Super singles: a passing fad?
 

I haven't seen many rigs lately with the super singles tire arrangement. Are many companies/truckers using them or can they be placed in the passing fad category?

I haven't seen many lately, either. One pulled in beside me at a truck stop a few days ago. That is the first time that I have seen a truck with super singles in some time. I don't recall ever seeing many who ran them. I think some carriers tried them to see how well they run. I would be interested in knowing how many carriers are using them.

Are newer tanks have super singles, and the boss has his pete set up with them, can't tell the difference myself.

Wait until one BLOWS. :cool:

Weight-conscience carriers spec new equipment out with them in the northeast here pretty regularly. There's a lot of them in the bulk cement, and petroleum business here.

Propane carriers are doing more and more super singles. One of my compadre's just bought a brand new aerodynamic Pete with a set of them on it, and the leased tank he pulls has them also. I tried to pick his brain on why he'd go with them, and he couldn't really say exactly why other than saving 100 lbs. per wheel.

As for BLOWING one, it's always an issue I'd guess, but at 20 PLY it's highly unlikely.

All that rubber on the ground in one concentrated area to me would seem to create more friction, more heat...but what do I know.

Starting 2012 model van type trailers have to have aerodynamic side/tail fairings and the only tire now to meet the rolling resistance requirment is the SS.

Seen lot of blown ones on Smith Transport trucks out on I-68, usually 2 on the same side at the same time.

I run them myself and if anything I've seen a lot more of them this year than the past two. I've seen them on TMC trucks (but not trailers), Old Dominion wiggle wagons, MVT out of New Mexico and some others.

When I started at Hill Bros last year my truck was one of just a few with them. Now I'd say there are four or five times as many and our tire shop now stocks them (not sure when that started, was over there the other day).

I used to drive for CFI that uses singles on all of its company trucks and most of the trailers. There was a posting at one point in a newsletter or forum discussing blowouts and the thing the company noticed was 64% fewer blowouts after they switched to the singles. If I recall correctly, one issue that seemed to disappear were tires blowing on heavily loaded rigs where the driver had to take a curb coming out of a tight parking lot -- a dual would often lose seal and blow out and the supers just take it in stride.

The way I look at it, between the weight savings and fuel economy improvement compared to duals, the singles are the only tire that more than pay for themselves. True, if you continually get unlucky running nails or whatnot over you could come out behind but on the trucks I've driven most of the tires have come off when they are run down, not after being popped.

Jim

i know chiquita uses them on most of there banana containers now. i can't tell the difference when i pull them. i just wonder how many roadservice tire companys stock them.

Good post, because it's posts like this that challenge me to keep an open mind. Otherwise, I'm inclined to think you're better of Isolating problems 8 ways instead of 4. Actually, it seems obvious to me, but then I hear people are very happy with them and then I can't say for sure.

I have had them on my truck for almost 6 months. I 100% recommend them. There are MANY advantages: Weight savings, less rolling resistance, improved fuel mileage, less tires to check the air on, better traction in snow and a MUCH smoother ride. They are a little scary bobtailing in the rain on my truck.

If you are running them on your trailer as well, you can have your virgin drives capped and run them on your trailer. The caps cost about 35 to 40% what a virgin does.

What if you get a blowout? We all know you are not suppose to drive with a blown dual, but we "limp" in with it. Michelin will pay the service call if you can't get a service to you in less than 2 hours. All you have to do is call 1-800-tire-911.

Check out the "blowout" videos at: Michelin Americas Truck Tires Videos and Demos Page Very impressive

I just purchased my second truck and can't wait to get them installed. I will wait till I wear out the duals that are on it though.

Good luck,

scott

Is that Heniff by chance? Or Altom?

I believe 100% of the New Century trucks are running them. Also, a few guys at my agent run them, but mainly for the weight savings which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 300lbs v.s. a set of 8 out back.

Most people that argu against SS aren't arguing over the controllability, but the fact you are stuck on the side of the road, instead of just driving on to the next shop.

Cool video though, always fun when you strap C4 to something :)

I thought they would be a good idea, and on a newly spec'ed truck or trailer they probably would be a good investment. Here are my personal issues with the product as a whole.





1.When you ask a dealer about them,..they are clueless. Why would I spent that kind of money on a product that most dealers or tech know nothing about,...other than they are one big tire instead of two smaller ones.



