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source: canadiandriver.ca

Ford offers tips on avoiding pothole damage


Detroit, Michigan - With the Spring thaw comes pothole season, and these sudden drops in the pavement can cause serious damage to tires, wheels and suspensions. To help avoid serious damage, the Ford Motor Company offers these tips:

Pay attention to tire pressure. Keeping tire pressure at the manufacturer's recommendation will help protect your vehicle's wheels and tires from being damaged by potholes. Tire pressure varies from vehicle to vehicle and from season to season.

If safe, don't swerve to avoid potholes. Swerving can create a situation where the front wheel and tire on the car can hit the edge of the pothole at an obtuse angle, which might do more damage than hitting it squarely.

If safe, don't brake for a pothole. Heavy braking compresses the front suspension of the car and will have a tendency to force the tire and wheel down fully into the pothole, potentially causing greater damage.

Reduce speed if you feel a sudden vibration or ride disturbance. If you can't avoid the pothole and suspect your tire or vehicle has been damaged from it, immediately reduce your speed. Drive with caution until you can safely pull off the road to check for damage.

If you do get a flat, drive slowly to the closest safe area out of the way of traffic. While this may further damage the tire, it is not as important as your safety.


Interesting... although these days I'm pretty good at avoiding the potholes all together, and almost memorized which ones I'm going to encounter on my day to day route. However, when I'm peeking at the scangauge then I guess its better to head upon them straight on.

51 psi and still haven't blown up yet :O

Yup. It recomends manufacture tire pressures. But coming from a manufacturer we don't know why. Are they worried about underinflation, overinflation or both. Since most people don't run with higher psi than manufacturers recomendation and many often run lower I would say they are more worried about underinflation.

The load the tire can take goes up with tire pressure, but I don't know if that means it is less suseptable to puncture or more.

Car manufacturers choose a certain pressure for several reasons, mainly because they don't want people complaining about a rough or hard ride. If so, the tendency for the uninformed would be to blame the CAR, not the tires. The bottom line is, their recommended pressures are quite low, to give a cushy ride. Just ignore that, and read the maximum pressure stated on the sidewall of the tire. And by the way, there is a large safety margin built in above that..........

Yup. at lest 2x and up to 4x or more. I'm running around 55 (or should be. My ride feels comfortable so I know I'm low)

my sidewall pressure is 51 psi, so maybe 70 would be not too shabby? Haha i'm already taking a risk by not having a spare.

Thank those who invented the cell phone ;)

no product that reaches the public hands and that is subject to any sort of legal standard has a safety margin of less than at LEAST several times the 'listed' max. Common sense, nevermind liability, dicates this.

No point going over 60psi I think.

No point going over 60psi I think.
Agreed ;)

Hi All:

___Tom is right about ~ 60 #’s. You do receive higher FE as pressures rise but it levels off very quickly. At 60 to 100 #’s, I doubt there is much more then .3 or so mpg’s left. From 30 - 60’s #’s however, a good 2.5 -3 + mpg’s should be in the cards. He also heard from the horses mouth what Bridgestone’s are really tested to in terms of burst. No need telling the world about that one, right Tom ;)

___The manufacturers are most worried about under-inflation nowadays given the Ford - Firestone experience. I will take the harsher ride and tighter handling over driving on sand any day of the week myself.

___Phil, are you running the HCH-I Dunlop’s on your Civic Coupe? Tom, is it the Dunlop’s or the Bridgestone’s that have the 51 # max sidewall ratings? I have long since forgotten other then the newer SP31’s on some HCH-II’s IIRC?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Deathtraps.. Err. Dunlops.

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9389/sonandoutsidecar053large8wg.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sonandoutsidecar053large8wg.jpg)

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4075/sonandoutsidecar052large8su.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sonandoutsidecar052large8su.jpg)

i think i do have those tires. no way if these are LLR then i'm pretty dissapointed! I think i'll do the pump from 50 to 60's tommorow and although I bought this topic up again, i'm refrained from trying a few roads that might net me great mpg to my usual commutes but is concerned about the many bumps, dips and traintracks I have to deal with if deciding to do so. Not only I don't have a spare/jack tire, I also can't afford four new tires let alone any other damage I could have done when a wheel is off or such.

Or is it a car's tires and suspension is designed to take that kind of a beating daily? Hmm from Dan's experience he's doing just fine :O oh and how do I read treadwear again? Do I need to save up for four tires anytime soon? I think those pics are from my left front tire and my rear right tire.

Worrying about a cars suspension is a valid worry. I suspect that most manufacturers design a suspension so it can take a fair beating, however, you can't realy be sure.

Hi Phil:

___I think the following article might be right up your alley. Thanks to a poster in the YaHoo-Ford-Escape-Hybrid group for the link.

Driving Under Pressure - Proper Tire Pressure Could Save Your Life (http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=19&id=27281)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Thats the most well written article on high PSI I've seen. Great find wayne.

Ahh yes. I feel vindicated!

60 pSI here i come!!! THanks for the "relief" for my brain.

Hi Phil:

___I think the following article might be right up your alley. Thanks to a poster in the YaHoo-Ford-Escape-Hybrid group for the link.

