RowdyRebel Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Been running Michelin XZE2's on the steer...11R24.5 LRH. Unfortunately, they haven't been lasting very long. Current set had 86K on them in 9 months. Drivers side tire still had 10/32" all of the way around...still looks great. For some reason, though, this truck chews up passenger side tires. Probably 90% of it still had the same 10/32" tread left...but on the outside shoulder, there were places it was down to 3/32" and in 1 or 2 places, it was flat-spotted pretty bad diagonally across the tread. I've had the truck aligned a couple times, and it never leads to the tires lasting any longer....had this last set spin balanced & got an extra month or two out of them.I can't afford to keep buying Michelins...especially when they just don't seem to last. So, I walked into the tire shop and told them I wanted an 11R24.5 tire LRH, made in the USA. They had the Michelins I've been running, or I could have got some chinacrap tires. I spotted a BFG ST244 LRG and priced it for S&G. Even the LRG tire would be sufficient on weight rating...so I COULD have got by with it. Anyway, they quoted me a price & I asked 'em about the same tire in a LRH. They said they didn't have any, didn't know when they could get 'em. So I decided to call the local tire shop I usually like to deal with.They had that same ST244 LRG for $7 less...not worth running the out-of-route miles to go down there. I asked them about the LRH...they didn't have any of the ST244, but they DID have the ST230 in 11R24.5 LRH. When they gave me the price, it was only $1 more than their price for the ST244 LRG. I told 'em I'll be there in an hour and a half.Rolled in 10 minutes before they closed their doors...talk about cutting it CLOSE!!! Anyway, 2 new steer tires on my truck for $853.10...mounted, spin balanced, and installed. Of course I had $153 & change in credit from a cap that started coming apart on me, but still about half of what it would have cost for a pair of those friggin' Michelins!Next time I buy drives, I think I'm going to switch to the BFG DR444 LRH. Still going to be about $200/tire cheaper than the Michelin XDE M/S LRH tires I've been running. When I first went with the XDE M/S, I was on dumps 99% of the time and needed all of the traction I could get. On tanks, I'm on pavement more than I'm not...so the DR444's with their closed shoulder ought to be sufficient & last a little longer.Right now I'm kicking myself for running the damn Michelins as long as I did.... Quote When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storkmack Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I had a set of BFG DR444's on my RD a while back. I did not care for them on wet pavement at all. They always wanted to skid when braking when the road was wet and they just didn't feel right driving down the road in the rain either. As far as steers go, we have been running Bridgestone R250's and R260's. We have been getting a good amount of miles out of them and you have a good casing for recap. We rotate our steers every other week. A lot of labor, but with the cost of tires going through the roof, it just can't hurt. Not to mention, when you get the tires off you can look at all those greasy parts a little closer. -Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I had a set of BFG DR444's on my RD a while back. I did not care for them on wet pavement at all. They always wanted to skid when braking when the road was wet and they just didn't feel right driving down the road in the rain either. As far as steers go, we have been running Bridgestone R250's and R260's. We have been getting a good amount of miles out of them and you have a good casing for recap. We rotate our steers every other week. A lot of labor, but with the cost of tires going through the roof, it just can't hurt. Not to mention, when you get the tires off you can look at all those greasy parts a little closer. -BradGlad to hear good reviews about the 260's Brad. "Momma" got me a pair for my NOS 5 hand hole aluminum rims a couple years ago and I've yet to take them out of the garbage bags I've stored them in.Got a nice new "RL" they are going on.Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddog13407 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 ok i give, whats the difference between an LRH and LGH? treadpattern? im runnin a pair of ST244 LRH's on the front of my B61. doesnt really matter what you put on it anyways, it along with any single axle truck is scary in the rain. i do know the pair of 244 BFG's cost more than the four cooper recaps that i put on the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slpwlker Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 usually a few hundred pounds maybe 1000. Best to go to bfg's site and look up the specs. Started putting Continental HSR2 LRH 16 ply tires on but they are not cheap by any means. so far riding good and little better fuel mileage. Gonna finish out the trailer and do the rest of the truck. Had to put Yokes on the steer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyRebel Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hit a little rain today...not entirely impressed with the ST230's. Those Michelins would stick like glue...these BFG's were a little tight in the corners....just lacking grip. But, for the price I really shouldn't complain. I couldn't imagine rotating them every other week....do you just swap left<-->right? Or do you break them down on the rims & flip them so that the direction of rotation remains the same? Last couple times I've bought steers, I've had 'em static balanced...so to break 'em down and flip them on the rims would mean having to get them balanced again....Oh well...good thing it hasn't been raining too often around here. If I can get more than 9 months/86K miles out of them, though, I can adjust my driving to compensate for the decreased traction. Time will tell, I guess. Still probably going to try the DR444's...price is decent enough and I was already figuring on less traction