Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Mullet
Filled them with expanding foam?
Seriously, the suspense is killing me here  |
Hi,JM !
An expanding foam - open cell - might work to give one a constant tire
profile/"footprint" ... at least this was my thinking, too. The problem with this approach was ... how does one remove the air "bubble" which is captive inside the deflated tire? This is gonna upset any applecart when one puts additional foam into the "empty" tire; ie, a tire is never "empty".
Bearing in mind, this idea was years & years ago; I had to come up with some sort of "solution" to this rising & falling psig situation - or I could never relax & just drive. Now I can....
What did I do? I came to the point the little Honda 2-banger (air cooled) needed new shoes. Not wanting this "worry-driving" to go on with my new Michelins ( OEM tires were early Khumo, or somesuch...RIP...yuk!) I figured "If the bead-seating pressure was lower or equal to 60 psi" like the caution sticker on the new tires cautioned ( these have disappeared from the tire replacement scene) "why not jack the pressure on this little car?" So I
pumped each tire up to 40 psig - OEM was 32, I think - took a vernier calipers and measured the (new) tread depth at several points on each tire...as any good R&D investigation would... and put these numbers in a logbook.
The ride was noticeably stiff in this little, lightweight car...but I put up with it. After many thousands & thousands of miles ( NO checking tire pressure daily), the tread depth was little changed. Some cupping from a balance problem, but no excess wear. The Michelins were still good when I finally sold the beast! Sidewall dry-rot was beginning to show up...tread still good. How many thousands? I don't recall the number ( the logbook went with the car) but I know the Michelins wupped the Khumo's butt!
So I came up with this idea of jacking the tire pressure early on. Now I'm running 44 psig in my BFGs. I'm a work-in-progress, right? LOL
