Chevy Express 3500 Church Van Tires?

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Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Reasonable speeds become even more important as tires get cheaper.

I can tell you from experience, when I hit the brakes in the rain in a 9000 pound service van those LTX MS2's bite the road like no other tire. May save someone's life.

These are huge vehicles, his likely weighs 6k pounds before any kids even get in it! Tires IMO are even more important as the vehicle gets larger and heavier...


+1
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
I can tell you from experience, when I hit the brakes in the rain in a 9000 pound service van those LTX MS2's bite the road like no other tire. May save someone's life.


And with the LTX's that I had, there was no wet traction whatsoever. None. I finally decided that there was more to life than getting a few more miles out of a miserable set of tires.

Took them off at 6/32" (not even 40,000 miles on them) and sold them on Craigslist. Probably should have burned them instead.

It must have been a counterfeit set.

Just can't wait to see how well the Defenders do (which I "inherited" when I bought the Town and Country). I've set my expectations pretty low, so I don't end up disappointed.

Thankfully, it was someone else's money that paid for them.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Reasonable speeds become even more important as tires get cheaper.

I can tell you from experience, when I hit the brakes in the rain in a 9000 pound service van those LTX MS2's bite the road like no other tire. May save someone's life.

These are huge vehicles, his likely weighs 6k pounds before any kids even get in it! Tires IMO are even more important as the vehicle gets larger and heavier...


Agreed, I've been extremely impressed with the LTX M/S2 performance in wet and on ice. On both those metrics performance is better than its predecessor, which was already extremely good.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
It must have been a counterfeit set.


I wish I could explain anomalies in mass-produced products, I really do. Why yours were so terrible...I wish I could say. Why my 2007 Town & Country was so lousy, and yours was good enough that you bought another T&C...I wish I could say that, too. As frustrated as you were with your LTXs, that's how frustrated I was with our T&C. You know that all T&Cs aren't bad...you had a good one. I know that all LTXs aren't bad...I had a good set. I guess that's just the nature of mass production.
 
I got 4 Michelin LTX M/S2 245/75/16 20 rating installed for $187 each. As Ieft the tire shop Tuesday and had driven about1/2 mile I started giggling like a little girl. Smooth as silk and softer ride. I decided to make a quick turn into Sheetz to evaluate body roll in the van and compared to the tires I took off, body roll was "undetectable." The tire rumble which I had accepted with the other tires was now gone!
Wednesday I drove the van 2 1/2 hours one way to visit a lady in the hospital with speeds up to 80 mph (I-77, I-40) for a total of 5 hours behind the wheel. It was raining coming back and I mashed the brakes a few times with great results. If I had have known what the Michelin tires would do for the personality of the Chevy Van, I would have taken the other tires off the day I purchased it.

Last night after church, the Youth Pastor did a test drive and was amazed. Smoother, quieter and softer. He was amazed as well.

By the way, the BF Goodrich with the bubble was made in 11/11...not that old (3.5 yrs) to have rotted in my opinion.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
What was the air pressure in the bubble tire?


75 lbs Left Rear
 
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Originally Posted By: Gebo



It won't be a BF Goodrich....LOL

Thank God that all is well!


The black strip running midway through the lettering to the tread would make me believe that that tire was run flat and re-inflated. I hope you wouldn't do something so reckless with other peoples children in the van.

That van should have truck tires running at 80 PSI with that many people and accompanying baggage. Were you running 32psi?

I find it very hard to believe its the tires fault.
 
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Originally Posted By: asand1
Originally Posted By: Gebo



It won't be a BF Goodrich....LOL

Thank God that all is well!


The black strip running midway through the lettering to the tread would make me believe that that tire was run flat and re-inflated. I hope you wouldn't do something so reckless with other peoples children in the van.

That van should have truck tires running at 80 PSI with that many people and accompanying baggage. Were you running 32psi?

I find it very hard to believe its the tires fault.


If you had read my posts you would see the tire had 75 lbs in it. The door sticker says to run 50 front and 80 in rear. As long as we have had the van, it has never been run flat. The tire dealership inspected the tire after it was removed and told me it was a bad tire where the belts had separated. Your comments are hurtful and undeserved.
 
There's something more going on with that van. Those tires looked terrible. I can't believe that tires produced in 2011 would look like that unless there is more to this story.

Yes, I get that the van sits a lot - and that makes it more prone to cracking. I also get you are in Virginia. Is it possible you are near the coast? Is it possible the van is ALWAYS park facing one direction - and the side where the tire failed is facing the sun every day?
 
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
There's something more going on with that van. Those tires looked terrible. I can't believe that tires produced in 2011 would look like that unless there is more to this story.


Agreed. That tire took a bad pothole hit.... curb shot...something. The BFG Commercial line is a good tire... plus a Michelin brand too.
 
