TIRES

They probably wear like pencil erasers. My buddy bought a truck with knee deep Chinese tread probably 30/32's a year and 70,000 miles later they had about 5/32's lol.

 

Hi Rado, tires, like anything else, you get what you pay for. I've never heard of iron man tires, maybe for a tag axle or something. I've tried them all for steer tires. The best mileage I got out of Michelin, but didn't like them on wet or slippery surfaces. Goodyear seem to cup after a while. Finally settled on Bridgestone, they were the best for the money, for my application.

 

I would never use an unknwon tire as a steer tire. Any where else is fine. BE CAREFUL, I talked to one driver who's dad bought some tires for a good price. They were all Armor All soaked and shiny. One lasted about 500 miles before it blew on a steer tire. From what he said, they were OLD surplus tires that some one bought and then resold for cheap. I've never heard of Iron man, that's scary.

 

GOOGLE is easy to use. Plenty of reviews / info.

 

Mentioning the old tires, check the DOT date code. Near the bead, it'll start with DOT, then a line of letters and numbers, the last four being the date code. Week/week/year/year: 4208 would mean the forty second week of 2008- a bit old especially for steers. A three digit date code would mean it was made before 2000, I'd be hesitant to use it on the highway.

 

It's Michelin, Continental, or Goodyear(Dunlop) for me. You can get the national account discount price through OOIDA membership.

I pick tires with the lowest rolling resistance ratings that fit the intended use in my tire size and have a good track record. I'll cut costs further elsewhere. Not by fixation on low initial cost of an unproven tire made in a country with a very poor reputation.

 

semi retired you hit the nail on the head by saying the best for my application. depending on what you are doing can change the type of tire you will buy. b safe out there

 

I have 1.3 mil miles; I used 3 sets of drives, in next 10-20k I have to buy 8 x new drives; original when the truck was new came with Bridgestone, and after I used 2 sets of Bf ; I'm going to buy BF again, not very expensive and ok; The more expensive original Bridgestone didn't last longer than the BFs; average I did 435,000 miles /set and I trade the tires all 8 before are completely gone and get better trade price. Are you guys getting any better?

 

I've been a fan of the M726. When I worked at Ryder, there was a poster that touted over 500,000 miles from one set on a coast to coast operation, with frequent tire rotations and air pressure checks. 435k is REAAAALY good.