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Good day,

Those of you who have been running higher PSI for increased MPG, how has the tire wear been? Is the gas saving going to be taken up by having to by tires sooner? I would think that if someone has done this for many miles that you have worn the center tire section out with plenty of tread on the tire shoulders.

What about ride quality? Harsher, noisier?

What about vehicle control and handling? Twitchy, over sensitive?

These are important to me as well as good MPG. I want my vehicle to be as safe as it is fun for me to drive.

Take care,

Mike

Hi Mike;

Tire wear in the middle is a thing of the past (as many people here will tell you).

It is true though that our LRR tires do tend to wear faster; but even that "accelerated wear" can be mitigated by sporting "higher" tire pressures. Yes, the ride quality will be affected especially for those you have to drive among pot hole infested roads. As you know, I always suggest you gradually raise the tire pressures from a good starting (42F, 40R) point up to a point you believe you're OK with.
Of course, nothing is really stopping you from going above Max_pressure either. ;)

With higher tire pressures, handling is crisp and surefooted for many of us... which helps as well.

Cheers;

MSantos

I've seen Wayne (xcel)'s Accord with it's original OEM tires, 95,000 miles later. The treadwear is perfectly even. He's had them pumped to at least 55 psi the whole time.

Ride is a little harsher, and it is noisier. Cornering is crisper and more stable. Wet traction is improved.

Thanks for the quick responses.

I will give this a try.

My tires are rated for 51psi per the sidewall. My car says to keep them at 32. The dealer put them at 32. I put them up to 40 right away.

Was thinking of going to 51 but after checking the treadwear at 40 already they are wearing more in the middle.

This is on a 1999 Buick Century.

On my usual truck, I run 52/50 psi front/rear, tires rated at 35psi on the sidewall. Very even wear for over a year.

I was looking at the tires on my Mazda today. The centers are wearing way more than the outer edges.

Answer to this issue? Corner harder. Sport fasing will have to make a come back in spades. :)

The cheap version of the Potenzas that came on my Yaris (RE92A) had a tread wear rating of just 260 and lasted most people no more than 12,000 miles. Some of the racer types were wearing them out in as little as 4,000 miles.

Max sidewall was 44 PSI, Toyota's recommendation was 32, and I ran them at 60. I replaced them at 18,000 miles as there just wasn't enough of their perfectly even tread left to bite well in slush or deep snow and it was the middle of the winter. If it had been summer I could have gotten at least 20,000 out of them.

I'm now on Yokohama Avid TRZs and am also running them at 60 PSI. I may go to 70 as they are still not quite as stiff as I like.

As has been said the ride is a little rougher but overall performance and tread life is enhanced.

The first response that crossed my mind was "even if the center of the tire wore out, I'd still be saving fuel, and that's my objective." But then I remembered that it takes energy to produce and ship a tire. So, if saving fuel continues to be my objective, then I cannot do something to promote increased tire wear.

I've only got about 12,000 hypermiles under my belt, and my tires seem to be wearing very evenly so far. If I do notice more wear in the center, I suppose I'd back off the pressure I'm currently running, to extend the life of the tires.

I've never worn a tire out in the center, always on the outside edges, so this is of interest to me. I'm currently running 65 PSIG (up from 40 in 5 PSIG increments, over time).

Bailout brings up a good point. As tires wear out, they don't get the same traction in wet or snow. It may not be such a good idea to run them all the way to the "wear indicators." Your safety is worth a lot more than a few 1,000 miles more on a worn tire.

I'm at 52psi on a 35 rated tire. They are tires that used to be under inflated all the time, and have a lot more wear on the sides, so hopefully they will now wear the middle a bit more.

About the tire wearing out faster, I have no experience, but I would tend to think that the energy saved throughout the whole life of the tire from high inflation and hypermiling would be more than the amount of energy used to make the same tires.