tires

[sptrucker]

]hi guys who thinks he has gotten the most millage out of his tires ,steers ,drives, tandems? i`m talking long and short haul combined.can be either flatbed,dryvan,reefer,ect,ect,just want to see if my average is within the norm...

[solo379]

Why don't you post your average than, and ask, if it's OK?

[sptrucker]

thanks solo379 i completely forgot to do that . my best millage was 125,000kms on steers and 100,000kms,on the drives.what do you guys think?

[allan5oh]

I usually get at least on 300,000 kms on the steers. Last set was 330,000 with the drivers side wearing very quick at the end. It needs an alignment. The set before that reached almost 400,000 kms. Michelin XZA3 24.5LP's.

[Fredog]

100,000 on the drives is awful low. were these Chinese tires? with BF Goodrich 444's I usually get between 300 and 400,000

[sptrucker]

i do 100% local ,and i am thinking about doing long distance,that's why i wanted to know how much wear i will be able to get out off the tires ,compared to local .thanks for the replies.

[klleetrucking]

439,00 miles on the 8 drives that came on the truck new. ('03 379 Pete 100% highway).
Bridgestone 726's, 275/85 x 24.5. Doubt I'll get that again due to susp./bearing wear. 2 - 3axle alignments in that time, plus I rotate every 50/75k miles.
Tires are like children,,, you gotta' keep your eye on them.

[solo379]

It could be different, but i'd say on a scale 1 to 5, 100,000 miles steers and 260,000 miles(not kilometres), is about 3....

[Dejanh]

I dont feel comfortable running my steers pass the 150K mark, as well as my drives pass 300K mark, no matter how they look. Some say am throwing my money away but i dont see it that way. Tires are what my life depends on it so does the life of the people am around driving this 80K LB weapon.
Brand new set of Yokohamas cost 2500 out the door now. What is a 2500$ investment every 3 years? nothing and plus you feel much better, at least i do. Some of these trucks that am seeing in a truckstops are running the kind of garbage i would not be safe to park around at, let alone drive.

If you cannot afford to buy tires and are running them into the ground all the way to the bare minimum, something is wrong. I do the same thing with my cars as well and I let losers buy the trash that am proudly throwing away, and guess what. My savings account doesnt feel a thing.

[allan5oh]

I don't see how wearing the tires more endangers those around you? If anything changing them more often has more potential for danger, due to the possibility of mis-mounting a tire.

I've never had a problem wearing my steers down to 4/32 and drives down to 2/32. Also depends on the season. It just makes business sense.

[Dejanh]

I don't see how wearing the tires more endangers those around you? If anything changing them more often has more potential for danger, due to the possibility of mis-mounting a tire.

You could say the same thing about those who rotate them every 50K or so..

I've never had a problem wearing my steers down to 4/32 and drives down to 2/32. Also depends on the season. It just makes business sense.

I could not imagine myself running a tire that has that much of a thread. It makes more buisiness sense to replace the part earlier and nor run the hell out of it. tires are cheap for you or anyone else to be running them that low, no matter what the law says you can do. You may have been lucky, but alot of people that i know have had blowouts which cost them a fine penny doing what you do.

Good luck

[heavyhaulerss]

I can understand changing tires before they are worn to YOUR level of acceptance. though you can have a nearly new tire blow, or more likely a cap, than just a high mileage tire with little tread left. I change my belts & hoses before they are worn & feel better, but hoses & belts are less expensive & I put the old one's in side pocket to use as a spare. tires are too expensive to not get your money's worth. though I will say that I put new steers on 2 weeks ago & when traveling to toledo OH, last week, the trip was more relaxing knowing I had 18 very good tires under my load. so to each his own comfort level.

[allan5oh]

How does less tread contribute to a blowout? Usually it's either low pressure, or the tire has been previously run flat, or hit curbs.

[heavyhaulerss]

How does less tread contribute to a blowout? Usually it's either low pressure, or the tire has been previously run flat, or hit curbs.

I know this is true. one time I had a tire with 30lbs of air, cause of bad valve stem. dont know exactly how long it was low. I just replaced valve aired it up & away I went. 200-300 miles later the side wall blew out. I was told that riding on low air weakened the sidewall, causing the blowout. this was within my first month of truck driving. a lesson I have never forgot. I did have a few drivers, over the years, that I ran with ask me if I thought his tires would make it another round? I looked & said I would be afraid to go around the block with those tires. I mean some looked like something was chewing the rubber off. real bad. but just even wear.... not much a problem for me.

[tracer]

]hi guys who thinks he has gotten the most millage out of his tires ,steers ,drives, tandems? i`m talking long and short haul combined.can be either flatbed,dryvan,reefer,ect,ect,just want to see if my average is within the norm...

2 years and I might still have around 6 months left in my drives (Yokohama LP) and Michelin steers. That's 200,000 miles, or 320,000 km. That's doing long haul all over US and Canada. If anything, I think your tires will wear less if you switch from local to long-haul.

[Musicman]

You could say the same thing about those who rotate them every 50K or so.

I could not imagine myself running a tire that has that much of a thread. It makes more buisiness sense to replace the part earlier and nor run the hell out of it. tires are cheap for you or anyone else to be running them that low, no matter what the law says you can do. You may have been lucky, but alot of people that i know have had blowouts which cost them a fine penny doing what you do. Good luck

You COULD say anything you want, but it might not make any sense. It all depends on who does the tire mounting. I run ten steers (Yokohama Y023 16 Ply) and I do all my own mounting. It saves a ton of money doing your own tires and I trust ME more than anybody else in this business.
Since I run all steers, I have the luxury of have three axles to move tires between and always keep a good pair up front. I will always run the tires on my drives down as close to minimum legal tread as I can. My steers are a different story. I always keep plenty of tread up there to help reduce the risk of hydroplaning, but never because I’m worried about increased risk of a blowout with less tread depth. In the six years I’ve run my own trucks this way, I’ve never had a blowout in any tire position. I am religious about keeping proper tire pressure and am very careful about not hitting curbs or even large potholes in parking lots.