Michelin LTX m/s experience report

After 80 thousand miles, I was down to the wear strips on the 235/85-16 'E' Michelins on my truck - about two months' shy of 4 years. I'd had to replace one about 30k ago after a valve stem failure at high speed [w/resulting side wall damage] and, just my luck, that still 'good' tire picked up a screw and I drove enough to harm the sidewalls before discovering the problem. So - shopped around and my best deal here in the ATL was $740 or so [after a $30 rebate] to replace the 4 tires with balance, tax, high pressure valve stems, etc. Discount Tire on P'tree Ind'l in Chamblee; they even knew to hand-torque to 150-165 ft lbs. I could have gotten the tires alone for just under 700 via AAFES [with my military id], so this worked out as the best deal. Discount tire had them mounted and balanced in half an hour or so.

These tires ain't cheap, but for highway performance over 80k miles, you see why they are so popular on our trucks. On a related point, the guys at powerstrokeshop.com have my replacement spare tire carrier [$70+] on the way via DHL. Original one wouldn't retract the cable. When I get it, I'll pry out that 'McLock' key thing and be able to wind up the spare with just the jack extension rod. Life is good! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif