I have a 2500 HD Chev. Duramax pickup which came new with Firestone tires. I haul a heavy 5th whl. trailer (14k) that has a 3k pin weight. Weights are all scale weights and are right at the limit for the tire rating but not over. The Firestones started having tread seperation at about 20k, just 1 tire at a time. I rotate tires so over time they all did time on the rear end and all failed by 30k. The last one that failed lost the tread and did $3,000 damage to my truck. I am religious about checking tire pressure and had checked the pressure that morning before towing the trailer and had only gone about 15 miles. Fireston denied responsibility saying it was low on pressure, which it was not. This is the 2nd truck I've had with Firestones and have had serious problems with the Firestone tires on both trucks. I took the Firestones off and threw them away and replaced them with the all steel Michelin XPS rib of the same size and have not had any problems. The Michelin's have 45k on them now and I tow the same trailer, same weights as I did with the Firestones. The steel belts on the Michelin wrap around the whole tire, tread, sidewall and bead and they are extremely strong. I will never use anything but the Michelin in the future, the Firestones are dangerous tires. If you put a lot of weight on the rear tires I would strongly suggest the Michelin XPS Rib and I don't work for or have anything to do with Michelin or Firestone.

I have heard if the Firestones coming apart. At least you didn't lose total control and have something very bad happen. My uncel has some Michelin LTX's on his 1500hd and has about 60k on them and they're still goin good. I had some firestones on a new one and took them off right away b/c the tread sucked and I needed an AT tire. When they started to separate, could you feel it or was it really quick?

Firepops have very soft side walls when you compare them to a tire thats designed to be a commercial grade tire ! You made the right move , there rib tire is way over built for a load range E (IMHO). Good year sells a few tires that the casing feel about the same stiffness also , They are listed on there commercial truck web page. Take a look at the tire weight on the manufactures web page , some tires you look at are much lighter then othere..... not a good thing if your going long distance with a pile of weight on them!

Aggar on a couple of them I caught them failing early while doing a tire rotation and I hadn't noticed much trouble yet. On the next 2 there was definate signs of tread seperation, violent vibration, tires pulling. The last one that threw the tread off and tore my truck up did not give me any warning. I was on flat grade paved road doing about 63mph everything seemed fine and then it was like an explosion. When I got off on the shoulder the carcass of the tire that was left, still had air in it. Firestone adjusted the first 4 tires and had put new ones on at different times and the tire that threw the tread wasn't that old and the other 3 tires still looked new because Firestone had switched them out 1 at a time during the previous 6 months. I went to the Michelin dealer and told him to take the Firestones off and throw them away even though they looked new, I didn't want somebody getting killed with them. The load rating on the Firestones and the Michelins was exactly the same, E rating which is good for 3042 lbs. per tire, the only difference is the Michelins can really handle the E rating without failing and the Firestones can not. When you are towing a large trailer the Firestone tires could kill you, your kids or the poor person you run into because your truck is out of control due to a crappy tire. My uncle died exactly that way because of a crappy tire seperation which caused him to loose control and hit a tree with his 5th wheel trailer then come crashing into the back of the truck, wasn't pretty.

i have not found a 245/75 any higher than 3084#
my 265/75 are 3400# E rated

I think the Michelin all steel XPS Rib only comes in the LT245-16E size and not the LT265, but I bet if the truth was known the XPS Rib would probably be good for 3500 to 3600 lbs. per tire.

I would go with a 265 tire. you gain about 200-250lbs per tire in load capacity. And you get lower RPMs on the highway. They look better and milage is the same as the 245s.

With that much load, I would try to find a E rated tire with steel belted sidewalls. Most have only polyester belts on the sidewalls.

Bridgestone makes the R250 in a 265 that is a steel sidewall. It is the only one I know of. Goodyear G647 is only in 245/75 or 235/85, same as Michelin XPS.

The XPS Ribs I had on my 97 dually were great...wore evenly and lasted forever. But they rode like solid rubber tires.

I have the Cooper C120 on both of my trucks. They are also allsteel, but were discontinued several years ago. The ones on my Dmax have over 55K on them, and look like they will go at least that many more. I wish I could get more of them. They do ride a bit firmer, but you can't wear them out. I have never heard of an allsteel having cord separation either. The shop where I bought the Coopers said that they sold alot of them to construction companies for their fleets.

I have a 2500 HD Chev. Duramax pickup which came new with Firestone tires. I haul a heavy 5th whl. trailer (14k) that has a 3k pin weight. Weights are all scale weights and are right at the limit for the tire rating but not over. The Firestones started having tread seperation at about 20k, just 1 tire at a time. I rotate tires so over time they all did time on the rear end and all failed by 30k. The last one that failed lost the tread and did $3,000 damage to my truck. I am religious about checking tire pressure and had checked the pressure that morning before towing the trailer and had only gone about 15 miles. Fireston denied responsibility saying it was low on pressure, which it was not. This is the 2nd truck I've had with Firestones and have had serious problems with the Firestone tires on both trucks. I took the Firestones off and threw them away and replaced them with the all steel Michelin XPS rib of the same size and have not had any problems. The Michelin's have 45k on them now and I tow the same trailer, same weights as I did with the Firestones. The steel belts on the Michelin wrap around the whole tire, tread, sidewall and bead and they are extremely strong. I will never use anything but the Michelin in the future, the Firestones are dangerous tires. If you put a lot of weight on the rear tires I would strongly suggest the Michelin XPS Rib and I don't work for or have anything to do with Michelin or Firestone.


