When thinking of tires in a general sense, there is always one quote that comes to mind that causes me to chuckle a little bit. It comes from the cult classic movie
A Christmas Story, when the tire blows out and the star Character Ralphie internally narrates, “My old man's spare tires were only actually tires in the academic sense. They were round and had once been made of rubber.” I often wonder just how many drivers out there feel this way, eager to buy the cheapest rubber for their truck, only to get half of the life expected out of the tire by the time it has been worn through. This is where choosing the right “round pieces of rubber” for your specific operation becomes necessary.
I’ll be honest with you in saying that prior to buying my own truck, I pretty much could have cared less about what rubber was being slapped onto my company truck, so long as it got me from A to B. Even when replacing my first set of steer tires as an owner-operator (which wasn't too far into it), I gasped at the price of the premium tires, and thought about going the cheaper route. It was by luck I found the right tire store and got to know the people there very well. The manager there was courteous enough to educate me in the differences of tire compounds, differences in tread patterns, and helped me to find tires specific to the way I ran my truck. Before meeting him, I might have thought big truck rubber was all the same, but was glad to know it was not and that he had saved me from spending money on tires that might have worn prematurely on my truck. You see, I run my trucks in a local/regional setting and due to a higher volume of backing and steering maneuvers, it is quite probable I would have “scrubbed” out a great deal of a general OTR tire’s expected lifespan. There is a give and take to the differences in tires, including but not limited to ride quality, rolling resistance, and of course tread life. Choosing the right one for your operation can mean getting more life out of your set of tires and ultimately less money in the long run coming off of your bottom line!
I thank my lucky stars that I was fortunate enough to meet my friend Jimmy over at Commercial Tire in Bloomington, California early on in my career. Having now gone to him for all of my tire needs since becoming an owner-operator, I have saved hundreds, if not thousands of dollars from hitting my bottom line prematurely from picking the wrong tires. My most recent experience there led me to have an alignment done on the truck as well, since he was able to detect a misalignment through the wear pattern of the steers I was replacing. For those of you that don’t have a tire guy like him, be sure you ask questions and/or research beforehand the tires you are getting prior to putting them on. One tool that might be helpful are some of the tire selecting tools on some of the tire maker web sites, such as
http://www.goodyeartrucktires.com/tires/. There are plenty of different variations for special applications ranging from local, regional, long haul, construction, waste hauling, and even heavy haul. Don’t get caught quoting another of Ralphie’s famous lines from the movie
A Christmas Story, when you face premature tire wear and catch yourself saying “Ohhhhhhhh Fuuuuuuudge!”