Driving Under Pressure - Proper Tire Pressure Could Save Your Life (http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=19&id=27281)

___Good Luck

___Wayne
Wayne;

Now there is an Article that (Anyone-Can-Read) and understand. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm sure others will. I like reading from people that are doing as they tell others to do and can back up their statements.

You get Two-Thumbs Up:

Hi Terry:

___You should ask Tom what we heard from the Bridgestone rep we spoke with at length about higher pressures during the 2006 Chicago Autoshow. 60 #’s is nothing compared to the real safety margins tires are designed too … I promised the rep I would never post those numbers but let us just say the guy driving the Ranger on 2 wheels is well under burst ;)

___The early 2005 trip to the show yielded the same when Eric and I heard the same thing after pressing the engineers on this very subject.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Ok, fine. I guess I'll cave and ask my compressor to work a little harder :)

Bridgestone/Firestone also has a great pamphlet about tire safety. they repeatedly stress the dangers of underflation. I'll have to dig it up sometime and see if can be ordered through their customer service of something.

man when the temperatures were cold I pumped all my tires to 53 psi, now that the temperature is warmed up and my right rear tire was at 60 psi. I'm like "yay no need to pump some more air." But then the horror came...

my right front tire was missing at least 9 psi so sitting at 51, as well my rear left tire was at a staggering 66 psi so I had to let some air escape and pump it back to 60! As for my front left, it was sitting at a sloppy 55 psi so I had to pump some air to bring it back up to 60. After reconfiging front left, rear left and rear right tires for 60 and the front right is still at a sloppy 51 I only had the chance to pump them up till 55 before I realize i had little time to go to the doctor's office.

Oh man and I just checked pressure 3 days ago too! These leaks must mean something is going to happen soon... and yes I do use a digital gauge I see some rips in my tires here and there, maybe I can use duct tape to stop the bleeding?

Duct tape-that's a good one!

I've ran my stock Dunlops at 51PSI since new.
Now they have almost 70K miles. They'll need replacing soon but happy to report even wear all the way across. :cool:

oh the solution to that problem i had before was that my car was sitting at an incline with a swing to the left (its just a really werid driveway). Anyway I managed to move the car into the garage and had my tires on EVEN LEVEL GROUND and checking my tires twice in a few days apart shows that there is no leaking of some sort! Thank goodness, I was beggining to worry that the wacky tire pressure was due to a leak.

Great info, and Wayne that article is great. My take away message is 60 PSI is a good number to try for maximum FE and safety, does this apply to tires with a maximum sidewall pressure of 44 (I know many tires have a maximum of 51 PSI but the Integrity tires on my Prius have a max of 44) I am using 50 with no problem, but based on this thread I am considering 60.

Dennis

hahah we'll give you props for jumping to 60, elsewhere you'll get flamed for not being "safe"

just be sure to inspect the tires always for damage. None for me cept some minor bumps but not as bad as other tires I've seen on other cars.

And it offers better grip in the rain! Like a sharp knife cutting through the water.

Hi Dennis:

___Because most tires Max Sidewall is 44, 50 is not a particular problem … 60 is starting to push but if the tires are not beat up (in good condition), 60 should not be a problem either. Just remember that the increase in FE above lets say 40 #’s starts to level off relatively quickly. There will be increases but the difference between 40 and 50 may be 1 mpg whereas the difference between 50 and 60 may only be .25 - .5 mpg.

___Phil, you need a better air gauge :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Thanks Wayne and Phil,

Maybe Dan can weigh in here, I don't imagine he is still running the Prius on the original Integrity tires at 60 PSI, I think I read a post of his at Greenhybrid that he had run them at 50 over most of the 40K or so that were on the tires before the marathon, I think they were at around 60 for the marathon, but probably were brought back to 50 afterwards.
I hadn't realized that there was that much dropoff (in the FE improvement)over 50, I think I'll play it "safe" and try 55F/53R for a while and see how it feels. Anyone ever seen any data on braking performance vs tire pressure? I would imagine there would be some increase in braking distance at higher pressure because of the slightly smaller contact patch.

Dennis

Hi Dennis:

___Actually, braking distances are decreased with higher pressures in all dry and wet weather conditions other then snow IIRC. I have a braking distance vs. pressure in a variety of conditions report posted around CleanMPG somewhere? I will try and find it later on tonight. What I would consider is start at 44 and work yourself up by 3 - 4 #’s every week. You will not notice the increased NVH over that period but you will notice your glides improving a significant amount!

___Dan is running 60 + in the RE92’s today. For the Marathon? That one is a closely guided secret ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Dennis:

___The following might help somewhat although the study was not performed at 44, 50, and 62 #’s.

___The GY study was done at max sidewall of 35 #’s on those particular tires. Max sidewall gave a shorter stopping distance in 16 of 18 dry/wet/differing wear tests on two different automobiles and usually by a significant margin!

