Originally posted by: fleabag
I've had great experience with inflating my tires to sidewall but it seems like there are a lot of dissenters out there who desperately cling to manufacturer suggestions of inflating tires to the PSI they desire. These people are so dogmatic that they wouldn't even dare do otherwise for it will risk tainting their values and what they hold true to themselves. You can give these people empirical evidence until you're blue in the face but unless there is a happy little sticker to accompanied said suggestion, they refuse to follow it. These people also don't seem to be aware that if one inflate their tires to 32psi when it's 32F outside that their tires would like be at the sidewall PSI rating or higher when it's 90F outside. The only things they're capable of knowing are those things can be readily found with google, as personal experience is not something they can relate to because sitting and home arguing with people over the internet about things they don't know about is so much easier.
Let me clarify a few things about tires, specifically radials.
Radial tires do NOT "balloon" when inflated unlike bias plys. The industry suggestion that your tires will wear down the very center is false when it comes to radial tires as this suggestion is a carryover from yesteryear's bias and bias ply tires.
Inflating your tires to sidewall or even twice the rating of sidewall isn't going to make them POP. For your viewing pleasure, I'm linking to a video of rednecks inflating a DRY ROTTED and SPLIT tire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hEUeRFQL9A That tire was inflated to at least 160psi, and very possibly 175 psi.
Overinflation is a relative term, a radial tire mounted in the front of a vehicle, inflated to sidewall is not going to wear down the very center compared to tire inflated to its "recommended level of inflation as indicated by the door jam". The only time "over inflation" to this level would be an issue is if a tire is mount on the rear of an unloaded pickup truck. In this case, I've actually seen the tires wear down the center before wearing down the sides.
Tires inflated to sidewall are less likely to: Hydroplane, overheat, wear unevenly, wear down the sides and will protect the rims in the event you crash into a curb,
Inflating your tires (at least front tires) to sidewall will result in better handling in most cases and better mileage in all cases. It is true that when you inflate your tires the ride will be more rough and this is due to the fact that the tires can no longer deflect in response to road irregularities like they used to.
Look, anybody can go on google and post links to the general consumer inquires part of a manufacturer or go to the AAA website and listen to those suggestions. But while those suggestions are to put the liability squarely with the car manufacturer, it doesn't give consumers the opportunity to figure out how to safely inflate their tires to suit their own needs.
It's amusing to have a general consensus that one would like good tire wear yet when I tell them what I did to achieve such perfectly even tire wear, I get calls for me to be banned and that I'm an idiot for doing such a thing. I've read about people claiming that they get good tire wear, or even tire wear when they inflate to the car manufacturer's recommendation but I'm calling bullshit. I've never EVER seen a car wear PERFECTLY EVENLY when inflated to the door jam recommendation. I'm sure I'll hear a lot of dissenters to claim otherwise but maybe the reason why is because what I consider horribly uneven others would consider good or "perfectly even". One way to check to see if a tire is wearing evenly is to cup your hand around the top corner of the tire and rub around the tire to see if it feels smooth or jagged. This works most effectively when visual inspection isn't able to provide enough conclusive evidence.
I always made a point to show the downsides of inflating your tires to higher than the door jam recommends but each and every time I'm bombarded with posts by people repeating the same rhetoric whether it be them criticizing me because of things I can't control and aren't relevant like my age or them creating straw man arguments by claiming that I'm disrespecting people's opinions that not only haven't even been made but aren't even participating in the discussion.
Anyone can post a link to a site discrediting what I'm saying, but I find that in MY EXPERIENCE AND OBVIOUSLY THAT OF OTHERS that there is overwhelming empirical evidence to state to the contrary of those sites. While those sites may be correct when something bad happens, what they aren't correct about is predicting what and when something bad will happen.
So, for those who have bothered to even try inflating their tires to the number printed on the sidewall, please feel free to post what you've found different with your car, listing the positives and negatives.
The opinions of JulesMaximus, PhoKingGuy, and PlasmaBomb are not welcome at this time.
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