Since you seem to feel so strongly about this subject why don't we turn this around..??

Ask "you" to do the research and publish the results indicating that the level of over-inflation you "tout" is perfectly safe in all conditions an owner might reasonable encounter, even inadvertently.

You might start by contacting the HUGE attorney group Ford hired to do the research and then argue Ford's case in court. They won, laying the responsibility almost totally on the tire company who apparently stamped their tires with an unsafe MINIMUM pressure, thereby inadvertently giving Ford "license".

But who would have expected anyone to drive a Ford Explorer consistently above 70-80 miles per hour for hours on a HOT day. Or even on a rough roadbed for 200 or 300 miles at the legal speed.

Hmmm..

Maybe on the latter case it was really the state's responsibility for posted a speed limit too high for the condition of the road...

 

First, I have not been "touting" over-inflation. I have been talking about running tires at the max sidewall pressure. I, and others, have provided links and excerpts indicating that this is perfectly safe. Have you been skipping these posts?

There have been many lawsuits involving this Firestone/Ford issue. I tried to find one that Ford "won", but I'm still not sure which one you are referring to. Could you provide a link for me?

Also, are you sure that Firestone stamps their tires with a minimum pressure? None of my tires have a minimum listed. Regardless, this thread has been discussing the upper limits--not the lower limits. Has anyone hear suggested that under-inflating tires is safe? I haven't seen it. Why do you still feel the need to argue that under-inflating is unsafe? I think we all agree that it is unsafe.

 

Okay, let's disregard the under inflation issue except for saying the court held the tire manufacturer responsible for the Ford Explorer episode, perhaps because there was no minimum inflation pressure stamped on the tire...?

 

 

If you want to say that the court held Firestone responsible for the Ford Explorer issues, could you at least provide some references? I won't go so far as to say it is untrue, but I have not been able to find what you are talking about. I did come across this interesting article:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...4/ai_n21472456

Do any tires have a minimum inflation pressure stamped on them? Maybe some do, but I just checked and neither of my vehicles' tires do. I don't recall ever seeing a minimum on a tire.


Why do you want to resort to childish name calling? Please grow up.

You call me an idiot, but you have not even acknowledged any of the posts that provide links or excerpts regarding tire pressures higher than what the vehicle manufacturer recommends. Do you have anything to back up your arguments? I haven't seen it yet.

You call me an idiot because I cannot "grasp" your simplistic view? Is everything black and white for you? Yes there are pros and cons with running your tires at the max sidewall (instead of vehicle manufacturer recommended), but they have been discussed in this thread. Can you not grasp that? This "idiot" can.

 

73's....

 

Wow! Willard...

Let's go over what we have covered so far:

1. The average burst pressure for a mid-sized truck tire is 420 psi.
The low side of the test was 300 psi, the high side was 520 ps.
(retread.org)

2: The tire manufacturer posts max sidewall pressures. Not in a stand - alone vaccuum as you suggest, but based on vehicle weight, as the tires are constructed for particular vehicle genre, like suvs or prius's.

3. Both the tire manufacturer and most vehicle manufacturers in their manual for the tire suggest adding inflation pressure for added load or for high speed use, in order to keep tire tempuratures down. Low inflation = high tire temps, higher inflation = lower tire temps. (There isn't room to post this on the door post. That location therefore has incomplete information about inflation pressures for a given vehicle.)

4. Law enforcement, auto crossers, Taxi cabs and other professional drivers routinely inflate their tires to max sidewall or over. The proof is in the lap times or the braking distances for the vehicle.

(from law officer.com "If you were able to watch a tire as it travels across the ground at high speed, you would see that it deflects to one side during cornering. The faster you are going through a corner, the more tire deflection you get. As the tire deflects over onto the sidewall, you get less traction and more of a tendency to understeer or oversteer. This could spell disaster when negotiating a corner at high speed during a pursuit or a Code 3 run. Higher pressure keeps the tire from deflecting onto the sidewall as much, which keeps more of the treaded portion on the road.

