JBarca wrote:
........A question on the E range ST tire you suggested. In my case the load will not be that high as Max of the E range tire at 80psi. Is there a concern of high center tread wear running 80 psi? Or is it in this case that the tire will age out mostly like before it wears out providing good axle alignment. Sort of like where I am now.......
As you suggest, the concensus is that trailer tires get old before they get worn out. Plus, the affect iinflation pressure has on tire wear is small. The issue of center wear has been greatly exaggerated.
Besides, the important thing is to get the tire to survive.
JBarca wrote:
........I can tell on the D's I have now the center is wearing slightly more then the outer threads. Granted I'm measuring with a dial caliper to see this. I attributed this to running 65psi verses the load on the tire. On the E's this might be more pronounced. I do not see this as a show stopper, more of a curious question........
I would consider 2/32nds of an inch significant - and you're measuring in thousands. Don't over-think this.
JBarca wrote:
........Another question is a thought of harder bounce due to the E range tire? On a truck/car this shows up for sure, on a TT, well I do not know. In my case I have a rubber equalizer and shocks to help the cause........
A tire's spring rate is directly related to inflation pressure. So the ratio of 80 divided by 65 is only a 23% increase. I don't think this is larger enough to worry about.
JBarca wrote:
........PS. I will need new rims to go to E range. Mine do not list a PSI, only a load weight that lines up with a D tire. I'm not going to attempt 80 psi in a rim intended for a D. I know enough about pressure vessels not try that. No 80 psi stamp means, no. ......
I had a long discussion with a wheel designer about the use of higher inflation pressures. The context was people who use very high inflation pressure on their passenger cars to get fuel economy improvements. Some folks were using 60 and 80 psi (and even more) in tires designed for 35 psi. Not only are these guys denying that center wear takes place (they are wrong, but it isn't a 100% thing), I was concerned about the wheels.
The wheel designer said that inflation pressure doesn't add much in the way of additional stress to the wheel - that it was the load itself that was important. I took this to mean there is little risk of using higher inflation pressures (at least from the wheel prespective.) Since I was hoping to use this as an arguement against such high pressures in passenger car tires, I was disappointed - and that seems to have been confirmed as there have not been reports of wheel failures by this group.
In my opinion, the absence of a max pressure stamping on the wheel MIGHT be a good sign. Also, if you monitor the wheels, a wheel failure will show up as cracks around the rim flange long before you get a catastrophic failure.
