Just a few words to the ones that are running their tire’s at less than max PSI.<br>This weekend I happened to notice that the sidewalls on my tires were looking a little different than normal (off color). I took a closer look and you could tell that due to the lower PSI (65) front and (60) rear that the sidewalls were “working” too much.<br>Note: I have not pulled anything heavier than a four wheeler in about a month.<br><br>As of Sunday I have increased PSI to 75 front and 70 rear while running empty and will go to full PSI when towing.<br><br>Has anyone else had a similar experience? <br>

 

Before you assume the problem was underinflation, check with the tire dealer for proper inflation both unloaded and loaded to max.<br><br>For myself I inflate to 5 psi more than the sticker on driver's door.<br>I have never had a problem with my tires. My previous set of Michelin's were still going at 60K miles. <br><br>Door sticker on my 2003 states 50 psi front, 70 psi rear. When I am towing 5er I run 55 psi front and 75psi rear. Unloaded, I run 50 psi front and 50 psi rear. <br><br> ;D

 

I have ran 65# all the way around on the 3500 since new. I have over 65000 on the original Michelins with no probs, and quiet a lot of heavy towing. ;D<br>On the sidewall thing... I have had problems on my gn horse trailer. The sidewalls of the E rated radials will break down after sharp turns with heavy loads. You won't know it's happening until the tire comes apart goin down the road. I run max psi on the trailer tires now ( 75-80 ) and have not had any problems. In this application, non radials with heavy sidewalls would work better, but you still need max psi.<br>my .02<br>wk

 

I agree with both of your thinking in principle and ran my tires the same way for many miles but this set of Goodyear’s that came on the truck show to be working the side wall pretty badly at the lower PSI. Not trying to start a word war or anything but I felt that it might save someone some heartache down the road. <br>I’m not even sure that the higher PSI will stop the problem it could be that I have a defective set, but will try this and see what happens. I’m not planning any heavy loads in this next two weeks so maybe I will have an answer by then. <br>

 

I've never had a set of Goodyear radials that made it past 30K miles. Both wife's Grand Cherokee and my 98 Ram came with Goodyears, neither set were worth squat. Their sidewalls always looked soft, no matter how much pressure they had.

 

What do you mean 'color' change. Are you talking about turning redish orange? If so, thats pretty normal. Sidewalls in tires have an anti - ozone ingredient added to them to keep them from cracking, along with about 100 other ingredients. Different manufacturers use differnet compounds and they cause the sidewalls to turn different colors. The redish color is either 1) brake dust, or 2) the anti ozone agent coming to the surface. If you clean them and apply a tire protectant, you are drawing waxes out of the compound and to the surface and they turn black again - for a short time.<br><br>As for inflation, my 2002 came with a special supplement in the glove box that tells you what pressures to run under what conditions. Its a new government requirement to include inflation information on new vehicles. Its actually a pretty good document. If you don't have one, maybe your local dealer will get one for you.<br><br>Tim

 

It’s hard to describe but here goes. The sidewalls look slightly off black or bluish in color.<br>There are also some very minor cracks in the rubber that resembles dry rot cracks. But the truck was bought new in Oct of 2002 and only has 19000 miles on it. <br><br>I think that you would get about the same color change if you took a screwdriver and scraped the tire on the sidewalls. It’s the type of color that would indicate the rubber has been stressed .<br>

 

No, your tires should be fine. The color change only means different compounds were used in manufacturing. It really common, you probably just never noticed it before. If you look close somewhere around the area at the top of the sidewall where the circumferential grooves are, you will be able to see the color difference. Thats where the 2 materials change - sidewall to tread.<br><br>Tim

 

I run my tires anywhere from 50 psi to 80psi. I have never seen any but normal wear (unless alignment was off). As for color change, I have never seen that. If you are that concerned, take the tires to a tire shop and see if they will warrany them. At least they will let you know if there is a problem.

 

The cracks indicate weather breakdown or excessive stress breakdown, and I would have a tire shop look at that for warranty replacement. The change in color does sometimes occur depending on the maker and what compound they used to make the rubber that year. As Latitude said, there is a supplement in the glove box that came with the vehicle owners manual that specifies the recommended infaltion pressures for the tires on the vehicle, and I have followed these since I bought my '99, and all my tires (even the off-brands) have run 50K miles. I also followed this guide with my old 1/2 ton Cheby 4x4 ('89 model) for over 250K miles, and regardless of tire brand (I tried many brands) got at least 50K miles per set for the mud and snow rated on-off road tires; I'm sure the pure street tread designs would get more. If I were you, I would have the set on there looked at, then follow the tire inflation guide in the glove box. Just my 2 pennies worth.

 

I also believe that underinflation didn't cause the discoloration. I've experienced discoloration, but I caused it by rubbing curbs and what not. Who knows how long those particular tires were stored before DC put them on the truck. When unloaded I've always ran the tires a little low on pressures to help with the ride comfort.<br><br>Having said that, I've always watched the pressures on the rear of dooley's to make sure the tires didn't rub against each other though.

 

I run my tires with enough air to support the load. When empty I run 40 rear 50 front, this leaves me some extra weight capacity. My rear axle weight empty is 2500 lbs if I look at my chart 35 psi is more than enough to handle that weight and it makes a major improvement in ride. By the way can anyone scan the tire capacity sheet from a 94 up truck and post it, I'm changing to 265 tires and my 93 chart dosn't list the 265 sizes.<br>Thanks <br>Dave

 

I bet the cracks are from ozone detereration(spelling?) That too is common. Stress will most likely not cause cracking, it will cause seperation of components, ex: sidewall indentation or bumps or knots. If the cracks are around the letters or around the groove near the rim, called a rim check groove, then you are fine. But, for peace of mind - have them checked.<br><br>Cracking can occur on old and new tires. Even if the truck was bought in Oct. 2002, the tires were probably made in early 2002, that would make the tires about a year old and with 19,000 miles, they have probably seen lots of sun.<br><br>Tim

 

Thanks Y’all, I think I’ll run by the local Goodyear dealer and ask them to take a look.<br>I’ll let you know in a day or two what I find out.<br>