What is the collective experience with regard to tread life on the factory installed Michelins? And are most of you folks replacing Michelins with Michelins or with a different brand?

 

I've gotten 65k miles from my old Michelins on my motorhome. I tryed some cheap Hercules just in the back, they only did 40k, now running on 6 Michelins again. Well worth the extra money.

I've heard alot of good about BFG Commercial T/A's also.

 

There is not a tire out there that will beat Michelin. my family has been in the tire business for 40 years. My dad has gotten 90k out of 2 sets of the ltx m/s on his hd Chevy. Now that's not typical obviously, but it is possible with proper care. I just put some on my 73 f100 over the weekend

 

I disagree bighatchy there's lots of good brands.
There's no way anyone can say one brand is the best most tires are better in one way over another tire brand. Example I think Nokian has some of the best winter tires however Im not impressed with there summer tires.

As for your question busyknight.
It depends on your care for tires. Someone who drives gravel alot might wear out tires quicker. Proper rotations can extend tire life.Alignments are HUGE!. Depends on driver, conditions, use and care! Some people pick a brand of tire dependant on what shop they go to cause they like the staff. Some like oem products so they go where they can match up.


In my experience the quality of the factory installed tires isn't great. I know of one rental company in town that immediatly takes off the factory michelins and installs bfg's. Even though bfg's aren't a big seller in our shop.

Personally I ran Goodyear winters a few years ago not impressed. This year my boss convinced me to try Nokians loved the smoothness and icetraction...wear I'll find out about in a couple years. I've ran Dick Cepek for summers felt they rode hard wore really well and no flats. I've also ran pirelli summers rode beautiful but wore fast 45,000km with great care and no offroad. This year I got a different truck and I ordered Nitto Trail grapplers.

 

Landozer you can disagree with me all you want. I think the op was asking for people's opinions and I gave mine. I agree with you that proper care (r&b, alignments, proper pressure, and good driving habits) are just as important as the quality of the tires. Even the quality/condition of your shocks affects the wear of your tires. But money spent on a quality product is worth every penny when it comes to reliability and longevity. In the end though, settling this is like trying to prove to a Chevy guy that ford or dodge is a better truck. If you liked the way Michelin performed for you buy them again. If you don't, try something else. Just remember don't buy tires based on price alone. Get tired that fit your needs for performance for your truck. Usually the cheapest ones you can find are going to be the worst overall deal in the long run. Most of the time, you get what you pay for

 

I agree money usually decides quality.