 and one is a Dodge 2500.
Bob, You gave many of the learned true answers as to why you get 80,000 miles plus of tire wear on your Michelins. There are NO secrets, just using common sense and purchasing the better tires and driving the vehicle properly!
Some of the reasons:
High inflation in tires always - Your truck Bob, with it's independent front suspension still rides and handles great at full inflation tires. Unfortunately, the other trucks with a solid front axles or other type suspensions and a diffenernt steering symmetry ride terrible at unloaded full tire inflation, so the owners usually lower tire inflation which causes tire wear. Death wobble etc and squirrely handling is another lovely feature of a solid front axle. Extremely well documented!
Easy and slow cornering - No substitute for it if one wants tires to last long mileages.
Proper alignment maintained - Speaks for itself.
Religously rotate the tires as specified - It's important for long wear.
Jackrabbit starts or heavy throttle starts - wears tires fast
Climbing on the binders (brakes) - wears tires fast. Learn to let up on the go pedal way before the stopping location and allow the truck to slow naturally as much as possible and practical. Learn to drive like you don't even have brakes until the vehicle's speed is down to around 20 MPH, then lightly apply the brakes to stop.
Very hot sun baked black road surfaces - especially if a rough or porous surface increases tire wearing.
High spped travel increases tire wear - high speed cameras use in testing show how tires deform (flex)) increasingly more as rotational speed increases. A flexing tire creates heat which is detrimental to tire longivety. Watching the test videos that are on the web is an eyeopener.
Various tire designs and manufacturers - tires have different tire life to the wear bars for a reason. It's a published guide for the tire itself and the warranty and relates directly to the construction and materials used.
It's not hard to figure out why or what's causing tires to be at the wear bars in 40k or 50k but few will really be factual as to why. It's the vehicle driven, the tire used and at what inflation, and how it's being driven always, not just sometimes!
