Test Your Tires Like a Pro

Tires can be an endless headache for fleet managers trying to determine which brands and types perform best in their applications. The best way to make that determination is to conduct a tire test to see how a prospective tire stacks up compared to other makes and models.

Tires constantly evolve, applications vary, and tire price points don’t always tell you the life you should expect from them.Just because you pay more for a tire doesn’t mean it’s the best tire for your operation, he adds, noting that fleets should strive to find the tires that give them the lowest cost of ownership. 

The best way to determine what’s best for your operation is to test tires yourself by developing an on going tire evaluation program and comparing the tires you currently run with a possible newcomer to your fleet. “Granted, it’s not easy. You have to track tires and take tread measurements; you have to maintain excellent maintenance practices to ensure inflation levels are correct and that alignments stay true. And, to get results that will give you accurate information, you need to run the test tires for long-haul operations to 50 to 60% of their wearable tread depth.”

Tire tests are always a challenge due to the many variables. These can include vehicle models, routes, loads, weather, and drivers, to name a few. And each and every one can affect the outcome of a tire test to one degree or another.

“Running a test is more than just throwing a few tires on a few trucks and seeing what happens. “Tire testing requires that you establish and follow a testing protocol as closely as possible in real-world operations.”

To begin with, start with a reasonably large group of tires, with a goal of having 30 test tires in service at the end of the test. “You should plan on losing 10% to 15% of the tires during the test and plan accordingly. “You can use smaller sample sizes, but your results will not be as accurate as 30 tires to examine at the end of the test.”

Obviously, the more trucks and tires the better. But, at bare minimum, if you’re evaluating steer tires, run four trucks equipped with them. This will give you good average wear rate data — plus if you lose a tire due to a road hazard, you will still have three vehicles left in the test.