Steer tires

aquitted

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Getting ready to buy new steer tires what kind do you like and why?
I don't like the michelin directional tires. 22" low pro's
 

garyatk

Seasoned Expediter
I have come Continental SR2's (That could be wrong) on a couple of my trucks. They are holding up real well and we are hauling heavy now. I will try to look up the model number and PM you later.
 

Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
Me personall..I don't like the Low profiles. I have been told by more then one tire-man that they don't seem to hold up to todays road conditions??? 1 being at a Goodyear shop and they stated allot of warranty work on them.. I have had 1 set one this truck and both tires went out of round. I don't think Mo. scale houses are to keen on them either and thats how I got that set I used..A Friend over at TST was forced to remove a brand new set of them at the scale house and I bought them off him/her. I believe they where in a Sterling with a large sleeper at they didn't match axle weight or something??? They didn't last long and I just wasn't happy with them.
Currently running the Kelly Armour Steel KLM 22.5 and am happy with them..Into second rotation, coming up on a 3rd and everything still looks good. When new they did seem harder ride then the Goodyear's I started with but they settled in nice. Running balancers and always have hi-speed balance done when rotated. Also now use centering nuts for installation each time wheel is mounted. Kelly wasnt the best price I could come up with but very close to it.
 

jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
We have the Bridgestone R280's. We have had a lot of problems with edge wear and cupping. I do not recommend them.
 

jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
Last time outside cupping on right side. This time inside wear and cupping on left side. Bought a new one yesterday. Alignment is tomorrow.
 

Dynamite 1

Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
Your edge wear is attributed to how heavy you are on the front or an inproper alignment by a tech who is using a machine.

Personally, we like the Michelin xza/3. They have wore well. On our 3rd set and got 259k out of the first set. Second set, 180k. I ruined that set early with out of alignment. Third set has 150k and 15/32 left. The Michelins are only directional for the first 50k !!!
 

Doggie Daddy

Veteran Expediter
We are on our second set of Michelin low pro's and have had good luck with them. But we are also using the "H" load range tires, not sure if that makes a difference but they work for us.
 

aquitted

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I have the Michelin Xza3's on there now one side cupped really bad and deep due to a wore out king pin on that side i think. after replacing king pins I switched sides it still continued to cup in the same place I guess it had already developed A wear pattern. also had one defective tire that michelin reluctantly replaced under warrantee which with one new tire on one side and an old one on the other caused it to pull to the side of the older tire so i'm going to replace both sides and keep the newer one for A spare.
 

aquitted

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
If I changed from low pro 22.5 to standard 22.5 how would that effect fuel mileage? and wouldn't that make my truck little hire than dock high?
 

guido4475

Not a Member
I had real good luck with Continental HSL's, I think was the model. They were 14 ply, and it was the best, longest wearing, durable, strongest steer tire I had. I used to run Bridgestone 280's, and they did good, but cost alot in the 14 ply range that I needed because of the heavy front axle weight empty.
 

Oatmeal

Active Expediter
There are 2 types of tires. Michelin and everything else. IMO.

I'm on my 3rd set of XZA3's and love them. The first two sets I didn't rotate them and just replaced them when the passenger side wore out which always wears faster than the driver side. On the third set I rotated them side to side because you can do that at half life in an effort to even out the wear. This caused the passenger side (original drivers side) to start cupping.

Michelin tires will not wear out aluminum rims like other brands will.

Set PSI according to manufacturers spec for weight, not at an arbitrary 105 or whatever.
 

Rocketman

Veteran Expediter
I am looking for opinions on what people think are the best steer tires for a tandem dump truck. I seem to wear them out quickly. tried several of the major brands and I am not to happy with any of them.
Local dump truck work is tough on steer tires in general. You need input from people who are doing the same thing as you are. Over the road trucks and dump trucks will have very little in common when it comes to tires...in any position.

I used to run a few dump trucks myself. I remember using Yokohama and General. I don't remember what the exact number of the tires were though. I do remember that when I first started, I wouldn't have anything to do with retreads for drive tires. After a going through a few sets of expensive virgin tires and talking to the other truck owners, I tried a set of retreads. They lasted twice as long as the virgin tires. Something about the compound in the rubber was stronger or more resistant to the constant sideways twisting/sliding you get from making turns locally all day.

Talk to some people with dump trucks like yours. What you learn will be invaluable.
 

truckblue

Expert Expediter
Driver
Don't be too quick to blame the tires. I was having similar problems on my '08 Cascadia. I finally realized the problem wasn't with the tires. Before I had new steer tires installed , I had front end checked for worn parts, installed new shocks, 3 axle alignment, and centramatics. The new Bridgstones are holding up very well.
 
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