Thread: Tire air pressure

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low pressure can ride better but can also be a handful if you get out of shape at speed.

Originally Posted by shine

low pressure can ride better but can also be a handful if you get out of shape at speed.

I agree.
And 18 psi and 22 psi are low pressures.
But the car is a light car; when it's full of fuel, oil, water etc, it still weighs only 2315 lbs...1050 kgs.
And it handles extremely well, even when it's sideways.
Which is not that often!

It took a lot of trial and error to come up with those pressures; I wish I'd known rspears trick with the chalk then...that's a goodun, so easy and effective.

Originally Posted by shine

low pressure can ride better but can also be a handful if you get out of shape at speed.

Shine, I agree 100% that underinflated tires are not good, but the proper inflation is a function of weight, tire cross section and tire contact pattern. For the best performance, wear and comfort the tire will have a full contact pattern across the cross section. More pressure will crown the tire, putting too much pressure in the center and lifting the sidewalls slightly, while too little will lift the center, and wear the edges. Neither will provide good handling. The perfect pressure for the street will have the installed tire sitting exactly flat with fuel load & driver. I got 40K miles from a set of BFG 32x11.5x15's on a Jeep using the chalk trick to find the right pressures, and then rotating & balancing them every 6000miles.