The car-owner question for this week’s column (2.24.24), after some routine shop work , the owner discovers all four tires have been inflated to the maximum pressure, as stated on the sidewall. The owner found the ride quality abysmal, as you might expect. I’m just curious how this sort of mistake could occur? Particularly b/c it appears to have been done by design, rather than accident.
Someone other than the shop did the overinflating, but the owner didn’t notice until after the shop work.
The shop tech misinterpreted the service writer’s instructions?
The shop tech believes this is the correct inflation pressure?
We dont know what work was done. If it involved tires, on the invoice it always says to retorque after 50 miles. These days a Quick Look at the dash will reveal tire pressure.
Seems difficult to believe. Maybe the shop tech was a part-timer, teenager who was supposed to be used only for shop errands, sweeping the floor, etc, & otherwise completely untrained for tire work, and somehow that info fell through the cracks?
In the high-tech world, for this sort of problem we’d do what is called a" post-event autopsy", the objective to determine where the existing process went astray. Then we’d modify the written process description as required to minimize the chance it would happen again. Hopefully something like that has already occurred at the shop.
After getting dealer service on my 2016 Toyota Corolla with 16,000 miles, the car started to shake at 60 mph. I drove for a couple more months, but the shaking did not go away.
Sam’s tires are 8 years old and probably flat spot each time the car is parked for extended periods.
Sam discovered the tires had 51 psi three months after the service. Pressure loss over that period of time would suggest the tires were inflated to 55 psi or greater. I doubt this really happened, someone probably added air after he complained about the flat spot vibration.
With so many cars having tire pressure displayed, technicians cannot get away with inflating tires to random pressure values. I don’t put much credence into these complaints.
In my younger years, when almost all tires were bias ply or tube type, it was common to over inflate tires for high speed runs. Many magazine road testers did it as a matter of course. It was explained that an extra 10 psi might give a hard ride but it helped the tire flex less and stay cooler.
I have never heard of a problem with doing this but I also have no idea how it applies to radial tires. I do know that the Michelin radial tires on our tractor trailers were inflated to 100 psi.
All our tires were radials except the steering tires. We did not gt power steering on road tractors until just before I retired in 1995. It would have been impossible to turn the wheel with radialsm not just difficult.
It is surprising how many people think the pressure on the sidewall is the correct pressure. Even as a rookie tire engineer, that’s the answer I would have given - until I was told about Vehicle Tire Placards.
Also different kinds of tires take different kinds of pressure. Some aircraft tires are inflated to over 400 psi!
+1
Many years ago, I found out that a friend of mine believed he should inflate his tires to the maximum pressure listed on the sidewall, and I had to take pains to point-out the correct info in the Owner’s Manual and on the placard glued to the door jamb.
Luckily, he never had any serious problems as a result of his gross overinflation of his tires, but perhaps he was just lucky. Like me, he now inflates his tires to 2 or 3 psi over the vehicle mfr’s recommended pressure in order to have a “margin” when temps drop, and to slightly improve the handling and gas mileage.
Hmm … there’s quite a few folks here seeming to think the car owner is responsible for most of the fault. Surprising, but without a complete understanding of the sequence of events, that may indeed be the explanation. So nothing to worry about?
We live now in a new era of Caveat Emptor, or, buyer beware.
While even I believe that public schools should start again to emphasize things like Civics, and Home Economics(which can include not just cooking but basics like checkbook balancing, and even how to check basic car maintenance items like tire pressures and fluids), and de-emphasize the frickn Shakespeare(!), it is fundamentally our own responsibility to examine our own motor vehicles, and the various literature contained either on the body, such as stickers, and in the owners manual - be it online or in the glove compt.
Open a car door, or trunk lid, or hood, and actually stop and read what’s on those little stickers and placards affixed there. Do that, before even getting in the vehicle to drive it. I now do, even though I’m one of the most ADHD b@stards out there, lol!
It might just save your life, or that of - attn Corvair drivers!! - others.
The man hadn’t checked his tire pressure in three months, this is rather typical, a waste of time trying to change drivers tire maintenance practices.
George lives in California, years ago the state made it the responsibility of all vehicle service providers to check and inflate tires during every service visit.
I stopped balancing my checkbook 20 years ago. I was off by $1 once, I looked back through 50 entries to find the mistake to be sure the bank didn’t cheat me. Pointless exercise, the checking account information is accessible online.
My son survived without a checking account until the age of 25.
Your frequent PSAs to Corvair drivers are a little late, grandpa.
My high school business instructor said he was off 7 cents in his book. Spent all night looking for it and found out it was for the parking meter. Had us all keeping a book to record everything we spent. Gave up about when I was about 25.
