FleetOwner - Tires

Inflation Pressure?
Posted by Erwin from NANJING, OT, CN on September 23, 2007

11 R22.5 tires. At what air pressure can I attain the best comprehensive result, including the tire wear and fuel economy.

At highway speeds, the correct inflation pressure for a tire depends on the load being carried. Our engineering data book, available here http://www.goodyear.com/truck/tireinfo/publications.html has load/inflation tables for every tire we sell. Have the vehicle weighed (by axle) when it is carrying a "typical" load, divide the total axle load by the number of tires on the axle and determine the load per tire. You can now look up the inflation pressure needed to carry the load of each tire. Needless to say, having 3 different inflation pressures for the steer drive and trail axles is sometimes confusing so, most people use the highest inflation pressure required as the specification for all 3 axles. Matching the inflation pressure to the load being carried will maximize wear and fuel economy.

Trailer tire wear
Posted by Bill from Harrison, NJ, US on September 15, 2007

I have been experiencing severe tire wear on my trailers for quite some time. The wear occurs mostly on the inner edges of all tires but on some instances it has happened on both the inside & outside edges., while the center of he tire remains intact. I have tried increasing as well as decreasing air pressure, computerized wheel alignments, checked bearing play, but the problem continues. Do you have any suggestions?

For this question, I defered to Mike Beckett MD Alignment. Mike has more hands on experience with tire wear issues than anyone I know. Here is his response.

"I am hearing two different problems. One, inside edge wear on duals.

I know of only two things that can cause this, loose wheel bearings and axle flex. We have at tech bulletin on our web site (http://www.mdalign.com/techbulletins/index.html) on the axle issue. We are getting this complaint from all over the country and from all brands of tires. This can be confirmed by measuring the total camber in the axle loaded and empty and noting the change.

The bearing end play is harder to find unless you check them my way or use a dial indicator on an empty hub, No wheels or drums. Most shops attempt to check them "loaded" and with 650 lbs of tires, rims and drums they cannot find the end play.

The second wear pattern, inside and outside on all tires, can be caused by the classic problems of inflation or load, but once you have proven that is is not caused by those you have to move on to speed. Over speeding a tire can cause accelerated shoulder wear. What the speed is depends on the make and model of the tire. Lower cost tires tend to be more sensitive to this factor but with enough speed any tire can succumb to it."

Goodyear 9.00-20 Tires
Posted by barry from catskill, NY, US on September 4, 2007

I am a member of a fire company and we are looking for tires for our old fire truck. They are goodyear 9.00-20. if at all possible we are looking for bias tire with the diamond pattern on the sidewall. We need 2 steer tires and 4 drive tires. is there any company that you know of that would have any of these around that we could purchase.

There are a number of companies that market tires for vintage vehicles. Here is the list I have:
Kelsey Tire in Mo 1(800) 325-0091

Lucas Automotive in OH 1(800) 735-0166

Universal Tire in PA 1(800) 233-3827

Wade Tire in TX 1(800) 666-8973

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