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 Topic: Towing tyre pressure
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21/5/2021 at 10:51am
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 21/5/2021
We don't bother as you are only towing a hundred or so miles in a day so hardly going to effect tyre wear. Hassle increasing and decreasing pressures all the time especially if it is only 3psi.
Think you are missing a few significant points there, some safety related, it's not JUST about tyre wear!
Unless pressure increased, a higher load increases the flexing of the sidewalls, this in turn increases friction in the tyre which raises it's temperature. Raise it enough and you're looking at a blow out as the integrity of the tyre diminishes. Running with unnecessarily hot tyres will undoubtedly cause some degree of deterioration anyway, that may come to bite you later.
With increased deformation of the sidewall under load, the rolling resistance increases, this has negative impact on fuel economy.
A trailer imposes greater sideways loads on tow vehicle, from cornering to snaking tendency (it will be snaking subtly even if you don't notice and it doesn't get dramatic), increasing tyre pressure reduces 'sideways roll' on the tyre, this improves handling and may well be the difference between a snake being a bit of a wobble and becoming disastrous.
The correct 'footprint' on the road determines braking effectiveness, an underinflated tyre tends to ride on the shoulders with reduced contact pressure on the centre of the tread, not the optimum for best braking performance, especially in the wet where aquaplaning becomes a consideration.
And of course, an underinflated tyre tends to wear quite rapidly on the outer edges as they are taking a disproportionate amount of the load in the deformed tyre.
The notion of it's 'only' 70 or 80Kg noseweight on the tow ball is deceiving, when you factor in the leverage effect caused by the distance between the tow hitch and the axle, that is a far greater equivalent load placed directly in the boot over the axle, so the tyres are significantly more loaded.
Not all cars only raise pressure by a small amount, my current car needs it's pressure raised by 6.5 lbs (that's 17%!) when fully loaded/towing. Even 'only' 3psi is likely to be 8-9% increase on most cars! - that's significant!
The instruction to increase tyre pressures is there for sound engineering reasons, no matter how inconvenient, you may get away with ignoring them, others may not be so lucky. To be pedantic, by flouting manufacturers instructions for use, you may even be considered to be driving an unroadworthy vehicle by any powers that be who care to check, that risks having no insurance cover either!
A lot of factors come into play, no two outfits or situations are going to be identical, for one thing, many of us do considerably more than 100 miles on our trips, but if you have an easy opportunity to push out the safety boundaries at a number of levels, it seems reckless not to do so IMHO. All seems to be disproportionate risk compared to a few minutes with a pump.
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via mobile 19/5/2021 at 7:11am
