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Just thinking out loud here, isn't solo 1 racing a good sample set for how "over" inflated passenger car tires perform? Braking and acceleration to and from 100mph, powersliding sideways at 80mph? It may not be sustained for hours but the tires can be heated enough that they lose grip rapidly. Then they are pounded over curbs too?
I think this whole debate comes back to the fact that manufactures don't test their tires at higher pressures and therefore can't say they are safe at those pressures, due to legal issues etc.
We have lots of anecdotal evidence that tires can be over inflated from many people here, and people racing solo1 and 2, that tires don't have a problem being used at 40-50 psi even under extreme racing conditions, or coasting down the road at 50 mph.
We also have no official data on how 40-50psi tires perform for braking or turning, but again solo 1 and 2 folks don't inflate the tires to these pressures for fuel efficiency. These pressures result in faster times. Does this translate to the street? I think so but I'm not an independent tester.
I also think that some auto manufacturers pressure recommendations are probably pushing the envelope of safety due to underinflation. They want some vehicles to float along as smoothly as possible so people will buy them. The ford explorer fiasco showed this, if those people had started with tires at 38 psi instead of 28 psi their lack of maintenance would've been far less likely to result in a blowout.
Ian
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