OT. Truck tires for gas mileage

[Brians356]

@spike-55,

All else being equal, how are rolling resistance and transmitted road noise related? I.e. as rolling resistance drops, does road noise rise, fall, or they're not related?
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[spike-55]

You were also probably still around for the Tesla tire?

Maybe that was the inspiration to finally retire.

There are some really good things that EV tire research inspired. It was almost impossible to imagine tires could be so quiet.

yep still there
had to put a whole section in the shipping dept to install the foam inside the tires to dampen the road noise due to the rest of the car not making enough noise to cancel out the tread noise. tried several tread paterns and compounds in a effort to NOT do the damping foam inserts!!! actually put those inserts on several of our own tires to reduce the road noise lol!!! if you knew the right folks!!!
stan

 

[spike-55]

@spike-55,

All else being equal, how are rolling resistance and transmitted road noise related? I.e. as rolling resistance drops, does road noise rise, fall, or they're not related?
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yes and no
remember you have internal and external factors influencing rolling resistance and road noise.
external factors can be tread design, tire width, tread depth, rim diameter , etc.
internal factors can be rubber compounds, tire constructions, tire components, etc
road noise is a by product of vibrations caused by road contact or wind as the tire rotates. rolling resistance is strictly the resistance of the amount of force needed to move the tire down the road. there is a related relationship but it is not a direct linear one to one cause and effect. rolling resistance is done by formulating components and compounds in the tires construction that will allow the least amount of resistance to the pavement. a byproduct of this process such as adding overlays that will keep belt and ply packages in tighter spec will also have a noise dampening effect as well. some of the new polymers that are not rubber based and use silica last longer and roll better, also do not transmit sound as well Is a side benefit. but there are other things to consider as well - some of these things could have adverse effects. these newer compounds built up static electricity and ways had to be found to discharge the energy - remember the warnings years ago about the cell phones at gas pumps and sometimes you might have felt a slight shock touching the door handle like walking across carpet???
so they can be related, but they are not a direct line that one would say reduce rolling resistance and you have a quieter ride.
cool thing about the 100% electric powered vehicles is they are so quiet that when they first hit the road consumers were making comments about the noise from the tires being terrible!!! so here they come to Lawton since we had the contract for Mercedes, BMW, and Tesla wanting us to figure out how to fix the issue. we modified a section of our shipping dept to glue in a section of foam the complete circumference on the inside of the tire to dampen the road noise to almost imperceptible levels. oh and by the way, as your tires wear and age you will notice they get increasingly noisier as the belt package gets closer to the pavement and transfers that noise to the cabin at a greater decibel level!!!!
stan

 

[Brians356]

cool thing about the 100% electric powered vehicles is they are so quiet that when they first hit the road consumers were making comments about the noise from the tires being terrible!!! so here they come to Lawton since we had the contract for Mercedes, BMW, and Tesla wanting us to figure out how to fix the issue. we modified a section of our shipping dept to glue in a section of foam the complete circumference on the inside of the tire to dampen the road noise to almost imperceptible levels. oh and by the way, as your tires wear and age you will notice they get increasingly noisier as the belt package gets closer to the pavement and transfers that noise to the cabin at a greater decibel level!!!!
stan

Seems like there'd be a market for foam inserts sold separately. I'd be interested myself, as road noise really bothers me due to tinnitus. I wear foam ear plugs on the highway, always.
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[Old Navy]

Seems like there'd be a market for foam inserts sold separately. I'd be interested myself, as road noise really bothers me due to tinnitus. I wear foam ear plugs on the highway, always.
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Hearing aids cancel a lot of that out.

 

[spike-55]

Seems like there'd be a market for foam inserts sold separately. I'd be interested myself, as road noise really bothers me due to tinnitus. I wear foam ear plugs on the highway, always.
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problem is getting them glued in correctly so as not to affect the balance of the tire and not to come loose later on with the heat build up in the tire- not a simple process
stan

course you could always buy cars that used the same size tires and reverse engeneer lol

 

[Scott-ak]

I don't pay much attention to our light duty rigs, F350 and smaller. Just a well made tire, Michelin, Goodyear or Continental. For the work rigs, F550 and all trailers, including 5th wheel toy hauler, we get the best performance from full steel belted tires. Michelin and Toyo. The F550 scales at 13k# empty and with the loaded equipment trailer, gcw 33-35k#. Even tho they are hellava lot heavier the lower rolling resistance of the full steel belted tires make a huge difference.

 

[Darwin]

Im running 265/75r16 on my truck. Was thinking about looking for a taller, narrower and lighter 10 ply highway tire for my truck.
Any ideas? Thinking about 32-33" but narrower

Toyo M55. Labelled as a heavy duty light truck tire. Good mileage for a 5.3 Chevy if I drive nice. Triple the life of good years and way better traction on pavement, mud and ice.
LOUD.

 

[hogpatrol]

Haven't read the entire thread but on my Silverado 1500 1/2 ton, 4WD, I got the best mileage with OEM sized Michelins. They were quiet and had great traction off road and in the snow. Pulling out of the wet groundhog fields on to blacktop, they'd throw out all the mud in a hundred yards.

 

[drop_point]

From my experience, find a tire wheel combination that is less weight than what you currently have will improve mileage. However, at highway speeds, if you're running lots of miles it comes out in the wash.

Driving habits matter as much as anything. I can drive conservatively and get 25 or 26 mpg out of my 4x4 Tacoma. I can also drive like a fool and get 15 mpg.