A good demonstration for EVOC instructors is to have students drive a high-speed course in a vehicle with 32 to 35 psi. Then have them run the same course with 44 to 50 psi in the tires. The student will experience a marked difference in performance. Having officers experience this difference in vehicle performance is much more effective than just telling them to check their tire pressure. " (Note: the higher pressure run is of course the better run.)

5. On the Hylander Hybrid specifically, there were quite a range of max sidewall pressures offered on various oem tires. The michelins have a max sidewall pressure of 35 psi, the goodyears have a max sidewall pressure of 44 pounds. This militated that the door post would have a recommendation that would fit the michelins. Again, incomplete information on the door post. Clearly, running the goodyear fortreras at the "door post" recommendation would be to run them in an underinflated state, causing mushy ride, overheating and an unsafe condtion. If one decided to run E rated tires on their hybrid, the tires would have a max sidewall pressure in the 80 psi range. Running them at the "door post" pressure would likely cause them to melt down in the first few days.

I run 44 lbs cold in the Goodyear Fortreras on my Highlander Hybrid.
I "water test" the tire by driving through a puddle and viewing the tread pattern on the ground on the way out of the puddle. It will clearly show when a tire has been overinflated on a particular installation, as parts of the tread design won't show on the pavement.

I run 48 lbs cold in Conti Ecos on the Ford Escape Hybrid. They have 44,000 miles on them, have good useable tread depth and no indication of increased center wear at this time. I can only imagine the nasty outside tread wear I would have at "door post" pressures.

There is very little opinon here, and a perponderance of facts.
I choose to use my brain, make some intellegent choices and benefit in better mileage, better handling, and longer tire wear by ignoring the "door post" pressure recommendations.

You apparently, choose to be held hostage by information that is made available to prevent liabilty and to reach the least commen denominator sector of the population in an effort to keep them from toodling around with 20 lbs pressure in their tires.

If that makes one of us an idiot...

 

And even that's almost too general. The Michelins on our '08 RX (delivered Sep '07; almost the same rig) are sidewall-rated at 44 psi -- in the same data block with the max load, 1709 lbs if I remember correctly, running in from the garage. Those are "Energy SVX" or something like that.

I would toss in that marketing and 'ride engineering' also get a vote in the vehicle door post marking.

Benton 14jun08

 

Sucked in again...

Your "puddle" test only shows you that the entire cross sectional area of the tire tread is contacting the ground, not how much of the vehicle's weight is being carried by the tire tread center vs the outside.

A more correct way to test would be to jack up a wheel, apply ink to the tread, drop the car then raise it again. Do this with and without over inflation and look at the tire tread's overall contact pattern.

See the difference...??

1. Yes, it is probably advisable to raise the inflation level of your tires if you are going to drive at HIGH speed for a fairly long duration.

2. Yes, again, if you are going to carry an especially heavy load then it is probably best to raise the tire pressure somewhat.

Now, 3 questions...

1. What constitutes a heavy load, a load heavy enough that the driver would be somewhat remiss (dare I say liable..??) absent attention thereto.

2. And by what ratio, weight/pressure margin, should the tire pressure be raised..??

3. These are good and logical reasons, SOUND reasons, but why do you think they apply, might apply, or even should apply, to normal everyday use of the HH or RXh..??

 

Now that everybody has had plenty of time so state their cases, let's summarize all the information presented in this thread:

The pressure on the door placard is the bare minimum that you should have your tires set to. It is clearly unsafe to run your tires at lower pressures. If you want to increase your pressure to the max sidewall, it is perfectly safe. By doing so, the ride of the vehicle will not be as smooth, but you will see gains in fuel economy as well as better handling in most instances. It may be safe to even take them higher.

We have seen lots of posts supporting the idea that it is perfectly safe to run your tire pressures at the max sidewall pressure.

We have also seen lots of arguing against raising the pressures to max sidewall, but they have not been supported by any evidence. There have been some rhetorical questions, unsubstantiated claims, and meaningless posts (73's....). If I was forced to argue this side, I would probably just resort to childish name calling.

Willard--If you get sucked in again, can you provide something meaningful?