For some reason I don't think you'll get your tires. I've now lost faith in humanity as a whole.

 

Back in the days of 3000 mile oil change intervals 20 psi in the big C3 tires was perfectly acceptable because most owners relied on their dealerships to check their tire pressures during servicing every couple of months (based on an average 15,000 miles driven per year). With the introduction of low sulfur/unleaded gasoline and synthetic blended oils in the early 1970's the oil change intervals got increased to 5000 miles then 7500 miles or more; meaning the vehicle could be driven 2 to 3 times as long between servicing during which time tire pressures could drop to dangerously low levels. In the case of city-living retired people a whole year or more could pass by between servicing during which time a tire with a slow leak could become completely flat!

Knowing the consumer never bothered to check their tire pressures between those extended oil change intervals the manufacturers were forced to recommend maximum pressures to avoid being drawn into product liability lawsuits (as Ford recently was over the Explorer/blown tire fiasco in which the irresponsible owners were letting their tire pressures drop to 17-18 psi while carrying 500+ pounds of cargo).

So yes, the seemingly "low" (by today's product liability standards) 20 psi is perfectly safe as long as that pressure is maintained.

 

My 2010 Corolla is the only vehicle I have ever owned that recommends a 5k oil change.

 

This service interval argument doesn't make sense. The "balloon" tires on my wife's car, 245/60 18, are to be inflated to 35 PSI according to the placard in the door jamb. The low pressure alarm sounds when tire pressure falls to 27 PSI, whether or not you have checked the pressure two days or two years ago. If 20 PSI is safe, why set an alarm at 27?

 

More made-up bull crap....

Of course, you can't produce any proof this is why the manufacturers recommend a certain pressure either.

The Ford lawsuit was because they RECOMMENDED too low a tire pressure, not because idiot owners like yourself ran the tires with a pressure below the recommended.

 

 

COMMON SENSE...either you HAVE IT...or you DON'T!

Common sense CANNOT be taught. (my opinion) IF a person does not check their tire pressure at every fuel up...then they get what they get....simple as that.

I honestly feel ( in my opinion) that this thread has run it course and is now going into tangents that ( I feel) that 'TooBroke' is trying to light up more fires.

So much technical information has been given that 'some people' can not either..AGREE WITH IT...or just plain shut up and do as they wish and stop trying to enforce 'their' opinion or views WITHOUT being able to back it up with CURRENT FACTS. (my opinion).

FACT...I recently drove a rental car to Orlando and back and the car had a tire pressure monitoring system that I could watch...and the tire pressures did not increase at all. NOT EVEN 1 psi. I am sure the tires where filled with nitrogen due to the side of the car that was on the Eastern side and the sunlight could heat up the rubber on that side...NOTHING increased...GO FIGURE! And that Obviously was at interstate speeds of 70MPH for HOURS on end with NO stopping.

I am done...because it is like a line in "Cool Hand Luke". "Some men you just can't reach".

DUB

 

TBTR is not an engineer.

 

I always run a 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen mix in all my tires, LOL!

 

I am reminded of my boss at work. No matter what subject you bring up, he knows all the facts and concepts, knows why its done, who is to blame, etc. Doesn't matter if its about airplane maintenance (our profession), or the war, or cars, or whatever. Every sentence begins with "What they don't understand is,........."" and then he proceeds to "inform" us what the truth is.....! Now if I want to participate in this forum, I now have to read it all here. I have enjoyed the information and learning I have received here from some of the participants, but I seriously might have to exit as Lars did.

Seriously. I have learned to make my own decisions about all technical matters, as many people are either misinformed, or have their own agenda, many are just stupid, and the worst is the ego maniacs who truly believe they know everythingn when in fact they don't. I myself was raised different, to have respect for my elders, and a little bit of being humble, even in situations I do prevail.

The biggest danger with this is the folks who don't have any technical knowledge, and are going to believe everything they read here. This is a forum for mutual Corvette lovers, and in the technical section, we can learn. But only if its good information.

 

That is the correct pressure to run in your C3 as it'll give you the longest tread life as well as a nice soft ride. Happy motoring!

 

What ME would believe it's the volume of air that determines pressure?

 

That is the correct pressure for average driving conditions but if you intend to track race it you'll need to increase the pressures accordingly but at the expense of reduced tread life. Happy motoring!

 

[QUOTE=Vettebuyer6369;1591025260]I would suggest that those who feel this topic is not interesting or not enough of a debate, to not post in the thread, and move on to one that is interesting. If you want to help the OP, rather than telling him it's been discussed at length before, provide him with the link to that thread so he can read it for himself. He posted this thread because he had a question.

I'd also caution against personal attacks. If you do not feel an argument has merit, debate it or ignore it

 

I think its time to lock this thread up. How many times can TBTR repeat himself without presenting any facts. (accept the ones he made up himself)

 

I asked a Moderator to consider making this a sticky to preserve the research some of us did for future inquiries- and to keep us from ever having to go through this process again. I don't know if that will happen but at least I tried.

 

When I bought my '82 back in 1988 I also had the "30 psi mentality" so I ran 30 psi in my first set of tires and promptly wore their centers out when their sides still had half their tread depth. I ran 25 psi in the next set of tires and promptly wore their centers out when their sides still had 3/16" of their tread depth. On my 3rd set of tires I ran 20 psi and found their treads wore perfectly even for the 40,000+ miles I put on them and have been running 20 psi ever since.................until I bought my big block '71 in 2009 and found I needed 24 psi in the slightly smaller 225X60R15 front tires because of the additional weight.

So yes, 20 psi is an appropriate pressure for a C3 with a 350" engine when running the big 225 thru 255X60R15's. Happy motoring!

 

Check please!

 

Now I have to keep checking this thread to see who get's the last word.

 

Yet again, I'm left shaking my head.

As I stated in my last post, there are NUMEROUS fundamental characteristics of properly inflated tires. NOT JUST ONE. I happened to list what appears to be the three most significant...tread wear, Coefficient of Rolling Friction, and "road feel".

This is similar to the three legged stool...perhaps a small sacrifice in tread wear is necessary to suit a "happy tire".

If one were to treat illness on one symptom alone (fever), one would choose not to treat the other symptoms (sore throat, coughing up blood, etc) and not properly diagnose or treat the root issue.

If one were to correct a dead battery simply by replacing the dead battery, one would choose not to treat the other symptoms the car is demonstrating to PROPERLY diagnose a bad alternator.

Life is FULL of examples of having more than ONE SINGLE DATA POINT to arrive at the right answer.

I have absolutely no explanation as to why we have to keep hearing the same irrational reasoning for the WRONG answer over and over.

It is not helpful to the community or the forum.