How much life are you getting from your steer tires?

[Mike]

Goodyear G399A LHS
295/75R22.5
Load Range - H

Today I will reach 130K on this truck with the original set of steer tires. Quite honestly, I don't remember how many miles I used to get on any trucks I owned in the past, but when pulling tankers, the company was lucky to get 80k out of them.

I did develop some odd wear on one of the tires, which I cannot figure out, other than to attribute it to the tire itself. It started wearing very slowly in two spots on the same section of tread, and the wear pattern was very slow. Never noticed it until "after" rotating the tires at somewhere between 50-60k. I have since rotated the tires again at just over 100K, and the wear continued on that one tire only.

At this point, both tires have 7-8/32 tread left, other than the two bad spots on the one tire. (18/32 when new)

I am about to rotate the drives, run them for a while, then I plan on replacing the steers at around 150K.

Typically not a fan of Goodyear tires at all, but considering going back with the new steer tires they have out if I don't go with Michelin or Bridgestone.

 

[ironpony]

180-200k, Michelin XZA3+ I use Alignment Solutions in Kansas City for alignments, suspension, axle stuff.

 

[Mike]

180-200k, Michelin XZA3+ I use Alignment Solutions in Kansas City for alignments, suspension, axle stuff.

I am considering going up there for an alignment before I put the new steer tires on.

 

[Mike]

@ironpony, what is your typical cruise speed?

 

[ironpony]

Hey! I got turtles cussin' me fer running too slow!!

55. Of course, if you're running faster you're going to burn through tread faster.

Chad is the man. My truck has never tracked straighter than from one of his alignments, with no odd tire wear. I won't use anyone else.

 

[Mike]

55. Of course, if you're running faster you're going to burn through tread faster.

True, that's why I was curious about your speed.

I started out running 65 with this truck, but as fuel costs continued to drop, I found myself running 70+ whenever it was legal to do so.

I think my alignment is good, but I plan on getting the truck to KC before I get new tires just to be sure. I'd like to try and push the next set to 200k if possible, which I should be able to do if I can get these junky tires to 150k.

 

[mndriver]

I was seeing about 90-100K on my steers. Dunlops on the first time around and then GY 399's the second time around. Not happy with life out of them.

I had a couple of different shops do an alignment on them and it's finally tracking correctly. The last alignment was done with the same laser alignment system your guy in KC uses.

This past January I put on a set of BFGoodrich R283's and had one tear itself apart in about 6000 miles. Sidewall came apart. BFGoodrich fully warrantied it as well as the service call to replace the tire. I'm now running a R283 and a Yokohama on the front end. Both are 16 Ply tires. And seem to be doing much better.

Unless it's a 55 mph zone or city traffic, I run at 66-67 mph.

 

[8978]

I get at the most 100k out of my steers. My front gets knocked out of alignment left and right. Then the steers end up on my trailer.

 

[Justin Moran]

Mike,
Your using the GY 399 so the comparable Michelin would be the XZA3+ (Next year it will be the X Line Energy Z). I have a long haul fleet that got 242,516 miles on a set of Low pro 22.5 XZA3+. The BS R283 isn't bad and I would consider stronger than the GY. Typically when I have a fleet that gets low 100's on an XZA3+, they have toe or drive axle alignment issues that eat the tread quickly in an irregular pattern.

 

[Mike]

I looked a little closer and a couple of the spots on the bad tire were down to between 3 and 4/32. So, I got a new set of steer tires.

Since it's just money..... I decided to try out a set of the new Goodyear LHS FuelMax tires. I also stepped down from the 16 ply h rated tires to a set of 14 ply g rated tires. Only 8k on the tires so far, but they seem to handle pretty well.

I have also decided that barring being in a hurry on a load, I am slowing back down. I actually experimented with 57mph and really surprised at the results. I pulled a heavy dog food load from Siloam Springs, Arkansas over to Edwardsville, Illinois, which is basically lots of hills on 49 and 44. I'm sitting at 78k on this load and averaged 8.7mpg. I'll finish out the load today in Ottawa, IL and will see how the truck does with this load on more level ground.

