super singles

Yes they have a capacity of 10,200 which is more than I need.

You can see my "old" post here and read the comments from the others.

Super Single tire original post

As I recall the super single large tire max load capacity was 10,200lbs. That is a far cry from the load carry capacity of two tires that can carry about 6,000 each. Many of the 20,000lb axles are carrying over that figure and I would think those rigs would be running over the super singles tire capacity. The people I weighed that had that tire when I was weighing RV's all seemed to like them and thought they rode smoother than the duels that were on the unit before the replacement.

Being one of "those" guys who actually HAS super singles on my RV I think I'm allowed to speak on them.

Ride - they ride excellent. They are smoother than the duals IMO.

Fuel Economy - I have been very happy with my results here also. There was about a 1/2mpg increase going to the single.

Cost - one single cost the same as two duals, so there was no net cost savings either way

Winter driving - the super single (Michelin X-one) does fantastically in the snow and ice, as well as in the rain. I live in Minnesota and use the RV year round and I've never been afraid to drive in inclement weather. I have driven the duals in the winter as well, and honestly there is not any drawback to the single that I can tell.

I feel there is a lot of fear talk regarding them which is largely unfounded. Do the super single tires look cool? sure, but that was NOT my reason for buying them.

The idea of "limping" anywhere on only one tire on a side is not something I would want to do. I have an RV so I can live in it and if I have a blowout I'm stopping. Front tire blow? I'm not "limping" anywhere other than to the side of the road where I can safely stop.

My issue with duals is how many people fail to check the tire pressure on the inner tire? A friend of mine has a Silverado dually and the inner tire was FLAT. But he just kept on driving all over the place oblivious to that fact. When I first rented a RV with duals the inner tire was down to like 35PSI and the outer was at 105. I feel in this scenario I'm more likely to have a tire failure than a large super single that if it was at 35PSI I would SEE the affect clearly and stop driving vs. letting the outer tire take the load and not "seeing" the low tire.

I know most of us RV'ers check tire pressure religiously, but there are those that don't. Case in point - my Featherlite trailer I tow had 11 month old tires on it and I checked all of them before I left on a 4500 mile trip. about 3800 miles into the trip I lost not one but BOTH tires on one side of the trailer and there was major damage to the trailer due to this.

Anyhow count me as one guy who likes my super singles and I would buy them again if I had to do it all over.

tatest wrote:
The super singles have largely replaced duals on tractors and trailers in western Europe, while duals are still common in central and Eastern Europe..

Many trailers have 295 80 22.5 on the triple axle trailers in Europe which is where I,m at currently. Maybe if you needed to go in sand like cement trucks in Florida, a super single would help. They end up being not quite as wide as duals and would decrease your cornering ability on curves roads.

My $0.02
The single tires you see on a typical OTR truck of today are correctly called wide based singles. Super singles made the markets many years ago and were pretty much relegated to specific industries/tasks for the trucks. They were a much taller tire and had less tread width than a pair of dual tires. Wide based singles are a lower profile tire with a substantial increase in tread width comparable or greater than dual tires. Two reasons they are typically used, weight savings and fuel savings. My own experience tells me that the stability and ride are not as good as dual tires. Driving in inclement weather is also made more challenging with them. As many have said here in previous posts, those who buy them are not usually those who drive on them. There is truly a savings to be made in weight and also some savings in fuel on a typical 18 wheel OTR truck when used in all drive and trailer positions. The benefit on a MH would be minimal at best. Most people rarely ever get a flat tire but if you use the wide based singles, where you get the flat is where the service truck will find you to change/repair your wide based single tire. I don't drive enough miles in a year to recover anymore than minimal costs associated with the purchase/conversion to them or to make me put up with any of the other issues.
As I said, my $0.02
Stay safe all.
Ken

belfert wrote:
My understanding is Super Singles aren't recommended unless you have tandem drive axles. I suppose that is so a blown tire doesn't wreck the wheel as the other axle will help support the weight. The other issue is that the Super Single wheel can put different stresses on the wheel bearing due to the different offset of the wheel. My understanding is that semi tractors factory equipped with Super Singles will have different hubs to deal with this.

I think the only reason anyone puts Super Singles on a motorhome is because they think they look cool. It is a very rare person that would ever drive enough miles in a motorhome that the fuel savings would pay for Super Single tires.

Brian, I agree with your post and would like to add those running Super Singles probably care less about fuel milage as long as there looking neat in the seat!

My understanding is Super Singles aren't recommended unless you have tandem drive axles. I suppose that is so a blown tire doesn't wreck the wheel as the other axle will help support the weight. The other issue is that the Super Single wheel can put different stresses on the wheel bearing due to the different offset of the wheel. My understanding is that semi tractors factory equipped with Super Singles will have different hubs to deal with this.

I think the only reason anyone puts Super Singles on a motorhome is because they think they look cool. It is a very rare person that would ever drive enough miles in a motorhome that the fuel savings would pay for Super Single tires.

Figures I've seen claimed several trials by large trucking companies showed fuel savings of around 4% on rigs with all but the steer tyres fitted with super singles. That is a pretty big saving on freight trucks.
In the RV situation, since they are only meant for replacing dual wheels and not single tag or steer tyres, I doubt whether the cost savings would be worth the probable downsides.

NFI Logistics uses them (tractors & trailers) for their Budweiser loads. Personally...I'll pass!

I ran Super Singles on my last semi tractor. I bought into all the "Savings" hype. Until one cold February morning (-25 actual air temp). Checked the tire pressure in my shop, all was good. Hooked up trailer and headed out. Got <10 miles out of town and BANG!! Long story short.......$5K later for new duals and aluminum wheels AFTER trading in what was left (thank God no serious equipment damage) and I was back to work. Oh and when my tire dealer (Michelin) did a search for a Super Single, not one to be found in a 300 mile radius!! Michelin hypes these tires. The "real" world isn't so convinced.