What to Know when Buying Tires For My Truck
Selecting heavy-truck tires to fit your job requirements, service applications and tread needs can be tricky, but GCR is here to help you learn how to pick the best tires. Choosing the right tire for your purpose is essential in maximizing tire life and minimizing tire cost per mile. Our guide to buying new tires includes general guidelines on selecting the right tire tread types to fit your road needs.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST TIRES
Truck tire tread designs are created to address a variety of needs and applications. The tire tread design helps enable the tire to provide good service under a variety of conditions. It’s important to prioritize tire needs based on your requirements. Here is a list of common tire needs:
• Good Dirt and Mud Traction
• Good Dry Traction
• Good Snow Traction
• Good Steering Response
• Good Wet Traction
• High Fuel Economy
• Low Rolling Resistance
• Long, High-speed Run Application
• Long, Intermediate On-off Road Application
• Short, Intermediate On-off Road Application
• Long Tread Wear
• Reduced Noise Generation
• Resistance to Cutting/Chipping
• Resistance to Irregular Wear
• Resistance to Penetration
• Resistance to Rib Tears and Curbing
• Resistance to Stone Retention
• Smartway Verification
You will most likely choose several combinations of tire needs for your particular usage. One consideration is prioritizing the needs from high to low. This will help you further narrow your tire selection. For example, if your fleet prioritizes maximizing fuel economy, a tire design with shallower tread depth and less aggressive tread design could help reduce traction and overall mileage.
WHAT IS YOUR SERVICE APPLICATION?
Specific tread designs are crafted for certain service operations and feature special performance characteristics, like wet traction, steering response, and high fuel economy. Identifying your service application can help you pinpoint the best combination of requirements prior to choosing tires. Common service applications include:
LINEHAUL
Linehaul trucks normally make runs that exceed 500 miles and are used by truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers. These vehicles typically run between 80,000 and 200,000 miles a year and operate on highways.
REGIONAL
Regional carriers operate within a limited multistate area and have runs of about 250 miles. They typically run between 30,000 and 80,000 miles a year.
VOCATIONAL
Vocational trucks in on-off road service run both on highways and in off-road environments. These applications operate in highly aggressive conditions at limited speeds and typically run between 10,000 and 70,000 miles a year.
SUPER REGIONAL
Super Regional combines linehaul and regional operation in a hub-and-spoke operation, running typically about 100,000 or more miles a year. Average runs typically are between 250 and 500 miles.
UNDERSTANDING TIRE POSITIONS
Additionally, it’s important to take into account the targeted wheel position of the tire — steer, drive, trailer and all-position — in relation to the service application need. Once you know your application you must understand the different characteristics that apply to each tire position. Use the following table to narrow down by tire position:
STEER
LINE HAUL
- Tread wear in longhaul applications
- High-speed capability
- Good steering response
- Low noise generation
- Low rolling resistance
- Resistance to irregular wear
Urban/P&D
- Tread wear in high frequency and severity and stop/start operations
- Good steering response
Vocational
- Cutting and chipping resistance
- Penetration resistance
- May be speed restricted
Regional/Super Regional
- Tread wear in longhaul applications
- High-speed capability
- Low noise generation
- Low rolling resistance
- Resistance to irregular wear
- Resistant to curb damage
DRIVE
LINE HAUL
- Tread wear in longhaul applications
- High-speed capability
- Good steering response. Low noise generation
- Low rolling resistance
- Resistance to irregular wear
Urban/P&D
- Tread wear in high frequency and severity and stop/start operations
- Tread wear in high torque applications (if designated)
Vocational
- Cutting and chipping
- Resistance
- Penetration resistance
- Dirt and mud traction
- May be speed restricted
Regional/Super Regional
- Tread wear in longhaul applications
- Tread wear in high torque applications (if designated)
- High-speed capability
- Low noise generation
- Low rolling resistance
- Resistance to irregular wear
TRAILER
LINE HAUL
- High-speed capability
- Low rolling resistance
- Resistance to irregular wear
Urban/P&D
- Low rollling
- Resistance
- Resistance to curb damage
Vocational
- Cutting and chipping resistance
- Penetration resistance
- May be speed restricted
Regional/Super Regional
- High-speed capability
- Low rolling resistance
- Resistance to irregular wear
ALL POSITION
LINE HAUL
- Tread wear in longhaul applications
- High-speed capability
- Resistance to irregular wear
Urban/P&D
- Tread wear in high frequency and severity and stop/start operations
- Resistance to read scrubbing
Vocational
- Cutting and chipping resistance
- Penetration resistance
- May be speed restricted
- Good traction and treadwear inon/off road applications
- Good steering response
Regional/Super Regional
- Tread wear in longhaul applications
- Resistance to irregular wear
- High-speed capability
- Good steering response
SELECTING THE BEST TREAD DESIGN
After you’ve determined your needs and service applications, it’s time to select the best tread design for your fleet. The two main designs are rib or closed designs and lug or traction designs.
RIB DESIGNS
Rib designs have zigzag or straight grooves that run circumferentially around the tire, and they are usually used on steer and trailer positions. Zigzagged grooves offer biting edges for wet traction and are ideal for turning and maneuvering in pickup and delivery applications. Continuous straight grooves roll in a straight line with little resistance, making them ideal for high-mileage, high-speed and fuel-efficient needs as well as linehaul service applications.
LUG DESIGNS
Lug designs have blocks and grooves cut across the tread to add traction and aggressiveness to the tire, making this design ideal for vocational service applications. Lug designs can be circumferential as well. Wide shoulder ribs — also known as closed shoulder patterns — are resistant to side forces. This allows for long tread life in linehaul operations. Open shoulder designs have more blocks on the edge and are ideal for operation in rain, mud or snow. Lug designs are primarily used on drive axles and are susceptible to irregular wear.
Additional design types to be aware of:
• Unidirectional type is designed to rotate in only one direction.
• Sipes type has design features molded or cut into the tread face or tread blocks.
• Platforms or stone ejectors/rejectors types are designed to reduce stone retention in the tire.
5 TOP TIPS FOR YOUR FINAL TIRE SELECTION
Tire needs, service applications and tread design choices can be confusing and overwhelming. You want to ensure your fleet of trucks is well-equipped to handle whatever operation you assign them to. We’ve put together the top five tips to keep in mind.
1. Prioritize your operational needs by order of importance
2. Compare your needs against your type of service application to further narrow your selections.
3. Choose the appropriate tire tread design based on needs and service application.
4. Approve your selection with dealer exports.
5. Don’t forget about retreads. Maximize tire performance reduce total costs by retreading with a Bandag retread. Learn more about it today!
And, as always, GCR Tires is here to assist you. You can search for products by application and type of fleet here or call your local branch to talk with one of our expert customer service team members.