Hi Diane,
I'm glad you survived the blowout! Bad things can happen, when tires blow.
I've had Michelin LTX M/S tires before, but wasn't thrilled with their traction. They worked fairly well in four wheel drive, but not so great in two wheel drive. Our dually was the same way in two wheel drive, until I installed some aggressive tread LT tires on the back of it. I get great traction now, in two wheel drive!
Whatever tires you choose, I would recommend U.S. made tires. At the very least, tires made in North America. I just put a new set of tires on our Sunny. They are Firestone TransForce HT and are made in Canada. I was also able to pick the tires I wanted and chose tires as new as possible.
You can go to
tirerack.com and choose tires by size. That will let you look at the tread patterns and pick what you think is best for you.
As far as valve stems go... I also had new high-pressure stems installed on Sunny's rims. They are very solid and I think they'll hold up for a long time! Here's a picture of the valve stems I had installed on Sunny:
The top washer is concave, so the rubber grommet will better seal the hole. I bought a couple extra, in case JohnB wanted to try them on his Sunline. I can get these valve stems for $1.30 each....
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