There’s no mystery or magic to successful tire management. It’s just a process, with steps to follow and results to verify. Haphazard approaches won’t yield consistent results, but attention to detail can take your tire program to the next level.

That attention to detail takes many forms, from spec’ing the correct tire for the wheel position and the application, to doing regular yard surveys to check the condition of the tires. If that sounds onerous, consider the potential savings.

A few years ago, the ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) partnered with FleetNet America to publish a series of benchmarking studies that tracked breakdowns from multiple causes — including tires.

Data from the Q4 2017 survey revealed the average fleet in the FleetNet America database (participation was voluntary) had a tire-related roadside breakdown about every 35,000 miles (56,000 km). The best-in-class fleet ran more than twice the miles between breakdowns (71,238 miles versus 34,438 or 113,981 km vs 55,101 km).

Would you be willing to do a little extra footwork if it meant possibly reducing the number of roadside tire service events by half?

Track it. Fix it.

The fleets involved in the TMC/FleetNet America benchmarking survey were all using VMRS (Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standard) codes, which made cross-fleet comparisons possible. The data and the coding could be cross-referenced with a high degree of accuracy.

While not all fleets embrace VMRS, there are other options when it comes to tire tracking, and most TPMS (tire pressure monitoring systems) or ATIS (automatic tire inflation system) platforms now offer data packages that automate much of the tire tracking task. Diligent fleet managers can use that data to track tire performance, including mileage, tread wear, inflation pressure and more over the life of the tire. 

With additional data such as make and model of tire, wheel positions, etc., trends in tire life can be spotted that might reveal, for example, that one make and model of steer tire consistently outperforms another when mounted on a particular make and model of tractor.

That’s obviously useful in determining the best tire for a given application.

One fleet covered by the survey reported consistently poor tire life due to underinflation. The poor-performing tires were all mounted on the inner position on trailer axles, which suggested drivers and technicians were doing a poor job at checking inflation pressure. It’s an awkward position to check, and it often, apparently, goes unchecked.

Historical data tells us that most — almost 80% — of non-hazard related tire failures and blowouts stem from underinflation. Being aware of that fact and knowing you have a problem with underinflation on an identifiable group of tires should prompt the fleet to take preventive measures.

Mount the tires and wheels properly

If you don’t get your tires and wheels mounted properly, you’ll be fighting a losing battle from that day forward.

Speaking at a study group session at TMC’s annual meeting in New Orleans late last year, Alcoa Wheels, manager of warranty and field service, Dave Walters, spoke about the importance of concentric mounting.

“One of the problems I see most in the field is concentric seating issues,” he said. “I’m always asked who is responsible, the tire or the wheel? My answer is always, it’s the person who put the tire on the wheel.”

Both the bead of the tire and the rim flange must be thoroughly lubricated before mounting. Once the wheel is inside the tire, gravity will usually center the wheel within the bead of the tire. After seating the tire by inflating to 5 psi, the installer should check for concentricity by using the guide rings located near the bead of the tire. They should be equally spaced around the tire.

Tires should never be mounted vertically, or while leaning against a wall as the weight of the wheel will pull it off center. If they have been mounted in this fashion, lay the tire/wheel assembly flat on the ground before inflating. If it’s properly lubricated, it should center itself. If not, deflate the tire, re-lube and start again, warned Kevin Rohlwing, chief technical officer of the Tire Industry Association (TIA).

“Use a lot of lubricant and mount the wheel right away before it has a chance to dry out,” he stressed. “The trick to concentric mounting is lube-mount-seat.”  

Check for runout

Two other common problems with tire and wheel mounting are radial and lateral runout. These often result from improper mounting on the hub and will cause premature tire wear and driver complaints about vibration.

Radial runout is similar to non-concentric mounting in that it presents as a hop or bounce at highway speeds. It’s an out-of-round condition with distinct high and low spots in the wheel’s rotation.

Lateral runout, on the other hand, causes the wheel to “wobble.” This is usually caused by foreign material or rust between the mounting faces of the hub and the wheel. Such a situation can be the precursor to a wheel separation. If the foreign material dislodges, the wheel nuts will lose their clamping force and could come off the studs.

