Tire pressure and tread wear???

[Sniper]

Okay so I've heard from another seasoned wheeler that improving the longevity of their Bias tires (Swamper TSL's/Iroks as well as Mickey Thompson's) was as simple as increasing the air pressure to 35Lbs. This as described by my fellow wheeler allowed the tires to stay cool w/o generating as much heat as a tire with a lower pressure would do, enabling the tires to last longer.

Anyone care to offer their opinion on this subject as it would be interesting to know if this is in fact a good idea to preserve tread life for large big lugged daily driven Bias tires.

Cheers and thanks for your input.

 

[Donkeylips]

Okay so I've heard from another seasoned wheeler that improving the longevity of their Bias tires (Swamper TSL's/Iroks as well as Mickey Thompson's) was as simple as increasing the air pressure to 35Lbs. This as described by my fellow wheeler allowed the tires to stay cool w/o generating as much heat as a tire with a lower pressure would do, enabling the tires to last longer.

Anyone care to offer their opinion on this subject as it would be interesting to know if this is in fact a good idea to preserve tread life for large big lugged daily driven Bias tires.

Cheers and thanks for your input.

Street driven tires should have a specific PSI in them depending on the rating of the tire and the weight of the vehicle. Too much air means you will wear more in the center than the shoulders. Too little air means you will wear more on the shoulders than the center. Ultimately you can you what ever you want but your tires will wear unevenly.

A lot of people think you have to run a tire at max tire pressure for the tire to wear correctly. I want to slap these people... Repetitively.

 

[Skid Mark]

It waries greatly depending on vehicle weight and tire and rim size. As a general rule the tire should sit flat on the road and the eazyest way to "see" if its over inflated is after the tires clean drive on a dusty level road and see if all the tire is contacting the road and getting dirty or when you pull in the shop with wet tires and see if all the tire prints on the concrete. There should be several pound difference between the front and rear tires moreover on a light pickup.

I have on long trips "over inflated" the tires for fuel millage and so the large lugs dont slap the pavement at high speeds and round the corners but for daily driving the lack of a contact patch can be dangerous and the rounding of the tires make them grab road ruts.

Im personaly a fan of wide tires on narow rims. You can run them at a lower presure and it inproves road manners greatly not having the rim puling side to side in the tire.

On my toyota pickup I ran 33/12.50r15x8 and @ 20psi front and 15psi rear and they wore perfect and had a good ballence of flex offroading but on longer road trips Id bump the preasure up 5psi on both axels.

Most all tires either oversized offroad tires or stock should not be inflated to maxpresure unless on the front of a fullsized rig or on the rear if hauling heavy loads. granted some tires are made of a different construction or load rating so its best to keep adjusting till you find what works the best for your vehicle / tire/rim set up. I usaly check every month for changes in wear and weather changes the psi due to ambiant airtemp

:beer:

 

[gas is on the right]

It waries greatly depending on vehicle weight and tire and rim size. As a general rule the tire should sit flat on the road and the eazyest way to "see" if its over inflated is after the tires clean drive on a dusty level road and see if all the tire is contacting the road and getting dirty or when you pull in the shop with wet tires and see if all the tire prints on the concrete. There should be several pound difference between the front and rear tires moreover on a light pickup.

I have on long trips "over inflated" the tires for fuel millage and so the large lugs dont slap the pavement at high speeds and round the corners but for daily driving the lack of a contact patch can be dangerous and the rounding of the tires make them grab road ruts.

Im personaly a fan of wide tires on narow rims. You can run them at a lower presure and it inproves road manners greatly not having the rim puling side to side in the tire.

On my toyota pickup I ran 33/12.50r15x8 and @ 20psi front and 15psi rear and they wore perfect and had a good ballence of flex offroading but on longer road trips Id bump the preasure up 5psi on both axels.

Most all tires either oversized offroad tires or stock should not be inflated to maxpresure unless on the front of a fullsized rig or on the rear if hauling heavy loads. granted some tires are made of a different construction or load rating so its best to keep adjusting till you find what works the best for your vehicle / tire/rim set up. I usaly check every month for changes in wear and weather changes the psi due to ambiant airtemp

:beer:

well said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^:awesomework:

 

[zukkev]

I DD my YJ on old style 35" Goodyear MTR's, and run ~20psi up front, while the rear is at around 18psi, tires wearing dead even...Never run full rated psi on oversize tires on a light rig...You will knock 1/2 the life out of them in short order.
It'll take some time, but start with the tires at a given pressure, say 25, and get the tires warmed up so the flatspotting is gone---take a piece of sidewalk chalk and mark a distinct line across the tread, drive in a straight line across a parking lot or down a quiet road for several hundred feet. Stop and inspect the chalk line to see how much is left, if any, on the tread. Adjust air psi until that line is nearly gone on the edge... increasing air psi will decrease the contact patch (ride more on the center tread of the tire, causing premature wear), decreasing air pressure will increase the contact patch.

 

[Avanteone]

Street driven tires should have a specific PSI in them depending on the rating of the tire and the weight of the vehicle.

Incorrect. The ONLY PSI rating listed on a tire is the MAX.

 

[Sniper]

I agree Zukkev, I've always used chalk across the tread to know if the pressures were correct for the tires on a specific vehicle.
What I was attempting to understand was that if you run an aggressive bias tire at higher then normal pressures they will remain cooler and not wear as fast (this was pertaining more to Hwy. driving then short in town trips). I do recognize that over inflation causes the center of the tire to wear more and under-inflation causes the edges to wear more, this thread is pertaining to heat in the tire being an even greater cause of tire wear.
Keep the input coming...

