No, that's cool...

I don't know the answer to that..maybe something to do with the different types of tires and the way their made..I don't know, but maybe you're right about these kinda of tires..But tread wear rating makes a big difference in how long the tire lasts...Lower the rating, the softer the tire material....But the physical science of heat because of friction is what's baffling me, as why it don't apply in your examples..

I'll be doing a little more research, me thinks..

 

I know they are cooler because I put my hand on them as soon as I got home, and the tread center was very warm, bordering on hot. The next day, before I went out, I dropped the pressure down to 30, and drove about the same distance and checked the tires again by placeing my hand back on the tread surface. Not only was the temp more even across the entire tread surface, it was much cooler to the touch. The conditions were about the same for both trips, so the comarison should be fair. The higher temp is probably because that one small strip of tread in the center was doing all of the work for the entire tire.

 

One thing you have to keep in mind about tires is that the best pressure is one that spreads the weight of the vehicle evenly aross the entire tread surface. The weight of the vehicle will mandate this more then anything, up to the max pressure stated on the side wall. Think of a full size diesel pickup loaded to the max with camping and offroad gear running something like a 14 inch wide swamper. The truck would require a higher pressure in the tires then that same tire on say a lightly loaded old flat fender Jeep. At max pressure, the tire will properly support the max weight printed on the side wall. The Firestone tires were under inflated for thier use. If you run a pressure under the ideal pressure for your vehicle, you will cause under inflation damage to the tire, up to and including Firestone sequals. If you run higher pressure the the ideal pressure, you will cause over inflation problems such as poor tread wear and tire life, including the tire coming apart as well. The construction of the tires also play a role in what pressure to run, but that is harder to read with a stiff multilayer sidewall and tread that doesn't allow for much flex of the tire.

 

Allrighty then...

Listen..I'm open minded...So in the next day or so, I will preform the same experiment as you did Linus and I'll fess up to the results no matter how it turns out..In fact I'll even go more scientific and do it on the same day within the same hour and use a Raytek infrared scanner...in all, to keep all the other variables constant, but only vary the pressure....I'm very curious now...Thanks for the good discussion..What you guys are saying may also makes some sense...

So what is ideal or optimum tire pressures then?..I'm not saying to over inflate like you're suggesting, as this would cause the center of the tread to wear more than the outer edges as you said and I concur..and I'm not saying to undeinflate either, as this will cause the outer edges to wear more than the center tread and also damage the sidewalls...


But in the mean time read this Tire Rack info[sm=smiley2.gif]

 

Dennis...your desk looks pretty cluttered?

 

Black H3CA,

Do you play hockey?[sm=smokin.gif]

 

Dennis...95 degrees?!?! Dude you need to turn on your AC!!

 

LOL..That's the temp of my Monitor

And yes the place is a mess...[:'(]

 

No.....But I love it though

 

I once went to a Fight and a Hockey game broke out...Go figure