Michelin XL 9.00R16?

[devinsixtyseven]

I know some of you have run these, or are currently. How do they hold up? How are they on rocks, mud, wet roots...and how do they handle on the pavement?

...And where would a guy get a set, anyway?

I'm comparing these to a Q78 swamper...bias ply, 35.5x10.5-16. Whichever, the tire will be pretty much only used for offroad trips, I have other tires for the street and mild dirt road runs. Basically I'm looking for a 36x11-ish tire for primarily offroad use that I can also drive on the pavement to the start of the trail.

Opinions on the XLs?

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Dirty Harry]

Expedition Exchange is the only place I have seen them listed, and they have been out of stock for quite a while.

https://www.expeditionexchange.com/michelin/

I too like the looks and dimensions of these tires, however my understanding is that they are very tough and possess all of the other characteristics that usually accompany very tough military tires, such as a lot of road noise, poor wet and snow traction, rough ride, and hard tread. Granted the Swampers will probably have most of these qualities also, but I do not think that they will beat you up as bad over rough terrain.

 

[Erick Lihme]

XZL failure

We may wish to check with Michelin to see if the XZL's are suitable for more than occassional use on-road. Check this passage out:


Kev’s tyresome problem.
Kev’s Camel Trophy 110 had just 20,000 miles on the clock when two of his Michelin XZL’s started throwing tread. We had little idea of their history except that they had competed in the Tierra Del Fuego Camel Trophy in 1998. We felt it odd that they had thrown their tread in such dramatic fashion however, and wrote to Michelin enclosing this photo.
Michelin’s reply was:
"The XZL’s are designed for a mixture of on and off
road usage, with about 80% of the operation being off-road. We note that the main portion of your mileage on these tyres was
on-road, and this may have resulted in some weakening of the casing,
which then showed itself at a later date, in the form of the splits
pictured.

"The XZL 4x4O/R tyres are a good selection for the usage described whilst on your field trips. However, they would not be our prime choice for the general road use whilst in the UK. We would recommend that you operate this Land Rover on an alternative set of tyres."

So there you have it. Don’t use them on the road. Kev now has a set of Michelin XS tyres which he bought on special offer at Paddock’s in Matlock.

 

[Scott Brady]

XZL's have a max speed of 62 mph, which leads to most carcass failures. Heat, created by load and speed will cause failure.

They are very difficult to get with the global demand for military tires, however, I am closer than ever to having a set of five at the Prescott testing facility

 

[Erick Lihme]

Test away!!! If set for testing can't be had, check the used Dollar Tire, Edmonton, Alberta.

As a result of the failure they switched to Michelin X Type S. XZL dug deep in soft sand, my biggest nightmare.

http://www.tobysavage.co.uk/Article texts/Sat Nav article.html

 

[charlieaarons]

I'm running a set of 395/85R20 XZLs on my Unimog U500 camper with a heavy rear axle load: 7500-8000kg. Load rating is 8500kg at 95psi at up 70 mph per axle; 11200kg per axle at 55mph at 123 psi. I've had no XZL problems but I bought a new XML in Tucson when a rear shock broke in half and ate the inner sidewall out of the adjacent tire (not the tire's fault obviously). The XML failed at 800 miles!!! Needless to say, no more XMLs for me even though they are cheap from USA6X6. I did find two 90% tread XZLs at Dollar Tire and snagged them.
Moral of the story: XZLs seem to hold up under heavy loads (I drive at up to60 mph on highways). Maybe the Camel people weren't running enough air? My use is 85% onroad, 15% off pavement. CTIS allows you to calculate tire temperatures using a simple equation.
I think the most common error regarding tires in our rigs is underinflation due to not weighing the vehicle all loaded up for an expedition, including all fluids full. I was surprised to find I was 1400 kg over Unicat's estimate and should be running 87 psi instead of their recommended 67 psi in the rear. Fortunately, being a cautious guy I'd been running 77-78 before the weigh-in and driving 60 instead of 70.
I have run 9.00 and 11.00R16 XLs on my now defunct F350 crewcab camper (6000 lb front, 7000 lb rear) without any trouble whatsoever, just fairly rapid tire wear. The XZLs on my Unimog are wearing at a rate estimated to last 68K miles with 4/32" left.
Dollar Tire is a great place, they have lots of 9.00-11.00R16 XLs, and also 8.25R16 XZLs.
XLs are actually great in soft snow, OK in the rain, not at all good on ice, and have soft rubber in the tread. In disagreement with Dirty Harry, they ride soft because there's more air at a lower pressure between the wheel and the ground compared with what you are running now, unless you are moving at <4mph when you feel the tread blocks. By comparison with XLs, XZLs are much longer wearing, pack up with mud a bit quicker and are somewhat quieter and cooler running. Better for an expedition truck but not as good for a short range dedicated offroader.

