Lowest but still safe tire pressue?

You are correct and maybe I should have added to watch tire wear and adjust accordingly, but everything I am running on my tractor now likes the higher pressures including my steers on my heavy Volvo that used to wear out the shoulders real fast until I went to higher pressures that made them wear even.

The Michelin X-One XDA Energy Drive Tires also seem to wear evenly at the higher pressures.

I have not had any tire cupping issues on my drives since I went to Centramatic balancers along time ago and would not own a tractor without them on every wheel.

Do you use any tire balancing devices like the centramatics to prevent cupping?

 

if you rEALLY want to find the perfect tire pressure....

Go find a paint stick.

Draw a line in a couple spots around the tire from the inside side wall to the outside sidewall on the face of the tire.


Go for a drive.


If the inside portion of the line goes away. Let out some air. It's over inflated.

If the outside goes away, put some air in. It's under inflated.

If it all goes away about the same time, it's the perfect tire pressure for the load.

 

Sounds like a simple way to check . The company trailers i pull are all at 90 psi, i just put them to 105 and keep all my tractor tires at 105, thats what the tire shop said works best for my tires. seems to be working good so far.

 

While running higher pressures will decrease heat because tire will flex less, it also increases the risk of damage from road and debris because the tire will not "give" a little when it rolls over busted pavement, rocks, and other stuff. I am a fan of running a few psi above the load tables for the load, but also have to consider that the tire is also designed to take a lot of abuse from the roadway and has to be able to absorb those impacts. And I am not sure that anyone has done an extensive study on how much more wear is occurring to the suspension system and chassis when tires are run at max pressures. We are dealing with multiple systems here, and dramatic changes to one part of the system (tires for this discussion) can have negative effects on the other parts of the system. I have a feeling that the tire manufacturers have put a lot more R&D into this than we ever could and have taken all of this into account in their load inflation tables. I would tend to side with them.

 

This is a really great idea to get you close to the optimal pressure. Why didn't I think of it? LOL

Yes I run Centramatics on my truck and trailer. They do make a big difference in cupping with my steers and drives...but those tire positions are normally loaded up with weight. Where as my trailer axles can be a lot lighter at times due to the LTL routes that I run. What has helped the most with my trailer tire wear issues has been making the front axle liftable. There was to little weight on my trailer tandem for the amount of rubber on the road. Even with dropping the tire pressure I was still having cupping issues. With the front trailer axle lifted I transfer the weight to the back axle resulting in less bounce in the suspension/tire combo which leads to less cupping. The only downfall is that the back axles brakes only last about a year where as I can go 2-3 years without touching the front axle...but thats what happens when you run 1000-1600 miles a week with it lifted.

 

Thanks for the info on trailer tires. Doing power only, I don't pull the same trailer nor am I responsible for the maintainence on those trailers.

 

In Europe everyone is using minimum 130 psi in long distance OTR work, summertime I use 150 PSI, the maximum allowed by the manufacturer, rated pressure + 15%. But if you do off road driving you better use lower pressure for grip and less punctures and tyre damage. Pressure has nothing to do with cupping or other abnormal wear, something is wrong with the truck or trailer, alignment, shocks, bushings etc.

 

You are totally wrong Lenny. Everything has been gone through within the last year. Plus with to much air in a tiire it will wear on the center of the tire leaving the shoulders with less contact on the road. This problem is amplified with the less weight carried on the tire. Less weight and more air means the tires will have the tendacy to bounce more which leads to cupping and other abnormal wear patterns.

But of course you are the expert at all things...so get a flight over here and show us how to operate our trucks correctly.

 

Buy better shock absorbers so your tyres will not bounce, or better equipment in general. We did 600 thousand kilometers with "overinflated" tyres hauling very light loads, no bouncing, what we did right?

That wear on the center is right if you have cross-ply tyres, doesn't apply to radial tyres.

I will never come to USA , I have almost had enough of this United States of Europe but soon it will be over.