I'm going to have to disagree Bob. The front wheels turn at an angle to the direction of travel, thereby stressing the front sidewalls to a far greater degree than the rears. The fronts are also worked a lot harder under braking, and especially when braking and turning at the same time. Any reasonably powered road race car will use up front tires at a much faster rate than rears. It is only live axle V8 sedans that run out of rear tire first. And obviously, on a Vanagon, the rear tires aren't being spun very often! :-) Jake ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Stevens" <mtbiker62@HOTMAIL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 8:44 PM Subject: Re: On weight
> "So why, invariably do the tire inflation specs have higher pressure to > the REAR on Vanagons?" > > my $0.02 > It's mostly dynamics because of the effects of momentum and inertia on the > weight of the van while moving, along its length. Although the front > sidewalls "roll" when the van turns, because of lateral oversteer > characteristics inherent in that, the rear sidewalls have more lateral force > on them than the fronts. Higher air pressure stiffens the sidewall to better > deal with that force. > > bob > |
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