Showhauler Tire Pressure

[Johnymia Racing]

Wrong Bucko!!
I have been selling commercial truck tires for 31 years. Manage some of the largest fleets in the Chicagoland area.
How much air pressure you run is directly related to how much weight you are asking the tire to carry. First things first. Find out how much weight is on each axle. You can get that done at any truck scale on the highway. Next you need to check the PLY RATING on the tires you own to see if they are designed to carry your weight. This is one of the biggest issues I run accross when people have issues with failier. They are running tires that were never designed to carry the weight they are subjected to in the first place. Run them a few pounds underinflated and they overheat and go boom! Assuming you have the correct ply rating for the weight you are putting on the axles, the next step is to get ahold of the load inflation table for the brand of tires you have. This will tell you how much air NEEDS to be in the tires to carry your weight. Over inflation is just as bad as underinflation. Yes they will ride better but you also subject your tires to impact breaks and loss of traction on the steers along with potential irregular wear issues. Any tire man who is worth his salt will tell you the same thing. If I can help you with any more info let me know. Also, keep a close eye out for bead cracking or weather checking that is common on M/H tires. They dry rot before they wear out in low mileage units. BE SAFE !!!

[cad]

Goodyear's RV webpage has some useful information about weight distribution vs tire psi.
http://www.goodyear.com/rv/tirecare/
Tire inflation table: http://www.goodyear.com/rv/pdf/rv_inflation.pdf

[Jeff Teuton]

Our major tire supplier suggest about 10 less than max which is what we do on our fleet of 1500 or so. Mediums and heavies, no light duty. The theory is allow a little more flex on the sidewall on some of the beautiful roads. Low pressure, say 70 in a 120 max tire, is more a problem than too much pressure. The only two motor home conversions are ours. Another note is commercial tires only have a useful life of 3 to 4 years. Most cappers won't cap anything over 3 years old. Not good news for RV's. I changed 10 in 2009 that were 5 years old that looked brand new. Hope this helps.

[Johnymia Racing]

Originally Posted by Jeff Teuton

Our major tire supplier suggest about 10 less than max which is what we do on our fleet of 1500 or so. Mediums and heavies, no light duty. The theory is allow a little more flex on the sidewall on some of the beautiful roads. Low pressure, say 70 in a 120 max tire, is more a problem than too much pressure. The only two motor home conversions are ours. Another note is commercial tires only have a useful life of 3 to 4 years. Most cappers won't cap anything over 3 years old. Not good news for RV's. I changed 10 in 2009 that were 5 years old that looked brand new. Hope this helps.

Jeff:
Just curious, what kind of fleet are these 1500 trucks? Linehaul, Waste, Intermodal, local P&D?

[Jeff Teuton]

Mostly local fleets to south Louisiana, not really interested in over-the-road or owner-operator, but there are some mixed in because of other vehicles in the fleet.

[Dick Butler]

Jeff, do you have a Truck Body shop area? I am interested in changing my lower front bumper on my Freightliner, Columbia to a Century Class as it is wider and more aerodynamic. I thought someone in the Body shop might have seen this done or know about it.
Thanks.
Dick