Charlie

 

[bjordnolf]

There are some on ih8mud.com and maybe pirate4x4.com also I think I saw some on ebay.
thanks

 

[devinsixtyseven]

I did quite a bit of searching and reading on PBB and came to the conclusion that it would be better for me to go with Q78 Swampers than the Michelins, for a number of reasons beginning with availability and ending with performance offroad.

Scott, are you planning any temperature testing at different loads, speeds, pressures? It'd be really interesting to see how the Michelins work out.

All the posts I read about tire wear, speed rating and tire failure depended on heat and heat alone. The tall & narrow tires have less mass to disperse heat than an equivalent diameter wide tire, and the high pressure keeps them cooler by keeping the sidewall from flexing as much.

Interco actually recommended running their Q78 tires at max cold pressure to minimize carcass flex for long highway drives. From Interco (this was regarding a bias ply Swamper), they actually recommended the high side of the the pressure results from a chalk test as a good place to start.

It'll be interesting to see how it'll be different with the Michelins, since from all accounts it sounds like they're a more massive tire and meant for a much heavier load than the Intercos.

-Sean

 

[Scott Brady]

The XZL's are purely an obsession for me. I do not expect them to do very well overall, but I want to know from my own experience using them.

We are working on getting a set out of France. Appears that their military has not needed as many recently

 

[adventureduo]

XL's are no longer being made. The government started phasing them out long ago for the XZL. You can find them surplus on Ebay and gov. auction websites all over for really cheap. Get a pallet of them for $500-700 bucks (just not in your size). I ran them on my m-715 army truck.. just a slightly larger size 11.00. They seemed to work good. In the snow they worked well until you drive on the hard pack.. then the huge lugs turn into sleds and you slide all over. Oh yeah and one last thing... they're heavier than hell.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=Michelin+XL&category0=

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

I ran a set of XZLs 9.00 x 16 on my 55 briefly. I got them from FrankenRover off of Pirate who I doubt has any more leads on them...

They are very heavy and thick, they are sort of like a big rig tire with lugs attached. They were actually surprisingly quiet and had excellent on road manners. Much quieter than MTRs and very stable even at 80 mph. I have a friend who's had them on his D90 for years and does 90 mph all day long, not sure if this is the best route to go but he has had no issues. I found the narrowness to be a little unstable particularly on the side hills unless you have high pressure. It also raised the overall height of my vehicle too much and at about 36" or taller particularly on heavy rigs you start running into strength issues with land cruiser axles, so I became worried about that particularly with the added weight of the heavy tires. You need a 7" or narrower rim otherwise they look a little goofy. And finally, my vehicle has wheel wells designed for 35" or less tires. They flat out looked odd on my 55. That said they look, run, and drive just great on my friend's well built D-90 with about a 4" lift, as they look good on the Expedition Exchange site... In the end I sold them and have been running standard Goodyear MTRs, Goodyear AT's, and am now switching back to BFG AT's...

Cheers...

Some pics of the rig right when I first got it running (hence the bare metal and primer).. These pics look good here but they were large and cumbersome so I gave them up fairly quickly.. Again they work well for certain vehicles and not others... CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS FROM PREVIOUS THREAD