re: Tire Inflation

[SOP8920@Siena.edu]

Twain writes:
>Whaddya all think about tire inflation? In a wagon? The same idiot who
>overinflated my new tires mentioned that I should keep them at least at
>36PSi. The sidewall sez 35 is max. The sticker on the gas lid suggest 32 all
>around with no load; 36/42 with a large load.

>What gives a good, neutral balance? It seems that 32/34 for give generally
>flat handling, with understeet at the limit. 36/34 would probably be fairly
>similar with oversteer at the limit.

I read a book about auto-racing written by Bob Bondurant a year or so ago. He
claimed that today's tires are capable of much higher pressure than the
side-wall markings indicate. In fact, he usually ran his tires at (from what I
recall) ~45 PSI on all the cars used in his school. That included the bondurant
vans and all the student mustangs. I wish I had the book handy, but it's
sitting back in my room. I'll look for it tonight and post back later. He ran
the tires at higher pressure to avoid rolling onto sidewalls in hard corning or
worse=even, pulling the tire bead away from the wheel resulting in a blow out.
I'll dig up that book and double check what I read. 
                                      -Osman 89 200q