Rear tires wearing quickly!

[BWL]

A lot of the asian off brand tires do have pretty soft compounds and that means much faster wear. Front to back rotation would get another 10k before they all look the same and then maybe another 5-10 before they're down to the wear bars. I've run a lot of tires for a lot of miles on hd trucks and there can be a substantial difference in wear between them. Best personal experience mileage difference is my old compound bfg ko2s vs my toyo open country all terrains. Ko2s converted to miles around 25k. Open countrys around 45k. 3 sets of ko2s and 2 sets of toyos on the same truck. It may just be the tires. I tried not to spin mine either because I don't like buying tires, but the traction control on the diesels isn't as aggressive as the gas trucks and they do eat rear tires little bites as a time. It may be that all your other hd trucks got more miles per set of tires, but have you ever had that brand and model of tire?

 

[46RamMan]

I would lower the pressure 10 psi to start with unless you are pulling a trailer with 250lb tongue weight or more and watch the wear pattern..

 

[averageguy]

Could you tell us the answer you want because you have shot down all the plausible responses from people who have had the same or similar experiences. Maybe they put stiffer springs on the back that push down twice as hard as the front so the tires wear out twice as fast.

 

[Oilfieldman]

I bought my 2018 2500 cummins new and within in 12,000 miles the factory back tires were pretty much wore out. I didn’t do any spinning with it but anytime you take off hard that cummins is laying down more torque than you realize to be able to accelerate such a heavy truck so fast. Even though the tires aren’t spinning they’re chewing away the rubber slightly.

 

[jejb]

A lot of the asian off brand tires do have pretty soft compounds and that means much faster wear. Front to back rotation would get another 10k before they all look the same and then maybe another 5-10 before they're down to the wear bars. I've run a lot of tires for a lot of miles on hd trucks and there can be a substantial difference in wear between them. Best personal experience mileage difference is my old compound bfg ko2s vs my toyo open country all terrains. Ko2s converted to miles around 25k. Open countrys around 45k. 3 sets of ko2s and 2 sets of toyos on the same truck. It may just be the tires. I tried not to spin mine either because I don't like buying tires, but the traction control on the diesels isn't as aggressive as the gas trucks and they do eat rear tires little bites as a time. It may be that all your other hd trucks got more miles per set of tires, but have you ever had that brand and model of tire?

No, I've never had this brand of tire before. I normally run Michelin LTX M&S tires on all our trucks, which is what I'll go to on this one also. I've always had fantastic life and traction out of the Mich's on my 3/4ton's. It could be that these are just junk Chinese tires. Actually, that's kind of what I'm hoping for. Nothing in the hundreds of Amazon reviews on the tire would lead me to believe they should wear this fast, though. But I will have the dealer check the truck out for any issues. Still under the factory warranty, so now is the time to catch it if there is an issue. I sure don't want to put more expensive tires on it and have the same issue.

Look, I appreciate everyone's input. I really do. But nobody has said "Yeah, it's normal to go through 2/3 of a tires life in 7K miles on these trucks, even with easy driving. They all do it.". I'm not a stop sign to stop sign racer. I drive this truck easy. My Powerstroke and Duramax diesel 3/4's have had a lot of torque too and pulled the same loads, but no unusual wear.

 

[jejb]

I would lower the pressure 10 psi to start with unless you are pulling a trailer with 250lb tongue weight or more and watch the wear pattern..

As I mentioned earlier, tongue weight of the trailer I pull the most is about 800lbs. I use a WD hitch.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Could you tell us the answer you want because you have shot down all the plausible responses from people who have had the same or similar experiences. Maybe they put stiffer springs on the back that push down twice as hard as the front so the tires wear out twice as fast.

^^^This^^^
It's quite obvious the rear tires are overinflated. It doesn't matter what brand tire you run. If you over-inflate them they are going to wear down in the center just like those, maybe some faster than others.
If you didn't actually want any opinions other than those that agree with what you want to hear, why come here and ask?

 

[jejb]

^^^This^^^
It's quite obvious the rear tires are overinflated. It doesn't matter what brand tire you run. If you over-inflate them they are going to wear down in the center just like those, maybe some faster than others.
If you didn't actually want any opinions other than those that agree with what you want to hear, why come here and ask?

You may be right, I'm really not after opinions. I was hoping for actual experience with this issue. Like some kind of alignment issue with the air suspension or something. I'm really looking for input from folks that have actually experienced the same problem, ~10% tread wear per 1000 miles. Something solid I could point the dealer toward when I take it in next week.

Could it be that the tires just wear out this quickly if inflated to the recommended pressure? I guess so. Seems unlikely, given the pretty decent reviews they get. But I'd rather have it be something like that than an issue with the truck that would do the same damage to more expensive tires.

