Help me choose new tires

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by IH Branded, Dec 17, 2014.

  1. IH Branded

    IH Branded Medium Load Member

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    Is there anything to this rolling resistance rating ? Last time I bought tires there was no change at all. Truck came with Bandag Megatrek recaps with 170 rr and I went to Continental HDL eco plus which was like 110 and no difference in mpg. I had Continental steers that went 250,000 so I wanted to try their drives. I am at 200,000 is all and have 4/32 on center of tire and 9/32 on outer thirds; not real happy with that nor impressed. Held air well and I always ran 100 psi. We do short haul every 100 miles squirming into some store. Should have lasted longer though ??

    Anyway I was going to try the Bridgestone 710 ecopia. Small fleet that runs with us just got 10 new trucks with Bridgestone 726el; looks like way too much tread to me.

    Anyway my experience with this rolling resistance is it is a hoax. Many agree and many swear that there is a difference - any thoughts or help ??
     
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  3. Thediamond13

    Thediamond13 Light Load Member

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    Look into the Yokohama ty517.If you are replacing all the drives you can get a deal on them. RR is real but its pretty subtle in my opinion.
     
  4. Freddy57

    Freddy57 Road Train Member

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    Everybody claims that their tires have the lowest rolling resistance, but to tell the truth, I have never noticed any difference either. I have Kelly Springfields on my drives, I love them for the great life and traction that I get from them. I don't think they hurt or help my mileage any, so personal preference and price point determines which tires I put on my truck rather than the marketing hype which just leads to disappointment anyway.
     
  5. rollin coal

    rollin coal Road Train Member

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    Rolling resistance chart is Michelin propaganda. I agree Bridgestone M726 is too aggressive of tread for typical OTR. Same with Yoko TY577 it is practically the same as m726. Goodyear G572 is a good design I get better mpg's with it than I did yoko ty577. Goodyear just released a brand new drive tire that is supposed to be their highest efficiency drive, don't know the designation but have seen it and the tread design is close to the G572. Whatever it is it will be my next set of drives when these 572's wear out.
     
  6. RedForeman

    RedForeman Momentum Conservationist

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    With your operation, you may not see the full benefit of low RR tires. Most of the tire co's make a regional drive tread, higher RR but better scrub tolerance for frequent docking turns.

    At 100 psi your wear pattern confirms you're running too much pressure. At 34k on a tandem, most tire pressure charts will spec 80-85 psi. Obviously no margin there if you're fully loaded and have a blow out. I put 90 psi cat's eyes on mine and run them 90-95. At 90 psi, I'm good for about 5.5k per tire, which is enough to carry 17k to the shoulder on three in the event of a blow out. In fact I already proved it with a drive blowout running 70 mph loaded to 79k.

    Last spring, I went from the same Megatrek recaps you had, to a Goodyear G305 on drives. I immediately picked up 0.4 mpg (seen both on my scangauge and on my quarterly IFTA numbers). There were no other changes to the truck, trailer, cargo, or terrain to account for that. I'm a believer.
     
    ShortBusKid Thanks this.
  7. Hurst

    Hurst Registered Member

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    I have the Yoko 517's on my front drive axle now. Not that great of a tire. Wont see the mileage some of the other tires in this price range will.

    Yoko TY517 is a soft tire. Great snow and off road traction,. once the tread goes beyond 50% it will rapidly disappear. I dont expect to see more than 300 - 350k mi out of these tires.

    I have Hankook DL07 on my rear axle. They have roughly 325k on them now with just under 50% tread left. I fully expect to see 500k+ miles out of them and they were cheaper then the Yoko's.

    To the OP,..

    I personally try to buy tires that will last (Tread wear) while giving decent performance, even wear characteristics and good traction on all surfaces.

    For steer tires,.. I have tried Kelly and Hankook,.. neither lasted more than 90 - 100k,.. with the Hankook being the worst with cupping so sever that I gave up on them at 81k.

    For steers I cant praise Michelin XZA3+ tires enough. This is my second pair, I will get 200+ easily out of these steer tires. Pricey,.. but well worth the money in my opinion.

    Hurst:smt111
     
  8. Derailed

    Derailed Road Train Member

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    Unless your planning on swapping out summer/winter with 2 different sets which I doubt, I wouldn't even take RR into consideration if you do a lot of driving in winter conditions.
     
  9. Dale thompson

    Dale thompson Road Train Member

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    the dirty secret about RR is above 65 mph the low number tires lose their advantage
     
  10. Boardhauler

    Boardhauler Road Train Member

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    Are you folks saying Kevin Rutherford is wrong about rolling resistance? Don't you know that's sacrilege?

    Getting rid of my Aeolus whatevers & installing 8 Firestone FS507's netted me .5 MPG. I'm a believer, but I can also see that the savings might not be there in a short haul application.
     
  11. wore out

    wore out Numbered Classic

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    I'm in the same boat as the OP. I'm gonna need tires soon but no clue what to get, of course anything to save fuel makes sense. Like the OP most of what I do is short haul I only run a 600 mile radius but seldom break 400
     
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