Aluminum rims vs. steel
Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by slow.rider, Apr 1, 2021.
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You folks must blow a lot of tires. I’ve been running wide base tires since 2013 and haven’t blown one yet, could happen but when or if it does it’ll be because of a road hazard. I keep a close eye on my tires, just as I did with duals, check pressures regularly and I’ve never ran any tire all the way down to minimum legal depths.
The reasons I run them,
750 lbs. weight savings between truck and trailer
Easier maintenance, only one valve stem per position
Cost savings when comparing a premium wide base to a premium dual,
Good mileage and wear over the 8 years that I’ve ran them.
The last time I blew a tire was almost 20 years ago when I was a company driver for a fleet that ran caps on the trailer, threw a cap. Not saying it won’t happen to me, if or when it does I’ll deal with it.Long FLD, slow.rider and Mattflat362 Thank this. -
Yeah I lost a super single in my first year on a company reefer which needed a road call, and have had a couple flats on duals since then where I was able to limp to service. None of the tires exploded and I never lost a rim. In fact like I said somewhere, to replace the super single the guy didn't even have to take the rim off the truck. I know blowouts can happen but I also know they're rare.
It looks like it'd take a couple/few years for the fuel savings to pay the $1500 upcharge, and theres a few other pros and cons either way, so I guess the question boils down to whether or not it's worth it to him to spend that 1500 in order to shed 350lbs of weight. And that's a question only he can answer. But if his entire income depends on one truck, that's another factor to consider too. Even if insurance pays to fix the damage from a catastrophic blowout, that's still a big chunk of zero revenue downtime.Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
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Does he haul bulk products where the weight savings means extra paying freight every load? Or is he trying to get light enough to get an extra pallet on? If he will see revenue from extra payload every single load and can also combine that with rising fuel costs then his ROI will be shorter. And without knowing the rolling resistance of his current tires and what wide singles he would by its hard to guess what his fuel savings would be.
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