Quote:
Originally Posted by iskyfly
Are there any vehicle engineers here who can say that overinflating a tire past sticker value doesnt;
-decrease safety
-increase expense because of faster tire wear
?
|
I'm trying to figure out what pressure to use in my Firestones on the old Explorer I just picked up. Knowing that the vehicle engineers are more concerned with safety than comfort and ride characteristics, I won't use the numbers on the actual tire as a guide but will stick only with the door sill sticker.
The only engineers involved that got to act as engineers were the ones who set the sidewall pressures. They aren't talking about how much room they left above that number, but you can be pretty certain that the actual limit isn't below that. The vehicle manufacturer came up with their numbers based on how they made the ride feel. That's focus group engineering. I'll worry about my own ride feel, okay?
-Tire wear is a function of the tire, not the car.
-Safety, is your concern loss of traction or blowout risk? If it's blowout, pay attention to the sidewall. If you're worried about traction, don't outdrive your tires. If a few PSI is the difference between a safe corner and a fatal accident, I'd point fingers at the driver and ignore everything else. You shouldn't be driving that close to the edge on public roads.
And yes, I work at a dealership and we treat that sticker and other factory specs like they're laws. That's not because they are, it's because we're representing the factory and that's our schtick.