tire pressure and blowouts

1ofmany wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
Tires rarely blow out due to over pressure. All vehicle tires are designed to operate well above the maximum cold pressure shown on the sidewall. The far more common tire failure cause is under inflation.

This is also my understanding...however, the notion of what "cold pressure" is has been a source of interest. If you live in an area where the temperature varies wildly from day to day (like 30 degrees, or more), check your tire air pressure the day before the temperature is expected to drop those 30, or more, degrees, and then check again the next day after the temperature has dropped. I have seen a 10 psi drop under those circumstances...so, what is the correct "cold temp" reading?

I agree, the cold setting can change as the ambient temperature changes, but the fact remains that modern tires in good shape are more than capable of handling the typical changes. My take would be the tires should be inflated to the proper pressure at the start of the travel day if temps are fluctuating that widely. Tires rarely need to inflated to the max though, unless the load range used is close to its maximum weight rating.

Dutch_12078 wrote:
Tires rarely blow out due to over pressure. All vehicle tires are designed to operate well above the maximum cold pressure shown on the sidewall. The far more common tire failure cause is under inflation.

This is also my understanding...however, the notion of what "cold pressure" is has been a source of interest. If you live in an area where the temperature varies wildly from day to day (like 30 degrees, or more), check your tire air pressure the day before the temperature is expected to drop those 30, or more, degrees, and then check again the next day after the temperature has dropped. I have seen a 10 psi drop under those circumstances...so, what is the correct "cold temp" reading?

the bear II wrote:
Don't trust the DIC
I use several fleet vehicles, different makes and models, anytime I manually check pressure or gas mileage the DIC is off to the point where I wouldn't trust the information. And yes my tire pressure gauge is very accurate.

This also goes for the speedometers... some are off by > or < 5MPH.

Yep. Best to use it as a guide, or a notification to hand check the pressure.

It wasn't until I started using speed measuring devices that I realized the variation in speedometers. Allot of folks are realizing it now that more GPS units are being used.

X2 on not trusting the DIC. I have had several discussions about the descrepancy between my Guage and the DIC with my dealers service dept folks. The descrepancy is not always the same which really frustrates me. Dealer folks say there will be different differences depending on altitude etc and then pretty much admit they may never match. I think they did match when truck was new but do not anymore. I trust my gauges.

Don't trust the DIC
I use several fleet vehicles, different makes and models, anytime I manually check pressure or gas mileage the DIC is off to the point where I wouldn't trust the information. And yes my tire pressure gauge is very accurate.

This also goes for the speedometers... some are off by > or < 5MPH.

Your pressure is designed to be tested and inflated at cold temperature just for the reason your experiencing. 4 to 5 psi is a normal rise in pressure. Depending on the driving condition, you will see a difference in pressures for all tires. Do not adjust the pressure when the tires are hot during normal operation. The slight increase you see is normal. Do not release air when the tires are hot. You'll end up with a psi below what's recommended.

Also, you need to drive the vehicle a couple of miles in the morning to get an accurate reading. Some sensors need to spin to "wake up".

Tires rarely blow out due to over pressure. All vehicle tires are designed to operate well above the maximum cold pressure shown on the sidewall. The far more common tire failure cause is under inflation.