Ultra High Tire Pressures
Ultra High Tire Pressures
(OP)
I have been conversing (discussing, arguing, what ever you want to call it) about using tire pressures above the maximum written in the sidewall. This is a technique that is being advocated by "Hypermilers" to gain fuel economy.
As a tire engineer, my gut goes all out of wack just thinking about it, but there is very little hard data. I can find studies on rolling resisiance - more is better, but the effect is diminishing - and an old SAE paper from 1980, that shows:
1) Wear rate on radial tires is better
2) Evenness of wear on radial tires is largely unaffected
3) Braking traction is largely unaffected
4) Cornering Coefficient goes up
5) Aligning torque goes down
5) Impact resistance goes down greatly
The only really "bad" thing in this list is the impact resistance - and since impact failures are fairly rare, it's hard to get any good numbers to make the case that inflating tires over the max is dangerous.
What I am looking for is good data on how a vehicle would handle - particularly on a bumpy road - at elevated inflation pressures Anecdotes from racing street tires (road racing and solo) is that more pressure is better. But I have a feeling that because a racetrack is involved, it is fairly smooth and that you might get a different answer if the road surface was bumpy.
Is anyone in a position to do some computer modeling?
Any other thoughts would be appreciated.
As a tire engineer, my gut goes all out of wack just thinking about it, but there is very little hard data. I can find studies on rolling resisiance - more is better, but the effect is diminishing - and an old SAE paper from 1980, that shows:
1) Wear rate on radial tires is better
2) Evenness of wear on radial tires is largely unaffected
3) Braking traction is largely unaffected
4) Cornering Coefficient goes up
5) Aligning torque goes down
5) Impact resistance goes down greatly
The only really "bad" thing in this list is the impact resistance - and since impact failures are fairly rare, it's hard to get any good numbers to make the case that inflating tires over the max is dangerous.
What I am looking for is good data on how a vehicle would handle - particularly on a bumpy road - at elevated inflation pressures Anecdotes from racing street tires (road racing and solo) is that more pressure is better. But I have a feeling that because a racetrack is involved, it is fairly smooth and that you might get a different answer if the road surface was bumpy.
Is anyone in a position to do some computer modeling?
Any other thoughts would be appreciated.





RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
I had a medium soft sprung car. It responded will to tyre pressures around 45 psi for 205 60s on 7" rims, 1989 Aussie Ford Falcon 6 cylinder. The 45 PSI took the roll and squirm out of it. What my girl friend called getting rid of the tall ship syndrome.
I tried the same on my next car. Same class as the Falcon, but an Aussie Holden Commodore V6. It had the Police Special rock hard short travel suspension. I needed to run around 35 psi same tyres and rim size to stop it continually rebounding off the bump stops or to overcome what I called the pogo stick syndrome.
I don't have data, only driving impressions.
Regards
eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Are you sure they didn't mean impact harshness increased gretaly? I'd have thought that square edge pothole etc would be easier to survive (at least for the tire) if it were over inflated.
War story - at Lotus we used to ship the cars at 50 psi to keep them round. I used to drive a fair number of these cars before they were shipped, and never noticed any problems.
I wasn't going for hard laps, but would have been driving far more aggressively than a hypermiler.
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
No, I meant impact resistance - that is the ability to roll over objects without failure.
BTW, here a link to my synopsis of the paper:
ht
BTW, when you said you drove some of the Loti (plural of Lotus, ha, ha!), did you drive them on a handling course or what? This is an area where I have a large void of information that is applicable. A bit more detail would help a lot with regard to whether ultra high pressures are as risky as is being portrayed.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
However it was a test track that I knew very well and regularly drove rather fast on it, so would not have been hanging about.
That 'dynamic bruising test' is a bit weird. I am not astonished to learn that a 3 inch spike will penetrate a tire's belt. I guess I'm preconditioned by kerb impact and square edge pothole tests, where sidewall is important.