 

[zukkev]

I agree Zukkev, I've always used chalk across the tread to know if the pressures were correct for the tires on a specific vehicle.
What I was attempting to understand was that if you run an aggressive bias tire at higher then normal pressures they will remain cooler and not wear as fast (this was pertaining more to Hwy. driving then short in town trips). I do recognize that over inflation causes the center of the tire to wear more and under-inflation causes the edges to wear more, this thread is pertaining to heat in the tire being an even greater cause of tire wear.
Keep the input coming...

Sure, it'll decrease rolling resistance and increase fuel mileage a bit, but the contact pressure in the center of the tread will increase, causing the increased tire wear, thereby reducing tire life which, in my opinion, creates a great added cost of replacement of said tires before their time is due, which negates any miniscule cost savings of fuel over time...
IMHO, I would rather have even wear over the life of a tire and sacrifice a minute amt of fuel in doing so...:awesomework:

 

[Sniper]

Sure, it'll decrease rolling resistance and increase fuel mileage a bit, but the contact pressure in the center of the tread will increase, causing the increased tire wear, thereby reducing tire life which, in my opinion, creates a great added cost of replacement of said tires before their time is due, which negates any miniscule cost savings of fuel over time...
IMHO, I would rather have even wear over the life of a tire and sacrifice a minute amt of fuel in doing so...:awesomework:

Exactly Zukkev that's what I've always believed to be true however the recent conversation I had with an experienced wheeler was that he had very good tread life from over inflating 36" and 39" bias Iroks by using increased tire pressures to reduce heat and conversely limit tread wear significantly.
Perhaps he's mistaken, although he did come across as being genuine and experienced when it came to maintaining bias tires for daily driving.

The new Iroks I'm getting will be used on the basis of inflation allowing the tread to wear evenly (like applying the chalk method), although I may experiment with higher pressures for high speed Hwy. travel.

Thanks again for the good replies all.:awesomework:

 

[KarlVP]

Incorrect. The ONLY PSI rating listed on a tire is the MAX.

Yeah. The DURAMAX. :awesomework:

 

[KarlVP]

Street driven tires should have a specific PSI in them depending on the rating of the tire and the weight of the vehicle. Too much air means you will wear more in the center than the shoulders. Too little air means you will wear more on the shoulders than the center. Ultimately you can you what ever you want but your tires will wear unevenly.

A lot of people think you have to run a tire at max tire pressure for the tire to wear correctly. I want to slap these people... Repetitively.

Pit bull rockers get that funky smell when you run them a 0 psi.

 

[t1h5ta3]

i like to refer to the wearing out of the center of your tread as " LessSchwab syndrome"
it takes x volume of air to support y amount of weight, so inside a small tire, it needs a higher pressure than in a large tire.

 

[Donkeylips]

Incorrect. The ONLY PSI rating listed on a tire is the MAX.

Agreed. I guess I could have typed it better. What I meant was the correct PSI for a tire is mainly dependent upon the weight of the vehicle.

 

[Sniper]

Agreed. I guess I could have typed it better. What I meant was the correct PSI for a tire is mainly dependent upon the weight of the vehicle.

Okay so the weight of the vehicle is supported by the air in the tires. Then does it not compute that the more air in the tire the easier it would be on the tire to carry said vehicle?
Vehicle weight remaining equal a tire with a smaller volume requires greater pressure (more pressure because the tire has a smaller volume) to support the vehicle. Therefore a large tire (with a greater volume) using using high air pressure would have an easier time supporting the vehicle weight and a reduction in heat and wear would be the result.

So what do you all think, my fellow wheeler was adamant that operating with higher air pressures allowed him to put many,many more miles onto his bias Iroks, leaving them with lots of tread still remaining after several years of daily driving.

Cheers Sniper

 

[zukkev]

Still boils down to the contact patch and resulting contact pressure of said tire at a given pressure...the higher the pressure the smaller the contact patch...the smaller the contact patch, the contact pressure goes up, therefore wearing that part of the tire faster...I don't care if they're 54's, or 5.4's...this equation will never change...

 

[Donkeylips]

 

[ChopTop84]

Its all trade offs.

Lower pressure gives a nice smooth ride, more traction, and is more forgiving on wet roads, at the penalty of lower MPG (increased rolling resistance), more heat, and potential un-even wear.

Higher pressures give you more load capacity, cooler temps, and increased MPG (less rolling resistance), at the penalty of a harsher ride, less traction, and less forgiving on wet roads.

You also have to look at the "wear rating" on the tire, as it has a direct relation to how fast the tread goes away. Two identical tires, with one rated at say 400, and one rated at say 200. The 400 rated one will last twice as long as the 200 rated one. In theory, the 200 rated tire will have better traction tho (assuming identical tread pattern), as the rubber compound is "softer".

All these little 4000lb driver/wheelers running big tires shouldnt have to worry much about tire pressure and heat build up (unless running like 2psi on the street). I would be looking at your trade-offs between traction rating and tire wear, and driving the rig regularly on pavement.

 

[cisco]

The chalk n dust technique as well as driving a dirty tire across a piece of paper might get you in the ball park but if you really want even pressure use one of these.

http://www.tekscan.com/industrial/tirescan-system.html

 

[zukkev]

:haha: those are cool tools, but starting costs appear to be 2 tires' worth, and go waaay up from there... I will save myself the dough, and use the kids sidewalk chaulk for free! :redneck:

 

[cisco]

:haha: those are cool tools, but starting costs appear to be 2 tires' worth, and go waaay up from there... I will save myself the dough, and use the kids sidewalk chaulk for free! :redneck:

LOL! Eyeballs is what I use. You'd think tire stores would offer this tool as an extra service up charge. Oh wait... over inflation sells more tires. Thanks LeSchnaab.