Originally Posted By: ahoier
Originally Posted By: Y_K
If you live to see the wear pattern alone on grossly overinflated tires, you will re-calculate your 'savings'. Especially on the vehicles with some kind of intricate suspension system that were engineered to work best in a certain range. Safety was mentioned above, and is the concern number one.
Not all amateurs are dilettantes, though..
I've heard many people mention this alleged "wear pattern" on over-inflated tires.
But here's my idea. I set my tires to the "Max Cold PSI" outlined on the tire sidewall. Yes, they say this is bad, and will affect the wear pattern (generally down the middle of the tread they say).....but here's my idea.
As I drive this vehicle, my PSI is gradually decreasing (no I don't use nitrogen), as the PSI naturally decreases, the tire will "come back down" to normal, to wear along what these nay-sayers would call the "outer edges" of the tire(s)....
Now granted, if someone were completely OCD about their PSI, and "topped off" their PSI at the "Cold PSI" rating EVERY DAY, not allowing the vehicle to "wear" along that edge, that's when I could envision "wear pattern problems".
But for me, I do my maintenance every 6-8 months on my vehicle and have not had any problem(s) with odd tire wear....
I guess, in a way it's a similar concept to those that will "overfill" their crankcase by a half-quart to take into consideration the "burn off" or oil leakage they need to fix?
By putting my tires at the Max PSI per the tire every 6-8 months I've seen no problems.
So...your strategy to achieve the optimum pressure is to start way above it...then through an unmeasured, and unknown leak rate and seasonal pressure variation, hope to intersect that value in only a transitory manner, and then just go way above it again? Why not try and stay at optimum?
Do you ever check your oil level? Or do you just overfill and hope for the best 8 months down the road?
Here's my recommendation: determine the pressure and then check it cold, at least monthly, to account for leakage and variations in pressure based on seasonal temperature changes...that way, you will always be at/near optimum, instead of way off most of the time. Futher, if you pick up a nail or develop a slow leak, you will catch it before your handling and safety are affected.
And yes, running 38 PSI (sidewall max, 51, manufacturer placard recommended max 38) in the 235/45R17 Fuzion ZRi tires on my T5 Volvo, I wore out the center of the tread before the edges. A difference of nearly 2/32" in tread wear from center to edge. Clearly too high a pressure for my conditions. I now run 36 PSI in the 235/45R17 Conti DWS and they are wearing evenly with 8,000 miles on them...giving me the optimum blend of treadwear, handling and economy (I get EPA or better in the car...if I can resist using all the boost the turbo offers...).
Taking the purchase price of tires into consideration ($500 mounted and balanced), the life that the Fuzions lasted (30K) and the original tread depth (10/32)...the uneven treadwear cut about 20% of the life off the Fuzions...costing me over $100 in premature wear. That alone is enough to make checking frequently a worthwhile maintenance practice...and a tread depth gauge is about $5, while a good pressure gauge is $10...a cheap investment.
For the record, on an airplane, where tires go from -65 degrees C and zero MPH to nearly 200 MPH with several tons of loading in thousandths of a second (and can easily heat up to over 300 degrees C during braking), several orders of magnitude greater strain in load, temperature and speed than car tires, I check the pressure on every flight.
