Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 09:08:46 -0700
Reply-To: Bill Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bill Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Subject: Re: tire pressure
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> > For tire pressure, always go by the door sticker and what it says
> for the
> > specific tire size you have put on the van.
>
> i beg to strongly differ ... always go by the TIRE itself, not a
> 10-year old sticker on your bus!!!!
> the tire has stamped into the sidewall what its Max Pressure is ...
> you can run that until you decide that it may be too stiff a ride,
> then start lowering the pressure (on both sides of the bus!) to find a
> comfort level for your ride. i'd suggest NOT going below 80 percent of >
that Max Pressure, cause then you'll have an underinflated tire that
> could heat up and damage itself. and always remember that if you lower >
the pressure, you also lower the Max Load that the tire can carry!!!
>
> joel
Joel
Your advice seems sound... but it seems strange for you to '...beg to
strongly differ...' with using the recommended tire pressures on the door
jamb....
I'm no tire expert, but....
Every car dealer and every tire dealer I've ever asked about tire pressure
has referred me to the sticker on the door jamb... and that has been the
advice of many on the list time after time.
As for the possiblity of the tire pressure on the door jamb being somehow
outdated because the Van is 10 years old... it seems to me that VW engineers
considered both the weight of the Van and the tire before recommending a
tire pressure. The way that the tire variability is controlled for over the
years is by load index... the recommended pressure on the door jamb assumes
you are using a tire that meets the recommended load index. So as long as
the load index itself has not changed over time (and you have chosen a tire
that meets this minimum), you should be well served to be using the
recommended tire pressures (for the recommended size tire) on the door jamb.
Beyond that, I too will 'fine tune' my tire pressure by how it feels and how
the tire side wall profile looks.... but if I want to go below the recommed
pressures on the door jamb, I will consult with the tire dealer who can
provide minimum pressures (for the weight of the vehicle) from the tire
manufacturer. Establishing a minimum pressure this way may be more accurate
than your 80% guideline.
Bill
90 Westy Syncro
>
