A couple weeks ago, our summer fleet of 2014 Chevrolet Suburbans arrived. Some had brand new 4-ply tires, and some had the standard Goodyear HP 4-ply factory highway tires. As per our routine, we replaced all of the 4-plies with premium Michelin 10-ply (load range E) tires.
This process costs us A LOT of money. Being the business owner, I am not a huge fan of spending lots of money. So…. On my personal Suburban, I took off my new 10-ply Michelins and put them on one of the rental Suburbans, and put the 4-ply factory Goodyear tires on my personal Suburban.
Later that day I took a couple of friends fishing. Being the factory tires off of a 2014 Suburban was pretty much brand new, I didn’t think too much of the 10-miles on gravel roads we had to go to get to the boat ramp.
As I step out of the car to load the boat, I hear the dreaded hiss of air evacuating the rear tire. Sure enough, I could see the split in the tire where the ply ruptured and the tire was going down fast. There was no puncture. It was the simple result of crap tires on Montana gravel roads.
Even though changing a flat tire is a crappy experience, I did have a big smile on my face knowing that the extra money I spend on upgraded 10-ply tires will hopefully prevent any of our renters from having to roll around in the dirt for a half-hour.