I appreciate the input from everyone though. At least I know this is not a common issue.

 

[Gr8bawana]

So are you telling us that you have 7200+lbs on your rear tires ALL THE TIME?
That 80psi label on the door and on the tire is the inflation psi when the tires loaded to the maximum load rating. If you can't figure out why your tires are wearing like that, you can't be helped.

 

[jejb]

I can see that you are angry, what with the insulting emoticons and personal insults. My apologies, I did not intend to make anyone mad.

 

[sam darakjy]

When you are not carrying a load or towing what pressure do you run the tires at? I have a 2018 3/4 ton and I run the rear at 65 and front at 60. Less of a jolt riding around town and was told by several shops to do this because running at 80 will increase treadwear.

 

[MADDOG]

Nope, that wear is not normal and your pressure at 80 psi too high for the rear when it doesn't have a load on it. I only air up when I have a load in the bed or dealing with pin weight of a 5'vr.

If you are running the 80 psi pressure on the front as well the weight of the Cummins is helping prevent the abnormal center wear. But that's still too high, IMHO.

I had the same issue with my 2014 2500.

Air down.

 

[Hurst]

Tight limited slip differential causes wear on corners.

 

[murderman]

I predicted your problem from the thread title even before seeing the pics. The answer is very simple; you are running too much pressure in the rear tires, which is causing the centers to wear faster than the edges. With only half of the tread making contact with the pavement, it should be self-evident why they are wearing so quickly, and yes this is a very common issue for folks who run 80psi in the rear of their 2500s when unloaded or lightly loaded.

Here is some simple physics to help better explain. Proper tire pressure is proportional to the weight capacity of the tires, the maximum inflation pressure of the particular tires (upon which its load rating is based), and the actual weight being applied to the tires. My 2018 2500 CTD 4x4 (crew, not mega) weighs 5,100# front and 3,200# rear unloaded on a CAT scale. So why would it make any sense for Ram to specify 65psi front and 80psi rear? The answer is simple......lawyers (and *********).

On earlier model 2500s, there was a switch for "unloaded" which lowered the TPMS low pressure warning set point from 80psi to 45psi. Lazy ********* were towing max loads at 45psi and blowing out rear tires causing crashes, so the lawyers made the engineers remove this feature. That doesn't change the fundamental physics.

Google "chalk test" and you will learn how to adjust the tire pressure properly for YOUR setup, particularly if you modify the vehicle in any way. For example, I run 28psi cold on my JKUR instead of the factory 38psi because I am running load range "D" 37x12.50LT17 which have a significantly higher load capacity than the factory load range "C" LT255/70R17.

On my Ram, I run 60psi front (I have upsized the tires slightly to LT285/65R20, which have a slightly high load capacity than the factory tires), and when UNLOADED I am running 45psi rear. It is a little annoying that the TPMS light stays on all the time, and the EVIC defaults to the tire pressure screen, but the truck rides about 1000% better, and the tires actually last a reasonable amount of miles for such a heavy, high torque truck. When I hook up my 10,000#+ GN (which bumps up the actual weight on the rear axle to around 4,900#), I bump up the rear pressure to 75psi (again, I have slightly higher weight capacity tires than factory).

We are all adults here, and you can choose to disregard the information presented by other folks with knowledge and experience, but at the end of the day physics will trump.

 

[1jbird]

Lower the tire pressure to 50 psi, the 80 psi required for the sensors is to high except when you have a full load.
80 psi tires will burn off in a very short time, great if you sell tires

 

[BadHemi2014]

I agree with over inflated rear tires. Classic wear pattern.
You want real world experience, mine is that we are seeing similar results with our dually that normally carries a 3000+ lb slide in camper. It's been running around empty for a couple of months without airing down the tires (we didn't bother, expecting to put the camper back on much sooner).

 

[jejb]

Thanks for the additional details and explanations. I almost never drive the truck if it's not pulling a trailer. Like 98% of the time I have at least 800lbs of tongue weight plus cargo in the bed. We have other vehicles for non-pulling duties. I've been running 70-80psi (mostly 80) in my 3/4tons for decades and never had this issue, or even heard of it being an issue. But since some of you have seen it on your own Ram's, I'll have to go with that explanation. Which, again, would be better than some mechanical issue.

Still going to have the dealer look at it, though. I'll look into chalk lining.

 

[Hurst]

Limited slip differential on mine is tight. Causes tires to wear when turning.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Still going to have the dealer look at it, though.

OMG! I guess everyone here telling you what the problem is from their own real world experience is not good enough for you.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

I've followed this whole thread, plain and simple you are over inflated, Do the chalk test and drop them down when unloaded and 80psi loaded it must be bucking like a Bronco in the rear and in the front also.