Nubo
Well-known member
Bob said:In reply to DarkStar's question for me, I just wanted to make sure that people think about the consequences of their actions and realize that the collective wisdom of this list is really good, but may not be as good as the experience and controlled testing of Nissan and Bridgestone engineers.
It is almost certain that higher pressure will reduce rolling resistance, and that will improve range. We've seen graphs of that. But that isn't the only effect of higher pressure. I am trying to get people to think of more than just one parameter, not just tire life or range.
I said that there ARE tradeoffs to higher tire pressure. I don't have proof of what those tradeoffs are. I proposed a few possible reasons to get people to think. It would take time-intensive and expensive testing to prove or disprove any of those theories. Those are the kinds of things that Bridgestone and Nissan do. My point is that there's a good chance that Nissan engineers aren't absolute morons who advise us to do stupid things without a reason. It could be that there are good reasons for their recommendations.
We all make the mistake of drawing conclusions from too little data. It's true that one data point is more data than zero data points, but non-controlled experiments have very often led intelligent people astray. Some have said that they pump their tires high and they don't wear well. Others have said that they pump the tires high and they wear well. And others have said... I think we've heard every possible scenario. ...
Fair enough, but when both shoulders of each tire wear out prematurely, while the center of the tire has plenty of tread, that is not an tiny data point with limited diagnostic import. It's a huge red flag telling you the tire is not making proper contact with the road. (Absent any major alignment issues or unusual road surfaces such as the gravel mountain roads that have been discussed).