Tall or low pro drive rubber

I don't see it.

Tall is what worked for decades, no use trying to change it. Some of the trucks passing by with low pro looks really bad to me from a functional point of view.

Reminds me of the old early curtianside european tandems being really small. Hardly adequate for american roads.

 

One is not any better then the other per say. It all comes down to what you need .
Some people choose low pro because they need to drop the fifth wheel height a little. Or they choose low pro to slow the truck down or get the rpm in the sweet spot.
Same can be said for tall rubber. But opposite results obviously.

Or then there is the other reason, looks.
Personally I love the look of polished 24.5s on low pros. Also it can be argued low pros handle a bit better .

 

Low pro tires have less side wall flex so I they have less rolling resistance. Although the rolling resistance is measurable, the actual fuel savings probably isn't.

 

I'm retired, but personally, I wouldn't have a low pro tire unless there was a guaranteed increase in fuel mileage of at least 0.3 mpg over a 11R/75/24.5 tire, and I was running strictly smooth 4 lane highways.

The low pro has lower rolling resistance on smooth hard surfaces, but take them a little off road and that does not apply.

Try climbing a curb with a 22.5 low pro and compare to a standard 24.5 tire.
Which one do you think will climb a curb easier, which has the least rolling resistance?

Ground clearance is not a bad thing regardless of what the cool kids say.

A low pro wears quicker, simply because they turn more revolutions per mile.

They are more likely to blowout from high heat, simply because they turn more revolutions per mile and have less sidewall as a cooling surface.

A tall tire will give a smoother ride because they ride on a greater volume of air.

A tall tire won't pound your truck as hard as a low pro will because they ride on a greater volume of air.

A tall tire puts more rubber on the road, meaning you should have better traction in less than ideal conditions.

A tall tire won't throw you around in the ruts like a low pro will.

I've been told by a cow hauler that a tall won't cake up with mud between the wheels as quickly as a low tire will, something I never took note of in my personal experiences but can see the reasoning.

A low pro will handle better on a race track, but that's the only advantage I can think of, other than the cool factor and it helps reduce the chances of a newbie rolling the truck, due to a slightly lower centre of gravity.

 

I can make a low pro fall over onto its roof. The center of gravity for a flatbed at 4 feet above ground is about 14 inches above the deck roughly. 2 inches wont matter when I horse her hard enough to force it over onto it's side.

Ive taken tractor trailers off road many times I don't even think about it with one exception. Green grass = water get stuck, brown grass = good solid dirt, drive on. And mud is the third dimension requiring lockers or other workarounds.

A good mudhole will negate or make worthless any perceived savings for the day. Not to mention slinging and bouncing for 20 miles shaking off the clots.

The only positive to a low pro would be maybe the trailer does not pinch the drives and get you stuck as easily. But I would not take a truck with lo pro out. Maybe that would mean I would go home without a job and some dweeb without any hangups will take the low pro truck out. I tend to live and die with what is proven to work in trucking and do not evolve very easily with the new stuff.

A long time ago I worked for DM Bowman we used to shut off the truck at every. single time. we ever stopped for anything. maybe 4 seconds later or maybe 5 minutes later at a green light we start engine and drive off. There was a trip master in that truck cab by computer dinging your money or tattling on you whenever you were outside of dictated parameters. A constant race to the bottom.

I would imagine any savings accumulated were erased in replaced starters fleetwide for the year. I finally stopped that wild job and got away from it. Its too much when you take a shift during a turn and get dinged or yelled at for it because you took the engine out of it's assigned money saving moment by parameters.

I cannot imagine today with trucks covered in sensors so I will get yelled at when I spin the steering wheel too hard trying to back.

 

None......in my eyes.....

They might not squirm as much as talls but not worth it in my mind.....

 

Most fleet spec trailers run them. Having the ability to pop a trailer tire on as a temp spare for a blown drive can save a ton of $ if you stuck dealing with Uncle Pa's tire repair at 3am on the side of the road.

 

I prefer tall tires, better ride, but they’re getting hard to find. 22.5 lo pro seems to be popular these days. I’ll probably switch over eventually. Notice all the new cars have lo pro tires. Rough ride, easy to blow out on a pothole, but hey looks cool!!!

 

I was surprised recently, when comparing 22.5 lo pro, and 22.5 tall tires, to find that the lo pros were actually wider than the talls, by about an inch.