[A/S] Michelin or Bridgestone (Decisions Decisions!)

[tinhutjohn <sargeant@xxxxxx>]

I finally climbed under the edge of the trailer and wrote the numbers
down from the little panel on the tires. I took the numbers to my
friendly neighbourhood tire guy and asked him if he could tell me how
old my Michelins were.
He took one look at it and said, "How old is your trailer?'
. "74", I said
"Well" he said, "it could be 1981, or 1991, but it sure isn't 2001. "
" Well" I said, " do you have something to replace my 7R15XCA's  that
will carry 7500 lbs plus a 1000 lbs of stuff?"
"There's your Michelin XCA's at $150 a crack, or your Bridgestone R230's
at $124 a crack"
"I'll be back in the spring" says me.
OK, so my questions are,
"Is one tire better than the other?"
Is Michelin worth $26.00 more per tire?"
Has anyone used Bridgestones and what was your experience with them?
Is this a good time to install Smartire monitors?
John & Louise Sargeant
#5530 74 International