HAZMAT and overheated tires. Remove it?

oldtrucker66 · Mar 10, 2021

digital infrared laser thermometer

Flankenfurter · Mar 12, 2021

slow.rider said: ↑

One way is to get digital tire pressure monitors which also measure temperature. They give a readout on a little pager-looking thing that you stick on your dash, and sound an alarm at your predetermined threshholds.

But if you're doing hazmat regularly then you're theoretically also doing your 150 mile tire and securement checks regularly too, which should involve touching the tires. Note the "normal" tire temp, and you'll start to be able to recognize overheating before too long. As mentioned already, an overheated tire is over 195 degrees. A point of reference is the boiling temperature of water, 212 degrees. So 195 is basically hot enough to scald your hand within like a second or two, whereas decent quality virgin tires should not be a whole lot warmer than the asphalt.

My first time across the rockies west of Denver, I was still fairly new and I was taking the downhills a little too fast, riding the brakes a little too hard on a hot day, and some of my tires got up to like 240 degrees from the heat transfer. Luckily my handy dandy tire monitor kicked into action and there was a rest stop ahead where I stopped and let them cool for a couple of hours. It wasn't a hazmat load so I didn't need police or anything but they were only the medium quality tires that came on the truck when I bought it - Cooper Roadmasters - and they handled it good enough to where I went on to get over a couple hundred thousand miles out of them before replacing. If they'd have been el cheapo no-name brand or even worse, recaps, my guess is it could have been a big ugly mess.
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Just the other day in class I remembered I had one of those laser temperature monitors. I can use that to help get used to "feeling" the temp by hand. I'm hoping my truck (company driver) will have a tire monitor on it.

Flankenfurter · Mar 12, 2021

oldtrucker66 said: ↑

digital infrared laser thermometer
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JUST saw your post after I replied. LOL.

kemosabi49 · Mar 12, 2021

Flankenfurter said: ↑

Just the other day in class I remembered I had one of those laser temperature monitors. I can use that to help get used to "feeling" the temp by hand. I'm hoping my truck (company driver) will have a tire monitor on it.
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Don't worry about all of the little things that could go wrong. Stay focused on getting that CDL
All tires will be warm after running, except maybe in the snow and ice. If you can hold your hand on it and it doesn't burn you then it's ok. Most tire fires are caused by overheated brakes or hubs, and you can usually smell them when doing your walk around. Keep your tires properly inflated and chances are you will never have a hot tire problem.

striker · Mar 13, 2021

Flankenfurter said: ↑

I'm getting my CDL and HAZMAT endorsement. Got a question I'd like to get some insight on, if you don't mind helping.

The CDL manual says in the HAZMAT section, "Remove any overheated tire. Place it a safe distance from your vehicle. Don't drive until you correct the cause of the overheating."

First, how do I know if my tires are too hot?
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I use the hand method, if I can't touch the tire with my hand, it's too hot and needs to cool down, same applies to the hub assembly (which can also cause the tire to overheat).

Flankenfurter said: ↑

Second, do you actually remove your tires and roll them a "safe distance" away?

Third, how do you change/remove a truck tire by yourself?

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I would guess trip planning, slower speeds, breaks every couple hours, and monitoring tire pressure and temperature is the way to go.
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This is one of things that will be dependent on what you do and haul. I have a friend who is an O/O pulls a reefer, he has a side box on the reefer that he carries everything he needs to change a tire on the side of the road. Number of years back, watched a heavy haul driver swap out a set of wheel bearings on 12 axle setup in a rest area parking lot, he had all the parts needed to do it with him. But, the correct answer is to stop frequently and check tires, brakes, hubs for overheating and slower speeds.

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