Is shopping for tires

[runaway parents]

 Looking for a good price on tires. Need to replace drivers. Currently have  Brig stone M726EL 11 r 22.5. Any body know of a good buy?

[jeffw]

I'm in the same boat....not sure there are any deals these days but would love to hear. I'm looking for 295/75R22.5 drives.

[lappir]

Last summer it was sort of difficult to find some of the truck tires and it seemed like the prices went up 5 to 15% about every month. Not sure where they are now, but if you are still looking in late March I can quote a price of what they are selling for in SE Iowa. 

 

Rod

[rickeieio]

Others will roll their eyes, but I've bought two sets of Sailun for two different trucks in the past few years.  I was happy with them.

[porky69]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

Others will roll their eyes, but I've bought two sets of Sailun for two different trucks in the past few years.  I was happy with them.

I am in the same boat...put a set of Road X drives on my Freightliner conversion and am very happy....run smooth without balancing and about 1/2 the price....I will never wear them out before they rot so....Have put Sailun's on one of my daughters pickup and they are every but as good as the BFGoodrich and Coopers on my pickup and my wife's Tahoe 

[jeffw]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

Others will roll their eyes, but I've bought two sets of Sailun for two different trucks in the past few years.  I was happy with them.

What model Sailun tire would you suggest as an all position/drive? I currently have Kelly KRH and Goodyear g661 HSA on the two axles (and the Goodyear have aged out). I was going to go with the Kelly but they're now $600 each...

[lappir]

10 hours ago, rickeieio said:

Others will roll their eyes, but I've bought two sets of Sailun for two different trucks in the past few years.  I was happy with them.

I may have been one of the eye rollers in the past, but no longer. I guess as we age we either get more opinionated or less (depending on the topic). 

I rolled my eyes when I picked up my brand new trailer in 2013 looking at the "Off Brand" tires it had on it. I had offered to bring my "Desired" tires and wheels to the factory, but they declined saying 'Timing is critical and we don't want to have to wait for them when we need them.' (That's a whole other story.)

Needless to say my tires have now aged out. I had no problems with them except for a stupid activity I tried to release a stuck brake drum. (another story)

I have decided I'll go with "Good" tires for the Steers, a modified open shoulder for the drives (cheapest ones I can find when I need them) and One day I'll change my front wheels on the truck to 22.5 so I can cycle my steers through the trailer. I'll replace the steers more often and will put them on the inside on the trailer so the oldest one's will be on the outside for easier "Watching". 

That's my plan today, it might change if I need to replace a trailer tire before I can change the wheels on the truck. Maybe I should just change trucks with one that has all 22.5's. I do like the speedo error caused by changing from Low Pro (Profile LP) to 11R on the drives though. GPS Speed and speedometer are  6mph different from the LP to the standard profile 11R's.

Of course if I was on the road daily, weekly or even monthly. I might have a different plan. I currently sit for months at a time and that's the worse thing for tires. (except for overloading, running under or over pressure, aggressive driving and running over road hazards.)

Sunday mornings, they are the best. 

 

Rod

 

 

[jenandjon]

Currently we are running several different brands on our trucks. One has Kelly KDA open shoulder. It's a silage truck off road more than on. Really good tire. Zero complaints. Boss has Michlin on his truck from the factory. They are fine, I guess. That truck is pretty much highway only and sits around a lot.  I forget what's on my brother's truck. I have Yokoyama tires on my HDT and my work truck with BFG steer tires. They have been really good on and off road. I had Goodyear tires on my work truck from the factory. I will never ever have them again. I had bad luck with them in the past and I proved it again. I hate them. They were good for about a year.  I had really good luck with Hankook smart flex drive tires. I would have them on my work truck right now, but I couldn't get them at the time. Continental is another good cheaper brand. We run them on our grain trailers. I prefer to run BFG on my steers. I don't know what it is, but I really like them. My HDT currently has mis matched seer tires. I've got a Uniroyal all position on one side and Michelin on the other. Waiting for the Michelin to age out then I will grab a new pair of whatever I can get.

What it boils down to these days is what is available. Just stay away from the double coin and other really cheap tires. We do have Double Coin on one truck, but it doesn't go far from the farm. They are stiff and more difficult to dismount than others. 

If you don't put 100,000 miles on a year you don't need really expensive tires. They are really all about the same.  Mine will age out way before I wear them out. I will be cycling used drives off one of the other trucks to the HDT when the time comes but I don't put that many miles on a year. 

[rickeieio]

9 hours ago, jeffw said:

What model Sailun tire would you suggest as an all position/drive? 

I don't recall what tires I used, other than that the farm truck was very open tread and the Volvo was not.

The Volvo had new Firestones when we got it, and when I switched to the Sailuns the difference was amazing.  The ride and noise level improvement was great.

[dennisvr]

I too went with the Sailun tires.  I went with open shoulders on the drive hoping to get more traction, how much more I don't know.  I am singled on the rear, and it will get stuck on wet grass with or without open shoulders.

