How often do you rotate your tires?

[Rev.Vassago]

I'm bringing the truck in on Friday to get some Centramatics installed, and I asked them to rotate the tires while they are at it. They couldn't give me a recommended interval for rotating tires. When do you do yours?

[Big_Dave]

When I had my truck, I didn't really have any set schedule for rotating tires.

Whenever I noticed any abnormal wear, I'd run the truck through the tires shop and see what they'd recommend. Sometimes it'd be something as simple as adjusting the tire pressure for different seasons (110 psi for summer, 100 psi for winter), other times it'd be more involved like checking suspension bushings, 3 axle alignment or something else.

I did notice that changing the shocks about every 12 months helped a lot, especially on the steer axle.

Tire design has a lot to do with wear also. Open shouldered tires seemed to 'feather' the edges quite fast.

Upon my tire shops recommendation, I switched to Continental HDL 'Eco Plus' drive tires. These are closed shoulder tires and they wear like iron. ;) Magicman runs them on his truck also.
Continental HDL Eco Plus Drive tire (http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/us/en/continental/transport/themes/tires/long_haul/hdl_eco_tire_page_en.html)

I used Continental HSL on my steer axle. Those can also be found on the website above.

[Pipester]

If you want your tires to last 15 to 20% longer, have them filled with NITROGEN>

[Rev.Vassago]

Tire design has a lot to do with wear also. Open shouldered tires seemed to 'feather' the edges quite fast.

Mine have begun doing this.

Upon my tire shops recommendation, I switched to Continental HDL 'Eco Plus' drive tires. These are closed shoulder tires and they wear like iron. ;) Magicman runs them on his truck also.

You lost me there - what is an "open shoulder" and "closed shoulder" tire?

If you want your tires to last 15 to 20% longer, have them filled with NITROGEN>

How does nitrogen keep your tires lasting longer? What do you do when you need to add air out on the road?

[Big_Dave]

Tire design has a lot to do with wear also. Open shouldered tires seemed to 'feather' the edges quite fast.

Mine have begun doing this.

Upon my tire shops recommendation, I switched to Continental HDL 'Eco Plus' drive tires. These are closed shoulder tires and they wear like iron. ;) Magicman runs them on his truck also.

You lost me there - what is an "open shoulder" and "closed shoulder" tire?
Compare the outside tread of each tire below. See the difference?
This is an 'open shoulder' tire.
http://www.firestonetrucktires.com/us_eng/truck_tires/images/roll/fd690_off.jpg
This is a 'closed shoulder' tire.
http://www.bfentirenet.com/tires/b_m726_el.jpg
If you want your tires to last 15 to 20% longer, have them filled with NITROGEN>

How does nitrogen keep your tires lasting longer? What do you do when you need to add air out on the road?
Nitrogen runs cooler than air and doesn't 'seep' through the rubber of the tire. If you need more nitrogen, hope like hell you're near a place that carries it.

Pipester, where's that link you gave me a long time ago about the advantages of nitrogen?

[Capt._Chaos]

I ran CentraMatics on my truck, and used to flip the steer tires from one side to the other every 20,000 miles.

This isn't advised with Unidirectional tires- if running these type of tires they will need to be dismounted off of the steer axle rims & put on the opposite sides to where they still rotate in the same direction.

Drive tires are a bit different. Keep in mind the left rear drive tires bear the grunt of the torque from the driveline. When rotating the steer tires, look at the drive tires & check their tread depth. If there's more than 4/32" difference in tread depth between the drive tires on the left rear and another pair of drives that has the most tread, those two pairs need to be swapped, with the pair of tires that show the deepest tread to be placed on the left rear.

[magicman]

I used to rotate my tires. When I figured out I was wasting money by doing it, I stopped. The whole idea is to get the most use out of your money. Tire shops and truck stops don't do this for free, so it adds to your expense. When I divided the money by the miles, I figured out the 20,000-30,000 miles I was getting additional wasn't worth the time and money I was spending.

Now, if I was having brakes done, or seals, I'd say rotate them. They gotta come off anyway.

As far as Continentals are concerned, Big Dave's right. They are excellent tires. I have them on all axles of my truck and trailer. They wear like iron and the drives give great traction for a long time.

[Pipester]

Tire design has a lot to do with wear also. Open shouldered tires seemed to 'feather' the edges quite fast.

Mine have begun doing this.

Upon my tire shops recommendation, I switched to Continental HDL 'Eco Plus' drive tires. These are closed shoulder tires and they wear like iron. ;) Magicman runs them on his truck also.

