Tire Selection

[bobt]

I am replacing the General tires on my 2009 D/A ext cab dually. Based on my experience, my opinion of General truck tires can't be repeated here. The OEM tire size is LT225/75R/17E. I would like to put Michelins on it; however, Michelin does not make a tire in that size. They do make a LT235/80R/17E, but I am getting conflicting opinions as to whether or not they would fit the dually without touching under some load conditions. So I am considering two other brands in my size. The Bridgestone Duravis R250 and the Goodyear Wrangler. Is there any one out there who can give me firsthand experience with either of these tires or even opinions one brand vs another in E rated truck tires. Any help will be appreciated.
Bob

[More Power]

How many miles did you get out of the Generals? Any other tire problems?

Jim

[bobt]

Mileage is not the problem. My experience with Generals goes back to my '93 dually. At about 20K miles, they became unreliable as they started to unexpectedly fail with minimal warning. Over the course of two sets of Generals replaced piecemeal on the '93, I lost three. The first one, the entire tread peeled off the inside dually in one piece and did no damage to the truck. The second time, part of the tread separated from the outside passenger side dually, whipped around and demolished the dually fender. The third time, the front passenger tire partially separated, whipped around and damaged the inner fender and the rear area of the fender opening at the bottom. In the first two cases, I had a few seconds of vibration that was my only warning, but I couldn't tell in time if it was just the road surface. The third one came with no warning. Now, last fall on my '09, at 20K miles, a belt under the tread in the left inner dually broke causing a bulge and a vibration which I found before it came apart. A couple of weeks ago at just under 25K miles, the right outer dually had a belt under the tread break which again caused a vibration. Right away, I'm thinking: is it the road or a tire? Luckily, I went only a short distance (maybe 5 miles) before a rest stop where I found the cause. In this case, in addition to the belt breaking, the tread was separating from the sidewall on the inside of the tire. All these occurred on trips where I was a long way from home. That's my experience with Generals. I carry a Lance camper,which fully loaded is about 4,000 pounds. I keep the tires inflated to the max 80psi. On my '93, once I went to Michelins, I never had another tire problem or even the hint of one. So, no more Generals for me.
Bob

[crafty]

I've had the Wranglers on my 01 since I wore out the OEM tires. I'm on my second set of them right now. I am getting about 70,000 miles out of them. The last set was replaced because the tread wasn't good enough to handle winter driving, not because they were done.
I will only buy the wranglers. I've never had a flat or tire breakdown of any kind since using them. I only haul the trailer occasionally but when I do it has about 12,000 lbs on it.
I pay $245 a tire up here in Canada but I think it is worth it.:cool::cool::cool:

[AKMark]

I have the Duravis M700HD's. Love them. Great wear, quiet, and wonderful in all road conditions (I live in Alaska and don't run specialty winter tires). Spendy, but on my 2nd set on the 2nd vehicle I've had them on.

First set on the first vehicle looked good and had worn about 50% after 50K miles. Current truck already had them, but the front two were smoked thanks to bad tie rods. Replace tie rods, bought two more (to match the good ones) and all is well again.