I hate to admit it but it took me a long time to get a grip on the whole gain thing. I studied the subject and decided I would run at 6, but when I picked it up, the tech helped me hook up my rig, asked me what gain I thought I was going to run, I told him I was going to start at 6 and take it from there. He said that he delivers and that he runs at 4. I accepted that he knew what he was talking about. I got good breaking at 4, but clearly 6 to 8 was where I needed to be for solid breaking, Infact I was running at 7 when a road rager slammed on his brakes in front of an 18 wheeler in an attempt to kill us all. I almost rear ended the truck because of that. I got on my brakes at 65 MPH and was very proud about how that rig bleed off speed so well, I could not even tell that the rig was back there we stopped so quickly. But after a few more trips, I have discovered that I like 8 for all around driving. With these tires, I now I'm running 8 to 10. So its been a learning experience for me and I can't really state that I increased the gain because of the tires or because I'm more familiar with pulling the rig. But what I do know, is I had no problems on my last trip from San Antonio to Chama New Mexico, I pulled some good grades and descended them too, the truck and fiver worked well together. And from what I have gathered your you should not detect that the trailer is dragging the truck to a stop nor should the truck be stopping the trailer, I get that at 7, 8, 9, 10.
What was evident about the "BlowMax" change out is that tilt you get on a rough road where the rig seems to kind of bounce from one side to the other, is gone. Your suspension is handling your load not the soft sidewalls of your tires. So your control is positive and firm.
Then there is the MOMMA test. On our last 2500 mile adventure, momma commented that she noticed that her dishes seemed to stay put, which was a source of complaint from her previous to the change over.
Gain? That surprises me! I pull with 2013 F450 and my gain is already maxed out. I don't think the camper brakes very hard as is, though it is only my second rig and I don't think it is different from my first- a little tiny 5er that also didn't brake particularly strong. I guess I kinda assumed that all of us were running max on the gain.
But as I consider making the move to either the G rated or the $ rated 17.5s it is good to know the $ rated don't ride like bricks.