hehe, yeah a little mismatch there, but you know those 'ricers' they put steel rims on the back and rims with wide tires on the front and 'drag' from light to light. btw, most of the 'ricers' here are young h.s. boys with wealthy families. How does that song go? Some guys have all the luck hehe ... seriously though I meant no disrespect with the ricer statement, to each thier own as long as you are happy

I live in FL so wet traction is more important anyway, and even the bumps were not that much more noticeable, if at all. Before the increase, the speed bump felt like I ran over a fallen tree, so not much to change from that aspect.

I guess if I was used to driving a Lexus, i would notice, but the cars i have driven on a daily basis were much stiffer and very noisy (wind, tires, etc) ... well, the Mustang much worse than the 7 (i think it was a poorly tuned suspension from Ford), the 7's engine was a little loud, it has a header and single out exhaust (instead of Y-pipe, 2 mufflers) but still had a deep note, not that angry mosquito/lawnmower on speed sound. So that may be why I didn't personally notice any more road noise with the tires. It must have been such a small amount I didn't register it. I will have to see when I take it in to make sure the soft recall was done and they lower my pressure if I notice a difference then.

I guess I am easy to please ... Honda gives me what I expect or far better for the price, even after I try to make it worse

 

I think it would be fair to say that most folks who claim this helps notice somewhere between 1-3 MPG better due to tire pressure. I only seem to notice a difference when the weather is nice and I'm not fighting other environmental influences like cold, wind or rain.

 

I went to pump up my tires and noticed that my Bridgestones are only rated at 40psi. Any other HCH II owners have these? I was a bit surprised.

 

not unless you try to avoid every bump and pothole out there! But when there are times when I know I'm going to go through some tough road. I simply slowdown a bit so the car can absorb the bumps better. Not by much, maybe 10 km/h slower and then reach up to cruising speed again.


by the way I go right up to 48, near my 50 PSI limit

 

I usually try and keep my tires around 45psi (Bridgestone LRR) 05-HCH. But, what I have noticed is, if you are approaching a stop sign or have to slow down using the brakes and the road is bumpy, the ABS will kick in briefly and your stopping distance will increase slightly. So you need to be aware of this possible situation.

Has anyone else noticed this condition??

 

The tire documentation that came with my 2006 HCH say that overinflating can increase chances of blowout when you hit a pothole.

On my 04 HCH1 i kept my Bridgestone B381s at 40 PSI.
My 06 HCH2 came with Dunlops, I think the sidewall says max is also 44 to I think I'll settle on 40 PSI for the new car too.

 

Maybe this has been posted before...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=1

 

Thanks for the link! Here's the text from the "overinvlation" section:

"Disadvantages of Overinflation

An overinflated tire is stiff and unyielding and the size of its footprint in contact with the road is reduced. If a vehicle's tires are overinflated by 6 psi, they could be damaged more easily when encountering potholes or debris in the road, as well as experience irregular tread wear. Higher inflated tires cannot isolate road irregularities as well causing the vehicle to ride harsher and transmit more noise into its interior. However, higher inflation pressures reduce rolling resistance slightly and typically provide a slight improvement in steering response and cornering stability. This is why participants who use street tires in autocrosses, track events and road races run higher than normal inflation pressures."

So if you're willing to sacrifice ride, noice, and a slightly increased change of damage, the pay off is lower rolling resistance.

 

Tim,

Your 1-3mpg increase due to overinflating tires seems a bit high. I still believe the only benifits are in handling & braking. Again, I noticed 0mpg increase but did manage over the entire tank to go an extra 10 miles more but I propably could have streched the non-overinflated tire test by that much too.

As for the disadvantages, I totally agree but there is room to play if you keep your tire under MAX psi.

 

I'd rather blow a tire because of a bad pothole than dent or fracture my aluminum rims because the tire flexed too much.

As for mpg increase. I definatly noticed a significant increase in mpg when I inflated my tires to 45psi from stock.