Quote:
Originally Posted by niky
Not to mention the fact that it points out that higher pressure is necessary at higher speeds.
Have you ever dealt with vibration damage? I have. What it equates to is changing your suspension bushings maybe a few hundred kilometers earlier (like 120,000 kms instead of 125,000) and tightening your body bolts.
One should note that modern cars are built for stiffer tires (as reflected in the higher door sticker pressures indicated versus older cars), and suspension design nowadays takes into account stiffer tire carcasses and higher inflation pressures.
Wet issues... so-so. Actually... it's dry performance that suffers, particularly in terms of braking. Hydroplaning lessens at higher pressure.
There is no doubt that running very high pressures is bad for the suspension and if you run them high enough, the tire will experience greater wear. But there is no universal "too high" pressure. Some tires run fine over maximum sidewall. Some run crappy and experience center tread wear even below maximum sidewalll, even if you run them at the "proper" door pressures.
All tire carcasses will happily accept higher than maximum sidewall... though again, as some of us have pointed out, the diminishing returns beyond a certain inflation pressure (again, there is no universal pressure at which this happens) mean that you have to experiment to find the best compromise.
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Higher tire pressure will be obtained by driving faster. The tire heats up more and the pressure will increase. I am not dealing with more than US highway speed limits here. Driving on the Autobahn is counterproductive to increased fuel savings, overall.
Extreme vibration causes much more damage than a few bolts and bushings. It can actually break welds and cause stress fractures. Besides, the average driver never checks for loose bolts.
The point, as I understand it from my research, for stiffer unibody construction techniques was to create a lighter automobile and to be able to compensate for less metal in the design. I doubt very much that the utilization of unibody was to use stiffer tires.
Hydroplaing effects
increase at higher pressure.
Actually, the universal tire rating is the door sticker.
Most people are doing their own calculations, but failing to calculate damage to the vehicle. And that is the problem.