Mismatched tire brands and specs

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Rubys0h0, Jul 10, 2020.

  1. Rubys0h0

    Rubys0h0 Bobtail Member

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    I just started leasing a used truck contracting for a new company. The guy before me drove it about 180k, and I'm noticing some weird things about the tires. The steers and rear drives are mismatched.

    Steers for example, left is Firestone with a max psi of 120 and tread depth of 10/32. The right is Michelin with max psi 110 and tread depth 8.5/32.

    Fortunately, they are all 22.5 diameter, but the fact they are mismatched seems very wrong to me. It's the same situation on the rear drives. The left steer has some really uneven tread wear as well.

    How big of a problem is this?
     
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  3. kemosabi49

    kemosabi49 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    On the steers the tread depth shouldn't cause you problems. On the drives the tires next to each other in the duals need to be close to the same or the one with more tread will wear faster. A slight difference from one side to the other or between the axles won't hurt either.What will male a difference is if some of the tires are tall rubber and other are Lo-Pro. that will cause bad tire wear and could cause problems in yours rear ends.
    But if you are leasing the truck, tires are now on you. You should have gone over that truck and caught that stuff before you accepted the truck.
    Well, you probably should have never signed that lease but hopefully you will be in that small group that actually makes it work. Good luck.
     
  4. Rideandrepair

    Rideandrepair Road Train Member

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    That’s the cold hard truth!!
     
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  5. Rideandrepair

    Rideandrepair Road Train Member

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    Steer tires might just be worn out. Sometimes Otr steers will get erratic wear, and get out of balance, so bad, they can’t be balanced, while still having decent tread. Once the wear is established, it will never correct itself. Probably suddenly get worse, at a certain point, and very out of balance. New steers should be top priority, maybe an alignment check, or just wait and find out soon enough. In which case it will cost more in the long run. Meanwhile you can figure out the drives.Hopefully you can make some $$ first.
     
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  6. olddog_newtricks

    olddog_newtricks Medium Load Member

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    The reason for the mismatch tires is because the last guy was shoestringing. He didn't have the cash to buy a set so he bought whatever he could find that was cheap. So long as the tread depth is close on the tires that's side by side it won't hurt anything. Just looks bad.
     
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  7. truckdriver31

    truckdriver31 Road Train Member

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    wonder if he kept up with anything else too
     
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  8. Rubys0h0

    Rubys0h0 Bobtail Member

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    I'm gonna get a full maintenance record from the company so I can see what all happened with this truck. It's a walk-away lease so I'm not too worried about it. Thanks for the answers everyone.
     
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  9. uncleal13

    uncleal13 Road Train Member

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    Neither tire has a max psi. Both has a max weight for that psi
     
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  10. mover man

    mover man Road Train Member

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    Steers somebody said he was "shoestringing" and didnt have enough cash to buy a set. That may or may not be the case. He might have needed 1 steer tire and decided at $600 a pop. It's not worth it to replace the good one. Especially knowing no one will mount a used tire on the steer axle. So it cant even be used as a spare.
    Personally I would worry about the mix matches, until it was time to replace.
     
  11. SteveScott

    SteveScott Road Train Member

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    I replaced a steer tire last week because it was out of balance and the inside edge started cupping. They stopped making the ones that I had on there, and they were both 14 ply. The shop only had the tire in a 16 ply so I went for it. They said it wouldn't make any noticeable difference. Hope they're right.
     
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