Tires, any favorites? Michelin Defender, Premier A/S, Energy Saver

[ptjones]

 

That's why I threw in the range of +- 5psi. A fusion/Cmax will likely stop shorter at 32psi than 35 or 38. Ford doesn't set the sticker at the optimum pressure for stopping distance, but they certainly do factor it in.

 

Stopping distance is all about how much rubber you can put on the road to spread out the load. As I've said multiple times, it's the total area of the contact patch that's important, not just the width. Even tread wear only tells you that the width is optimized, not the entire area.

Why would FORD raise the tire pressure from 32 psi if that was the best stopping pressure? Ride would get stiffer, what is the upside? Here is a visual demonstration from the Tire Rack on tire pressure vs tire contact area. This same thing happens when you try to stop fast, all the weight of the car transfers to the front wheels making them go under inflated. https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=3 You can have a large contact area and little traction do to the center of the tire losing contact pressure. You need to have more pressure to compensate for the added weight for the best stopping traction.

Tire wear also shows you also how the tire is wearing front to back too, there is no difference. :)

 

For the sake of members who actually came here looking for favorite tires, we should have a mod/admin split this thread into:

1. Tires, any favorites - original topic

2. Advice on tire pressure - bunch of us discussing a related topic :)

I agree and this is what happens with no moderators. ;( I have started New Thread. :)

 

Paul