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Old 05-28-2009, 04:22 PM   #9 (permalink)
CapriRacer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eddles View Post
Goddamn it, why is it *so* difficult to get tyre pressure informations? I need to choose a tire that can take 51 PSI - for FE reasons, but also because my car manual also specifies a 49 PSI figure for my car. But no-one is willing to give me pressure figures - I just got off the phone from a tyre shop and they refused to quote figures, just palming me off with "40 PSI" and "You shouldn't be going over this anyway" despite me telling them that's exactly what the car manual says. Why is no-one telling me this information - it's just wasting my time and it has taken me several weeks to try and choose a damn tire, and I'm nowhere near my final decision due to the lack of information.

Sorry, I just needed to let off steam.
Eddles,

Read this first:

Barry's Tire Tech

What you should get out of this is that what is printed on the sidewall is relatively arbitrary - which is why the tire shop wasn't particularly interested in answering your question. They saw it as something outside their need to understand - and in a lot of respects that is true.

But allow me correct a couple of misconceptions:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eddles View Post
Then why do they print the figures there? They wouldn't do that if it was a complete waste of time, wouldn't they? I'm just being curious.
Yes, they would, if it were a government regulation - which it is!

Quote:
Originally Posted by DonR View Post
Goodyear & Michelin (I assume other mfgs. as well)websites list "Max load @ PSI" for their tires. I don't know if it is "max pressure" or not.

Don
The way the regulation is worded is that the max load and the max pressure have to be listed. For some reason - and I think it is historic in nature - some folks think these 2 things are related - and most of the time they are not.
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