Cornerweights

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by brobox

I just checked from your profile, you are only 89 miles from Spartan. Should be able to call on one of your trips out of town and get weighed fully loaded. How lucky you are to be that close.

Absolutely.

[soundsuperio]

It appears Spartan is the closest place to get my weights. I am heading there before we head out for 6 or more weeks in mid-September. First we have a single malt/Irish whiskey trip to Scotland and Ireland.
Thanks for all the input.

[DeeGee]

Oh, don't wait on your journey. You KNOW you want to hit the road in that Entegra. I will sacrifice myself and go to Scotland for you. Cannot waste the Scotch, y'know?

[Pwdr Extreme]

I wonder how much fuel mileage is given up by not running the tires at it near max psi?

It has to be some, but I’m betting the increased ride quality is probably worth the trade off.

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by Pwdr Extreme

I wonder how much fuel mileage is given up by not running the tires at it near max psi?

It has to be some, but I’m betting the increased ride quality is probably worth the trade off.

I believe tires are designed to run at a given pressure for the weight. At that point the contact patch is determined. If you change the weight and change the corresponding tire pressure the tire patch will remain the same.

With the relationship between weight and pressure the sidewall flex will be optimized to produce the optimum rolling resistance.

If you run the tire pressure higher than necessary I think you will get a harsher ride, premature tire wear in the center of the tire (not that many will wear their tires out) and reduced braking because of the reduced tire contact.

Don't know any of this for sure but lots of reading seems to go in this direction.

[Pwdr Extreme]

Your thoughts are correct for smaller tires with lighter loads in that they will start to have premature wear in the center. However, the more air pressure in any tire, the smaller the contact patch. The smaller the contact patch, the less rolling resistance. That’s just physics.

On truck tires, the air pressure doesn’t really change the contact patch from side to side (except maybe when grossly over or underinflated) but front to back. This, of course, will change the rolling resistance.

I’m wondering how much that resistance affects mileage...

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by Pwdr Extreme

Your thoughts are correct for smaller tires with lighter loads in that they will start to have premature wear in the center. However, the more air pressure in any tire, the smaller the contact patch. The smaller the contact patch, the less rolling resistance. That’s just physics.

On truck tires, the air pressure doesn’t really change the contact patch from side to side (except maybe when grossly over or underinflated) but front to back. This, of course, will change the rolling resistance.

I’m wondering how much that resistance affects mileage...

There has to be the information someplace on the web. May be pretty convoluted because you would also have to take into consideration the surface the tire was running on, the heat, etc.

I recall even the tire wear has to do with the mileage. Apparently a worn tire makes better mileage than a new tire and a ribbed tire makes better mileage than a lug tire.