Yesterday I made a big mistake and decided to dive into the world of (truck) tires. I have always avoided this topic, as I knew there would be endless combinations possible.
As far as I understand it:
Traditionally European trucks and trailers used to run the following configuration (or something similar):
- steer: 315/70R22.5
- drive: 2 × 315/70R22.5
- drive: 2 × 315/70R22.5
- trailer: 2 × 315/70R22.5
- trailer: 2 × 315/70R22.5
In the late 70s and 80s things in Europe began to change, as tire technology advanced and axle laws changed. Nowadays the most popular configuration seems to be:
- steer: 385/55R22.5 or 385/65R22.5 (the latter seems more common on new trucks)
- drive: 2 × 315/70R22.5 (alternatively 495/45R22.5 supersingle)
- trailer: 385/65R22.5
- trailer: 385/65R22.5
- trailer: 385/65R22.5
- Why do they use larger tires on the trailer (385/65) than on the truck (385/55)? If they use 385/65 on the steer axle of the truck, why do they put tires with different heights on the truck (steer vs drive axle)?
- I guess they need the 315/70R22.5 tires for a lower fifth wheel height, but why don't they use 385/55R22.5 tires on steer and trailer axle instead?
- If they use the smaller 385/55 tires: Why do they use 385/55R22.5 on the steer axle, if the goal is to swap them on a trailer axle when they are worn? How can they put a smaller tire (385/55) on the trailer that's running the larger tires (385/65)?
- Wouldn't it make more sense to either use 385/65R22.5 on the steers and 2 × 315/80R22.5 (or ~445/60R22.5 supersingles; this size doesn't exist on the Michelin website for Europe) on the drives or use the smaller 385/55R22.5 tires on the trailer?
In North America a modern supersingle configuration looks like the following, which is much more logical to me, as tire heights are about the same and this makes the supersingles a drop-in replacement and interchangeable with dual tires:
- steer: 295/75R22.5
- drive: 445/50R22.5
- drive: 445/50R22.5
- trailer: 445/50R22.5
- trailer: 445/50R22.5
This brings me to the game: I already realized that tire sizes in ATS are pretty unrealistic, as ATS uses an almost nonexistent tire size. But ETS uses 385/65R22.5 on the trailer and 315/70R22.5 on the drives and steers, which is, apart from the steer axle, quite realistic.
What tire configuration do you run? Which do you prefer? How do I choose the correct tire sizes?
With my current knowledge I would prefer to run as many interchangeable tires as possible. I have tried putting dual tires on my trailer and it greatly improved stability (feels more like an American trailer now), but as this is increasingly unrealistic, expensive and heavy, I am thinking about putting 385s on the steer axle and the trailer, but I can't really decide if 385/55R22.5 or 385/65R22.5 would be the more economic and more realistic choice for the steers and trailer tires.
I am also not sure if I should put supersingles on my drive axle(s) for weight savings (not sure about disadvantages in traction).
Maybe it would even be better to not run universal tires ("Z" for Michelin) and instead choose the ideal tire for each axle and not worry about interchangeability, but this does also seem unrealistic, as in real-life steer tires seem to be swapped on the (middle) trailer axle quite often.
I wish I would not have started to think about tires ... I can't stop thinking about them now ...
As you can see, I am very confused now and would love to see a discussion about tire sizes and configurations in-game and in real-life.