Tips For Maintaining Truck Tires
Maintenance Tips to Keep Your Truck Tires in Prime Condition
As a truck driver or fleet manager, it’s important to make sure your tires are always in good condition. Good maintenance helps prevent flats and blowouts on the road, which present major safety hazards. It can also affect fuel economy and increase the lifespan of other truck systems like the brakes and suspension system.
Here are truck tire care tips from America Truck Driving School:
Regularly Rotate the Tires
Truck tires, like any other vehicle, should be rotated every 6,000-8,000 miles to distribute the tread wear evenly and help them last longer. In commercial trucks, the rear tires usually wear out faster than those in the front.
Get the Wheels Aligned
Wheel alignment is another major factor in tire health. If wheels are out of alignment in any way, they will wear out unevenly and usually much quicker than they would if they were aligned properly. You can usually feel when a truck’s wheels are out of alignment if the steering wheel is off-center, if it pulls to one side or the other, or if you notice a lot more vibration than usual when driving on a straight highway.
Keep the Tire Pressure Consistent
Regularly check the pressure in each tire to make sure they are inflated at the recommended air pressure. This will keep them lasting longer and will also help with fuel economy over those long hauls.
Keep the Wheels and Tires Clean
Not only does it look nice when the wheels and tires are kept clean. It is also good for the health of the wheels and tires themselves. Wash away the road salt, grease and grime to get more out of your tires.
Practice Smart Driving Habits
One of the biggest factors in poor tire performance is the driver’s habits. If you accelerate too quickly, drive over the speed limit or jam on the brakes too much, you will wear out the tires more quickly than if you drive smart and safe.
Always Perform Pre-Trip Inspections
This should be something you do before every trip. A pre-trip inspection of key systems for road readiness should always include the tires. Check the tire pressure, look at the tread wear and be prepared to address problems before you hit the highway to minimize damage.
Check tire pressure at least monthly.
Over-inflation can create performance issues but under-inflation is far more common and expensive because it can damage tires by raising their temperature. Most Class 8 trucks require about 105 psi in each tire, but the ideal pressure varies with axle load, number of tires per axle, typical cruising speed and even weather.
When inspecting the tires check for uneven wear or damage that can lead to possible failure. Wheel alignments can go a long way toward eliminating uneven tire wear and prolonging tire life.
You guessed it
Everyone will agree that the No. 1 tip for longer tire life is maintaining proper inflation. The key to a good tread footprint and even tread wear is maintaining proper inflation. The inflation figure should be determined by a scale weight by axle and then using a load/inflation table.
Mismatched inflation on dual assemblies is an important contributor to faster tire wear. In an 11R22.5 tire size mounted in a dual assembly with the same new tread design, you would assume that they are the same size with the same circumference.
At 5 PSI difference in inflation, the lowest inflation tire has a circumference that is 5/16-in. smaller. During every rotation cycle, the smaller circumference tire must scuff ahead to keep up with the tire with more inflation. These tires rotate around 500 times per mile. Simple math means 500 times 5/16-in. translates to 156.3-in. per mile, or 13 feet per mile.
Imagine dragging a tire 13 feet every mile. How many feet is that per day or per year? That illustrates clearly why you will see increased tire wear with improper pressure.
Another note on inflation for those running automatic inflation systems: How often are you checking the inflation and correcting the pressure on these mismatched dual assemblies? Don’t automatically assume they’re running perfect—you need to check on a scheduled basis.
Load matters
You can maintain pressure all you like, but if you’re not maintaining the proper inflation pressure based on the load, you’re doing more harm than good. With an 80,000-lb. gross vehicle weight the load/inflation is relatively easy. The typical steer axle is at 12,000 lbs, or 6,000 lbs per tire. In a 295/75R22.5 tire size, 110 PSI cold gets you to 6,175 lbs in capacity. On the duals at 17,000 lbs per axle, or 4,250 lbs per tire, with the same size 295/75R22.5 tire means that the inflation figure at 85 PSI carries 4,690 pounds per tire. Don’t rely on the old “100 PSI works for all scenarios.” You get better wear, longer tire life, and fewer impact breaks at this lower inflation figure.