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Well, it was the left rear which would virtually "eliminate" curbing. It sits near the blue ridge mountains. It is only driven around 1k miles per year. Tires were made 11/11. From my ignorant point of view, I think the tires rotted. The sidewalls on all four looked like they were diseased. The most people we ever had on the van was 10 kids and we pulled a trailer with luggage when necessary. The tire dealer was gonna call the company for me but there was no way I was gonna put more of that brand on a church van carrying our children. I'm sorry but ignorance is one thing...stupid is another.
I just can't believe any brand of tires sidewalls should deteriorate like that in 3.5 years. Sun or no sun.
 
Originally Posted By: Gebo
Originally Posted By: asand1
Originally Posted By: Gebo



It won't be a BF Goodrich....LOL

Thank God that all is well!


The black strip running midway through the lettering to the tread would make me believe that that tire was run flat and re-inflated. I hope you wouldn't do something so reckless with other peoples children in the van.

That van should have truck tires running at 80 PSI with that many people and accompanying baggage. Were you running 32psi?

I find it very hard to believe its the tires fault.


If you had read my posts you would see the tire had 75 lbs in it. The door sticker says to run 50 front and 80 in rear. As long as we have had the van, it has never been run flat. The tire dealership inspected the tire after it was removed and told me it was a bad tire where the belts had separated. Your comments are hurtful and undeserved.


While I understand he offended you, that line through the lettering seriously is a sign it was run flat at some point. Whether it was very short or not that line is where it was rippled flat on the ground. I would wager money that on that line there is a worn line on the inside too a long with rubber from pinching between the ground and the rim.

The buldge is 100% what your tire guy told you, a broken belt.
 
Originally Posted By: Gebo
Well, it was the left rear which would virtually "eliminate" curbing. It sits near the blue ridge mountains. It is only driven around 1k miles per year. Tires were made 11/11. From my ignorant point of view, I think the tires rotted. The sidewalls on all four looked like they were diseased. The most people we ever had on the van was 10 kids and we pulled a trailer with luggage when necessary. The tire dealer was gonna call the company for me but there was no way I was gonna put more of that brand on a church van carrying our children. I'm sorry but ignorance is one thing...stupid is another.
I just can't believe any brand of tires sidewalls should deteriorate like that in 3.5 years. Sun or no sun.


Stupid is also thinking that a tire company that has been around as BFG makes all junk quality tires..

Belts are a sparatic break. I wouldn't even think a pothold would do it because we're talking about a tire with a lot of side wall. Potoles are usually the culprit but I've had customers come in and they claim to have no hit anything, they just felt a really nasty vibration occur.

But any tire/brand will have broken belts every once in a while.
 
Originally Posted By: c502cid
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
There's something more going on with that van. Those tires looked terrible. I can't believe that tires produced in 2011 would look like that unless there is more to this story.


Agreed. That tire took a bad pothole hit.... curb shot...something. The BFG Commercial line is a good tire... plus a Michelin brand too.

I guess anything is possible, but when I was tree planting we had vans like that driven on logging roads for a couple months and no tire issues that I recall. Our took some hits hard enough to snap a shock mount off the rear axle, and a few hits in washouts hard enough to make the roof "pop" down and back up. A parking lot curb hit would be almost nothing compared to that unless they were going 30mph... LT tires seem to be tougher than the those vans in my experience.
 
Good luck with your Michelins. The set of LTX A/T-2's I just replaced were cracked everywhere, and not even 6 years old.
 
Originally Posted By: Brigadier
Good luck with your Michelins. The set of LTX A/T-2's I just replaced were cracked everywhere, and not even 6 years old.


It is well known that Michelin has some drying/cracking tire problems a few years ago. Some got good warranty service. Some didn't. Some didn't try. My LTX M/S2's are already a couple years old... and still look like new.

Also the LTX A/T2 was a poor tire choice at any time. I read the tirerack reviews of it years ago when it was relatively new, and thought "avoid". I asked my tire guy about it a few months ago, and he said it was the only Michelin he strongly advised customers to avoid.

I suspect the OP will be very happy with his M/S2's.
 
The staff cannot believe how much better the van rides and handles. Just finished a 300 mile trip and my Youth Pastor said he can't believe how more solid it felt, less roll and he felt they gripped a lot better in the downpour they went through. I am gonna spray some 303 on them every now and then.
 
The MS2's on my truck were OK, I liked the Firestones that replaced them better. Both tires are neck and neck on Tirerack in terms of ratings. The Firestones were about $400 less installed so in my book they win.

For a van that sees so little mileage I would have bought a cheaper tire. Those tires are going to be cracked and shot in 4-6 years.
 
OK, here's my explanation of what happened:

The tires are only getting 1K per year. That's not enough to get the antioxidants to migrate as they get used up. That started the cracking and allowed the rubber to deteriorate. From there it was just a matter of time.

If that were my van, I would expect to replace those tires much more often than the norm.
 
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