2.Truck and trailer manufacturers failed to put the info out that their spindles, axles, etc would flex under the strain.



3.When you ask the tire dealer about their offset rim sizes, they are clueless.



4.When you call the "Guru" of SS Kevin Rutherford,...he babbles on throwing all kinds of HDXTA,1,2,XTA blah, blah, blah, leaving the caller more confused than when he called in the first place.





The product is a good one, but I think the rush to get them onto the pavement was poorly planned and some people bought them once and went back to duals.



Just my personal experience with the product, I might had leaped on them if every time I called about questions,...I wasn't met with confusion and misinformation

We converted over to them for the touted weight savings not too long after they came out- maybe a year later? Michelin had some deal they were promoting if you swapped your duals & rims for X-Ones- can't remember quite what the deal was.

It wasn't worth it, IMO.

The weight savings came to just 200 lbs - 100 lbs per axle- since we already had aluminum rims (they were doing their weight savings literature based on swapping from duals with steel rims to X-Ones/aluminum rims).

We didn't see a change in our fuel mileage at all.

We had to replace one that was barely used because it had a nail too close to the sidewall and the shop we were at wouldn't repair it and we had a deadline to meet- one X-One costs about what two regular drive tires cost, so that was a damned expensive nail.

If you get a nail, you can't rely on the other dual to limp to a shop. For me that's a big one. God forbid one blows. We've been told by several shops that the average cost of repairs, tire aside, is $1000 when one blows- it'll take out everything around it. That 2-hour deal from Michelin doesn't make up for the cost of the service call- I'd rather get to the shop.

And we never used to get stuck like that when we had duals. Ice and X-Ones are a bad combination- we had to start watching where we parked. We had A LOT better traction with the duals. In winter weather AND rain.

Was thinking bout putting on a set of those super singles on my rig, but doubt it now since it is a passing fad.

I think honestly "limping to a shop" is what causes a lot of damage to tires, and eventually another blowout.

For example:

Inside tire blows, buddy drives on outside tire 20 miles to a tire shop. 6 months later due to damage, the outside tire blows, so buddy drives 20 miles on new inside to a tire shop. Rinse, repeat, etc... Especially if you have any sort of weight. Probably won't do much if you're empty. I wouldn't even consider limping if I had more then 20,000 lbs on the trailer. Would rather do a service call and save the other tire.

On my 4th set of SS and won't change. Already said here is the weight savings with aluminum rims and they ride a lot nicer. Had a Pete 386 loaner for a month with duals and was like riding on go cart rubber tires compared to SS.

All 4 sets are/were Michelin XDE. Had a couple of flats (company driver) my first set running on shoulders like I was driving a tank but learned to be more careful not to touch shoulders like 285 around Atlanta and the past 3 sets haven't had a flat. The fuel mileage pays for the tires. I get 7.3 to 9.5 empty but the trailer has to have SS too from what I'm told and the company I leased to do . Getting my authority in August and buying a dry van with SS so action speaks louder....

Where I work, we've had singles on some of the trucks (most of the Columbia's, a very small amount of T660's, and a small amount of the Cascadia's). Most of those trucks (except for the Columbia's) were sent to terminals to have the singles removed, and were fitted with duals on aluminum rims. In between KW's, I had a Columbia with singles for a week. The ride wasn't bad, when compared to Century's with duals. The rim offset, well, lack thereof, bugged me. The outer edges of the singles were much closer than the outer edges of duals. Also, none of the singles on that truck were Michelin's. Two were Greatec? and I think the other two were Bridgestone. These tires were also 3" shorter (37" for the singles, versus 40" for fresh duals), which made coupling to a trailer a royal pain, when the rest of the fleet runs duals.
Our company has a VERY small number of trailers with singles, but those are for Buttwiper, er, Budweiser account. The customer I haul for doesn't have singles on anything, and neither customer nor carrier have stated any intention of buying singles in the future.

Lots of trucks and trailers in my area with wide based singles. Several grain hauler and pneumatic tank outfits running them both truck and trailer. Keim trucking has had them on truck and flatbed spreads for a lot of years. I run wide based on my tractor and no desire to return to duals. I spec'd intermediate length axles and 0" offset wheels and the result works very well.