#############################

Dry Macadam Surface
(Stopping Distance in Feet)

2001 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport||||
|Tread Depth|20 psi|28 psi|35 psi
|Full Depth Tread with ABS|75.5|76.2|75.8
|1/2 Depth Tread with ABS|69.9|68.1|66.3
|Full Depth Tread without ABS|98.3|95.9|91.6

1997 Ford Ranger||||
|Full Depth Tread with ABS|80.8|78.2|77.6
|1/2 Depth Tread with ABS|79.0|74.8|71.4
|Full Depth Tread without ABS|97.8|96.5|94.1
#############################

0.02 Inch Wet Macadam Surface
(Stopping Distance in Feet)

2001 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport||||
|Tread Depth|20 psi|28 psi|35 psi
|Full Depth Tread with ABS|79.8|78.5|77.1
|1/2 Depth Tread with ABS|84.7|73.7|81.4
|Full Depth Tread without ABS|111.1|110.2|108.6

1997 Ford Ranger||||
|Full Depth Tread with ABS|83.8|81.5|79.8
|1/2 Depth Tread with ABS|91.5|89.4|84.6
|Full Depth Tread without ABS|131.9|126.0|118.4

#############################

0.05 Inch Wet Macadam Surface
(Stopping Distance in Feet)

2001 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport||||
|Tread Depth|20 psi|28 psi|35 psi
|Full Depth Tread with ABS|80.0|81.1|82.7
|1/2 Depth Tread with ABS|103.7|99.7|92.2
|Full Depth Tread without ABS|118.0|112.2|111.7

1997 Ford Ranger||||
|Full Depth Tread with ABS|89.7|86.0|81.5
|1/2 Depth Tread with ABS|125.7|118.5|104.5
|Full Depth Tread without ABS|142.9|134.8|125.7

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Thanks Wayne and Phil,

Maybe Dan can weigh in here, I don't imagine he is still running the Prius on the original Integrity tires at 60 PSI, I think I read a post of his at Greenhybrid that he had run them at 50 over most of the 40K or so that were on the tires before the marathon, I think they were at around 60 for the marathon, but probably were brought back to 50 afterwards.
I hadn't realized that there was that much dropoff (in the FE improvement)over 50, I think I'll play it "safe" and try 55F/53R for a while and see how it feels. Anyone ever seen any data on braking performance vs tire pressure? I would imagine there would be some increase in braking distance at higher pressure because of the slightly smaller contact patch.

Dennis

I am on my second set of Integritys. The first set had 40 of the 45k miles at 60 PSI, The second set is at 44PSI because my wife drives it now and she didn't like the bumpy ride at 60.

I am on my second set of Integritys. The first set had 40 of the 45k miles at 60 PSI, The second set is at 44PSI because my wife drives it now and she didn't like the bumpy ride at 60.
Hi Dan,

I new one of these days that I would find some common-ground between the two of us. :D

I had my tires up to 55 psi and for the past month I decided to put them back to the maximum sidewall pressure of 44 psi.

Ride is alot better and to really be honest I don't personally see any difference in (My-FE). However I only drive a few miles back and forth to work and lunch every other week so it would be highly unlikely that I could tell any difference in (My-FE). I can however tell you that I agree with your "Wife" that I much prefer the 44 psi settings and the much improved ride quality. Also and this is just my opinion, I really didn't like over-working the suspension on every tiny bump so that in later Yrs. the car starts to have rattles that maybe it would not have had if I dropped the tire pressure to more reasonable pressure in the tires. As I said this is just my thinking and I am not telling or suggesting that other members follow my comments here on my tire pressure settings. I think whatever works for someone that is what they should go with. I am simply sharing thoughts/information as to why I have decided to go with the Max Pressure on my tires. I can tell everyone this that there is a real difference in ride and noise inside the HCH II when you drop the air-pressure down to the Max sidewall 44 PSI setting.

Terry

Terry,
I'm sure that we have other things in common. Like, um, we both love our Honda Civics and we can both get 60 MPG. :D I'm sure that my ride is much bumpier than yours is though. At 13 years old, mine already has it's share of rattles so I'm not too worried about getting a few more.:cool:

They are concerned with the rim of an underinflated tire being dinged when the soft tire is fully compressed it the rim by a sharp, deep pothole or curb.
Glad I saw this post.I dropped my Pilot pressure yesterday to 33 psi-from 40-.We were driving on a rough,sandy red dirt road in AZ.It was sort washboarded and baked.At 15- 20 mph I thought it was going to shake my fillings out.
I'll pull out my little 12v noisemaker tire pumper.It is slow-maybe 1 minute to get from 33 to 40 psi on a 245/75 16-but it beat my bike pump.I'll leave Flagstaff at 40 psi, when I get home it will be 37 or so.Thanks.Charlie

Dan,

At some point I think you played around with how tire pressure affected FE on the Prius, did your experience match what Wayne mentioned in his earlier post? Going from 50 to 60 there was a smaller jump in FE than say 40 to 50 and above 60 there was very little improvement in FE? Thanks.

Dennis

From what I remember...
35 PSI = 96.x
44 PSI = 97.x
62 PSI = 98.x

Since I didn't test at 50, I can't answer that question.

I am running 60psi in my Goodyear Assurance Comfortreads. They are P185 70 14's.(1 size over stock. Stock is P175 70 14's.