Hi All,
I wanted to go up a size in tires on a 2006 E350 passenger van and changed the stock Michelin M/S 225/75-16 tires to 4 new 245/75-16 Remington Wide Brute A/W's
E Load (ten ply) tires.60 psi front, 80 psi rear
The remingtons ride much harsher around town, which I was okay with as the pressure is high.
They are scary on the freeway at speeds over 65!! They feel like jelly donuts! They do not react to minor steering adjustments, but then they load up sideways and over correct. Not to mention the same thing occurring in the back only delayed. Difficult as hell to keep it in a lane and wiggle on down the road. FYI My van has 25k miles and no tire wear or front end issues.
The tire shop had no issues taking them back, and when I spoke of the issue, they simply asked what tire do you want next? It scared me enough to bite the budget bullet and go back to the Michelin LTX M/S but in the 245/75-16 size.
I think the Michelins are great tires on these vans. Any other great brands or tires to try on an econoline?

 

I've been driving full size half to three quarter ton vans, all with 5 lug wheels and car type tires for 23 years now. We are bicyclists and love having a big van around. I have been through a LOT of tires on all these vans, and the OEM Michelin LTX M/S's on my '02 E150 are the best van tires ever, period.

When the originals got thin, I gave them to my bro (for his old pickup) and tried some Firestone Destination AT's. (Wanted a slightly more A/T tire, I thought.) Lost ride quality, lost mileage, and the handling was funny--squirming tread blocks and like that. Firestone refunded me the price (net of mounting and balancing--about $50) after I drove a thousand miles on them--and I went to Costco and got a set of LTX M/S's. Dang those are good tires.

I've bought SO many tires for so many cars over the years and am a bit of a tire geek. For mostly road driving, including Michigan snow (I do have a posi which I put in the van) and occasional off road stuff, the LTX M/S is the best van tire there ever was. I'd bet they'd be great on a pickup or SUV as well.

No E350 tire experience, but I am a van guy and I think our conclusion is similar.

George

 

Well I've had great use out of the Cooper tires, on my second set, went from the AT to highway tread design, always chose 245/75 R16 load E for my 15 passenger van, I think the wider tires handle better in various conditions.

 

Thanks, I was going to buy some Remington Mud Brutes since they are cheap and I can't throw down for another set of Intercos, but, I think I might stick to my plan on getting retread 33s instead.

 

I currently have Michelin LTX M/S LT245/75 R16 on my 2003 E350. These are GREAT tires, especially after getting/implementing Michelin's recommendation to run them 47PSI in the front and 65PSI in the back when lightly loaded (normal for this van now that the kids are grown and gone). Four season service is exceptional and, properly rotated, the treadwear is nothing short of incredible.

 

No fan of running tires underinflated, it makes them wear faster under these heavy vans, I know this to be true from experience, run the reccomended pressure that is listed ON THE TIRE.

 

No offense intended, but the pressure listed ON THE TIRE is the MAXIMUM allowed air pressure for the tire to carry MAXIMUM load. The actual pressure that you should use is what is required by the car or van or perhaps go a little higher. I'm no fan of underinflation, but I am not a fan of overinflation either. Now if you are loading your van in excess of its intended GVW, you probably should put the tires up to their max pressure.

If you always inflate every tire to its maximum, you will generally wear out the tread center prematurely and have a rock hard ride.

I am certainly aware that the old Explorer/Firestone tire fiasco was caused by very low recommended pressures by Ford (which, if you neglected your vehicle, could get scary low), but there are reasons why you should not run max pressures in every tire. For instance, some small 4WD vehicles require a couple lbs more pressure in the front tires because there is more weight there and the additional pressure will even out the effective tire diameter.

I'm certainly no fan of underinflation, but there is a reason that Ford puts tire pressures on a door or fuel cap sticker. This is the same thing as Ford requiring 5W20 oil, but some old school guys use 10W40 because "they know better".... Likewise, Michelin recommends a specific pressure for an unloaded van--since they designed the tires, don't you think they have a reason?

George

 

Load/inflation tables will tell you what to put the tires to. You can also do the chalk across the tire and drive it forward.

 

Well when I run 80 psi i get even wear, when I run less the wear is on the outsides of the tread, so just what would be the cause of this, since Ford recommends 40 psi in the front. I've had this van 7 years, monitor my tire pressure, running less than the recommended pressure on the sidewall causes premature wear, running more than that you get over inflation wear. As I said, Ford recommends 40 psi in the front, due to the stiff ride you get with the one ton suspension, but it causes premature wear on the tires. Wow, don't you think Ford knows this would wear out the tires, the answer is, it's the accepted sacrifice for a smoother ride.

