The Quest For LT 'Steel-Steel' Tires
Fabric-steel radial tires are fine for consumer use, but many fleet managers want steel-steel radials right from the factory.
Tom Berg
Equipment Editor
Most light trucks made each year are sold to Joe Blow and his wife Jane for personal transportation and occasional light hauling. Only a fraction go to fleet operators who need the trucks for serious work.
As a result, fleet manages have had lots of trouble getting serious tires straight from the factory. Throughout the 1990s, managers complained that Ford, General Motors and Dodge, who built the bulk of light-duty pickups and vans for North America, were preoccupied with their high-volume consumer business and treated fleets as a sideline. Managers with active tire maintenance programs said factories declined requests to install commercial-grade tires, saying it would disrupt their high-volume assembly lines.
The issue was - and still is - "fabric-steel" radial tire construction versus "steel-steel." Fabric-steel tires are made with cords of fabric-like polyester in their sidewalls and steel cords beneath their treads. Perfect for consumer use. As you'd guess, steel-steel tires have steel cords in both areas, so their casings are stronger and they can be readily retreaded, which lowers overall tire costs.
The sidewalls of steel-steel radials also are more resistant to curbing - the banging against and hopping of curbs that's part of urban operations.
And that's a big factor for Verizon Communications, which has about 5,800 trucks in New York City and upstate New York. Dave Williams, the fleet's regional manager, said about 1,600 of his three-quarter-ton vans come with Firestone and Goodyear fabric-steel tires in size LT225/85R16. Average yearly mileage in the city is only 2,000, and though the trucks turn a lot and bounce over rough pavement, their tires would probably last six years and 14,000 to 16,000 total miles. But they typically last only eight to 10 months because of curbing and other sidewall-bashing encounters.
Williams would love to get 16-inch steel-steel tires that would hold up better against curbing. So far, they haven't been available on the 2500-series vans from GM, Verizon's current supplier. Williams doesn't necessarily want to retread them, because he figures the low mileage in the New York City operation wouldn't make recaps an economical proposition.
He says he replaces the beat up tires with more of the same because he hasn't been able to find a tire with a tougher sidewall on the aftermarket. "I've got to do more homework and find a stronger tire," he says. "Years ago there was an Armstrong 'curb-wall' tire with thick sidewalls. It even came with wear indicators on sidewall. It had soft rubber so it got lousy mileage, but it did take the curbing."
Up north, Verizon's 16-inch light-truck tires do better. "We now retread four out of 10 tires in upstate New York, where there's more mileage - 15,000 to 16,000 a year - and we don't have the curbing problems. As long as they don't damage the sidewall, we can get one retread out of 'em."
There's better news with the bigger tires on another type of Verizon van, a GM 3500HD with a manbucket. The company has 1,500 in its fleet. These come from the factory with 225/70R19.5 steel-steel tires - mostly Michelins and Goodyears.
Curbing is still an issue where they run in New York City, but the 19.5-inch steel-steel tires hold up well. About 50% to 60% of the city tires can be retreaded and 100% are retreaded upstate. Retreading is worth it because they roll more miles: 30,000 on their original treads and 30,000 to 35,000 out of a retread.
Meanwhile, are steel-steel tires any easier to get from the factory? Gary Andrews, a former Ryder System maintenance executive and now an industry consultant, says it depends on the truck OEM and it still isn't easy.
"We just spec'd 4,500 GMC trucks for Budget truck rental with 16-inch wheels and got the all-steel belt tires we wanted," he relates. "It's not as difficult and expensive as it used to be, but it's not as easy as buying from an aftermarket tire store."
"If we could get everybody in the same wagon," Andrews said, "then maybe the OEMs would make all-steels an option."
