Tire Wear / Tire Inflation Question

Question

I have a 2006 30' Gulfstream BTCruiser on a Ford E450. My tires are Michelin XPS Ribs with about 25,000 miles on them - three years old and still in great condition. I weigh the rig fully loaded before every long trip and adjust the tire pressures according to Michelin's inflation guides.

I'm usually about 200# over the weight limit on the rear axle and always under the weight limit on the front - not to uncommon from what I've read.

My question is - Is it ok to inflate my rear tires higher than the indicated cold max pressure of 80 psi to compensate for the extra #'s?
Michilin's chart does not go higher than 80#.

Reason I ask is that I measured the tread just to see how they were wearing and found that both inside rear tires measured in at 9/11/9 and both outside rear tires measured in at 10/12/10 which to me indicates under inflation. I would like to even out the tread wear for longer tire life, but not risk tire damage due to exceeding the indicated max pressure of 80#.

Any thoughts or experience with this problem?

donn0128 · Answer

I would not!  You would be better off removing some weight from the rear end, then keep the tires at the max rated on the side walls

j-d · Answer

The tires should not be inflated above 80 PSI Cold.
Crown of the Road will mean that the Inners bear a little more weight than Outers. They also run a little warmer. I'd say those two add up to a little more wear inside than outside.
Can you rotate the rears to get the Outers to the In and Inners to the Out? The tires should not be inflated above 80 PSI Cold.
You have negligible wear after 3yr/25000mi. Project out on that, and you won't wear them out before replacing on old age. Based on that, you can justify doing nothing you aren't doing already.

jpjlauer · Answer

j-d,That makes sense to me.

j-d · Answer

Thanks. Let me add something I just learned recently on this Forum...
Anytime we run the rear outer dual off the road (usually the passenger side) the tire that's still on the pavement carries the full half of the rear axle load till the outer gets back on solid footing. That makes the right rear inner the most likely to blow out first. That's unless we "curb" the outers by running into obstructions...

gene_in_ne · Answer

Jpjlauer wrote:I have a 2006 30' Gulfstream BTCruiser on a Ford E450. My tires are Michelin XPS Ribs with about 25,000 miles on them - three years old and still in great condition.....Reason I ask is that I measured the tread just to see how they were wearing and found that both inside rear tires measured in at 9/11/9 and both outside rear tires measured in at 10/12/10 which to me indicates under inflation....We presume your measurements are in 1/32nd's.  That must be a record wearing only 2/32nd in the middle of the inners in 25,000 miles.  Maybe I am jumping to conclusions that new they had 14/32nd's.  I would agree with you that the wear pattern indicates them to be underinflated.  How accurate is your tire pressure gauge?  I would not exceed the maximum cold pressure of 80 psi for the tire and the rim.

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Tire Wear / Tire Inflation Question

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