Capt._Chaos
August 12th, 2005, 13:34
With fuel costs going through the roof, and the cost of replacing worn tires not gettting any cheaper, it makes sense to keep an eye on the tire pressures on a daily basis!
Running tires even as little as 5 pounds low on air can & will hurt your truck's fuel mileage to the point it's noticable when you "run the numbers", regardless of if it's on the truck, or the trailer, as it creates what's known as rolling resistance.
After awhile, if tire pressures become negleted, the excessive sidewall flex will create excess heat, and in many cases, can result in a blowout, even with "virgin" tires.
If one, or both of your truck's steer tires are low on air, it will cause it to have sloppy handling in turns and pull to one side on straight roads (like as if the front end were out of alignment). If they're low on air for too long, the tread will have a bad wear pattern, creating a shake in the truck's front end. Once that happens, then the tire is worthless except as a trailer tire or a spare, as balancing and well-known aftermarket items like CentraMatic balancers will not be able to compensate for the abnormal wear.
Running tires even as little as 5 pounds low on air can & will hurt your truck's fuel mileage to the point it's noticable when you "run the numbers", regardless of if it's on the truck, or the trailer, as it creates what's known as rolling resistance.
After awhile, if tire pressures become negleted, the excessive sidewall flex will create excess heat, and in many cases, can result in a blowout, even with "virgin" tires.
If one, or both of your truck's steer tires are low on air, it will cause it to have sloppy handling in turns and pull to one side on straight roads (like as if the front end were out of alignment). If they're low on air for too long, the tread will have a bad wear pattern, creating a shake in the truck's front end. Once that happens, then the tire is worthless except as a trailer tire or a spare, as balancing and well-known aftermarket items like CentraMatic balancers will not be able to compensate for the abnormal wear.