Looking for new drive tires?

The Michelin rep is going by the Michelin Load & Inflation tables. I’ve looked at them, and I don’t trust them entirely. I’ve had 103 PSI on my drives and did not have any over-inflation tire wear. The tables make more sense if you are using them for a single axle with two tires like the steer axle. Either that, or we are all misinterpreting the table numbers.

Load & Inflation Tables | Michelin Truck

 

Exactly, i'm gonna try 90 and see how it rides. on my 227wb volvo, 105 was harsh, 100 is ok but still kinda hard riding, so will try 90. I rarely ever go over 34 000 on the drives.

 

11R24.5 H load rated tires...... 120 psi all the way around...

104,xxx gross weight every load ......6 axles

 

Do 95 first. Don't go all the way down to 90. Nitrogen too if you can swing it.

 

Tried 95psi ice cold, smooth as glass now, and perfect wear/contact. Couldn’t find anyone to do nitrogen, not very popular up here.

I dunno if there is a better tire than the XDN2, I know they use more fuel than others, but nothing else has this level of traction, or lasts this long, with this much puncture resistance. @gokiddogo @not4hire ?

 

I've got those too. Almost a quarter of a million miles now and have 8/32 left on the tread.

 

Nitrogen is nice but I think having that in semi trucks would be outrageous. The cost that is. (Understanding our atmosphere is what? 70% of it? and 20 something of oxygen?) In the old days hot tires was a possibility. Today's tires really did not worry about heat unless in the summer time at 120 or higher outside and the pavement hot enough to stick your soles. Reefer would be feeling 150 and up at the catwalk. (Amazing how it engineers to get that trailer frozen. Maybe only -8 on a -20 set in that heat but good enough.)

 

My 389 had Michelin energy (d?) from new. Recently changed 4 to xdn2. Won't be long I'll change other 4 over as well. Got some uneven wear at the end on the energy tires. Energy tires are horrible in snow and ice. There is no comparison to xdn2 that way. I am seeing about the same mpg with half of them on new xdn2. The first 4 energy were changed at ~470,000km. 11r22.5. Less than expected. My old truck on xdn2 but 11r24.5 had about 450,000 km on them, same work, still had ~50% left, even wear.
So it will be a while before I can give an accurate comparison to xdn2 vs energy tires as far as tire life goes. The better control in winter there is no question. Xdn2>energy. I expect to surpass 1,000,000 km before needing to revisit drives all the way around again. (502,000 as of this writing).

 

Blows my mind how much life you can get out of drives. It's got to be the best news in truck ownership that any tire will run 4-500k.

 

Continentals are nice tires, TA was pushing them for a while. Don’t know if they still are or not. Expensive but great tires.Loves has some discontinued deals a while back,only certain sizes available. I’ve ran their Soleos? Steers on my trailer, best wear, no cupping, better than any other steer or trailer tires I’ve had.