 

I noticed the same wear on my tires when at Ford recommended pressures, I played around on my E350 bus, and found 70psi works the best for my vehicle, 80psi was hard riding and at 70 its softer ride but with no abnormal wearing

 

I need to get my camber adjusted again, I installed ride rite air bags in the coils 6 years ago, been waiting for them to settle before I had it done again. If I break down and dually it, I'm gonna run load D to soften the ride, wouldn't do it SRW though.

 

Maples:
In your other post, you say you are running airbags in your front springs, which will result in excess positive camber and will wear the outsides of your front tires out. Just as you say. So your preferred excess tire pressure is correcting somewhat for the alignment that you have ruined....and you're using second-rate Cooper tires as well.

I don't think your experience here is relevant to those who have correct alignment and use quality tires like Michelins.

Again, no offense intended, but you should fix your van, and don't advise others based on your ruining the factory settings for your van. Don't you think the airbags further add to your stiff ride?

George

 

I had the camber reset after installing the air bags and when I bought my first set of Cooper tires, thank you very much. Those tires dried out and prematurely failed, I speculate from dry rot, the belts broke in one seriously deforming it and making it out of round, they had 35,000 miles on them. My tires currently aren't showing a wear pattern proving the camber is out of spec, they have 15,000 right now. The last time I had the shop align it they said the camber needed adjusted, but as the tires were showing no wear to support such claim, I decided not to. I didn't put the bags in till I owned it a few years, so I do think I'm qualified to answer the question, I bagged the coils years later to keep the van from getting the wheelchair lean syndrome from the lift breaking down the passenger suspension.
The I-beam suspension Ford uses has been replaced in trucks to get a smoother ride and eliminate the issues suffered with the beams, like camber not staying set. WTF do you think the tire companies put that psi number on the tires for, so people will choose anything lower than that?
I tell you what, the current set of Coopers on my van are not second rate, but regardless what tire you chose, if you under inflate it, they will wear out as the vans are heavy.
BTW, tire pressure will NOT correct camber settings due to camber tips the tire putting either the inner or outer edge of the tire toward the ground, you don't need to school me there buddy it's something I do know about.

I say again, the camber was adjusted after the bags were installed, those inserts cost me $15, shop gave them to me at cost!

 

Hey Maples...we're all good here. What I was saying on your tire pressure compared to your camber is

(1) with the factory/Michelin air pressure recommendation and proper camber (zero degrees), the tire will wear evenly all the way across--in theory.

(2) I'm assuming that when you went with the air bags, you lifted the suspension a bit, which increases positive camber, which puts the outer edge of the tire hard into the ground and wears that out prematurely. Now, when you overinflate, the tread will "crown" and you will have even pressure on the road with the outer tread and the center tread, so your wear looks better. (Inner tread is lighter in wear here.)

The twin I-beams are archaic, but they are simple, extremely sturdy, and have fewer parts than a twin A arm suspension. You can also run a wider engine compartment (as you can with struts, but those ain't the stuff for trucks) with the twin I-beams. But they do wear tires weird sometimes. It was worse in the old days like with my '78 F100, bias belted tires, which I bought new...I do not long for the old days when tires lasted 20k miles.

If your first set of Coopers is the one with separated belts at 35k miles, you're kind of making my point that they may not be *great* tires. This is not to say that some Coopers aren't good tires, but I do think the odds are way better with Michelin. And as a few of us agreed earlier in the thread--and coming full circle, the LTX M/S Michelins are great tires for these vans, no question. Cool thing is that they make the LTX's in both heavy LT rated tires and the P235/75x15 XL size I've got on my E150.

Have a great week,
George

 

I swear my first set fall under the sold after the expiration date category, they suffered from what appeared to be dry rot, turned a faded gray black and cracked, they were not HWY tires, they were all terrain. The set on the van now are the high end high mileage Cooper tires, I got a deal on them for the one that prematurely gave out, and the owner wasn't available, so I talked the guy there down even more by complaining about the one bad tire.
They don't zero the camber, requirement is either positive or negative, has something to do with steering geometry.
I'm not sure if it raised it or not, I hadn't ever taken it in for an alignment before, it it did it was very little, not enough to notice, the part that stands out is me entering and exiting the van, and cornering, you can take corners really fast now.
Dad had to get the front rebuilt on our F100 when I was a teen, refused to take grease, was stiff turning and wheel wouldn't return, the bushings near welded themselves to the king pins, was expensive.
I watch over my tires, religiously check the pressure in them, no wear but need 2 rims, driving 1200 miles on a trip as the tire was separating, couldn't pin down the vibration to that tire, and the other from an idiot backing into my van.