Tire Shopping in Taos

May 8, 2012

We walked the trail this morning to the next campground up the road. It's a great developed trail that's technically roadside, but is back enough into the ridge that you never really see the road. When we got to the next campground, we went down to check it out. This one, unlike ours, is on the river (Rio Grande). We walked the dogs down a path to the river so they could get drinks. The dogs were THIRLLED to find perfect grass for snacking on. They've really been missing having a decent source of grass snacks. After visiting the river, we headed back. (About 1 mile roundtrip).
We left for Toas city proper after lunch. We went to the library first. Disappointing wifi. There's no 3G in Taos, and the library speeds aren't great. But, it was sufficient for research purposes. Missy looked for campgrounds in Southern Colorado. I researched on RV blogs and forums for advice on tires for our pickup. There's a lot of confusing and contradictory information. I finally called it quits and realized we'd have to throw ourselves on the mercy of the tire salesman for advice. So next I checked out the tire stores in the area. I picked one that didn't have any bad reviews and we went for it.

We had a tough decision to make with the tire purchase. 3 of our tires are still good. 2 of those are 8 ply/65 psi, and one is 10 ply/80 psi. Not sure how we ended up without a matching set. Missy initially wanted to just get 4 tires and have a matching set. After a call to Dad for advice, and checking with the salesguy, we decided to just buy 2 new tires. The new tires will be 10 ply/80 psi and will go in the back. We'll have a matching pair of 8 ply/65 psi on the front. We will have them take the oddball 10 ply/80 psi tire that is on the front passenger and put that on the spare tire rim. We will hold onto the current spare tire in case of another blowout. (only costs about $15 to swap out tires). We've been assured that this is all safe and acceptable. This way, we can get the full life out of the front tires. Well, that's the hope anyway. Seems we angered the tire gods along the way somehow and we just aren't destined to get a full 8 years or 65,000 miles out of any tire.
Oh, and we learned something shocking. I asked the tire guy what he recommended we have our tires inflated to when we're towing the fitty. He said there's a truck manufacturing sticker in the door, and they tell people to just use that. I did not know that. Guess what our tires are supposed to be at? Backs are at 80, fronts are at 50. Sheesh! We didn't even have tires on the back capable of going up to 80. We'd had all 4 tires at 60 this whole time we had the truck. I wonder if we'll have better gas mileage and safer trips now that we know the proper inflation. And tell me this: why did Tires Plus sell us back tires that didn't match manufacturer recommendations?????!!!!! That kinda pisses me off.

We ordered the tires and paid the hefty bill. We will go back to the store at 3 tomorrow for the install. Please, please, please let this be the last time we prematurely buy tires.

After getting the tires, we went back to camp and enjoyed a fire.