Businessman’s Trailers All Have the Same Mystery Tire Damage. Then An Expert Discovers What’s Really Going On

A wheel alignment expert helped a trucker who was befuddled by his big rig’s tire wear. TikTok user Rocky Rockefeller (@rockyrockefeller1) uploaded a detailed, nearly 14-minute reply to a driver named Phil. In his video, Rocky went through all the possible sources of Phil’s wheel woes.

Rocky begins his video by responding to Phil’s clip showing off the damage to his tires. After joking that the trucker can wire him some money directly to his bank account, he gets into the particulars as to why the tires are wearing out. Following this, he says that he’s with MD Alignment, a company that is well-versed in how wheels and tires operate on vehicles.

First, he commends the choice in Michelin tires. He goes on to state that had he been using any other type of rubber for road travel, he’d experience wear and tear much more quickly.

Afterwards, he holds up a packet of sticky notes to demonstrate what’s going on with Phil’s wheels. The papers, Rocky says, represent Phil’s truck’s tires. He bends the papers after pointing out that the tires are rotating at fast speeds. The centripetal force, he explains, causes one point of the tire to rise higher than its other sections. This, he says, causes the “shoulders” of the tire to drag. “They’re a little shorter now, so they don’t roll the same distance,” he informs Phil.

Dragging Tires

This inequitable distribution over the course of thousands and thousands of rotations causes uneven wear and tear on the tire. Initially it starts as a miniscule amount of smoothing out the tread on the tire. It gets exponentially worse over time once these grooves have been set in. This allows tread degradation to occur at a faster rate. What further compounds these wows, Rocky says, is a combination of speed and movement. Large trucks with trailers that move to and fro at fast paces cause the tire to move around. This only worsens tire tread wearout. “Cause you’re dragging them every time you turn … it accelerates the wear that you’re having,” Rocky remarks.

Axles Play a Part Too

Rocky also noticed that Phil’s sporting Hendrickson Axles on his truck, which come with an auto inflation system. He says that the company transitioned from stacking “a thicker 5-inch wall pipe” together to a 6-inch diameter single unit. He says the latter design allows for the axle to flex. Previously, the various components were “clamped together.”

But this newer design, which he states can bear the weight of the truck, allows for cupping on the inner portion of the tire. It’s due to this flexing from the 6-inch diameter, thinner walled axle pipes, Rocky states, that contributes to the premature wear of trucker’s tires.

Furthermore, Rocky indicates that not many people know what causes premature tire wear. According to him, most other tire shops and service techs will attribute the damage to poor tires, or the truck needing an alignment. “They don’t know what it is. We know what it is, what’s causing it. But it’s the axle flex that helps accelerate that wear on the inside tire,” Rocky states.

As for Phil’s tire woes, Rocky broke down all of the factors that are precipitating the degradation of his road rubber. “So in your case, running that 19-5 tire. You’re dealing with axle flex on the inside ribs, you’re dealing with that small, short tire. Turning 609 times a mile … 609 revolutions a mile. And if you’re running faster, that eats the shoulders off of it faster,” he details.

Slow Down, Save Tires

In order to help extend the life of a tire, Rocky recommends that drivers keep their trucks at 62-65 miles per hour. He also had more to say about the Hendrickson axle’s self-inflation system. He urged truckers to ensure they’re assessing these systems every quarter of a year. While he says that the system is great, the seals inside of their cores can “fail all the time.” He also says that calibration issues can lead to issues with these auto-inflation systems functioning properly.

If there’s too much of a pressure disparity between the tires, this can also cause the tires to wear down more quickly. That’s because the shorter tires will be dragged across the pavement instead of rotating properly. Rocky recommends that drivers ensure their tire pressures are equitable by double-checking them with manual pressure gauges.

Locating the Flat Spots

As he continued with his video, Rocky asks Phil about the distribution of flat spots on his tire. He says if the flat spots also appear on the inner portion of the tire, his brakes are more than likely locked on the tire. This likely caused the tired to drag, he says, contributing to premature wear.

A way to combat this is to ensure each and every single tire on the truck is properly balanced. By doing so, he claims that the life of tires will be extended by around 25%. He recommends balancing the tires every 10,000 miles or so. However, Rocky acknowledges that finding shops with the necessary equipment to properly perform these balances can be difficult. Counteracting beads in each tire, he says, is an effective way to ensure one’s tires are balanced the right way. “Centramatics or the beads, one of the two. They’re both well worth [it]. You just pick which one you want, they both work, they’re both great products,” he recommends.

He also cautions against driving for too long on patched tires. That’s because it takes around 500 miles or so for patch patterns to become more pronounced. A swaying axle, combined with the heavy loads these tires bear, over a lot of mileage, can contribute to premature wear as well, he states. If this occurs, he says that it’s pretty much impossible to save the tire.

Towards the end of his clip, he asks Phil to let him know what the inside of his tire looks like. He adds that if cupping and wear is visible, that it’s more than likely due to a brake locking up.

Motor1 has reached out to MD Alignment via email for further comment. We’ll update this if it responds.