Strange double-width tires on a semi?

"toronado455" wrote

"Wide-base" "Super-single" "X-1" (Michelin doesn't like the other names)

You speak Czech? Didn't think so. Couple of nice pics, though.

I think I know what you are talking about...they use those in some certain applications where the small footprint of a standard profile tire would place too much strain on the surface or cause them to sink in to a soft surface (sand, etc)..I've seen them ever now and then around certain places, like once in arizona at a salt mining facility I saw some, they were able to drive around easily on the loose and crusty ground at the site....my own semi was wallowing and trying to get stuck the whole time...

To help understand, I'd need to know where you saw it (Highway? Street? Off-Road/Building site?) and what kind of trailer (if any) it was hooked to...I'm guessing it didn't have a trailer on it, or you probably wouldn't have noticed the tires on the drive tandems, the trailer usually obscurs them unless turning a corner or something....

I've seen some semi side-dump trailer rigs used at landfills that had tires like that too, come to think....

this is a new tire that is slowly being phased-in as part of the push for fuel economy. we are able to build a single tire that can handle the load of two tires previously.

What does that do in the event of a tire blowout? I always see chunks of tractor tire all over the highway. I'd presume the cops will be harder on tire condition inspections.

Those have been around in certain applications for decades. Almost all gasoline delivery tankers use them on the axles of the trailer, for example. Many use them on the rear axles of the tractor as well. I'm not sure of all the reasoning, but presumably they do a lot less "scrubbing" damage to parking lots when the truck has to make very tight turns than duallie wheels would.

Tire construction is getting better...it's much less common to have a tire blow out that it was in years past...the slabs you see are usually recap that has seperated from the tire...most good trucking companies don't use recap tires anymore...it's just good business in that it's safer and causes less downtime of equipment due to failure...O/O's will use them because new tires are godawful expensive and with fuel prices and taxes, they are getting killed on several fronts...

Anyway, redundancy is nice, but becomes less neccessary as equipment improves...just the same as how new aircraft now all have 2 engines, where in the past it was three and four...output and reliability are better now, no sense feeding and lugging around an extra engine you don't need anymore...

Interesting article, thanks for posting!

This was on the highway. At the time I was stuck in stop-and-go evening rush-hour traffic on a freeway in the Los Angeles area. The truck was in the lane right next to me and I was able to get a good look. The wide rims and tires were so awesome and unusual looking that it really caught my attention. Unfortunately my memory of the trailer is vague so I can't tell you what sort of trailer it was.

Cool!

Sounds good. I wonder how bad they'll squirm when running over pavement thats been rutted badly by tandems? Seems like it would put a helluva lotta stress on the wide tire...try to stretch it and rip it apart...those things must be very well-made...

If you've never driven 18 wheels over rutted highway, it feels like you just ran onto 6 inches of grease on the road....the whole truck begins to snake around and the steering won't react right...if you panic and try to control it, you'll end up flopping the truck on it's side. If you just relax and let it find it's groove, and just barely guide it with gentle inputs, it's fine....'bout gives you a damn coronary the first time you experience it..:lol: ..there's a nice stretch of ruts along I-80 near Lincoln Nebraska that I always hated...:eek:

Saw a tire like that when I was getting a new front tire on my truck. Fortunately, I'd read this tread so I recognized what it was, and it even made my 385's look small. :-) Unfortunately I don't remember the load rating. The 385's are rated for 4250 kg each which is a bit on the low side. Especially since the front axle is rated for 9000kg which it is often load to too. The drive axle is rated for 13000kg and that's

Ulf