Re-Tired

It was just about two years ago.  We were getting ready for a summer trip to Waterton National Park in Canada with several stops along the way, and I decided that before we went, I needed to replace the tires on both the 5th wheel trailer and the truck.

The trailer had come with Chinese-made Goodyears that were always a problem.  We had experienced several blowouts with the Goodyears, and sustained damage to the trailer every time.  Research had convinced me that the problem was not so much that the tires were cheap Chinese crap (they are) but that driving 60 m.p.h. for several hours at a stretch was pushing the limits of ST (trailer) tires that are only rated for a maximum speed of 65.  I decided to replace them with LT (light truck) tires that were actually designed for hours of travel at highway speeds.  That was a decision that has worked out well.  So far – knock on wood – we haven’t had a single problem with the LT tires on the trailer.

I wasn’t so lucky with the tires on the truck.  The original tires on our ‘07 Dodge Megacab were Michelin 265 /70 R17 121R E1 tires. There was nothing wrong with them, but they were over five years old and already past their advertized 70,000 mile life expectancy, so I decided that just to be safe, they had to go.

I don’t suppose that I have to tell you that tires are expensive.  Buying eight tires at once was going to make a serious dent in our travel budget, so I let the salesman at the tire store talk me into putting Cooper tires on the truck.  He assured me that they were “almost as good as the Michelins” and they cost $100 less per tire.

I knew all about settling for second-best.  All my life, I had heard “You get what you pay for.”  But - sometimes you have to make sacrifices to the gods of finance.  This seemed like one of those times, so I bought the Cooper tires.

That was a decision I have regretted every day since I bought them.  The first thing I noticed was that they didn’t handle as well, even on dry pavement.  Then I discovered that the mileage on the truck dropped by approximately two miles per gallon.  I had always heard that the brand of tire you ran could affect mileage, but had never believed it.  Now I ad indisputable proof.

Then, with less than 30,000 miles on the tires,  the truck developed a bad vibration that was the result of a failing tire – the belts were separating internally and causing the whole truck to shake.

So this week I bit the bullet and shelled out $1001.23 for a new set of Michelins.  Our truck is a whole lot happier, and once I get over the shock, I’m sure that I will be too.