super singles...

Hi there, if you are talking about those stupid super singles as in tires. I will not drive a truck with them again! They are terrible, at least from my experience. I drove for a company that had them on their proc trucks ( dump truck with a back axle that comes down and pressurizes, like a cement mixer )
I had a blow out on my drive axle, on a freeway interchange bridge. Let me tell you, that was an "E" ticket ride! When that tire blew it caused the rear ( pressurized ) axle tires to start turning side to side, which caused the steer tires to try to do the same. It was scary to say the least. I did get the truck stopped without hitting anything, but being a super single, and I was loaded that truck was leaning to far to move it, the poor mechanic had to change that tire on a freeway overpass! He agreed that it could not be moved due to the lean of the truck and the overpass together. I could have easily rolled that truck. If there were dual tires there I dont think it would have been near as bad.

Thats just my opinion on them, maybe without that pressurized axle back there it may not have been so bad. But I dont like them.

 

Most guys I talked with don't like them...slippery in snow, blowouts are definately scary...

I can see from a companies standpoint they are "cheaper" (by weight and cost), but does that offset the cost of the driver's life??


I have seen two other arguments...one is that they are less prone to blowouts (umm, ok?)... And some states that do not recognize them for weight carrying and bridge formulas.


steved

 

We did have another thread that I posted on these a while back. I bought the Michelin X-Ones for my truck, and love them. The ride quality is better, and fuel mileage increased slightly. The fuel mileage is why you see a lot of carriers switching over to them now.

One nice benefit of having them is the ease of checking the air pressure. No trying to snake a gauge into the duals. One valve per tire. 100 psi.

I haven't had a blowout, so can't speak for that. I have heard from tire guys who did roadsides that it can be pretty nasty. As long as you maintain them properly, blowouts shouldn't really be an issue.

As far as adverse weather? They are great in the rain. I don't know about snow. I can't imagine why they would be bad in snow... you have a much larger contact patch on the ground than with duals.

 

We are running alot of super singles on columbias and i am driving a 2007 now with them. I really thought I would not like them,but guess what,after reading up on michelin ads and my present company, Hartt is saving alot of fuel due to these tires,they roll with less friction and less drag,i really think they are great so far. We will see sunday night how they go in the ice and snow.I will let you all know next week. I haven't heard of our guys complaining alot,of course,you don't want to curb them,the rims are expensive.

 

I hear some guys say they are good in the snow, other say they are bad. WHo know's I havn't run them. Beargator, being in GA I'l teah you something about the snow. That larger contact patch is what makes it (in theory) worse in snow. Larger contact area means less weight per square inch. In snow you want more weight per square inch so skinnyer is better.

I one thing I have heard from alot of guys running them is that the roads are rutted to the shape of dual tires so the singles tend to ride up on the high ridge.

I do like the way they look though. Like big ol racing slicks!

 

I find it almost impossible to curb them... They are tucked in a couple of inches compared to the duals.

 

Badly rutted roads, maybe. I found that duals are jsut as bad if you get out of the rut. The X-Ones tend to ride on the middle hump of the rut, IMO.

And you're right about the "look". I get plenty of people asking me about them-truckers and non-truckers alike. They look very cool.

 

not hard to curb them when a newbee has the tandems set right for the bridge law grossed out with a 53 footer,I don't curb any tires,but,it was to let some others that I see everyday driving over curbs,railroad ties and rails etc. I looked up all I could on these and the tests say they track better in the snow than duels and one driver that tested them said much more traction on the highway,while others climbing snowy slippery hills slipped,the super singles went up easier with little or no slip.

 

BearGator did you ever notice any fuel savings from them?