| Tire Tech: I was recently talking tires with Warren Guidry, owner of Interco Tire Corporation. Interco builds the backcountry-tough line of Super Swamper Tires, which need no introduction here! Warren mentioned Interco's new web site (www.interco.com) and some of the information you can garner from it. Besides specifications on the whole Super Swamper line, there are some interesting tire tech tidbits there, too. We thought bringing some of it to you here would be interesting . . .
CONDITIONS AFFECTING TIRE MILEAGE There is always a trade off between performance and tread life in the development of tires. To gain one thing you have to trade off something else. Some brag when they get 15000 miles out of a set of tires because they understand how hard they drive while others complain if they get 40 to 50000 miles. The next paragraph explains many things someone can do to improve mileage regardless of how they drive, the type of tire, or the power of their truck. Tread life is related to many factors some of which are; the air pressure maintained, how often air pressure is checked, rotation, driving habits, road surfaces, road conditions, suspension setup, caster and tow alignment, shock absorbers, etc. There is a relationship between the size tire | used and the weight of the truck -- the larger the tire and the lighter the truck the better the mileage tends to be and the smaller the tire and the heavier the truck the less the tread life will be. One of the worst mistakes made is neglect of air pressure. Air pressure should be checked at least once a month with an accurate gauge and checked when the tires are cool. Two things support the weight of a vehicle...the actual air pressure and the volume of air in a tire. When a big tire is used the larger volume of air will support the vehicle with very little air pressure but that does not mean the tire is stable. The tire will look like it is under inflated because it does not appear to be low but this low air pressure makes the tire unstable which causes squirming of the tread. It is OK to run tires low off road but the pressure should be bought back up as soon as you put the vehicle back on the highway. It is recommended that tires used on four wheel drive vehicles be rotated front to rear and rear to front about every four to five thousand miles -- don't criss-cross.
As you can see from the above there is no way of knowing what tread life a given set of tires will have. The compounds used in the tread rubber also vary but is constant with each type of tire manufactured. Manufacturers try to achieve a balance in tread compounds that will provide good highway traction and overall performance while not sacrificing too much in tread life. |
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