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Regards
eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
A number of autocrossers do use rather high pressures for various reasons. But the practice is far from universal; last year's F-Stock National Champion (a multi-time champ running on DOT "R-compounds") does not.
As far as handling on rough roads at elevated pressures goes - doesn't that make for more stiffness between the road and the unsprung masses without adding commeasurate amounts of damping there?
Norm
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
If you read the synopsis, I point out that the rated pressure for the tires in the test was 32 psi. Today's passenger car tires are rated at 35 psi. I do not think what is written on the sidewall of a tire as a maximum is applicable to any discussion in this area for a couple of reasons:
1) What is imprinted on the sidewall is based on a government regulation. There seem to be different interpretations of this regulation - and needless to say, there are different things imprinted on the sidewall.
You said:
".....As far as handling on rough roads at elevated pressures goes - doesn't that make for more stiffness between the road and the unsprung masses without adding commeasurate amounts of damping there?....."
and that was exactly where I wanted to go. I would think this could cause the tire to hop uncontrollably in certain situations. I was hoping that someone could help me prove this to be true - or not. It doesn't matter which, just so long as we get an answer we can rely on.
2) If I remember correctly, it was common practice - based on the tire standards applicable at the time - that the pressure imprinted on the sidewall WAS the rated pressure. (I will have to look up the tire standard to be sure that it reads differently than today's standard.)
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
See my post 5th July re pressure, suspension and squirm vs hop on two road cars.
On our race car, we tried the tyre techs recommended pressures, but kept damaging rims and tyres. We increased pressure until the damage pretty well stopped. We got no noticeable adverse side effects. some hop or uncontrolled rebound might not be noticeable in an off road racing situation as there is so much rebound and bouncing going on anyway. We won more races at the higher pressure appart from the influence of much higher finish rate.
Regards
eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Norm.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
If it's a leaf spring, they can wind up due to torque reaction from the wheels and due to longitudinal forces transferred from the axle to the chassis via the spring.
Regards
eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
I run my car at 35 and my truck from 18 to 60 depending on what im doing.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Regards
eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Regards
eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
As Pat has just noted, it's frequently a consequence of being "stuck with" the tires either originally supplied with the vehicle or installed as replacements prior to engaging in the activity in question. Many of the cars favored by hypermilers are already fitted with low rolling resistance tires, and most autocrossers are neither serious enough at first nor experienced enough to take full and proper advantage of competition rubber beyond about the level of so-called "Street Touring" category 140-treadwear rated tires.
Norm
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
My real concern is the fact that many hypermilers are ignoring the vehicle placard - to the point of pretending it doesn't exist - and using the sidewall max pressure - and sometimes well beyond.
I mention this because many vehicles come with 26 psi as the placard pressure and some tires have a max pressure of 51 psi. Doubling the placard pressure doesn't sound like a good idea.
But more importantly, these guys are so single minded about the idea of achieving max MPG, that their sense of reality has become distorted. I have watched as they picked apart a set of color tire footprints that show pressure distribution and incorrectly conclude that 2 of them were the same size - they weren't.
But I would like to be able to show something concrete about what happens when you inflate a tire uop to the max and beyond.
Thanks in advance.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
As for using the sidewall max pressure instead of the placard, it would change the shape of your contact patch most likely reducing traction and increasing tire wear a bit.
Also while researching tires this year I discovered references to too high of an air pressure increasing rolling resistance. the effect was caused by the vehicle having to absorb more up and down motion because the tires were unable to simply flex over the surface irregularities. As I recall this pressure seemed to be much higher than what our range would be so we did not concern ourselves with it.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
I don't drive particularly quickly on corrogated roads out of respect for the car's longevity (no rally 'practice'), but handling seems at least a bit better on rough roads with the higher psi, though loss of grip is somewhat more abrupt with less warning. The suspension is more or less stock save for Koni dampers set fairly stiffly, which might account for the lack of significant wheel hop with the higher psi?