with the closed shoulder....just hoping it'll help fuel a bit, too. If I were still on dumps full time, I probably wouldn't consider the change....but 99% of my driving these days is on hardened surfaces pulling the tank.I am a little disappointed, though. The BFG All Terrain T/A KO tires I run on the F250 flat out grab the road & don't let go...that thing rails around the corners, wet road or dry. Tire shop had the new set for the F250 sitting in their shop...just waiting on the new 16x8" rims to show up. Old tires were 33x12.50R16.5...and you just can't find tires to fit 16.5" rims anywhere. So, I'm going to a LT285/75R16 tire & gaining 800 or so pounds per tire load capacity. It'll also give me a wider variety of tire to choose from next time around. I just wish that quality carried over to their commercial truck tires.Load Range G (LRG) is only good to 6610 pounds max on a single. Load Range H (LRH) is good to 7160 pounds. Since I'm usually heavy on my drives (35.5K), keeping a LRH tire on the steer would let me slide my 5th wheel forward to move more weight from the drives up to the steers to keep me legal if there is a portable I can't get around.When I bought the truck, it had Conti HSR's on the steer....great tire....but despite there being 2 Continental tire manufacturing plants within an hour or so from here at the time (I think one of them might have shut down since then), NONE of the tire shops around here carry them....so I went with the Michelins. Quote When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storkmack Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 We swap our steers side to side every other week. We had been swapping them every 10K miles when we did a complete PM service, but we extended our service interval to 15k miles. We saw tire wear issues right away and made the call to swap them every other week. Now we are seeing them run out nice and even. Keepin mind to that our trucks a mix of on/off road, city, and highway pulling a variety of different trailers. I talked to a fella that was running some type of wheel balencers that mounted between the wheel and the brake drum. Claimed to not have to rotate tires at all and get 150K miles on a set of steers doing local dump work. That seemed a ill to good to be true. -Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slpwlker Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 If you have floats you need to have aluminum rims Stork. been trying to get to Alvarado,Tx to pick up a set for the front of mine. Got them on the back 3 axles and putting them on the trailer along with the Crossfires to just inflate in one spot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyRebel Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 I've looked into centrimatics....not compatible with my brake drums. When I eventually have to replace the steer axle brakes, I'll be trying the centrimatics, too. Still going to static balance the tires, though...leave the centrimatics to active balance the hub & compensate for any mud/dirt/road crap that might accumulate. Best tire wear I've ever got was when I used those ceramic beads inside the tires....but that made breaking them down a real PITA because those beads would stick to whatever you were using to lube the bead and you'd have to make sure you got them ALL cleaned off or else they'd prevent a good seal between the tire & rim. ...speaking of rims, the new ones for the F250 never arrived. Apparently they were shipped to the wrong place, so it'll be another week before the pickup gets new shoes. Quote When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slpwlker Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Never cared for those beads. Never seemed to work worth a crap for me. I balance mine also and let the Centramatics take the rest, Also with dirt,Mud, and Grime. Just need to get a different set then the truckstop sells for the floats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MACK MAN Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 We went to Yokohoma 15 years ago run them on the steer,drivers and all trailers great luck all the way around.Two years ago started running the Yokohoma Y-023 on the steer thats all we run on the trailers,flatbeds spread axle getting around 165,000 miles out of them,and we run all short haul.My tire guy told me to try the Y-023 on the steer alittle cheaper being a trailer tire,getting right at 100,000 miles AL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyRebel Posted July 28, 2012 Author Share Posted July 28, 2012 Where are they made? If it does not say "Made in USA" on the sidewall of the tire, it isn't an option for me & it won't be put on my truck. 1 Quote When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatcity Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 How are Centramatics attached to the wheel? Just put them on the studs and then the tire/rim assembly? Quote Success is only a stones throw away.................................................................for a Palestinian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slpwlker Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 yeah Ed.take the wheels off, put them on and put wheels back on. on duals they go between the 2 tires 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vision386 Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 How are Centramatics attached to the wheel? Just put them on the studs and then the tire/rim assembly?Yup,they go over the brake drum,behind the wheel,i like mine,i have had them on my truck for prolly 10 years,they seem to do what there supposed to do............................Mark Quote Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatcity Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Just ordered a pair for the steers. We shall see. Quote Success is only a stones throw away.................................................................for a Palestinian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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