Same problem with tires, $4000 dollars and firestone said the same. I had the records showing the service I did. They care less. First thing they asked was anyone hurt. when I said NO it was over.

Flash-H that's the same way Firestone treated me. They wanted me to ship the tire to them for inspection and gave me their legal dept. address. Didn't know lawyers did tire inspections, they new they were going to deny my claim before I ever shipped the tire to them. I will never have another Firestone-Bridgestone tire on one of my trucks again, even if it comes on a new truck that I buy. I will have the dealer switch them out before I take delivery.

without a doubt Michelin LTX M/S

I have never ever ever had a heat failure with them. And tow heavy quite often.

GOT JUICE: What kind of weight do you carry on your rear tires? I carry right at the "E" weight rating (3042 lb.) for the 245-16 and Michelin XPS Rib does great, but I've never had an LTX and wondered if they held up as well as the XPS with the max amount of weight actually on the tire. I like the tread pattern on the LTX better than the XPS and thought about getting them next time if they would hold up under a max weight load.

GOT JUICE: What kind of weight do you carry on your rear tires? I carry right at the "E" weight rating (3042 lb.) for the 245-16 and Michelin XPS Rib does great, but I've never had an LTX and wondered if they held up as well as the XPS with the max amount of weight actually on the tire. I like the tread pattern on the LTX better than the XPS and thought about getting them next time if they would hold up under a max weight load.

Well the weight varies with load. My last decent size tow, truck trailer and load grossed out at 31,400lbs. Give or take a few hundred. Typically I run that high about 20 times a year, but most of the time I am crossing the scales with an overweight permit:o: The one last legal loophole. Paying the gov't more money makes your truck safer to carry more weight on the road... ya right:rolleyes: (naked tax grab if ever there was one)


The M/S hold up very well, although from all accounts the XPS rib will outdo them slightly in longevity due to a harder compound. I HAVE to run the M/S because of the mountain passes up here. We can and do get snow on them in August:eek: not much, but enough to be counting on some winter type tread.

Here is the thread on the heavy towing.
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166399

As stated in the thread, the OEM BFG's are holding up well to the rigors of DD/Hotshot/Tow rig, but they run warmer than I like to see, and they squirm too much for my liking. The Michelin's I found to be best for my own useage was 235-85-16. Less 'tramlining' on crowned roads, better wet performance, and less heat/better tire life than 245's.
My Speedo was also dead nuts accurate with that size.

If we account for a 12% pin weight of the gooseneck, the ''payload'' in the bed was right at 3000lbs.

Got Juice, I appreciate your feedback. You are carrying almost exactly the same weight in the bed as I do. I tow a 5th whl. which has a 3000 lb. pin weight and the scale weight on the back axle of the truck when empty is just a little over 3000 lb. so that's your 3042 lb. E rating weight right there on each tire. The XPS Rib rides a little stiff, I guess because of the all steel construction but I would much rather put up with that than tires coming apart on me and then on the side of the road changing a flat on one of those beasts. I also put a set of overload springs on the rear axle which helps keep the truck level when all that weight is on it. Keep on truckin Juice.

Got Juice, I appreciate your feedback. You are carrying almost exactly the same weight in the bed as I do. I tow a 5th whl. which has a 3000 lb. pin weight and the scale weight on the back axle of the truck when empty is just a little over 3000 lb. so that's your 3042 lb. E rating weight right there on each tire. The XPS Rib rides a little stiff, I guess because of the all steel construction but I would much rather put up with that than tires coming apart on me and then on the side of the road changing a flat on one of those beasts. I also put a set of overload springs on the rear axle which helps keep the truck level when all that weight is on it. Keep on truckin Juice.

Would you go with a bigger tire size???.....I ask Because i just bought some Goodyear Silent Armor 285/75 R16 and they have a 3,750lb load capacity at 80psi...I use my truck for towing all kinds of landscaping Equipment everyday and i love them..I have towed 26,950lbs and they handled it vey well...

The Michelin XPS is also available in a traction tread. There is a reason that the XPS costs $50 more than the LTX. I'm not knocking the LTX, but it is a fabric sidewall tire that isn't on par with the XPS. Yea, the XPS will ride rougher because it is made heavier. It weighs 53 lbs vs 45 for the LTX. Check out the Goodyear G647 and Bridgestone R250, they are both great commercial tires.

Thanks for the info about the XPS traction tire Marcdeluca I didn't know they made it in a traction tire. The XPS is a great tire but I've found you really need to shop around for a good price, some stores I've checked are $50 per tire higher than other shops. One of the highest places was online shopping from WalMart

There is a guy on ebay that has them nearly all the time. He wants $650 for the set, and I think shipping is around $100. I haven't been able to find them under $210 each anywhere else. Email seller ok4jg24 and check with him. He doesn't have them listed right now, but look in the completed auctions and you'll see it.