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Archive for April 26th, 2006
Rib vs Lug Steer Tires
Posted by Tim on April 26, 2006
You recently commented that a ribbed steer tire was an appropriate choice even when drives were lugged. I drive several types of 4-wheel-drive fire engines in a rural, often off-road setting. Recently, all the tires were replaced, but, over several objections, the lugged steers were replaced with ribbed tires while the drives stayed lugged. All our operators have complained about the change in handling, saying that the vehicles are difficult to get into trim so they drive straight on asphalt, without a lot of manual steering correction. We don’t put a lot of miles on these tires, so I don’t know if breaking them in would have any effect on the handling. We feel we’ve sacrificed traction for a rule-of-thumb. For this application, should we be using the ribbed steers, or are lugged steers the appropriate choice?
There are exceptions to every rule. In most cases, commercial vehicles traveling on paved roads work best with rib steer and trail tires and lug drive tires. This combination of tire types provides the best compromise in for handling, traction and tread wear. Special cases (like extended usage off-highway) may require a different combination of tires. Also, it may be a matter of the drivers getting used to the different feel of the rib tires on asphalt.