Steer tires wear

[Waterloo]

What I did in regards to the steers is to go with the heavier 16 ply vs the standard 14 ply most people get. These new aero trucks, at least the ones I have owned, all seem to run heavy in the front end. Knock on wood, no tire issues since going this route.

[Billdozer2]

(06-01-2016 )Waterloo Wrote:  What I did in regards to the steers is to go with the heavier 16 ply vs the standard 14 ply most people get. These new aero trucks, at least the ones I have owned, all seem to run heavy in the front end. Knock on wood, no tire issues since going this route.

I thought about doing the same thing on my Volvo. Even when my steers are at 120 psi, they just look slightly flat, like they are low on air pressure. The other trucks that the company uses (Cascadias, Prostars, T680s) steers look "normal". I have my 5th wheel slid back far enough so that when I am loaded heavy, there is just under 12,000 pounds on the steers, so I know they are not over weight. I was thinking that maybe using a 16 ply tire would help "round" the tire a little. Help keep it's shape. Maybe get some better fuel mileage.

[Rawze]

(05-31-2016 )dbl overdrive Wrote:  Hey guys, I've never been good at reading tire wear so I'm wondering if some of you could help me out here. This is my steer tires looking towards the rear of the truck. I rotate approx every 50,000 miles and run 100 psi all the way around. The tires have 136,000 miles on them so far. I've started to notice a bit of a shake in the truck but it's hard to say if it's coming from the front end.
My drives have 160,000 miles and still look new. Any ideas? The first pic is the pass side and the second is the driver side, like I said, looking towards the rear. Thanks again guys.

By Rotating the tires every 50,000 miles, you can not look at your tire wear to determine what would cause such a pattern.

I never rotate my tires,... none! -- I do this on purpose, so that I can see what is causing my wear. -- I want to see it,. and I want to know how they are wearing, and why!. -- rotating tires and moving them around skews this and you never know what is happening.


Next,.. you got 136k miles on them, and they still look decent! -- Anything more than 100k miles and they are still legal,-- and your alignment is damn near perfect any ways. Ajdusting things and chasing tire wear with so many miles on them is chasing ghosts, and your more likely to get it more out of alignment than where it already is. Even if everything on the truck is within spec,... 136k miles is decent if that is all the wear they have so far.

That is my take on it so far anyways.

[Waterloo]

(06-01-2016 )Billdozer2 Wrote:  

(06-01-2016 )Waterloo Wrote:  What I did in regards to the steers is to go with the heavier 16 ply vs the standard 14 ply most people get. These new aero trucks, at least the ones I have owned, all seem to run heavy in the front end. Knock on wood, no tire issues since going this route.

I thought about doing the same thing on my Volvo. Even when my steers are at 120 psi, they just look slightly flat, like they are low on air pressure. The other trucks that the company uses (Cascadias, Prostars, T680s) steers look "normal". I have my 5th wheel slid back far enough so that when I am loaded heavy, there is just under 12,000 pounds on the steers, so I know they are not over weight. I was thinking that maybe using a 16 ply tire would help "round" the tire a little. Help keep it's shape. Maybe get some better fuel mileage.

My last Volvo, a 780 was heavy as hell on the steers. My tires were wearing terribly on them, even after an alignment... But, looking back, I think it was the tire balancers I had installed. On the truck I own now, 2008 ProStar, I have the new Michelins and had them high speed balanced. I also religiously check the air pressure on them. No balancers, and no problems, again, knock on wood.

[dbl overdrive]

The Bridgestone I run is a 16 ply I believe. I'll have to check it.
It's rated at 7000 lbs rather than the normal 6000 lbs. I'm almost always over 12,000 even with th 5th wheel slid all the way back and my loads on my bottom deck.
I think the steps are always a bit harder on tires anyways.

[dbl overdrive]

(06-01-2016 )Rawze Wrote:  

(05-31-2016 )dbl overdrive Wrote:  Hey guys, I've never been good at reading tire wear so I'm wondering if some of you could help me out here. This is my steer tires looking towards the rear of the truck. I rotate approx every 50,000 miles and run 100 psi all the way around. The tires have 136,000 miles on them so far. I've started to notice a bit of a shake in the truck but it's hard to say if it's coming from the front end.
My drives have 160,000 miles and still look new. Any ideas? The first pic is the pass side and the second is the driver side, like I said, looking towards the rear. Thanks again guys.

By Rotating the tires every 50,000 miles, you can not look at your tire wear to determine what would cause such a pattern.

I never rotate my tires,... none! -- I do this on purpose, so that I can see what is causing my wear. -- I want to see it,. and I want to know how they are wearing, and why!. -- rotating tires and moving them around skews this and you never know what is happening.


Next,.. you got 136k miles on them, and they still look decent! -- Anything more than 100k miles and they are still legal,-- and your alignment is damn near perfect any ways. Ajdusting things and chasing tire wear with so many miles on them is chasing ghosts, and your more likely to get it more out of alignment than where it already is. Even if everything on the truck is within spec,... 136k miles is decent if that is all the wear they have so far.

That is my take on it so far anyways.

Thanks Rawze , the pattern started just befor I rotated them the last time witch was around 35,000 miles ago.
Your options are greatly appreciated and I think you gave me the answer I was looking for. I will just run them out and see how long they last.
At this rate that could be a while, lol.

[Vin]

The Centramatic wheel balancers really make a difference for most trucks. Well worth the $ in my book.

[overshot]

(06-01-2016 )Waterloo Wrote:  

(06-01-2016 )Billdozer2 Wrote:  

(06-01-2016 )Waterloo Wrote:  What I did in regards to the steers is to go with the heavier 16 ply vs the standard 14 ply most people get. These new aero trucks, at least the ones I have owned, all seem to run heavy in the front end. Knock on wood, no tire issues since going this route.

I thought about doing the same thing on my Volvo. Even when my steers are at 120 psi, they just look slightly flat, like they are low on air pressure. The other trucks that the company uses (Cascadias, Prostars, T680s) steers look "normal". I have my 5th wheel slid back far enough so that when I am loaded heavy, there is just under 12,000 pounds on the steers, so I know they are not over weight. I was thinking that maybe using a 16 ply tire would help "round" the tire a little. Help keep it's shape. Maybe get some better fuel mileage.

My last Volvo, a 780 was heavy as hell on the steers. My tires were wearing terribly on them, even after an alignment... But, looking back, I think it was the tire balancers I had installed. On the truck I own now, 2008 ProStar, I have the new Michelins and had them high speed balanced. I also religiously check the air pressure on them. No balancers, and no problems, again, knock on wood.

I couldn't keep steer tires on my 07 Volvo either. Come to find out it was because of the centramatics. Not that the centramatics were bad. It's was that the truck had the centrifused brake drums. Which are a lot thinner at the wheel mating surface. In which, that let the centrimatics go to far onto the hub, we're the hub had a larger diameter than the balancer was made for. So when the wheel went on it was put in a bind and was pushed way off center.

[in2trux]

Those steers don't look that bad to me, if anything I'd bump the pressure up another 5 or 10 lbs.
I always get them high speed balanced and look to replace them when they get below 50 percent.
Call it a quirk but I like new shoes on the front end.

Another spot to look at would be the quality of the drums. We use the Gunite lightweights and get good wear out of them.