Quote:
Originally Posted by nash
Empirical evidence from running my TCH Bridgestone tire pressures at 42psi front / 40psi rear for the past 34,000 miles has led me to believe that Toyota has the recommended pressure set on the low side. I find the handling very good, even in the rain.
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I agree. For years, I have measured my tire wear across the entire tread width, and I have found that the book values supplied by Toyota for my Corolla, Camry, Tundra, TCH over the years have been to low, resulting in uneven "outside in" tire wear. My TCH has Michelins, and I run them a little lower than Nash at 40/38. They have 16,000 on them now (the other 4K is on the Primacy snow tires) with perfectly even tread wear and much less than 50% gone to the markers. Rain is what Western Washington is all about, and the handling is better at this inflation that when set at factory recommended settings.
I would argue against the implication that over-inflation acheives it's improvement in wear from loss of footprint, and therefore loss of traction. Instead, I think the primary mileage improvement comes from reducing the "squirm wave" flexing as the leading edge of the footprint distorts and also the trailing edge as it restores shape. Less distortion cuts down on compound heating, which is a major contributor to wear.