After mounting the wheel on the truck, technicians should check for radial and lateral runout with a runout gauge. Observe the gap between the runout gauge and the tire. The gap should be consistent all the way through the rotation.

Another common cause of mounting related radial runout is worn studs or wheel pilots. If the wheel doesn’t center precisely on the hub, it will be non-concentrically mounted, and will bounce or hop.   

Mike McDonald, director of maintenance at Benore Logistics said he has used indexing sleeves or flange nuts with integrated sleeves to center the wheels in the studs. The studs are 22 mm while the bolt holes are 26 mm. The sleeve takes up the slack between the stud and the hole.

“We used two sleeved flange nuts on each wheel, placed opposite one another,” he said. “That centered the wheel perfectly on the studs every time.”

Analyze failed tires

“Tires are symptomatic,” says tire expert and semi-retired consultant, Asa Sharp. “There are a variety of things on the truck that cause wear. For that reason, it’s very important to conduct a thorough out-of-service analysis when the tire comes off the truck, or if you’re smart about it, during the regular fleet tire surveys — before the tires hit the scrap pile.”

Since tires rarely self-destruct, there is always a smoking gun. It’s in your best interest to find it. Failure analysis is the best way to identify the root cause of premature tire failure. However, merely looking through a pile of half-destroyed tires does no good at all unless the truck it came from — and the wheel position — can be identified.

Most tire wear isn’t the tire’s fault. There’s often some mechanical condition with the truck that’s behind the wear. You must fix that to arrest the tire wear. Simply replacing a prematurely worn tire with a new tire basically ensures the new tire will suffer the same fate as the tire you just pulled from the truck.

“You’re conducting a post-mortem of sorts,” Sharp says. “It’s easy to determine what happened to the tire. Even if you can’t make that determination yourself, your vendor or the TMC Tire Condition guides can help. Every type of calamity to befall a tire leaves a fingerprint.”

Keep tires properly inflated

Tire inflation shouldn’t even be on this list, but it is a perennial problem. Underinflation is the single largest cause of death for tires. With insufficient air pressure within the tire to support the load, the sidewalls will experience excessive flexing as the tire revolves. The casing will eventually fail resulting in explosive decomposition of the tire.  

Even minor underinflation — and overinflation — takes a toll on tires.

“Tires are designed to operate at a certain inflation pressure as required to support the load on the tire,” said Randy Patterson, senior field engineer at Bridgestone Commercial Tire. “When you increase or decrease the tire pressure, you change the footprint of the tire.”

This can result in premature treadwear and increased shoulder wear, which changes the miles-to-take-off calculus.

We all know getting drivers to check inflation pressure is a non-starter, and even diligent yard checks don’t happen frequently enough to make a significant difference. Tire pressure monitoring systems can help, as do automatic tire inflation systems.

Such systems do require some setup and ongoing monitoring, but the upside is many now produce very useful data about tires.

Make use of available resources

Not every truck technician or maintenance manager is expert at diagnosing tire and wheel failures, or even spotting the early warnings to impending problems. Many reliable guides are available to help.

The two best guides to tire wear conditions and causes are TMC’s Recommended Practice documents 216D and 219D, published by the ATA’s TMC.

On the wheel side, TMC also offers RP 222D, A User’s Guide to Wheels and Rims. At nearly 100 pages, this RP leaves no stone left unturned when it comes to wheel installation, fasteners, mounting and damage and defect analysis.

Major wheel suppliers like Accuride, Alcoa, and Maxion offer their own wheel maintenance guides, and of course the tire manufacturers publish their own guides to tire maintenance.

“These guidebooks are tire bibles,” said Patterson. “It’s great to have copies of these reference guides in the shop. I’ve seen these manuals locked up in the manager’s office. They aren’t doing much good there. Make sure they are accessible to the team in the tire bay.”

It obviously makes sense to monitor in-service tire performance, watching for irregular wear and mechanically induced damage, but tracking wear and using that insight for future tire purchases is diligence that really pays off. It’s tedious work, but it pays off.