In response to something patprimmer said about stiff springs seeming to work better with lower tyre psi and softer springs working better with higher psi; just an observation but:
In karting the stickier / softer the tyres are the stiffer the chassis typically needs to be, and stiffer chassis seem to work a lot better with lower tyre psi, whereas harder tyes require more flexible chassis, and more flexible chassis seem to work better with higher psi. Not sure how informative that is, but it probably suggests something...
My first post here, a little nervous daring to post in such obviously knowledgable company...
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
When they started making radials in the USA, the tread, aspect ratio, and cord material were different, and the sidewall pressure rating went up a lot.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
I hope you guys won't take offense if I point something out. I'm merely doing this to illustrate the problem that I am experiencing in trying to discuss this issue with folks who are not technically minded.
Neither of you referenced the placard pressure. (perhaps John did but it was unclear!) Not to mention the vehicle or even the vehicle type.
For example, I have been having a running arguement with a guy who has a pickup about his inflation pressure. The pickup is supposed to use LT metric tires at 60 psi. He has a set of P metric tires (same numbers in the size) that have a sidewall max of 44 psi. He insists that he should be running what is on the sidewall. This conversation gets complicated by the fact that other folks are posting within the conversation about their experience with their passenger car tires - some with 35 psi on the sidewall, some with 51 psi on the sidewall. Not to mention the few folks who are inflating passenger car tires to 60 psi, and suggesting that the pickup guy do the same.
While trying to discuss the proper inflation pressure for passenger cars, the conversation frequently gets tangled up with pickup truck tires.
Identifying the working parameters is important, not only for tires, but for other things as well.
Oh, and Mike: What you have described sounds like a "Run Flat" to me. That is: There was a puncture in the tire and the tire ran without pressure. The result is ultimately 3 pieces - 2 sidewalls and the tread. So apparently you stopped just before that could happen.
The inflation pressures you mentioned not only are so close that for practical purposes they are the same, but that "pressure" had nothing to do with the failure as described - other than to say the cause was lack of pressure.
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
The placard pressure is a recommendation, set by the vehicle manufacturer, based on their own criteria.
Extreme example: Placard pressure for the front tires on a Corvair was 19 psi, which made the car understeer, in a boat-like, run-flat sort of way, with the rear tires at a placard pressure much closer to the sidewall pressure, neither of which I remember right now. More nearly balanced pressures made the car handle much better... and oversteer when provoked. I'm guessing some idiot GM weenie provoked and spun a Corvair.
I have been under the impression that Detroit's placard pressures were traditionally based on providing just enough load capacity to support the vehicle for a reasonable tire life, so as to provide the boat-like ride that seemed to be a design goal. IOW, tire pressure was their preferred tool for controlling NVH. In recent decades, they have adopted NVH tactics developed where the roads are not flat and straight, and raised placard pressures to reduce rolling resistance and provide more precise handling.
( In my particular single data point, the dealer and I examined the tire very closely, and could find no evidence of a puncture in the tread, which was intact and barely worn. There may well have been a puncture in the sidewall, the remains of which comprised a ring of rubber flaps attached only to the bead, and a ring of radial strings, nearly all still attached to bead and tread. I haven't seen a similar failure before or since. )
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Ultra High Tire Pressures
I didn't notice any reference to 'pickup' tyres only, and all I could offeer was my personal experience.
The car is a Honda Accord (double wishbone suspension), placard max recommended psi = 39psi, tyre sidewall max psi with various tyres has been 51psi, 44psi, or 38psi (this last on the current tyres, though it states; "Canada only", so since I'm in Australia I have no qualms about exceeding it...).
My main purpose in using higher psi is to increase steering and handling response with tyres that have very soft sidewalls (very hard to find tyres in this size that don't have very floppy sidewalls). I've found the higher psi makes a huge improvement on sealed surfaces, and some improvement on un-sealed surfaces.
I kept reading and being told that as psi went up I'd gain response at the expense of grip ("what, 45psi, are you mad, you'll have no grip and get punctures all the time...") but I haven't found this to be the case, i.e. both response and grip improved at higher psi, and tyre damage hasn't been an issue.