Replacement of my 6 Michelins -LT 225/75/R16 on ford E450 26' frame is $1400! Alternate quote for eqivalent Firestone is $400 less! So, has anyone done the replacement switch? Tire guy says Michelin is overkill for my unit and Firestone will be just as good. Tire guy does nothing but sell tires into truck industry so he is knowledgable.Thanks in advance for your input!

I've run Firestone Transforce tires on my PUs for over 13 years without any problems. Started with Michelin 40+ years ago but not any more.

I researched new tires for a year. I read various RV forums and forums used by freight haulers using medium duty gooseneck trailers. I chose to go with Michelins. Many of the posts, especially by the freight haulers, reported very good luck with the michelins and most reported they got more miles from the tires than they expected. Keep in mind these are drivers that put 70,000 - 100,000 miles plus on the tires each year.Many because they were happy with the performance of the Michelins were on their 2nd or 3rd set. If they weren't happy and didn't see the overall savings they would have gone with other brand tires.The 400 may seem like a lot now but if the michelins out live the Firestones the extra 400 will save money in the long run.

I guess I don't know what there is about Michelin tires on your E450 motorhome that should be considered as "overkill".Michelin tires have been installed by Ford, stock, onto Ford E350 and E450 cutaway van chassis as delivered for years to U.S. Class C motorhome builders. I consider Michelin tires as about the best available for a Class C motorhome. However, some folks might discuss a couple of different types of Michelin tires for Class C motorhomes with respect to one Michelin type of tire being "better" than the other.We are on our second set of Michelins with our E450 24 foot Class C motorhome. Our current set carry a 70,000 mile tread warranty and are Green X rated. The last thing we want is a tire problem out in the middle of nowhere when drycamping in our Class C.

I can’t speak about RV tires but I drive a wrecker and the boss only buys Michelins we have a fleet of over 50 units from F550 up to 75 ton rotators costing over 1 million and he would not switch. We put a lot of hard miles on these tires!!KC

Which Michelin tires and which Firestone tires? There are at least two tire lines from Michelin in that size (and E load rating), at least three from Bridgestone-Firestone. The different tire models are designed for different applications although all have the same capacity.Not completely happy with the LTX M/S Ford puts on the chassis when building it for RV makers, I chose slightly more expensive (and about 30% heavier) Michelin XPS Rib tires. But the LTX M/S2 does fine on my E-350 passenger van. Bridgestone-Firestone equivalent to XPS Rib would be the Duravis R250 at about $240 per tire. The bargain commercial tires from Bridgestone-Firestone are the Duravis R500 and the Transforce HT, at about $170-$180 per tire. Michelin does not sell a commercial tire at this price point using the Michelin brand, the equivalent Michelin tire to a Transforce is BF Goodrich Commercial T/A.Both companies also sell bargain commercial truck tires (Destination, Long Trail at $100-130) in our size, using their BFG and Firestone brands. They also sell SUV/Light Truck tires for passenger service, e.g. Michelin's LTX lines and Bridgestone's Dueler lines. Certain models of these softer riding, quieter tires are built as Load Range E in 16 to 18 inch sizes, for 3/4 ton and 1-ton applications, because so many trucks and heavy SUVs are sold as passenger cars, and buyers don't like some of the NVH compromises that come with the longer wear life of commercial tire designs.Go over to Goodyear-Dunlop-Fulda and you will find the same thing, premium commercial tires around $230-250 (G947 Armormax), mainstream passenger/commercial tires under $200 (e.g. Wrangler HT), and lower cost models for urban delivery where high speed driving is not as much a design factor as handling bouncing off curbs and hitting potholes.So if you compare one company's best tires to another company's cheapest tire that fits, you will see a price difference of about 2:1. I think you are probably comparing two different classes of tire, not two different companies. If you don't do a lot of highway speed driving at high temperatures, a cheaper tire can save you some money, because RVs do not usually put on enough mileage to take advantage of the longer wear life of high-end commercial tires like the Armormax, XPS, or Duravis R250. U-Haul does quite well with Wrangler HT from Goodyear, Transforce HT from Bridgestone-Firestone, and Michelin's BFG Commercial T/A. They even mix the brands on any given truck.

Firestone Vs Michelins | Good Sam Community

golfknut
Explorer
Jul 09, 2015
We replaced the original Michelins with Firestone TransForce two years ago and in my opinion the ride and handling is the same. Both sets of tires hold/held air pressure very well.

In our situation I suspect, as with the Michelins, the TransForce tires will age-out before the tread life is used up.

Very happy with them so far.
klutchdust
Explorer II
Jul 07, 2015
klutchdust wrote:
"Replacement of my 6 Michelins -LT 225/75/R16 on ford E450 26' frame is $1400! Alternate quote for equivalent Firestone is $400 less! "

The key word here is equivalent. The tires are not equivalent only the size that the poster needed. With a 400 dollar difference something is not equivalent.

I got a quote from tires.com and took that quote to America's tire, they gladly matched it.
klutchdust
Explorer II
Jul 07, 2015
"Replacement of my 6 Michelins -LT 225/75/R16 on ford E450 26' frame is $1400! Alternate quote for equivalent Firestone is $400 less! "

The key word here is equivalent. The tires are not equivalent only the size that the poster needed. With a 400 dollar difference something is not equivalent.
Matt_Colie
Explorer II
Jul 07, 2015
Listen to Mumkin, then go join FMCA....
You will $$ave big on Michelin.
mumkin
Explorer
Jul 07, 2015
If you are a member of FMCA, they have an agreement with Michelin. I saved about $350 on new tires for my Libero. But they send you to particular companies. I was very happy that they sent me to a place just a couple miles from where I stored the RV... a Pomps Truck Tire service place in Minnesota.
tpi
Explorer
Jul 06, 2015
I'm going to continue to use Michelin on my class C. I've always regarded them as a cut above-better production tolerances, rounder, less runout, need less balance weights. First rate as far as sudden failures. Don't want tire problems on motorhome most inconvenient or worse. At one time putting Michelin tires on a vehicle was almost a revelation.

I think now there is less of an edge. Other brands no longer make me want to get them off the car ASAP. My Frontier came with Yokohamas which were fine on that. My '15 Accord came with Goodyear-totally impressed butter smooth and quiet at 80-90 MPH, nice sharp handling, no negatives I can find. Would consider them again.
rvten
Explorer
Jul 06, 2015
Michelin was on the E450 when we bought it new.
Switched to Firestone TransForce. Save some $$. Ride just as good. Handle well also.
robertbenita
Explorer
Jul 05, 2015
I would go with Michelins! Enough said...
CapriRacer
Explorer II
Jun 22, 2015
tommykelly wrote:
So...lets talk about Firestone....

Well, there's a lot wrong with this post - and I truncated it to avoid repeating faulty information.

First, you will still see Firestone tires on Fords. While the controversy soured relations between the 2 companies, it didn't quite get to the point where they both severed the relationship.

Second, Bridgestone bought Firestone more than 10 years BEFORE the controversy involving Ford.

Third, the problem in the 1970's was with the Firestone 500 - which was replaced with the 721 - BUT - they didn't really fix the problem until after the 721 was introduced.

And lastly, Firestone's response to both these controversies should be a lesson in how NOT to handle things. They handled these about as be as could possibly be done.
pnichols
Explorer II
Jun 21, 2015
Or ....... as Clint Eastwood would say as he walked into a Michelin dealer: "Make my day!" :B

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