You lost me there - what is an "open shoulder" and "closed shoulder" tire?

If you want your tires to last 15 to 20% longer, have them filled with NITROGEN>

How does nitrogen keep your tires lasting longer? What do you do when you need to add air out on the road?

Molecules in Nitrogen are larger therefore don't go thru the rubber as easy.

Furthermore, Nitrogen is INERT, it will not expand or contract with heat and cold therefore the tire pressure will remain constant. Read up about it.



Why do you think race cars and airplanes have been using it for so long ??? If you need to air up on the road and Nitrogen isn't available, use air until you can deflate it and fill with Nitrogen.

[Pipester]

http://www.wcpo.com/wcpo/localshows/dontwasteyourmoney/3aa5047d.html


This is just one of many links.

Costco now has Nitrogen, most Chrysler vehicles now leave the factory with Nitrogen and Ford has jumped on the bandwagon too. You can recognize this with the GREEN coloured valve caps.

My 8 axle lowbed had Nitrogen right from the factory.

The fellow that bought my 9 axle lowbed is using it in Michelin XTY 285 R70 X 22.5 low pros

Those tires, 24 of them (plus the tractor) sometimes pack over 200,000 lbs. He can load in Laredo (Cat equipment) where the temperature is 80 degrees and travel into northern Canada where it's -40 below and the pressure in the tires never changes. I also used Cat's Eyes on my Lowbeds.

When I sold him the lowbed in September of 2004, the tires had about 93,000 miles, he put on about another 125,000 miles before putting on a new set. He never had a single blowout and only two flat tires, a bolt in one and a drywall screw in the other. That's a lot of miles for a 9 axle lowbed that has also seen gravel and dirt roads before I sold it to him.

[Pipester]

Nitrogen filled tires ease wear and tear Times Colonist
Published: Friday, October 28, 2005 Article tools
Printer friendly
E-mail
Font: * * * * Long-distance trucking firms such as Reimer Express are testing nitrogen tire inflation with promising results.

While the oxygen in air tends to migrate out of the tire, leaving the tire with reduced pressure, nitrogen has less tendency to do that, resulting in more consistent inflation pressures.

Steve Godreau, sales manager for Edmonton-based Drexan Corp., which supplies nitrogen inflation equipment, said nitrogen has been used in aircraft and race car tires for decades.

Godreau says having tires correctly inflated reduces tire wear and the risk of tire damage, while allowing the vehicle to deliver the best-possible fuel economy.

Under-inflation can lead to tire failure, particularly on long highway trips.

Tires inflated with air need to be checked at least once a month to ensure they're at the correct pressure.

In contrast, nitrogen-inflated tires could go several months, such as the interval between oil changes, without needing adjustment, Godreau said.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2005


http://autos.canada.com/news/story.html?id=8055bdb9-7941-407b-8239-ad1c1febc710


http://www.drexan.com/market6.php




And here's another 4 links.http://www.retread.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/RelatedLinks/CatID/34.htm

[Pipester]

Dave,

Here's link for Branick in Fargo , ND

http://www.branick.com/

[Rev.Vassago]

Here's the problem I've got. My steers, which are Bridgestone R250's, are starting to wear in the center. The pressure is staying within 5 psi of 100.
Both started showing wear at the same time, and in the same exact spot on the tire. Here are pics of both steers:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f7/revvassago/tires002.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f7/revvassago/tires001.jpg

My drives, which are Bridgestone M726's, are closed shoulder, and are hardly wearing at all - they look practically new with 73,000 miles on them. All the tires have the same amount of miles.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f7/revvassago/tires003.jpg
As I said, I don't believe it is tire pressure, since they always stay within 5 psi of 100. So what do you think?

[Kranky 1]

I used to rotate my tires. When I figured out I was wasting money by doing it, I stopped. The whole idea is to get the most use out of your money. Tire shops and truck stops don't do this for free, so it adds to your expense. When I divided the money by the miles, I figured out the 20,000-30,000 miles I was getting additional wasn't worth the time and money I was spending

That is why I've always done all my own mounting, dismounting, & flat repairs right here. With what the tire guys charge for doing that, the money I save by mounting a complete set of tires for a quad axle dump truck myself equals a pretty decent days pay. Not only that but I'm more careful & it gets done on MY schedule, not theirs.

