COMMERCIAL VEHICLE TYRE DATA - optimum tyre pressures
Choosing the right tyres pressures for the road conditions
Two factors that have the greatest effect on truck tyre performance and durability are tyre pressures and road conditions. We often can't control road conditions but tyre pressure monitoring is vital.
TYRE WEAR THROUGH UNDER INFLATION
Wrong pressures can be dangerous as well as costly. The correct pressure is that which relates to the load being carried by the tyre. The following gives some idea of the effect of wrong tyre pressures:
- 20% under inflation
a tyre under-inflated by 20 per cent will have its life shortened by a quarter - 30% under inflation
a tyre under-inflated by by 30 per cent will have its life shortened by a third - 50% under inflation
a tyre under-inflated by 50 per cent has its life cut short by three quarters. - Over-inflation can reduce tyre life as well as under-inflation.
TYRE WEAR AND ROAD CONDITIONS
In an ideal world, truck tyres would only be used at correct pressures on flat motorways, perfectly surfaced with good tarmac. That would allow them to realise 100 per cent of their working life expectancy. In the real world there are things like corners, steep hills, badly made roads and the occasional need for braking.
- concrete surfaces - 20% extra tyre wear
even if used only on flat motorways - but concrete surfaced instead of tarmac - life expectancy could fall by as much as 20 per cent. - class B roads - 24% extra tyre wear
used only on Class 'B' roads, with hills and bends, the life expectancy falls by 24 per cent. - country roads - 50% extra tyre wear
With a lot of steep hills and tight turns - the life of the tyre is halved - poorly made - broken surfaces - 78% extra tyre wear
If the roads are poorly made, tyre life can be cut by as much as 78 per cent ...
