screw more psi in the tires.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by BailOut

1) Tire companies are one of the worst places to get information about their products. The same holds true of any other manufacturer of consumable goods. While they have to do enough to meet minimum safety standards and product longevity everything is secondary to their primary goal of selling you more of said product through repeated need.

The manufacturer and seller must make a good sufficient enough to meet customer demand but no more so. To do so is irrational.

Tires, being a consumer good, are subject to all sorts of consumer and safety regulations. There is also the Tort aspect. It's a jungle out there in Courtrooms.

It's always wiser to give yourself lots of wiggle room with specifications. Safety margins, variations in supply and processes, and so on. This allows you as a defendant to stack the odds in your favor with Juries. So no, you will not reveal to the customer the outer limits of performance, not in a nation where people can spill hot drinks on themselves and win judgments in Court.

I work in manufacturing, but not for the consumer market. Our customers are large entities which expect good specification and will train their staff about safety. However I have made consumer goods and know the hazards of such work.

Originally Posted by BailOut

2) Automobile manufacturer's tests for tire pressure are aimed primarily and almost wholly at passenger comfort rather than accident avoidance, product longevity or fuel efficiency.

This makes sense - most consumers will judge a tire based upon its handling and "feel" than on the more pragmatic virtues that Brian discusses. Since the name of the game is market competition you have to adapt to the market or perish to competition.

As someone who drives on some of the worst roads in North America I never ever will go above the rated inflation pressures. Some of us drive on better roads or have other values than not having blowouts after passing through a gigantic pothole.

Gene