[Big_Dave]

Rev......how many miles does your truck have on it? I know your truck is fairly new, but a friend of mine has a 04 W900L that did the same thing. His kingpins were worn already. :wow: :wtf:

Mine were doing the same thing then I put on a new set of steers and new gas charged (nitrogen? :noclue: ) shocks. The tires never wore like that again.

Also, ya gotta check your tire pressure religiously and keep the pressures even.

[Mark-the-Spark]

Here's the problem I've got. My steers, which are Bridgestone R250's, are starting to wear in the center. The pressure is staying within 5 psi of 100

Generally speaking, when the center of a tire wears more than the edges it means that the tire is running with too much air pressure.

However, 100 PSI in the steers certainly does not sound like too much air pressure in your use... what's the exact tire size and what's the average weight on the steer axle?

__________________________________________________ __________________
Mark; would take the truck to a Bridgestone dealer and see what they have to say

[Rev.Vassago]

Here's the problem I've got. My steers, which are Bridgestone R250's, are starting to wear in the center. The pressure is staying within 5 psi of 100

Generally speaking, when the center of a tire wears more than the edges it means that the tire is running with too much air pressure.

However, 100 PSI in the steers certainly does not sound like too much air pressure in your use... what's the exact tire size and what's the average weight on the steer axle?

__________________________________________________ __________________
Mark; would take the truck to a Bridgestone dealer and see what they have to say

Just for the heck of it, I re-checked my air pressure - 100 psi on the nose.

The tires are 11R24.5, and my average weight on the steers is around 11,300 loaded, and 10,700 empty.

I've got 72,962 miles on the tires. They are the factory installed ones, and the truck was built in Nov. of 2003.

I thought perhaps it had something to do with the wheels being out of balance, which is why I'm having the centramatics installed. The wear does not go all the way around the tire - it is only in a few spots, but it is in the exact same place on both tires.

[Big_Dave]

The wear does not go all the way around the tire - it is only in a few spots, but it is in the exact same place on both tires.
Definately shocks!

Now the bigger problem you'll face is this..........once a tire has started wearing funky, it's hard as hell to get the tire to 'correct itself' after repairs are made to the suspension.

Other than having the tires shaved and trued, it'd be easier to buy a new set of steers and keep these and run them on the drives in the summer.

[Mark-the-Spark]

The wear does not go all the way around the tire - it is only in a few spots, but it is in the exact same place on both tires.

Oh! That's a whole different ball of wax :) . . . and I think Dave has hit the nail on the head.

[Pipester]

Here's the problem I've got. My steers, which are Bridgestone R250's, are starting to wear in the center. The pressure is staying within 5 psi of 100

Generally speaking, when the center of a tire wears more than the edges it means that the tire is running with too much air pressure.

However, 100 PSI in the steers certainly does not sound like too much air pressure in your use... what's the exact tire size and what's the average weight on the steer axle?



Mark,

Remember that air pressure should be checked cold.

If that tire is running at 70 MPH and the outside temp is 80 degrees. The tire will running a lot mopre than 100 lbs. until it coolc again. That's why a lot of people are going to Nitrogen.

Looking at the tire pics though, I'd agree with Dave, something is screwing up the camber because the wear line is between the center and the outside, not dead center. Possible that it's a bent axle also.


Another thing I always done to my trucks was to balance the front wheels while MOUNTED on the truck. Only 2 places in this city have the spinning machine that can do an on-truck balance.



__________________________________________________ __________________
Mark; would take the truck to a Bridgestone dealer and see what they have to say

[tommy]

I have to agree here, Shocks and balance tires on the truck. You can put the steer tires that are cupped on your trailer.

Good Luck! ;)

[David_Reed]

Rev,

the wear pattern and location are definite indicators of problems in one or a combination of problems.

Suspension/Shocks/Alignment

Pipeman mentioned the axle.
Also the kingpins.

Could have bad shocks even though very new.
Checking shocks is easy. Drive down the road for several hours, call a dealership ahead and ask if they have a laser thermometer. If so, stop and immediately take a temperature reading of the lower portion of all 6 shocks. They should all be warm and about the same temp.

You are addressing the balance issue, however, I had my steers balanced before placing them on the truck even tho Centramatic says it is not necessary. I feel otherwise. The unit can only compensate for a certain amount of out of balance condition, so I remove as much as possible before asking the unit to do its' job.
Spin balancing on the vehicle is a better balance tho cause it balances the entire assembly, spindle, bearing, brake drum. But, spin balance them without the centramatics, then put the centramatics on, they should not impact the balancing just done and will compensate for any changes that occur after that to their maximum ability.

