At 02:22 PM 4/15/2010, Scott Chapman wrote: >I have Continental Vanco2's on my 85 Westy. I inflated the tires to >what's on the sidewalls of the tires (60psi IIRC). The Vanagon says >30/40. I think inflating less than the sidewall says will decrease tire >life substantially? It rides like a tank at this point but I can live >with that for a while until I find a solution and $$. <here we go again... ;-) > The number on the side of the tire is the maximum cold pressure allowed for that particular tire. That's the *only* significance it has. The number on the vehicle is the vehicle manufacturer's best judgment as to what inflation pressures will give the correct handling and load capacity to the vehicle, as well as proper tire life and decent ride. Commonly this is tilted a bit in favor of ride, so it's a common practice to run 3 psi or so above the recommended numbers. But the front-rear balance is important. If VW thinks you should have ten psi more in back than in front, be prepared for handling changes if you disagree. Some vehicles are more sensitive to this than others -- CU once rated the Porsche 914 unacceptable because of its extreme sensitivity to tire pressure balance. Re wear, underinflated tires will wear out the edges and overinflated ones will wear out the crown. Either way you lose. The effect probably isn't as bad on radial tires as on bias-ply ones. Yours, David |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.