19.5 Tires or Not??
I've been reading numerous articles and owner recommednations concerning switiching out OEM wheel/tire combos to 19.5 wheels/tires. I was about to start down that road, but recently I've been seeing n...
Forum Discussion
Two issues with Bigblue12v and your last post:
Re: running 70 lbs for a better ride in your 19.5s. Because the rigid design of the tire coupled with a tapered bead your tires can develop stress areas at the bead and sidewall over time if you don't maintain higher pressures both loaded and unloaded. This is true for 17.5s, 19.5s, 22.5s and 24.5s. Iv'e seen this condition many many times with these tires. Staying vigilant with air pressures is critical.
Re: Softer tires: No such thing exists on any highway use tires. From a VW(Volkswagen) to a KW(Kenworth), they all use a 72 hardness compound. Using the word softer in tires is a reference to compounding only. When tires are fresh from the factory they appear softer, this because at that time they will have max elasticity. As they get older they loose much of that elasticity.
Pros for having a fresh tire:
Better traction/better ride quality/more tread, better road hazard protection.
Cons for having a fresh tire:
Fresh tires are torque eaters. For the first 10 to 20% of tread wear(and this because of varying tread depths) your performance levels across the board will be reduced but they gradually improve as they age. Meaning poorer fuel miles and power. Now this also depends on vehicle, usage, loads, duration of loaded conditions and miles traveled.
A tires best wear rate and fuel mile performance/power comes in the last 1/3 of available tread.
Re: running 70 lbs for a better ride in your 19.5s. Because the rigid design of the tire coupled with a tapered bead your tires can develop stress areas at the bead and sidewall over time if you don't maintain higher pressures both loaded and unloaded. This is true for 17.5s, 19.5s, 22.5s and 24.5s. Iv'e seen this condition many many times with these tires. Staying vigilant with air pressures is critical.
Re: Softer tires: No such thing exists on any highway use tires. From a VW(Volkswagen) to a KW(Kenworth), they all use a 72 hardness compound. Using the word softer in tires is a reference to compounding only. When tires are fresh from the factory they appear softer, this because at that time they will have max elasticity. As they get older they loose much of that elasticity.
Pros for having a fresh tire:
Better traction/better ride quality/more tread, better road hazard protection.
Cons for having a fresh tire:
Fresh tires are torque eaters. For the first 10 to 20% of tread wear(and this because of varying tread depths) your performance levels across the board will be reduced but they gradually improve as they age. Meaning poorer fuel miles and power. Now this also depends on vehicle, usage, loads, duration of loaded conditions and miles traveled.
A tires best wear rate and fuel mile performance/power comes in the last 1/3 of available tread.
