Is It OK To Deflate A Hot Drive Tire On My Truck?

Pretty mundane situation, fleets put on thousands of miles and some don't haul more than 2000 pounds still keep their tires at the same pressure.

It is because the amount of friction created by having a tire underinflated is greater than that of one that is properly inflated.

The sidewalls are where the weight is held, not the tread and when there is lower inflation the sidewalls are now moving more while the tire rotates, and this causes friction within the sidewall and heats up the tire, fatigues the materials (rubber compounds), and causes failures. It can be as little as 100 miles before the failure can occur.

I mentioned chalking; this is done to make sure that the sidewall can properly support the weight placed on a tire.

Now, if you don't believe me, Goodyear has a lot of great books on their research on this very subject; you can call them up and ask for them, or just talk to a tire engineer.

 

Kinda depends on his crayon stash

 

Your tire PSI sticker should be on the B Pillar, It is what the manufacturer says your specific truck should run. You are correct that the PSI increases as they build heat. This is normal and the heat as well as PSI should be close to the same.

 

My first job was working at a company where nobody did their pre-trip inspections and the pressures in the tires on the trailers were always wrong and sometimes dangerously low. The ideal time to check your tire pressure is before the sun hits the tires after they’ve had time to cool off during your 10 hours off. Once the sudden hits the Tires, it is no longer going to be “cold tire pressure“ and on top of that, you will notice that the tire pressure is on the side of your truck and trailer will be different than the tire pressures on your shady side. The Tires, if inflated properly may exceed your maximum cold tire pressure, but that is OK as long as it’s not too high, but just make it easy on yourself and verify bring the cool of the day, ideally before the sun hits the tires what your pressure is Wrap before you roll down the highway.

 

or you could just hit them with a temp gun when you stop for fuel. Mercy hotdogs. Y’all need more to do, this overthinking is making MY head hurt too.