Double coin tires

Sorry to say we bought ten new Double coin steer tires for use on our log trucks and dump trucks, And they were all out of round. Went back to Hankook AM06 after we finally wore out the DC,s and have not looked back.

 

Have never used double coin steers but have run many sets on drivers with no issues. When they were first on the market one of the tire publications I picked up at a bridgestone dealer touted them as being a low level #1 tire at a #2 price. There not that much cheaper anymore around here. Have only had three that were out of round. Company had them on twelve trucks at one time. Far as casings go ive got a complete set of double coin casings with michilln caps on them on a set of A-trains. Have lots of double coin casings that have two or more cappings done on them. These are all casing we bought as new virgin drives to start with and capped to trailer tires. Seemed like the first half the tread wore pretty fast on them then slowed way off. Lasting anywhere from 160,000 to 230.000 miles then capping. Ive seen alot of tires mounted improperly rejected for being out round when there was nothing wrong with them. I have a Les Schwab tire guy that brings me a lot of 90% or better tires that get rejected by various reasons and its usually nothing more than improper mounting. I can usually get them for $100 apiece

 

The Bridgstones on my rig are "Made In USA"!!

 

Double coin does have a place on some trucks/trailers. I have bought some china made tires. steelmark,dynatrac & I just had 2 new all position geostar put on my trailer yesterdsay from my local tire shop. he said customers have been putting them on the steers with no one coming back complaining.they have deep rubber. for me on my trailer, since it is a 94' all steel & the tires do not last long anyway, I do not see a point in putting on quality tires. I do have a spread flat. years ago I did have 8 steelmarks put on my drives. they were 2 grand, that was everything mount/dismount, all new valve stems, f.e.t. e.t.c. with a set of 8 tires costing over 4 grand for quality, the cheaper tires do serve a purpose. I always run b.f. st 244 on my steer & pay for them. I will not compromise on steers. I have kellys on my drives now. 300,000 miles & about 50,000 more miles before I will change them. not sure what I will go with then. I was thinking I would rather have a china virgin tires than any kind of recap. out of round will affect the ride, but after watching my neighbor with his quality cap from mgriff that came apart on his retinour trailer & tore out several cross members & other damage, I never put a cap on, unless for emergency. speed & heat will weaken a cap. some say as long as you keep an eye on them & keep the air pressure where it should be, it will be o.k. I would just be afraid if the cap did get a punture while your driving you may not know it until it is low enough to tear apart. A lot of the china brands are starting to copy american tread designs. I paid $700.00 for the 2 installed with new valve stems. this was with the labor, mount/dismount, f.e.t. all other taxes. e.t.c. I wish the quality american made stuff would not be so very expensive. that is why china has so much for sale here. I also had great luck with toyo m122 they were made in japan. they were good as any american tire from my experience. they cost as much too, but my tire guy just told me yesterday that the toyo's are now made in china.

 

I had a chuckle when I got to this point. Of course no one came back and complained about the cheap steers, they didn't live through the wreck. All joking aside, I would never put cheap steers on. I love the XZA3 and have had good wear with the FS590 steers. For the drives, I would spec a closed-shoulder tread (not a rib). Usually ran my old drive tires (pulled at 8/32) on the trailer. One thing I can honestly say that I've NEVER been able to get good wear out of lo-pro 24.5 on the drives. I always thought it was kind of strange. Have lo-pro 22.5s on my KW, but changing to 11R22.5s.

 

We tried Double Coins on a few trailers. I wouldn't say that they were bad, but I wouldn't call them good either. They were cheaper than the Yokomama's that we normally run, but they didn't last as long either. Cost per mile was better on the Yok's. For steers, we've tried a few. Goodyear G661's did OK, but we had some out of round issues that Goodyear did not back, so we stopped using them. We've had the best luck so far with Michelin XZE2+ on the steers. They are expensive, but cost per mile was good because the lasted longer.

 

Upfront the cost on Michelin, Goodyear etc is a lot higher but cost per mile is lower as they last much longer. I can understand not wanting to put caps or expensive tires on a spread axle though. I've got yoko drives and they are ok tires but I'm not impressed with the 250K miles I'll likely get out of them.. Got some on the trailer too not really pleased with those either.

 

Yeah, lets put cheap, square Chinese tires on steers and keep uploading videos like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isJSDzoZbzM&feature=share