The tire let go
A steer tire blew at 65 on I-75 and the truck pulled hard before you got it to the shoulder. A drive tire went flat somewhere between the Turnpike and the yard and the inside dual has been carrying the load since. You pulled in to fuel and the inside edge of the left steer is showing cord.
Three different problems. All three stop the truck, and two of them get worse by the mile.
If you are on the shoulder, do this first
- Get the truck as far off the travel lane as it will go. A flat drive or trailer tire will roll slowly to a ramp or a lot. A blown steer tire should not be driven on at all if you can avoid it.
- Hazards on.
- Triangles within 10 minutes, per 49 CFR 392.22: 10 feet behind the truck toward traffic, 100 feet, 200 feet. On a two-lane road, one goes 100 feet ahead as well. On a divided highway, all three go behind.
- Stay off the traffic side. A tire change on the shoulder is done from the ditch side when it can be.
Then call.
How to reach us, and the honest limit
(419) 724-2475. Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
The service truck runs during shop hours only. No after-hours, no weekends, and we would rather say it here than have you find out on the shoulder at night. During shop hours, a truck down on a tire goes to the front of the line and the service truck is dispatched in the Toledo area. After 5 PM, the earliest is 8:00 AM, and the call at 8 goes first.
Have these ready:
- Where the truck is: highway, direction, exit or mile marker, or the yard address
- Which position: steer, drive, trailer, inside or outside dual
- The size off the sidewall of a good tire on the same axle
- Whether you carry a spare and where it is mounted
- Whether the wheel or rim looks damaged
We confirm on the call that the truck has your size or that a spare is on board before it leaves. A service truck that arrives without the right tire is a wasted hour for both of us.
What the tech brings
The service truck carries the jack and stands for a loaded tractor or trailer, the impact and torque tools, and common sizes for tractors and trailers. The tech changes the tire where the truck sits, torques the wheel to spec, checks the inflation on the rest of the axle, and looks at the wheel end while the wheel is off. If the rim is cracked, the studs are damaged, or the hub is leaking, the tech says so, and that unit comes to the bay.
The tech is one of four ASE certified technicians. The shop is a certified NAPA Truck Care Center with the NAPA nationwide warranty behind the work.
In the shop
Bay 07 handles what the shoulder cannot:
- Dismount and inspect the carcass. Run-flat damage on the inside of a tire that was driven flat is invisible from outside and it is why the inside dual that carried the load for 40 miles gets looked at too.
- Repair, when it is a puncture in the repairable tread area, from the inside with a patch and plug, never a plug alone.
- Mount, balance, torque. New tires, your tires, or a tire you supply.
- Wheel end: hub oil, wheel seals, bearing play, stud and lug condition while the wheel is off.
- Tread depth across every position against 49 CFR 393.75: 4/32 on steer, 2/32 everywhere else, measured in a major groove.
- Mismatched duals. Two tires of different diameter on a dual share the load unevenly, and the taller one does the work until it fails.
Why the tire wore out, and how to stop it
A new tire on an axle that is out of alignment wears out the same way the old one did. Inside-edge wear on a steer is usually toe or camber. Feathering across the tread is toe. A trailer tire scrubbing on one side is an axle out of square with the kingpin.
The tech shows you the pattern on the tire. The Hunter HawkEye XL heavy-duty alignment system is in the same shop, reads tractor, trailer and straight-truck axles, three at once, and corrects the cause so the next set lasts. You decide whether to do it on the same visit.
Where we are
820 Matzinger Rd, Toledo, OH 43612. North Toledo, a mile off I-75 exit 207 (Stickney Ave), close to I-280 and the Michigan line. The service truck covers Toledo, Sylvania, Maumee, Perrysburg, Northwood, Oregon, and the I-75, I-280, US-23 and Turnpike corridors around Toledo during shop hours. Tell us the location and we confirm on the call.
The number
(419) 724-2475, Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Where the truck is, which tire, what size. We take it from there.