In this article, I am going to show you some tips for buying your truck tires and how to maintain them, and tire pressure for the truck.
If you are a driver, you definitely know the importance of having reliable tires. When it goes for a truck driver, the importance is double, as often drive through the rough conditions.
You need to invest in tires with high quality to drive safely, as well as lasting a long time, and combat to be stuck in mud or snow.
So getting the suitable tires and maintaining them is one of the procedures you will make for your safety.
As good maintenance helps prevent flats and blowouts on the road, which is a major safety hazard.
It can also affect fuel economy and increase the lifespan of other truck systems including the brakes and suspension system.
Table of Contents
- 1 How Does Tire Pressure Affect Driving?
- 2 What are Steps to Maintain Your Truck Tires?
- 3 2. Maintain Wheels Alignment
- 4 Tips for Buying the Right Truck Tires
- 5 How to Check the Tire Pressure for Truck?
- 6 How to Adjust Your Tire Pressure For Truck?
- 7 When is the Appropriate Time to Check Your Tire Pressure for Truck?
How Does Tire Pressure Affect Driving?
Inflating your tire more than the needed and less than the needed both affect your tire performance.
Driving on underinflated tires increases a driver’s chance of being in a serious accident by 300%, according to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).
What are Steps to Maintain Your Truck Tires?
1. Regularly Rotate the Tires
Any vehicle’s driver including trucks should rotate the vehicle every 6,000 – 8,000 miles to help distribute the thread wear.
The rear tires in commercial trucks usually wear faster than those in the front.
2. Maintain Wheels Alignment
For maintaining your tires, wheel alignment is also a major factor.
Tires will wear if wheels are out of alignment on the road they will wear much quicker than they would when being aligned.
3. Check Tire Pressure For Truck
Checking the pressure in each tire regularly is important to you to make sure they are inflated at the recommended tire pressure for trucks.
This will make the tire last for longer time them lasting longer as well as will help you in fuel economy.
If you want to know more about tire pressure for truck just keep reading the article.
4. Keep the Wheels and Tires Clean
Besides looking very nice, keeping your truck’s wheels and tires clean is necessary for their maintenance.
5. Practice safety driving habits
Habits include accelerating too quickly, driving over the speed limit, or jamming on the brakes too much are bad driver’s habits.
This will wear your truck’s tires more quickly than if you drive safely.
6. Perform Inspections Before operating
Checking your truck tires should be a part of your pre-trip inspection before traveling on the road.
So you need to check the tire pressure for truck and look at the tread wear.
Tips for Buying the Right Truck Tires
1. Never Buy Used Unless in Real Emergencies.
You can’t find the cost/benefit ratio used tires.
It is not recommended to buy used ones because you don’t know how the previous owner was using the tires or under what conditions he was running them.
2. Choose the Tires According to Route and Driving Operation.
Tires are designed to operate with specific routes and driving applications.
There are specific tread designs, rubber compounds, and tire construction for long haul routes, urban settings, regional routes and on/off road needs.
If a tire is being used in the wrong application it will not perform as you need and can face premature wear of the tires.
For example, if tires designed for the long haul are used in an urban setting the tread will scrub off prematurely.
3. Check the Weight Rating of the Tire.
You need to be certain that your tires have a weight rating that suits your truck and the loads it is going to carry.
4. Make a retread.
If your current tires show some signs of wear while the casings are in good shape, you might not need new tires at all.
To retread modern tires is safe, effective, and has an extremely favorable ROI.
You can make a retread and it may costs you less than half what a new tire costs while restoring your current tires.
5. What is the Recommended Tire Pressure For Trucks?
In order to have smooth, safe rides and long-lasting tires, you need to consider finding the right tire pressure for truck.
You might have noticed somewhere on the sidewall of your truck’s tires some words ‘Max. Press. 35 PSI.’
These words tell you about the maximum cold pressure needed for your tire to carry its maximum load.
You may wonder about the word ‘cold’, actually, this means that the perfect time for filling your tires is when being cold, in the morning for example, or after keeping your truck for a few hours in the shade.
Talking about the maximum tire pressure for truck, according to Kaltire, it is between 30 and 32 PSI.
If you have a look at the door jamb or in your owner’s manual you will find something called optimum or recommended tire pressure.
The recommended pressure for trucks is between 30 and 35 PSI. This number shows the minimum amount of air pressure needed to support your vehicle’s maximum capacity for carrying loads.
When it is less, you’ll see premature wear from too much flexing and tire overloading.
You will have your tires at the optimum life and performance when you inflate them to the recommended PSI.
How to Check the Tire Pressure for Truck?
After knowing the recommended tire pressure for trucks, you should check your tire pressure regularly to make sure that you are in good shape.
You can check your tire pressure in auto part stores, the mechanics, gas stations, and at home.
To be able to check tire pressure at your home, you need:
- A Tire Pressure Gauge (Digital or Regular)
- Air Compressor
- Pen and paper / your phone
How to Adjust Your Tire Pressure For Truck?
Check the following steps to adjust the pressure in your truck’s tires:
- When pulling to the air compressor, you need to pull in close so the hose reaches all four tires.
- Turn the air compressor on.
- Remove the stem caps then set them to the side or in a pocket.
- Press the hose fitting down on the valve stem then press the lever. You should feel air flowing through the hose and hear it while inflating the tire.
- Release the inflation lever to see when you have enough air pressure in the tires. The gauge on the hose fitting will show if you are about to reach enough air pressure.
- Adjust the pressure in all the tires using the same way.
- Make a recheck for the tire pressure with the digital gauge. In case you find the pressure is too high, press the gauge down to release some air from the tire.
- Replace the valve caps on all the tires.
When is the Appropriate Time to Check Your Tire Pressure for Truck?
The best time to check your tire pressure is every time you fill up for gas, every 10 degrees change in temperature, or every 30 days.
Be wise and don’t wait until the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) light come on before you check the tire pressure, as the normal TPMS may:
- Work after the tire pressure is well underinflated.
- Cannot detect gradual air loss.
- Not able to detect over-inflated tires.
- Cannot tell which tire is under-inflated.
- Not able to turn on if the TPMS is not transmitting the signal to the dashboard.
Be certain to follow the previous tips when buying your truck’s tires, as well as the other tips when buying your tire.
Check the tire pressure for the truck from time to another, as maintaining the tires in good conditions means a longer life for them, fuel economy, and fewer expenses for repairing works.
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