Community Forums

gordon23 · 08-22-2010, 07:10 PM

Anyone tell me if it's acceptable to mix brands on the rear axle.

IE) two used michelins running inside with two new "other brand" on the outside.

I'm looking to get a couple more years out of some good ones and upgrading the reliability by installing two brand new less expensive (not michelin) on the outside duals.

I can hear the critics already, but other than hearsay..no data found to say this isn't o.k.

CD · 08-22-2010, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gordon23

Anyone tell me if it's acceptable to mix brands on the rear axle.

IE) two used michelins running inside with two new "other brand" on the outside.

I'm looking to get a couple more years out of some good ones and upgrading the reliability by installing two brand new less expensive (not michelin) on the outside duals.

I can hear the critics already, but other than hearsay..no data found to say this isn't o.k.

This is old history but I was part owner of a tire shop in the early 70s. We found that some times a different brand tire was considerably different size. I don't know what the experts will say but I would keep like tires together. Hope you get better info soon.

RV Wizard · 08-23-2010, 04:47 AM

You can not go by looks of a tire. If the DOT date of manufacturing is more than 6 years old you need to replace it. As stated above, different manufacturers tire could be different sizes

Mac99 · 08-23-2010, 07:24 AM

A new tire and a used tire, even of the same brand and size will have different
tread depths, and thus different diameters. You would be overloading the new
tire and creating a hazard. Spend the money for the highest quality tires, the
peace of mind is worth it.

FleetMan · 08-23-2010, 07:40 AM

It is best to have matched tires, brand and tread design, but if you have to mix - insure both tires are within 1/4 inch overall diameter and you will be OK.

Luckiest Dreamer · 08-23-2010, 08:23 AM

Hard data I cannot give. However I spent a working lifetime driving 18 wheelers and have a few years experience with tires. Some were not to friendly. Any tire that has spent it's life paired with another will have similar wear as the other and they will equally share the duties they are expected to perform. Pair either one of them with another tire and you will find one of them to be doing the bulk of the duty!
On the surface that seems to make sense to me, however the company I spent those years driving for have several racks of tires outside the shop and ready to go. If a trailer or tractor was found to have a flat, anyone of those tires would be used to quickly replace that tire and the fllat would be fixed and returned to the rack, never to see that tractor or trailer again. Seemed to work!

gordon23 · 08-23-2010, 03:11 PM

Larry has my thanks for experience talking. What happens is sometimes more important than hearsay.

To conclude the thread...........I just returned from the largest truck tire dealer in the area and :

Two new michelins steer the coach and the two "brand B" (uniroyal) run on the outside of each dual. The tires were carefully measured and less than 2/32 difference in size.

He says paired with the older Michelins they well work fine and be safe.

Interesting plan "B" that he proposed was to put the off brand together on one dual and the older Michelins together on the other side. Says this is done all the time to save mismatched pairs with good tread from being wasted.

CD · 08-23-2010, 03:32 PM

Sounds like good advice to me.

doc · 08-23-2010, 04:41 PM

We have mixed tires on our road tractor drive axles years ago, but as said above, SIZE of the tires is important. I am not referring to the size stamped on the side, but rather the height of the tire. All our drivers were very much aware of how tires could vary, sometimes as much as an inch in height. Guess which tire, running side by side, carried the most weight, got the hottest and more likely to fail? The tall one.
Match the sizes very carefully. We were only hauling fuels - you will be hauling your family and yourself.

JimM68 · 08-24-2010, 08:57 PM

it's not even a question of weight carrying or anything. It's revolutions per mile. One tire will actually RIP the other one down the road, one tire will be skidding all the way.

No, not heresay, experience. I had a rt outer go flat (10 year old tires w/30k miles) so or course I put the spare on. The spare was a match to the other 6 tires, except it had never seen the road, had zero miles on it.

Within a days drive, one tire on that side was scuffed to death, just plain wore out, showing cord!

At 1/4" difference... on a 35" tire. 35" = 109.956" = 573 revolutions per mile, 17189 revolutions on a typical 300 mile day.
The 35.25" tire = 110.741" = 569 revolutions per mile, 170668 revolutions in 300 miles.

that's a 21 revolution difference. seems a lot.

at 2/32, one of your duals is running 10 less revolutions per day than the other... seems odd, eh, since they are on the same axle.

Put the michelins together on one side, the uni's on the other.

gordon23 · 08-25-2010, 06:32 AM

That's amazing....the math is certainly right. I ended up with mixed brands on each dual.

Plan to watch them daily over the next holiday. If cupping developes, off they come and back to like brands on each side.

I would have thought that squirm factor would allow for more difference tho.