I also had the centramatics on the rear drive axles and if I had owned my own trailer, I would have put them on it also.

Tire pressure is very critical. In a similar Bridgestone tire I kept mine at 105+, absolute minimum on the steers.
The rears I kept at 100+ minimum.
I have fantastic tire wear records to support my methods.

I went from an average 75000 miles on my steers to over 130000.
The rears went from 225-275000 to over 325000.

As Pipeman said, always measure cold, but then, nitrogen would make that a moot point.

[Mark-the-Spark]

Mark, Remember that air pressure should be checked cold.

Pipe, I assumed we were all intelligent adults :rofl:

I couldn't see the pix on my aircard connection, so I assume they were huge byte-wise (hint, hint).

I agree wholeheartedly with David, and the mfrs specs bear this out... keep those pressures up, especially on the normally heavily loaded steers.

[Pipester]

Mark, Remember that air pressure should be checked cold.

Pipe, I assumed we were all intelligent adults :rofl:

I couldn't see the pix on my aircard connection, so I assume they were huge byte-wise (hint, hint).

I agree wholeheartedly with David, and the mfrs specs bear this out... keep those pressures up, especially on the normally heavily loaded steers.

Hi Mark,

I made that comment because with Nitrogen, it doesn't matter if you just finished a trip or it's been parked for a month. The pressure shouldn't change.

:) :) :)

[liner]

David..I don't want to burst your bubble,but I would be very upset if I got the mileage out of my tires that you are getting.On my last 2 trucks I never got less than 250,000 miles on the steers and I have 470,000 miles on my present drive tires.The drives still have between 6-8 32nds tread left.Always ran Michelin or Bridgestone.

[David_Reed]

liner,

I don't have a bubble.
I have a glass house.

[magicman]

I have a Century. Like all Centurys, it has a set back axle and as with all set back axles, the alignment is critical.

I have had some real wierd wear patterns over the years. What I found was the alignment shops jack the front end up, then sit it back on the pads. This takes the load off the tires and gives you a bad alignment.

I found a guy that comes to me and he doesn't jack the truck up. Since I started dealing with him, my tire wear has jumped way up. If it hadn't been for my u-bolts stretching, the steers would have gone an easy 200,000 miles. May not seem like a lot to some of you, BUT with a set back steer axle, that's great.[/b]

[Rev.Vassago]

I took the truck in today, and yes, both shocks were going. The driver's side was completely shot, and will be replaced under warranty. The passenger's side was on its way out, but not gone far enough, so I'm going to have to cover that one.

Thanks for the input.

Now.......What should I replace those steers with after I use them up (which, with the wear on them, probably won't take too long)????

[Big_Dave]

Rev.....see my original post in this thread.

Continental HSL.

Do NOT use the HSL 'Eco Plus' up front. I can't remember why, but my tire guy recommended the 'plain' HSL's.

Good wear, durable and affordable. Last ones I bought (2 years ago) were about $700 for the pair mounted and balanced.

[sweet_whiskey]

Since we are on the subject about tire wear, I have a question.

I use Yokohama on my truck all the way around. So far I have 160K on my drives and fairly a nice amount of tread left. My question is, three of my inside drive tires were wearing then stopped. When I say wearing I mean to the point wear the inside looks like it was rubbed while the outside and top are evenly distributed.

My steer tires are new with 30K on them.

What could be causing it to wear three tires and then stop?

Yes I had 2 alignments in the last 5 months. Partially because Freightliner (stop yelling at me Capt.) didn't align the truck right (yes Dave you were right.) Should I carry on with how my drives or should I switch them out to brand new tires? My thoughts are to get 4 new tires and put the new on the outside and the old on the in. Is that right? I am probably wrong so correct me.

Oh and then later on get the other four. Or I could just pork out 3500 and get the 8 tires.

I know Mark is just dying to correct me on this one.

[Capt._Chaos]

ALWAYS match up tires for pairs that have equal tread (and circumference), as not doing so WILL cause the newer tires with more tread to wear out quicker.

When you find a pair of drive tires with the deepest tread, put those on the drivers side of the rear drive axle, as those will bear the grunt of the torque fro your truck's engine & driveline.

I explained my procedures for tire rotation earlier in this thread.

[EVlLBOB]

I do pretty much what David Reed does. 105psi in the steers and 100psi in the drives. I rotate the drives at about 150,000 miles or so. I get at least 350,000 mile out of my drives and anywhere between 115,000 to 130,000 out of my steers with the centramatics. I run Bridgestone tires all the way around.