Search Tires
Q/A Archives
October 2005
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Sep | Nov » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 | ||||||
Related Experts
Sign-up for RSS
Question 105
Posted by James on October 9, 2005
Temperature versus air pressure. You indicate that commercial truck tires gain 2 lbs in every 10 degree increase of tire temperature. When I lived in the desert southwest (Vegas) our then maintenance person advised us that we needed to increase tire pressure by 5 psi over standard inflation pressures when outside temperatures exceeded 90 degrees. Even now living in Indiana I still practice that today. If steers called for 110 psi, I inflate to 115 psi, 105 psi for trailer tires got 110 psi. However back to the desert, if we increased pressure to 5 lbs psi over standard and surface temps on the pavement are 140 degrees or higher, that must be alot of pressure in those tires. How much air pressure over whats printed on the sidewall can a tire take before it explodes? And is over-inflating by 5 psi hurting the tires? The commercial tires I refer to are the 22.5 and 24.5 truck tires. Side note: We also tested like tires manufactured in Japan which had a tire pressure of 130 psi. First time I aired one up it scared the b-jeebers out of me. How much punishment can these tires really take before they blow?
Tires are designed with plenty of "safety" factors. It takes a lot of air pressure to cause a tire to blow out..somewhere around 200 psi in a truck tire...however, truck wheels are rated at 130 psi max...the wheels will break before the tire. Overinflating the tire 5 psi will not harm the tire in any way. You never, ever want to exceed the maximum pressure that the wheel is rated. Overinflating a tire will cause centerline wear to develop plus drivers tend to "bounce" when running down the highway