michelin LTX AS no traction when wet

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
There is no reason to insult my intelligence and think I don't know how to drive. After all nobody made you read these posts.


Although you may not care for his sense of humor on this one, Capri Racer likely has more knowledge of tires, than the rest of us here combined...

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
There is no reason to insult my intelligence and think I don't know how to drive. After all nobody made you read these posts.


Sorry, if my humor didn't come across well, but no where in the entire thread was it clear which vehicle you had nor what pressures you were running, nor if you had checked them at all.

Full size pickup trucks come in drastically different load carrying capacities (Vans, too!) On the low end they come with P metric tires which are usually inflated in the 30 to 35 psi range. On the high end, they come with LT metric tires with inflation pressures in the 50 to 80 psi range.

It is not uncommon for folks to take a low end truck and put LT metric tires on it and inflate the tires to what it says on the sidewall. Needless to say, driving on a tire with 80 psi when the truck calls for 35 psi would result in symptoms just like you described.

However, that did not prove to be the case here, and I am out of possibilities - for now.

 

[JHZR2]

Ok, let's think... Truck with a lot of power. No weight in the back?

It could be your driving style as much as anything else...

 

[The motor guy]

Yeah I drove a ford ranger before I bought this truck and it couldn't spin the tires if its life depended on it. I think its just a truck thing and the fact that the truck has 650 pound feet of torque along with no weight back there. It may also be the fact that asphalt doesn't have as much traction as cement does because I have to intentionally spin the tires on cement. Thanks for all the help guys. They could have a little better traction but atleast they last a long time. Nobody drives the truck besides me anyways so it's not a big deal. I think I may have overblown this entire thread. You guys must be thinking my truck is just fish tailing around the whole time. Im sorry if that's the way I made it sound. As soon as the truck spins I left off and then get back on again and it fine. I don't slame on the brakes and make the truck do circles or anything like that. It's not like it's the end of the world if my tires don't have as much traction as other brands. I might lower the pressure in the back to help out with the traction. They call for 45 all around in light load conditions. Well I figure If I can run 45 in the front with the cab and 1200 pound diesel then I should be able to get away with a little less in the rear. I'll put 40 in the rear. Nothin too crazy. Probably will make the ride a little smoother too. But a truck will always ride like a truck and you can't do too much about that. That's ok by me. I'll most likely still buy these tires again when it comes time to replace if they still make them. Once again thanks for all the replies.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

I had the LTX M/S on our dodge 3/4 ton cummins 4x4 - horrible on that truck, great highway ride, terrible in anything wet.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: Ramblin Fever
I had the LTX M/S on our dodge 3/4 ton cummins 4x4 - horrible on that truck, great highway ride, terrible in anything wet.


And that's odd, because the Michelin LTX M/S has been the best all around tire so far on my truck... and my truck is used as a work truck, building houses for a living.

One set of tires made it less than 4,000 miles before I had them taken off the truck.

 

[CrazyMike]

I've seen some really bad all season/ all terrain tires with snowflakes on them, and good ones without, the LTX MS is definitely a tire that should not get the flake. It's a hard compound long life tire, and is poor in winter conditions even though generously siped. OP, if you drive in water, then hit a dry patch, do the rears give you a full print. I ran 265/75-16's in the same tire on a super duty crew cab, I had full print at 55psi on the front, but even at 45psi I didn't get a full print on the rear, I believe 40psi empty was the magic #, I'd drop a hair more, it could make a slight enough of a difference to make it predictable, maybe not perfect but better. I really like the tire, but it needs a bit of finess to get it to work.

The GM at the local tire shop tried a set when they first came out on a 3/4 ton Ford, 235/85-16's, even loaded with 16-20ply rig tires it sucked on icy roads, Michelin told him to keep dropping psi to make more traction, he stopped once he got into the 20's and just put on some winter tires. It did get better but just not good enough. Might be the same situation here, 2wd high torque diesel, no weight in the rear, dropping a bit more pressure should help, but I wouldn't expect a drastic change. I wouldn't change out the tire, a softer compound tire may help in the wet, but now you're going to have a tire that will burn off in the dry.

Drop down to 38-40psi, see what happens.