Quote:
Originally Posted by EcoCivic
Ok, but the recommended pressure is for the average person who just wants a smooth ride. Rhat about people like me who don't care about a "smooth comfortable ride" and just care about stopping distance, handling, tire wear and gas mileage?
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Ford actually went so far as to recommend lower than safe operating pressure on the Explorer with the Firestone tires to pass rollover testing and give a "car like ride". Lots of people were killed by this bonehead move. Firestone took a bunch of "heat" for flaws in the tires but the biggest flaw was running low pressure (only 26 psi was the Ford recommendation) which builds tons of heat in rolling resistance and breaks the tire down. Most of the failures happened in the hottest, southern most states.
I wouldn't just take the manufacturers recommendation without some critical thinking on your own behalf.
In the truck/hauling world you must go over the recommendation to allow for Max load rating. Running LT tires at non-LT tire pressures actually gives you a lower load rating than the standard tire if run at the rating on the door sticker.