 

[Southern Fried]

I pulled a heavy dog food load

What kind of food do they give to Heavy Dogs??? How heavy is a Heavy Dog?

Seriously though, back when I was buying tires, my truck came with Firestones on the front (which I wouldn't run on a wheelbarrow). Got a very cheap deal on a pair of Michelins (built in Antigonish NS)that started vibrating like a jackhammer almost immediately. Michelin wouldn't honor their warranty, had them "balanced" 3 times in a month and then blamed the truck/driver. Fortunately the dealer took them back and substituted a set of Yokohamas. No further probs from then on.

BTW, on the rears I ran Bandag recaps year round (lot of back road/woods road, etc) but done on MY casings.

Of course that was long before everyone started importing all the Chinese Junk.

 

[Copperhead]

Just changed out the steer tires on my truck. I got 227,000 out of them with 8-9/32nd tread left, no uneven wear or river wear. My dealer gave me $150 a tire for them. My previous set, 220,000. Michelin XZA3+ tires. Got $150 a tire for the last ones also. I typically never have more than 11,700 on the steer axle, and run 105 PSI in them per the Michelin load pressure chart for that weight. Given that I get $300 for the old tires each time, paying $480 a tire (including FET) for the new ones this time, and the miles I am getting out of them, makes these some very cost effective tires.

 

[Mike]

I ended up going just under 155K on my Michelins.

I rotated these things at around 120k, and had absolutely no abnormal wear. None. Probably should have left them alone, LOL.

Anyhow, after rotating, I quickly had one tire (now on the driver's side) showing all sorts of problems. A couple chunks came out shortly after rotating, and wear patterns developed at those locations. The passenger side looked just fine.

Air pressure may have been an issue as well. I believe in keeping tires at the same air pressure I start them out with. Changing seems to cause problems in my experiences. That said, I was running 120 in these. Truck sit for a while while I was on vacation, and due to a bit of qualcomm chaos and arguing with shop personnel, I didn't check the pressures before pulling out of the yard where it has been parked in Phoenix. Guess I also got lazy because the pressures simply didn't fluctuate in these tires at all. Turns out when I noticed the wear issues, I checked the pressure and they had dropped to almost 105. Aired them back to 120, and the wear didn't seem to progress any further.

The chunks coming out are what bothered me the most. Never hit anything that I am aware of.

Last week, I just replaced them. They still had 9/32 all the way across both tires (outside of the wear spots), but I get uneasy pretty quickly with steer tires.

Replaced them with another set of Michelins. Watching the air pressure more closely this time, slowing down (was running 70+ much of the time) and see how much longer they will last.

 

[Blood]

I run used recaps on the steers and run em till they disintegrate.

 

[Rigjockey]

We chewed up two sets of re-caps in a year so far. The odd thing to me was the most worn tire and the reason for a full new set to have matched tires was,...The one and only virgin tire!
My buddy was commenting on the old broker that did this job and how little wear and tear was on the truck. Really? A set of tires every six months?
Just ball parking it but $1200 dollars twice a year?

 

[Mike]

Replaced them with another set of Michelins. Watching the air pressure more closely this time, slowing down (was running 70+ much of the time) and see how much longer they will last.

Little over a year later and I am thinking about rotating these tires. Still a ton of life left on them (need to measure for exact tread depth), but absolutely no sign of abnormal wear.

 

[Ontario Outlaw]

I was told to rotate my steers at about half life

 

[Hammer166]

I used to normally get about 100k out of steers. We'll see if the wider, lower profile tires do any better. Between the stinger and the car over the hood generating side loads, the shoulders tend to take a beating and give out with ~8/32nds left in the centers.
We run load range J, as there are occasions where the steer is over 14k, although 13800 is a more typical weight.

 

[tommyh]

I recently had to replace the Michelin front right steer tire.It has been on my truck since March 2015
I usually run 60-68
I have been thru 2 tires on the left side since March 2015
to that one.Now I am going to try to get by this one place I know and get my front end checked and lined up

 

[Electric Chicken]

I don't know about steers specifically but I was told we have about a 6 month expectation here due to our style of work.