 

[ddm502001]

Check the Yokohama lines available. they are actually manufactured in NC, Carcass quality is outstanding and pricing generally good.  For longer term wear is not going to slick areas a Straight Tread steer tire type will last longer, Closed sidewall drive lug tires second and open sidewall lugs last on the lists.

[Parrformance]

https://www.prioritytire.com/shop/?search_query=295%2F75r22.5
 

I have had great success purchasing from Priority tire.

I mount them myself at home and utilize XL balance beads for a smooth ride.

[trimster]

I wonder if someone could explain the differences in tread design. Open, closed shoulder, etc. I'm needing drives. I'm not singled out but I am dropping 2 tires off the front drive axle. Don't need the load capacity and having the tire inset an inch or so (caused by the removal of the inner tire) does not bother me.

Thanks

[Darryl&Rita]

Look at the transition area from tread surface to sidewall. That's the shoulder. See big ol' hunks of rubber with big ol' holes between? That's an open shoulder tire. See a nearly solid line of rubber tread? Closed shoulder. Open will give better traction in off road conditions, but yield poorer mileage, both fuel and life expectancy. More road noise, too. Can tend to feel squirmy longer, too.

[jenandjon]

Trim, below is an example of some open vs closed shoulder tires. The left are open shoulder. This example is pretty aggressive you can get them with smaller lugs. We run only open shoulder tires on all our trucks because we are off road a lot. If you never leave the pavement then closed shoulder are better. Better fuel economy, they are quiet, they last longer, and some people say they ride better. 

My opinion is if you even think you might go off the pavement even once a year open shoulder is better. They have better traction. Especially where you say you might want to remove the inside dual and go with singles. look at the tire in the picture all they to the right. I would never consider using that as a drive tire. Not around here. Sothern states pavement only sure.  

I have had the idea for a while of running singles when I need new tires. if you do that keep us informed on how well it works. I see trailers with "skinny singles" all the time. I do not want super singles. Nothing against them I just don't want to spent the money on new rims. 

 

 

[lappir]

5 hours ago, jenandjon said:

Trim, below is an example of some open vs closed shoulder tires. The left are open shoulder. This example is pretty aggressive you can get them with smaller lugs. We run only open shoulder tires on all our trucks because we are off road a lot. If you never leave the pavement then closed shoulder are better. Better fuel economy, they are quiet, they last longer, and some people say they ride better. 

My opinion is if you even think you might go off the pavement even once a year open shoulder is better. They have better traction. Especially where you say you might want to remove the inside dual and go with singles. look at the tire in the picture all they to the right. I would never consider using that as a drive tire. Not around here. Sothern states pavement only sure.  

I have had the idea for a while of running singles when I need new tires. if you do that keep us informed on how well it works. I see trailers with "skinny singles" all the time. I do not want super singles. Nothing against them I just don't want to spent the money on new rims. 

 

 

I agree with the above. My Brother (the Tire Guy) said I should run "steers" on the drive when I first got my truck. I was on a flat surface of wet grass that summer and was stuck. Managed to get myself out, but I quickly went with a closed shoulder drive and got along fine. Last set I think are a bit of an open shoulder. Have not been stuck since except for the time al 6 tires settled to the rim in the apparently soft turf in Tahlequah, OK. Mo amount of digging could get me out and the C30 Chevrolet (old one) that came to pull me out of the holes struggled a bit with it's Holmes wrecker winch. (Another old one). 

 

Rod

[Parrformance]

22 hours ago, trimster said:

I wonder if someone could explain the differences in tread design. Open, closed shoulder, etc. I'm needing drives. I'm not singled out but I am dropping 2 tires off the front drive axle. Don't need the load capacity and having the tire inset an inch or so (caused by the removal of the inner tire) does not bother me.

Thanks

Thoughts about running the single tire with the bare rim mounted inside?

This would keep the tires inline.

[lappir]

32 minutes ago, Parrformance said:

Thoughts about running the single tire with the bare rim mounted inside?

This would keep the tires inline.

I don't know for sure but I think that's what you have to do. There should be no change in alignment of the tires, unless some sort of spacer is used and I don't think I'd recommend that. 

Rod

 

[jenandjon]

On 3/12/2023 at 6:08 AM, Parrformance said:

Thoughts about running the single tire with the bare rim mounted inside?

This would keep the tires inline.

I think you may have to do that anyway because years of running duals may have ruined the threads. Remove that inside wheel and now you have an inch of threads that has never been used. 

[trimster]

Any suggestions on where to get tires in Tucson?

[lappir]

3 hours ago, trimster said:

Any suggestions on where to get tires in Tucson?

I visited Tucson once, but never bought tires. Sorry. 

My vote is a busy shop that isn't part of the "Discount Tire" or other huge reseller group.  Keep  small business in operation and we will all be better off in the long run. 

 

Rod

[lockmup68]

If you are replacing several of them, do it in Montana or any other state with no sales tax. Will save you a bit. 

[trimster]

1 minute ago, lockmup68 said:

If you are replacing several of them, do it in Montana or any other state with no sales tax. Will save you a bit. 

I am doing 6. Quote here in Tucson is $3380 installed, tax and all that. General Ameri-steel.